Organisations will be located in and around the town centre, South Norwood High Street and New Addington, ensuring that they are visible and approachable for young people to talk to them about any issues or concerns, and offering them guidance.

This coordinated action is at the heart of the Executive Mayor’s priorities to support children and young people to fulfil their potential, to thrive and to be kept safe. It’s also part of the ongoing work of the town centre taskforce, where partners are helping to keep Croydon clean and safe for everyone.

The enhanced wraparound support for children and young people beginning in early September for three weeks, includes youth workers from P4YE and the council located in and around the town centre during the week.

They will have information, games, arts and crafts and workshops for the children to attend. P4YE’s Active Communities Hub will be open 3pm to 6pm, every Friday on the first floor in Centrale shopping centre.

Play Place and Reaching Higher will be offering after school activities and services for children and young people.

School Pastor teams will be in West Croydon after school on Fridays at the train station and bus and tram stops. The local NHS’s community and health bus will be in North End on designated Tuesdays and Fridays during this time.

Anima Youth, who have been working with the council to tackle violence against women and girls, will be based in the town centre outside Primark, West Croydon bus station and at East Croydon station. They are supporting young women and girls aged 13-25 to navigate challenges.

Safer Neighbourhood police officers from Croydon are at several schools at the start and end of the day. They will also be present at busy transport hubs daily from the beginning of the school term as part of Operation Zoedone running across Croydon, Bromley and Sutton, which aims to prevent and detect robberies, particularly of mobile phones.

The British Transport Police will also be on patrol ensuring children and young people travel safely across the network.

Street Rangers, funded by the business community through Croydon Business Improvement District (BID), will be on hand in the town centre supporting children and young people to be safe and to prevent antisocial behaviour.

Croydon’s substance and alcohol misuse support service, Change Grow Live, is also part of the town centre taskforce providing care to people in the area wherever needed during this time.

How can people protect themselves from mobile phone theft:

• Set a strong screen lock password or PIN which makes it harder for criminals to ‘shoulder surf’
• Secure high value applications and accounts on devices, including digital wallets and banking applications with strong, separate passwords
• Don’t save secure pins, passwords or photographs of official documents which could be used to take out loans on your phone
• Consider turning on “stolen device protection” if you are the owner of an Apple iPhone. This enforces face ID to access passwords
• If your phone is stolen contact the police, your bank and your mobile provider as soon as possible.