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A police crackdown on crime and antisocial behaviour in Newport city centre should be extended or made permanent, according to councillors.
An eight-week targeting of the city centre, nicknamed Operation Krypton, has bolstered the confidence of Newport residents and traders, a council meeting heard.
Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, who leads the local authority, said the high-profile operation was “making a real difference”.
But he said there was “concern from businesses and residents that Operation Krypton is just a surge [which] doesn’t continue”.
“They would like a consistent pattern of policing to that level, or close to that level, to ensure those people with issues don’t try to ‘re-dominate’ the city’s public space,” he said.
Gwent Police superintendent Esyr Jones said the operation was due to run until the start of September, and “provides a significant suppressive effect to some of the issues we’ve seen in the city centre”.
He told councillors the crackdown is “just the start for us”, however, and the force would be continuing to work with other organisations – such as the Probation Service – “to make sure the difference you are seeing now is sustained throughout the winter months and beyond”.
But the superintendent admitted the force faced challenges, and said “the ability to send people to prison, potentially, is far less than it used to be”.
Cllr Matthew Evans, who leads the Conservative group in the council chamber, asked how recent changes to sentencing guidelines in Wales and England have impacted the police’s ability to deal with troublemakers.
“When you look at people who traditionally have gone to prison for upwards of 12 months, that provided us as a community and the police an opportunity to essentially have a firebreak,” replied Supt Jones.
“Those opportunities have pretty much gone now. We certainly have more people with more complex needs on our streets.”
Cllr David Fouweather, another Conservative, asked the council leader how the local authority would support the police to “carry on with this proactive stance” against city-centre problems.
He said Operation Krypton had been “welcome news for traders, shoppers and businesses in the city centre and will help the general public feel safe”.
But the authorities should not let that crackdown “fizzle out, allowing the mob once again to rule our city centre”.
Cllr Batrouni agreed the operation should not “fizzle out” and said Supt Jones had reassured the council on the need for a “constant presence”.
An empty shopfront could serve as a contact point in the city centre for people who need to reach the police, Cllr Fouweather suggested.
“We have daily discussions with the police about what more we can do as a local authority as well to help them in their activities, and if the police request a space – I don’t believe they have – but if they request a space, we will actively work with them to see how we could do that and how it could be resourced,” replied Cllr Batrouni.