This is why there was heavy police activity in Doncaster city centre this morning

A dedicated operation to tackle retail crime, antisocial behaviour and drug offences is underway in the city centre today as part of the regular Operation Duxford project.

A large cohort of officers descended on Sir Nigel Gresley Square earlier this morning for a briefing with a number of coordinated activities taking place throughout the day to tackle crime in the city centre.

A key focus of this Operation Duxford is retail crime.

Over the past few months, dedicated retail crime teams have been gathering intelligence to target known shoplifters and today’s operation has seen police carry out proactive patrols to engage with shopkeepers and gather more vital intelligence on the patterns and behaviours of suspected thieves.

Inspector Lisa Bird, of Doncaster Central NPT, said: “We have listened to the concerns you have raised and we have recognised that in order to make people feel safe in the city centre, we need to combat retail crime, antisocial behaviour and drug offences.

“We have a dedicated team tackling these issues and this Operation Duxford is an opportunity to show you that we will not tolerate crime here."

Activities planned as part of Operation Duxford include planned visits by Modern Slavery teams to various retail outlets, checks by Trading Standards, a knife arch in Frenchgate Shopping Centre and engagement events with local schools.

Anyone wanting to report crime and anti-social behaviour can contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.