Police boss says he has 'never felt unsafe being in Eastbourne'

Eastbourne had been highlighted in national news reports that focused on drug offences including county line operations – where drugs are moved from cities into more rural areas.

Detective Chief Superintendent Till Sanderson told the Herald: "It is not the Eastbourne that I recognise, that is for sure, and I have good knowledge of Eastbourne. I am not saying it is a perfect town, and there are issues that we wish weren't there and we do tackle, but it is certainly not the Eastbourne I recognise, and I have never felt unsafe being in Eastbourne."

The interview with Detective Chief Superintendent Sanderson, who joined Sussex Police in 1993 on patrol in Eastbourne, also comes following news that the number of crimes reported in the town centre in July was the highest it has been in at least three years.

Detective Chief Superintendent Sanderson explained that the force has noticed an increase in thefts, and more specifically shopliftings.

He added: “Although I haven't done any in-depth analysis, when the cost of living is becoming more difficult for certain people I don't suppose that it is that surprising unfortunately. We have also improved some of our reporting processes."

He also touched on the trends relating to young offenders in the town.

He said: "Certainly in Eastbourne we had an issue [with young offenders], it did increase from February through to June.”

He added: “That has come down and most of that was to do with, unfortunately, assaults. That accounted for 39 per cent of youth crimes in Eastbourne. Happily, most of those assaults had no injury."

He said: "It is an area that causes concern, but it is also having a lot of resources put into it as well."

In regards to knife crime, he explained that just 3.3 per cent of youth offending in Eastbourne is related to weapons.

He said: "Obviously Eastbourne, for [East] Sussex, being our major urban area, it has higher levels of crime than the surrounding areas - as any urban area does. But happily we haven't been affected by the same problem of knife crime as many other areas nationally."