Nine months on from starting the job, Andover’s street rangers say they’re making a tangible impact on the high street.

The rangers have been patrolling since September, when they were first introduced by Andover’s Business Improvement District (BID). They are empowered with certain abilities by Hampshire’s Chief Constable, such as requiring members of the public to give their name and address.

“I know that I’m making a difference,” said David Lacey, one of the rangers. “You can see that on the streets, there is a difference since we started.”

Andover’s rangers were first announced in July 2020, and began patrolling the high street in September. Under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, they have certain powers normally belonging to just police officers, such as the power to confiscate tobacco and alcohol from underage users and logs to deal with persistent begging.

Since starting, David says that while he used to work on the doors of venues in Andover, he’s got to know the town and people much more, saying that his knowledge of giving directions is like a taxi driver’s.

“It’s been good for the past nine months,” he said. “I thought I knew the town well, but I know it a lot better than I did.”

Izzy, who lives in Andover, says that it’s “very different” working on the streets than just being a resident.

“You see a lot more than you thought you would when you’re patrolling,” she said. “You get to know everyone pretty well, and you get regulars who know your name.”

Izzy said that Andover is like most towns and cities the rangers work across, and that some people have to be dealt with them time and time again.

“We see people that we know in every town,” she said. “They travel between them and we end up dealing with them over and over.”

David agrees, saying that in Andover they deal with a lot of anti-social behaviour. He says that there’s never a normal day while working as a ranger.

“You can go through a shift with no major incidents one day,” he said, “and then the next everything happens at once.”

Izzy added that sometimes, nothing happens until 10 minutes before the end of a shift, and then they stay on to deal with an incident as it occurs.

Dealing with incidents has led to some concerns from residents that the rangers are replacing police officers in town, but David says that they work alongside each other to build cases, though he admits work needs to be done.

“Our relationship wth the police is improving and getting better,” he said. “There are some improvements needed, like knowing how we can fit in better with them, but we’re getting there.”

For now, the rangers are continuing to work with police, councils and organisations like Andover Mind to continue their work on Andover’s streets.

“We need to keep doing what we’re doing,” said David. “It’s improving day by day. We’ve had some tremendous results, and we want to keep that going.”