The more than sixty thousand pound scheme comes as shop workers say they have seen an increase in shoplifting and counterfeit money.
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00:00On the lookout for antisocial behaviour, but this team aren't police officers.
00:05Turnbridge and Morling Borough Council are spending £65,000 until the autumn
00:10on a new six-person unit to deal with rowdy behaviour.
00:14In the last hour, it's been fine.
00:17Yeah, but your main issues are in the evening, aren't they, if you ever need.
00:20Apparently so.
00:21The officers have the power to confiscate alcohol and issue fixed notices of £100
00:26to those caught breaching public space protection orders.
00:29A month since the beginning of the pilot,
00:31the community safety unit say they've already seen successes
00:34in tackling fly-tipping and drink and drug use in public spaces.
00:39Unfortunately, the police are stretched.
00:41Yeah, they have a lot of work to do,
00:43so it's beneficial with this extra bit of security for the public.
00:47Yeah, we can deal.
00:49We do operations with the police, as it is.
00:51We do joint operations with the police.
00:53And I just think the more people out there that can reassure the community
00:56and take the pressure off the police, the better.
00:59Whether it is children catapulting animals,
01:04whether it is drugs, reports of people underage drinking,
01:08whatever the council have asked us to look out for.
01:11Like fly-tipping, unfortunately, seems to be a big one.
01:13We're coming across in some of the boroughs.
01:15Yeah, anything that can make it easier for everybody in the community.
01:19We're there for the community.
01:20Richard, you told me about the shoplifting for the kids.
01:24I spoke to the council about it.
01:26Staff here at the Holborough Road Co-op
01:28say they've seen a rise in antisocial behaviour in recent years
01:32and that the new officers have already given them more confidence at work.
01:36I'm really happy with that, actually.
01:38It seems to be really helping to deter them
01:40and take away a little bit more of the issues that we have to deal with.
01:45Lots of shoplifting, lots of counterfeit money.
01:48Obviously, we've got a post office,
01:50so we have to be careful with the guys in there.
01:52Yeah, it seems to be a more common thing now
01:55than what it was a few years ago.
01:57As you can see, it's a lovely, warm day here on Snodland High Street,
02:02but that does come with increased concerns.
02:05Last summer, there were around 70 incidents of antisocial behaviour a month
02:10in Tunbridge and Moorling,
02:12and the council hope that these new enforcement officers
02:15will help address that problem for the coming summer this year.
02:19I'll be absolutely honest with you.
02:21I want a lot more officers doing this scheme,
02:23but we have to start somewhere.
02:25So this project is fundamentally, for this summer,
02:28what we're going to do is we're going to learn from it.
02:30We're going to learn the best practice from everything we're doing.
02:32It's quite innovative, so it's very difficult.
02:34I don't think there's anywhere else in Kent doing a scheme like this.
02:37Otherwise, I would have looked at it and taken the best practice from it.
02:40But certainly, what I'd like to do is double the size,
02:42even triple the size of these officers, but we've got to start somewhere.
02:45The scheme is set to be reviewed in October,
02:48but with some successes already,
02:50many here already want to see this scheme continue.
02:54Oliver Leeds of the Sats for KMTV in Snodland.