With five officers working on each shift each day, the team work closely with other authorities to tackle and report any issues that arise, including working with the Outreach Team to help rough sleepers; stopping people cycling in areas where it is not permitted and reporting any criminal activity to the police.

To ensure that council staff can carry out their day-to-day duties safely, each officer will wear a body warn camera, which will only be activated if an incident arises.

Staff should, where possible, make a verbal announcement that they have started the recording to ensure those captured by the camera lens and microphone are aware that they are now being recorded.

The protocol to operate the body warn camera takes a range of legislation into account to ensure the equipment is used correctly as part of the officers’ Personal Protection Equipment and all footage captured is managed and processed correctly in line with the Data Protection Act 2018.

Any evidence that is obtained using these cameras will be able to be used in the court of law, to ensure those carrying out anti-social behaviour and criminality in the city centre can be identified and appropriate steps can be taken.

The City Centre Warden team is funding by the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.