New beat officers to tackle anti-social behaviour
BBCThe number of community beat officers in Cumbria has risen by nearly 45% amid concerns about anti-social behaviour.
Cumbria Constabulary has increased its community beat officers from 58 to 84 by returning officers to frontline roles and creating new posts.
The additional officers will be deployed across urban and rural communities, including Eden, Kendal, Barrow, Carlisle, Wigton, Allerdale and Copeland.
The increase comes as businesses report ongoing vandalism and abuse, with one cinema spending £5,000 on repairs this year.
Graves Cumberland, which runs the cinema in Workington, said the money had been spent repairing its lift and front door after what it described as needless vandalism.
Managing director Daryl Davidson said groups of young people could be intimidating for staff.
"They tend to be in groups so there's probably a ringleader and then you get a group of hangers-on. There's a hardcore who literally call you all the names under the sun and are very unpleasant."
She said the cinema wanted a more visible police presence and did not want to put employees at risk from confrontation.
"We don't bother the police unless we need their support. When we do that, I want to see them respond," she said.
Cumbria's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner David Allen said the force was in discussions with the cinema over the issues.
"What I will guarantee is you will see more police," he said. "There are more police on the streets. We are investing in our neighbourhood police offer.
"We do need to work with the cinema to make sure that they're getting what they want and we also need to work with the youth groups in and around."
'We're here, we're visible'
At the end of September, dispersal orders were used in Carlisle after more than 100 young people gathered in the city centre causing trouble.
Police say the public has an important role to play in tackling anti-social behaviour, including parents keeping track of their children.
Residents are being urged to report incidents directly to officers, rather than assuming officers see complaints on social media.
Sgt Josh Brown, based in Workington, said: "Facebook isn't a reporting route for us. We need to know what's going on. We will have people complain that there's issues and it will be in the comments section of a post that we might not even be aware of."
He said officers wanted to be accessible to the communities they served.
"We're here, we're visible and we want people to come and speak to us, we want people to engage with us and we want people to tell us your issues so we can deal with them effectively," Sgt Brown added.
