Violent Crime is an issue all of Darlington’s services take very seriously, it spoils people’s image of the town and costs local services a large amount of money that could be spent on other things, including police and hospitals.
Although violent crime statistics have risen nationally Darlington is working hard to tackle the problem.
Violence and bad behaviour will not be tolerated in Darlington
CDRP Activity
The CDRP has an action plan for dealing with violent crime, progress on the actions is reported to the CDRP executive Board regularly. Some examples of the actions include:
Licence holders in Darlington undergo regular monitoring to ensure they comply with standards and do not sell alcohol anyone under 18. Most pubs, clubs and off-licences in Darlington have now signed up to Challenge 21, meaning they will ask for identification from anyone who looks under 21.
Darlington CCTV are now watching taxi ranks, in addition to extra police patrols in the area, this makes it more likely anyone acting violently will be caught.
Durham Constabulary is running a number of initiatives in Darlington town centre late at night. Working with door staff and CCTV they are getting to incidents quicker.
Publicity campaigns on Century FM and in the Town Crier have explained the consequences of violent behaviour to residents.
The CDRP also has a Domestic Abuse action plan, which will also have an effect on Violent Crime figures for the area.