PENARTH Police are set to launch a dedicated hotline to deal with crime over the festive period.

The mobile phone number will be used by shops between 8am and 11pm on weekdays, and pubs and clubs between 8am and 3am on weekends.

The phone number, which will be launched on November 24, will be used by local police as there was a “bit of a delay” with the non-emergency 101 phone number.

Sergeant Ioan Jones revealed a 40 per cent fall in crime between August and October during a town council meeting last night (November 13), but said that local police would be stepping up patrols from December 1 onwards as there was usually a spike in crime over the Christmas period.

He said that police wearing both plain clothes and high visibility uniforms would be stepping up patrols in a bid to target shoplifters in the town centre.

He said that overall in August there were 82 crimes committed; there had been a drop of 12 in September to 70, and a further drop to 54 in October.

Comparing August and September he said that the number of burglaries had fallen from eight to three, criminal damage had fallen from 18 to five and ‘other offences’ had dropped from 28 to 21.

He added that from September to October criminal damage increased from five to 11, burglaries increased from three to six, and other offences increased from none to two.

‘Other theft’, which usually includes shoplifting, fell from 21 to 12, while theft from motor vehicles fell from seven to three.

He said that with the amount of offences dropping from 82 in August to 54 in October, of more than 40 per cent, it was “great news as far as we are concerned”.

He added: “Coming up to Christmas there’s a possibility of a spike in shoplifting offences.

“We will be launching an operation to give crime prevention advice and will be working with British Transport Police to do another push bike marking by the St Fagans pub and on the barrage again as that is frequently used by cyclists.

“We will be having plain clothed officers on patrol and more high visibility patrols in the town centre.”

He added that the mobile phone number was being launched as there was a “bit of a delay” with the 101 number, and that the new number would constantly be used by officers.

“It comes in handy at thefts from petrol stations when people make genuine mistakes when they totally forget to pay.”

He added that all incidents like these would be recorded as crimes and would affect statistics.

Penarth Police will also be putting signs on lamp posts saying ‘Criminals Beware. We are watching you’ around the town. He added there had been positive feedback from a similar trial in Bridgend.

Councillor Neil Thomas, who represents the Cornerswell ward, asked if there was usually a spike in house burglaries in December of people trying to steal Christmas presents, and was told by Sgt Jones that police would be focusing on that not just in Penarth but across south Wales, and would be offering crime prevention advice to householders. He added that police tended to concentrate on retail theft and violence against the person over the Christmas period.

Councillor Gwyn Roberts, who represents the St Augustine’s ward, raised concerns about the number of cases of domestic incidents, which went from six to 12 to seven between August and October, and was told that police were working with partner agencies to address the issue