The first responder series 999: What's Your Emergency returns with an episode about the high street and how it's become the focus for anti-social behaviour
As a new series of 999: What's Your Emergency gets underway, a special episode focusing on the decline of the high street and the rise of anti-social behaviour (Monday, 9pm, see our TV Guide for full details).
As high streets have become more derelict, thanks to the twin pulls of out-of-town and online shopping, they have become increasingly the focus for all sorts of anti-social behaviour.
In the last five years Northamptonshire’s police have seen a 78 per cent increase in the number of arrests for carrying a knife or weapon.
MORE: 999: What's Your Emergency
We catch up with PCs Louise O'Sullivan and Sean Whelan as they attend a call from a distraught homeless man who has taken refuge in a shop after being threatened with a knife.
It is no surprise to PC Sean Whelan: "Going back 15 years ago, the town centre was the heart of the community. For me now, it's somewhere I don't go."
Grim and sobering viewing.
TV Times rating: ***
