
Bedfordshire Crime Commissioner launches new plan to tackle crime
Tizard confirmed the scheme would see "more police and community support officers on the street" and "a community enforcement team that will move across the county between the six areas, as and when necessary".He added: "We are seeing town centres where there was so much going on both in terms of retail, hospitality, culture [and] social activity, but we are finding that people feel unsafe."Often in the late evening and early morning where we were seeing the misuse of drugs and alcohol, and women particularly feeling unsafe on the streets at that time of night."He said the scheme would also be "using modern technology to observe what is going on and CCTV from local authorities as well".
Loss of control
In a letter to the chief constable of Bedfordshire Police in May, Tom Wootton, the Conservative Mayor of Bedford, said that "town centres in both Bedford and Kempston, feel they are under siege". In his letter he added: "Shoplifting is rampant, anti-social behaviour is unchecked, aggressive begging was intimidating residents and visitors alike."Wootton demanded "an urgent and substantial increase" in officer presence in the borough's town centres.Speaking on the letter, Tizard said the mayor "used language I would not have used to describe what was going on in Bedford town centre", but he confirmed Wootton would be involved in the launch of the Bedford element of his summer plan.He said that he and the mayor "have the same objective to make Bedford safer" and "whether it is in the urban part of Bedford or the rural part of the borough of Bedford, people should feel safe and get their fair share of policing and other community resources".
Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Huddersfield schoolboy's killers stab man in prison
Two teenage killers stabbed a fellow inmate in prison six months after being jailed for murdering a 15-year-old boy as he walked home from Jovani Harriott, 19, and Jakele Pusey, 17, were detained for life in 2023 after stabbing to death Khayri Mclean outside North Huddersfield Trust School in Crown Court heard earlier that six months after being sentenced for the murder, the pair were together at HMP Wetherby when they and two other teenagers launched a group attack on another prisoner in the and Harriott both pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and possession of a knife in prison. Harriott and Pusey were given minimum terms of 16 and 18 years, respectively, for the schoolboy's killing. The pair had lain in wait for Khayri outside his Huddersfield school, wearing masks and carrying large knives, before attacking him in front of other pupils. The court heard footage of the prison attack in November 2023 showed Harriott and Pusey standing against the gym wall, watching the victim while he was working he knelt on the bench to do some weights, one of their co-defendants, who the judge said could not be named as he is 17 and has never been identified publicly, hit the victim in the court heard it appeared to be the trigger for the planned attack, as within a split second of the punch, Pusey and Harriott came off the wall and started to punch the victim. The three of them chased him across the gym floor into a corner and punched, kicked and stamped on him. Pusey and Harriott also stabbed him with improvised weapons.A judge heard that a fourth person, Thomas Murray, 18, joined in the attack, which lasted just under a minute before it was broken up by security court heard it was unclear what the cause of the attack was, but the victim appeared to have "beef" with the 17-year-old who threw the first mitigation for Pusey, the court heard at that early point in his sentence, he had not engaged with psychiatrists and had now "started to make progress in terms of starting to think about why these offences have been committed".The judge heard Harriott is to undertake an anger management course and that "a great deal can change" before he is in his 30s and can be considered for who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to 32 months in prison, on top of his sentence for murdering Khayri.A judge lifted a reporting restriction that prevented him from being identified due to his age, saying he had already been named in the murder who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to a further 38 months in who, like Pusey and Harriott, pleaded guilty to a Section 18 assault causing grievous bodily harm, was sentenced to 30 months' 17-year-old, who pleaded guilty to a Section 20 assault, was sentenced to 36 months' imprisonment. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.


BBC News
8 hours ago
- BBC News
Flitwick man charged with attempted murder after stabbing
A man has been charged with attempted murder after another man was left with life-threatening injuries. Bedfordshire Police was called to reports of a stabbing in The Hawthorns, Flitwick at about 22:50 BST on 17 July. Emergency services attended and a man in his 30s was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition. David Butler, 60, of The Hawthorns, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. He appeared at Luton Magistrates' court on Monday and was remanded into custody and is due at Luton Crown Court on 18 August. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.


The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Drug dealer texted police accidentally
Jack Johannesen, 23, from Sandy, Bedfordshire, has been sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison for drug dealing and breaching bail conditions. He was caught after mistakenly sending a group text message advertising his new drug line to the phone of a police officer who had previously been involved in his arrest. Johannesen was part of an organised crime group operating across Biggleswade and Sandy, dealing in cannabis, crack cocaine, and heroin. Police initially arrested him in October, recovering multiple phones, including one he had smashed, which revealed he had contacted over 400 numbers for drug deals. Following his re-arrest in November due to the mistaken text, officers seized more cannabis, nearly £2,000 in cash, and high-value designer goods.