Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership predicted the future.

On Tuesday 29th Sept, shortly before 8pm, a homeless man was attacked on Tontine Street, Folkestone.  He was taken to hospital with head and back injuries. He was attacked by around 10 young males, as reported by Kentonline.

It was almost prescient that something of this nature was bound to occur in the location it did.

Twenty one days prior to the incident , an employee of the Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership wrote the following in the Folkestone & Hythe Profile under, Violence Reduction Unit:

• There has been a fall across the County in serious violence offences since Covid-19 restrictions were put in place. Folkestone has at least high scoring County Line activity as of July 2020.

• There has also been an emerging Young Criminal Group identified in recent months. Recent analysis identified the seafront as a hotspot for actual bodily harm offences.

Kent Police and the local Folkestone branch had the intel to step up their presence in the area around the seafront.

It is not known if Kent Police stepped up patrols in the area.

It would be unfair to say they could have prevented the incident, as they are NOT omniscient. That said, Kent Police previously used “predictive policing” between 2013 and 2018, at a cost of £100,000 annually.

We hope that the homeless man recovers soon enough. And those responsible for this crime, be caught even sooner.

The Shepway Vox Team

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