Shoplifting and speeding are the current district-wide priorities of the police in East Hampshire.

These were decided at the latest East Hampshire tactical planning meeting chaired by Chief Inspector Matt Moss.

Ch Insp Moss said: “This is where we review all the current policing activity, crime reports and community feedback to identify and target issues that are ongoing.”

Two localised priorities were also identified - dealing with anti-social behaviour around the town centre, The Shed and the Forest Centre in Bordon, and disrupting the supply of drugs in Alton.

Ch Insp Moss added: “I have given some detail on most of these before, albeit the drugs supply issue is new this month. We have been working on this in the background, but we have added it as a priority this month to ensure that the hard work we are doing in this area is reflected in our recorded priorities.”

He acknowledged that with the demands on the modern police service, East Hampshire officers “definitely do less” of the traditional foot patrol, but added: “Having said that, we do still patrol on foot.”

There was good news in terms of recorded crime and crimes solved in East Hampshire during April, May and June.

Recorded crime was down 8.6 per cent on the same period last year, which equated to 132 fewer crimes.

Some 13.1 per cent of recorded crime was solved, compared to 12 per cent for the same three months in 2025.

In numerical terms East Hampshire police solved 192 crimes, as against 162 in that period last year.

Ch Insp Moss said: “My teams are working very hard as always, and clearly there is still much to do. But hopefully you will agree with me that solving more crimes in terms of pure numbers when there have been less committed is a positive step.”