Council given powers to tackle anti-social behaviour

Fines for anti-social behaviour can now be handed out by council officers in Torbay town centre.

Devon and Cornwall Police has given extra powers to a number of Torbay Council's officers through the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS).

The moves means they can hand out fines for some fixed penalty crimes and request names and addresses.

Insp Rob Harvey, from the police force, said: "It's now about widening that police family, so that we can still be visible ... (and) then we'll have more success in actually tackling those issues."

The council said six people had been given the additional powers and a further three were going through the vetting process.

These include town centre officers and those from SWISCo, a council-owned team that manages some services.

CSAS powers can only be granted by the Chief Constable and an accredited person must:

• Be in uniform and on duty
• Display the CSAS logo on their uniform
• Carry with them both a card identifying powers they are accredited with and a police-issued ID badge

It added people who did not comply with requests would be committing an offence.

Low level crime has fallen in areas where CSAS has been introduced, the council said.

Its town centre office manager, Darren Brown, said being granted the powers was a step foward.

"Before, if we had stopped anyone for anything and [said] what's your name, they [didn't] have to give us anything, but now they have to give us the details."

Councillor David Thomas said he was "delighted" by the move.

"It is about investment in our town centres not just with regeneration ... but how we actually make the town centre into the kind of place that our residents have told us they want it to be."

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.