Portsmouth Eye has been reducing incidents in Portsmouth city centre
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00:00Rescue 2-0, are you with me there?
00:02Yeah, sorry, but bear that one in mind.
00:07Over the last three and a half years, we started off with safety CCTV
00:11and started seeing the crime in Portsmouth go up,
00:15so that's why the CCTV department was introduced.
00:18I then got a dog and we went out on the roads of the night time with the dog.
00:24We started seeing antisocial behaviour and crime.
00:27When we had 14 volunteers, we called it the Portsmouth Eye,
00:30so eyes on the city, keeping everyone safe.
00:34That started to be very successful in the north of the city.
00:40We had an opportunity given to us in December of this year
00:46where we could do a radio scheme for Portsmouth.
00:50We started off in Portsmouth, in Cascades, and we grew it throughout Portsmouth.
00:55We've now got most of the high street off Commercial Road,
00:58Palmerston Road, Caution, North End, and we're working together as a team.
01:03What I like about it is the shops are constantly on the radios
01:07talking about what's going on in the high street.
01:09If there's crime happening, they're passing the information on to the other shops,
01:13which is stopping the crime actually physically happening.
01:16They're deterring it by standing on the front doors.
01:20Knowing what these people are dressed in, how they're acting and so on and so forth
01:24has been a huge benefit.
01:27Since Christmas, we had three or four radios out.
01:32Then we had five, seven, 10, 20, 25, 30, and so on.
01:39We built it up across the whole city.
01:42I've got to say a big thanks has got to go to all the shop users
01:47because without them, the scheme wouldn't work.
01:51We had the opportunity to have the database disk,
01:55which is linked into all the other shops.
01:57Basically, they can put on offenders onto the system,
02:01and that can be shared across the city to other users of disk.
02:06The police have been absolutely fantastic in Portsmouth.
02:11They've actually got a radio theirself.
02:13They've got a call sign.
02:15Everyone's got a call sign, so you never say the name of the shop,
02:18so you don't put no one in danger.
02:20The police have got a radio, Portsmouth City Council control room.
02:24Absolutely amazing.
02:27I cannot thank them enough because they're working with the shops,
02:33with ourselves, and across the whole community,
02:37and we are catching these people.
02:39We're using the cameras, we're using the radios,
02:44and we're using the database linked all together with all of these users on it.
02:49Basically, it's coming across,
02:52and we're actually bringing the crime rate in Commercial Road down.
02:58It's been brilliant, actually.
03:00The Portsmouth Eye, the radio system,
03:03we're all interlinked with each other throughout the high street.
03:07So since we've had the actual Portsmouth Eye with the radios,
03:11we've actually been able to catch quite a few prolific offenders.
03:16They're getting them off the high street.
03:18We're all noticing them a lot more.
03:20The rates have gone down a lot more, I would say, with them.
03:24I mean, Andy, who runs it, is absolutely fantastic.
03:27Just the amount of people that we're stopping at the moment.
03:29I mean, just the other day,
03:31we had a recognized prolific shoplifter on the high street,
03:34and myself, the Portsmouth Eye, Portsmouth City Council,
03:38and the police all worked together into tracking those people,
03:42and they were found with nearly six grand's worth of stolen goods on them,
03:46which he actually managed to retrieve,
03:48and actually that's a massive, massive bonus
03:51and amazing job from all of us, actually, to get that much stock back.
03:54And it wasn't just clothes. It was food. It was everything.
03:57I mean, you name it, they had it in their car. It was crazy.
04:00So yeah, it's been fantastic.
04:02And before that, crime rates were horrendous.
04:04We were getting chased around the shop.
04:06You'd get people just coming in.
04:08They just take what they want. I mean, they still do it now.
04:10Don't get me wrong.
04:11There's still people that will walk in the shop
04:12and walk out with it in their arms.
04:13They just don't care.
04:14However, the people that were prolific,
04:16they don't want to come around so much anymore
04:18because they know that they can and will be stopped.
04:20So yeah, it's been fantastic.
04:22As a company, we've been here for 34 years,
04:25but Karen, she retired just after COVID,
04:28so I've took over from her.
04:29So since we've had the Eye follow,
04:32it's been amazing down here
04:34because I used to see such a lot of crime,
04:35such a lot of shoplifting,
04:37and, you know, they all seem to be on it now.
04:41So in the mornings, especially when I'm setting up,
04:43we get quite a lot of people that are homeless
04:45and drug dependent and stuff like that.
04:47So it was quite bad with all that type of stuff.
04:50And then as soon as the shops was open,
04:52they'd be in there thieving and stuff like that.
04:54I was a little bit, when I first took over,
04:56a little bit nervous of taking over,
04:58but since I've had this
05:00and all the guys in the shops
05:02will seem to be in contact
05:04and looking out for each other,
05:05it's so much better, you know.
05:07Were you worried about it beforehand?
05:09Yeah, yeah.
05:10Honestly, it's made such a difference.
05:12It's only been a few months I've had it,
05:14but it's made such a difference.
05:15Yeah, it's been...
05:16Have, like, incidents gone down since?
05:18Yeah, I think so.
05:19Yeah, I think, I mean, you still get the odds,
05:21shoplifting, you do, you know,
05:23but it has made a massive difference to us,
05:26all of us.
05:27I've got a camera,
05:28the coffee stand's got a camera,
05:30and, I mean, these guys keep an eye out for us.
05:32And, yeah, it's been so much better.
05:35It's been really good and it's improved
05:37and shoplifting's slowly going down.
05:40Obviously, you're not going to get it overnight, so...
05:43It was a real issue beforehand
05:44around November coming up to December.
05:47What was that experience like
05:49for yourself and the staff members here?
05:51Obviously, it's not a nice experience
05:53for any of the staff to have to
05:55basically argue and fight with shoplifters
05:57on a daily basis.
05:59So...
06:00And since being a part of Fortify,
06:02you said that that experience
06:04has helped out an awful lot
06:05and shoplifting rates have gone down.
06:07Are you positive for the future
06:09that that will keep going?
06:10Oh, hopefully, yeah.
06:11So, hopefully, more people will get involved
06:13in Fortify.
06:14Obviously, more shops work together,
06:15more it tackles the crime, basically.
06:20So, business owners and shop workers
06:22have had enough with shoplifting
06:23and antisocial behaviour on the high street.
06:25They hope that by joining Fortify
06:27and coming together to tackle crime in the city,
06:30that it can bring numbers down
06:31and increase football up for the high street.
06:33Many of them said that there's already been
06:35a positive impact over the past few months
06:37and it's just a hope that this continues
06:39for the better future of the city.
06:41Freddie Webber, Portsmouth News, Commercial Road.