Campaign urges people to help tackle gang crime

Crimestoppers wants people in Tunstall to be aware they can report crime anonymously to the charity

Independent charity Crimestoppers has launched a new campaign in a Stoke-on-Trent town, aimed at raising awareness of its anonymous reporting service.

Anyone with information on gang crime – even if it seems insignificant - could play a crucial role in helping make Tunstall safer, the charity said.

The new campaign would help the charity promote the importance of speaking up, it added.

"We know that behind every statistic is a personal story - a parent afraid for a child's journey to school, a shopkeeper locking up early after dark, a young person pressured to join the wrong crowd," a spokesperson said.

One man told BBC Radio Stoke he had heard "lots of stories" about drug addicts frightening people in the town at night.

"In the daytime, generally, I don't find it's too bad," he said.

"I have noticed that there's a lot more police presence in the town, which I think is reassuring to the public."

One woman said she tried to avoid parts of the town as "you just don't know who's going to be hanging around."

'Privacy protected'

Another woman said boarded up shops gave it the impression of being a place where antisocial behaviour happened, but hoped that money being invested into communal areas would help increase footfall and help people feel safer.

The town had "massively improved" in the past 18 months, another man added, but said it was still always going to have its "pop-up issues" from time to time.

Another said it was not "the town it used to be" and that there had been a "massive increase" in antisocial behaviour.

Alan Edwards, West Midlands regional manager at Crimestoppers, said he understood it was not always easy for people to come forward to report crime.

"That's why Crimestoppers offers a truly anonymous way to share what you know. Your details are never shared, and your privacy is always protected," he said.