Youth crime a priority for Adur's top cop

Lawrence Hobbs has just spent a year at Brighton in charge of policing major events '“ including Fatboy Slim's New Year's Day beach party '“ and the city's licensing unit.

He shut down about half a dozen pubs and clubs which breached their licences.

Although he takes over the reins of policing one of the county's safest districts '“ reported burglaries in Adur have fallen by 54 per cent in 10 years '“ he is aware of the problems of youth disorder, anti-social behaviour and illegal sales of alcohol to under-18s, which he wants to crack down on.

Chief Insp Hobbs, 40, married with a four-month-old son, Jayden, has served with Sussex Police for 20 years, starting off his probation at Littlehampton, before moving to Gatwick Airport.

He was on patrol at Worthing for three years before spending a year at Shoreham as a sergeant and then moving on the special operations unit at force headquarters for five years.

He moved further east as an inspector at Hastings and then became a force control room inspector.

From 2003 to 2005, he was in charge of planning major operations for events like the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

He said: "I have covered many different areas of policing over the years and this has strengthened my perspective.

"I don't intend to come to Adur and change the way it is policed.

"Obviously, I will look to see what is working and what we can improve. Probably my greatest challenge is trying to change people's perception and fear of crime, and get across the message that Adur is one of the safest places to live and work.

"We will have zero tolerance towards low-level crime and disorder and my message to licensed premises is 'don't break the rules or I will crack down on you hard'.

"I want to tackle youth crime in the district and, if that means using more ASBOs and dispersal zones, so be it."

This week, Chief Insp Hobbs was planning to go back on the beat to get to know the district.

He said: "It is the best way to find out what is happening on the patch."