A walkabout of Stevenage conducted by the Safer Neighbourhood Team and members of the borough council resulted in an arrest of a homeless man on suspicion of theft.
The man, who was found sleeping rough in a bin store in Broom Walk, was arrested on suspicion of theft from motor vehicles on Wednesday.
A woman who was with him was offered safeguarding advice and re-assessed by the council’s housing outreach team.
The walkabout also found a man on the top floor of The Towers, who they referred to the outreach charity Haven.
Stevenage Community Safety Sergeant, Chris Adshead, said: “We must balance the needs of the whole community and it’s important that we work with the homeless to ensure there is awareness around what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of the associated anti-social behaviour, which sometimes manifests itself in such situations.”
Last year, under the Prevention First initiative, Operation Urban was launched across Stevenage and North Herts to respond to the issue of homelessness and offer support.
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