Rye News will be interviewing Sussex Police District Commander for Hastings and Rother Simon Yates in the coming weeks and we will be putting your questions to the police force. Now is your chance to have your questions on crime answered.
Simon Yates took over as the district commander from Jay Mendis Gunasekera in May 2024. With an extensive career at Sussex Police, and a stint working in London, Yates now oversees operations in Hastings, Battle, Bexhill and Rye.
Crime rates in Rye have increased in the last three years between July and September, jumping from 79 recorded incidents in the summer of 2022 to 155 last summer, according to Police.uk. Do you want to know what Sussex Police is doing to keep the community safe?
Crimes categorised as violence or sexual offences are double reported anti-social behaviour incidents. So what’s causing this and what’s being done to prevent them? Do you want to see more police visibility in Rye?
Please send through any questions to info@ryenews.org.uk or leave a comment below and and look out for our feature on Sussex Police in a future edition of Rye News.
Image Credits: Nick Forman .
I would like to ask Simon Yates why is Rye police station hardly ever open,surely time to down size saving thousands of ratepayers money, for this large police station, that has been deserted by the very people that should be protecting the citizens of Rye.
I would like to ask our district commander what he intends to do about the drug problems in and around Rye. Over the years, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve smelled the unique aroma of cannabis being smoked near the Landgate late in the evening. Similarly, following vehicles late afternoon/early evening, it’s abundantly clear by the smell in the air the occupants are puffing away like Cheech and Chong!
Why is there not a police unit stationed at Rye ,including a response car on stand by ,
Police cars scream through our village from hastings only to then return the other way ,surely its a waste of time and energy as it takes 25 – 30 minutes each way at least .Especially as Camber is so busy and that is at least another 30 minutes away with no traffic .
Also RYE Police Station has all the parking needs as well.
We need an obvious police presence in time to prevent any increase in crime. Rye is wonderfully calm compared with most places so let’s kep it like that. Prevention is better than cure and even low level crime needs to be tackled “on the spot”.
Here in Hastings Old Town, we have recently experienced home burglaries and criminal damage, as well as shops vandalised. This has only happened since the moving of drug addicts to rented property just off the High Street. The police are aware of this (one of the addicts is aggressive and intimidating when begging for money) yet I was told to lodge a complaint via 101. These people are claiming to be homeless, when in fact they are living in accommodation which is paid for by the local council. The simple fact is that due to being banned from the shops wherever they are moved to, they are re-homed in a different town. How can this be considered acceptable?