Police Scotland has assigned officers to weekday city-centre patrols, while new council enforcement staff are expected to extend coverage across Perth and Kinross from August.
Police Scotland officers have begun daily weekday patrols in Perth city centre as part of an expanded response to anti-social behaviour and concerns raised by residents and businesses.
Perth and Kinross Council has also recruited new Community Support and Enforcement Officers, who are expected to increase patrols across the wider council area from August.
The measures combine visible policing, council enforcement, work with schools and proposed environmental improvements. Extra street-cleaning patrols are planned for identified locations, while the council is considering investment in additional equipment to keep streets and vennels clean.
Some parts of the programme are already operating. The police officers are now patrolling Perth city centre on weekdays. The council officers are due to increase coverage next month. Investment in new cleaning equipment remains under consideration rather than confirmed.
Council leader Eric Drysdale said residents and businesses had raised concerns about anti-social behaviour and that the additional resources would be directed towards areas where problems had been identified.
“The introduction of two city centre police officers will provide a visible presence, a direct point of contact for residents, businesses and visitors, and additional reassurance for people using the city centre,” he said.
Police Scotland’s Perth and Kinross team is led by Chief Inspector Jamie Allen and already works with council services and other agencies through local community-policing arrangements. The force says local priorities are informed by public surveys, community meetings, reports from residents and intelligence about recurring problems.
Chief Inspector Allen said the officers would engage with businesses, residents and visitors while identifying emerging problems and developing a clearer understanding of local concerns.
“These officers will engage directly with local businesses, residents and visitors, act as a clear point of contact for anyone with concerns and help us identify and respond quickly to emerging issues,” he said.
The city-centre deployment is also intended to allow the council’s Community Support and Enforcement Officers to spend more time elsewhere in Perth and Kinross.
The council’s enforcement service covers a broader range of responsibilities than policing. Its officers deal with anti-social behaviour, environmental offences, community safeguarding, emergency response and visitor-management problems. The council describes the service as providing visible, intelligence-led patrols and acting as the “eyes and ears” of communities, working with Police Scotland and other public bodies.
The expansion follows an earlier council review which proposed bringing parking and community-safety functions into a single Community Support and Enforcement Service. The stated aim was to make staff more visible, allow resources to move more easily between locations and reduce dependence on small groups of seasonal officers.
The new recruitment therefore forms part of a longer restructuring process rather than a wholly separate service.
National increase in recorded incidents
The announcement comes after a rise in several categories of recorded crime and disorder across Scotland.
Police recorded 51,531 anti-social offences in Scotland during 2025–26, an increase of seven per cent from the previous year. The total remained 35 per cent below the level recorded ten years earlier. These figures count incidents recorded by the police and do not capture all behaviour experienced or reported through councils, landlords, schools and businesses.
Retail crime is a separate but connected concern. Councillor Drysdale said senior council officials had met the First Minister, senior police officers and local retailers to discuss increased offending against businesses.
Police Scotland established a national Retail Crime Taskforce in April 2025. During its first year, the taskforce supported more than 1,300 arrests and 6,400 charges, while the national shoplifting total rose by 19 per cent. Dedicated taskforce resources are now operating in Tayside as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Enforcement and early intervention
The partnership says its approach will combine enforcement with prevention and support.
Council officers are working with education staff to identify young people displaying problematic behaviour, contact parents or guardians and provide support before incidents escalate.
The council’s wider anti-social behaviour strategy recognises the need for early intervention, information sharing and coordinated action between housing, police, education and community services. Its Safer Communities Hub is staffed by police officers and receives concerns involving crime trends, vulnerable people, environmental problems and complex cases for multi-agency action.
Street cleaning forms another part of the announcement. Litter, waste and poorly maintained spaces can affect how safe and cared-for an area feels, and the council says clearing litter across Perth and Kinross already costs more than £2 million each year.
Cleaning patrols can improve the condition of streets and remove some visible signs of disorder. They cannot replace policing, youth work, addiction services, housing intervention or action against repeat offenders. The council’s decision to combine those different responses acknowledges that anti-social behaviour is not one problem with a single cause.
Sources
Perth and Kinross Council — Additional resources to tackle anti-social behaviour
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/news
Perth and Kinross Council — Community Support and Enforcement Team
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/24735/Community-Support-and-Enforcement-Team
Perth and Kinross Council — Community support and safeguarding
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/21777/Community-Support-and-safeguarding
Perth and Kinross Council — Safer Communities Hub
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/21774/Safer-Communities-Hub
Perth and Kinross Council — Provision of Visitor Management Service
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/24554/Elected-Member-Briefing-Provision-of-Visitor-Management-Service
Perth and Kinross Council — Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/media/46507/Antisocial-Behaviour-Strategy/pdf/Antisocial_Behaviour_Strategy_Final.pdf
Police Scotland — Perth and Kinross community policing team
https://www.scotland.police.uk/your-community-team/tayside/perth-and-kinross/
Police Scotland — Retail Crime Taskforce helps detect more than 500 crimes in first six months
https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-happening/news/2025/october/retail-crime-taskforce-helps-detect-over-500-crimes-in-first-six-months/
Police Scotland — More than 1,300 arrests in first year of Retail Crime Taskforce
https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-happening/news/2026/may/over-1-300-arrests-in-first-year-of-retail-crime-taskforce/
Scottish Government — Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025–26
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2025-26/
Scottish Government — Anti-social offences, 2025–26
https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2025-26/pages/antisocial-offences/
Perth and Kinross Council — Litter and fly-tipping
https://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/14826/Litter-and-flytipping
