Police have vowed that they will continue to relentlessly target those who bring drugs into the town, carry knives and commit crime.

The warning comes after class A drugs were taken off the streets of Lowestoft in recent weeks, and two teenagers were charged in connection with an aggravated burglary that involved a knife.

Locality inspector Liz Casey, who is responsible for the two Safer Neighbourhood Teams in Lowestoft, Beccles and Bungay, said: 'We work very closely with our officers from Response Policing, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, East Scorpion and CID teams.

'Every day it is always a team effort to achieve positive results. We had an incredibly positive week earlier this month taking class A drugs off the street.

'We will relentlessly target those who think it's acceptable to bring drugs into our town, carry knives and commit crime.

'We have no active County Lines due to the ongoing hard work by our officers.

'Our main objectives are to keep everyone safe, support victims and address offenders and their unacceptable and criminal behaviour.'

According to the latest Police.UK figures, in January this year 632 crimes were reported in the Lowestoft SNT area as 108 crimes were reported in the Beccles and Bungay SNT area.

Insp Casey said: 'We are doing everything we can to lock up criminals and instil a strong sense of confidence with what we are doing.

'It is imperative and so important we have that relationship with local community, business and partner agencies.

'One of my biggest frustrations is that people don't tell us about crimes but will instead post it on social media rather than contacting us directly – the sooner we know the sooner we can start to investigate and take appropriate action.'

Parking, particularly outside schools, was also highlighted as one of the main concerns raised within the community.

Insp Casey said: 'We work, and will continue to work, with the community and schools – it needs to be a team effort and taking appropriate action where necessary.

'The people of Lowestoft, Beccles and Bungay are fantastic in that they are passionate, enthusiastic and supportive of the collective work that takes place to keep it a safe and thriving place and I am extremely proud and privileged to be playing a key role in ensuring it remains that way.'

Concerns raised

Despite the positive successes recently, Insp Casey slammed a worrying spate of assaults on police officers.

Insp Casey said: 'We have an incredible team of officers who are dedicated, love their job and are passionate about what they do, and it's my role to support them all.

'We have had a number of officers assaulted recently. The role of a police officer is a continually challenging one and we need to protect their wellbeing.

'Such assaults on police are completely unacceptable and the legislation from November 2018, whereby the specific offence of assaulting an emergency worker was introduced giving the courts great powers to deal with such offences, was very much welcomed by us and our emergency colleagues.

'We have done a lot of partnership work with the Thin Ice Project keeping people safe in the cold weather. The Fyffe Centre have been incredible supporting those in need so a huge thank you Tracy and her team, Lowestoft Rising, Access Community Trust and Lowestoft Foodbank.'