POLICE patrolling in Royston during the World Cup was a success, councillors have been told. And Sgt Clive Reader said one reason was due to a lot of co-operation between police and pub landlords. He told members of the Royston area committee of North H

POLICE patrolling in Royston during the World Cup was a success, councillors have been told.

And Sgt Clive Reader said one reason was due to "a lot of co-operation" between police and pub landlords.

He told members of the Royston area committee of North Herts District Council that there had not been one arrest, nor any incidents of public disorder.

Sgt Reader said patrolling the pubs and other licensed premises during World Cup matches had made a "difference".

The pub patrols were introduced after talks between police and landlords in the period leading up to the World Cup.

Sgt Reader said, however, residents were still worried about anti-social behaviour which was not related to the World Cup.

"This is an area where there is great concern to people locally," he said when talking about Operation Jail, a new move in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Every licensed premises now has marked bottles and cans with an indelible code which shows where alcohol is being purchased.

These are checked when discarded containers are collected from around the area.

Turning to crime figures for the April-July period, Sgt Reader said there had been an increase in thefts from motor vehicles.

He believed that police were dealing with organised gangs who were stealing such items as laptop computers that had been left in vehicles.

Police, he said, were shortly to launch a crime prevention campaign at the Tesco store car park.