Stanway and Tollgate get three extra police patrols a week for 22 weeks. Anti-social behaviour reports there rose from 93 to 239 in a year, police.uk shows.
Stanway and Tollgate are one of eight places in Essex picked for extra patrols against anti-social behaviour. The area will get three additional police patrols every week for 22 weeks, plus a weekly patrol by the Community Safety Partnership. The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst, announced the £200,000 programme on 30 September.
The choice is backed up by the police’s own figures. Reports of anti-social behaviour within a mile of Tollgate rose from 93 in the year to August 2025 to 239 in the year to August 2026. That is more than two and a half times as many, according to our analysis of police.uk street-level data.
Stanway and Tollgate are about two and a half miles west of Colchester city centre. It is the only Colchester location on the list.
What the hotspot money pays for
The commissioner’s office set out the same package for each of the eight areas:
- three extra police patrols a week, each of two officers for four hours
- one Community Safety Partnership patrol a week, two officers for two hours
- patrols timed for the days and hours when anti-social behaviour is happening
- weekly detached youth outreach work
- £1,000 per hotspot for targeted days or nights of action
Over 22 weeks, that comes to 66 extra police patrols and 22 partnership patrols in Stanway and Tollgate. That is our arithmetic from the commissioner’s figures.
The scheme runs under Operation Guardian, the force’s hotspot policing programme. The commissioner’s office said the locations were chosen using anti-social behaviour data and advice from neighbourhood policing teams.
The other seven hotspots are:
- Canvey Town Centre
- Brentwood Town Centre
- Harwich and Dovercourt
- Braintree Town Centre
- Debden in Epping Forest
- The Stow in Harlow
- Wickford Town Centre and Cranfield Park, Basildon
Mr Hirst said: “The latest figures show a rise in anti-social behaviour, a clear warning that progress cannot be taken for granted.” He added that recorded incidents across Essex are still about two-thirds lower than in 2016.
His office said earlier rounds of Operation Guardian, since 2023, delivered more than 25,000 hours of patrols across 15 hotspots. It reported 353 arrests, a 13% fall in anti-social behaviour in those areas and an 11% fall in serious violence.
What the figures show for Stanway
We counted every anti-social behaviour incident Essex Police published for a one-mile radius around Tollgate, month by month. The rise is recent. Most of it came in the six months from March to August 2026.
| Quarter | Reports |
|---|---|
| September to November 2024 | 19 |
| December 2024 to February 2025 | 16 |
| March to May 2025 | 29 |
| June to August 2025 | 29 |
| September to November 2025 | 44 |
| December 2025 to February 2026 | 34 |
| March to May 2026 | 77 |
| June to August 2026 | 84 |
August 2026 was the highest single month, with 35 reports. Over the six months from March to August 2026 there were 161, against 58 in the same months of 2025.
The reports are not spread evenly. In the six months to August, 59 of the 161 were mapped to a single point that police.uk labels “on or near Parking Area” in Stanway.
Two cautions apply. Police.uk moves every incident to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so a location is approximate. And a count of reports measures what people reported, which can rise when residents are more willing to call. August 2026 is the latest month published.
A separate scheme in the city centre
The hotspot patrols are not the same thing as Operation Vanguard, which has been running in Colchester city centre since 14 September.
Vanguard is an Essex County Council trial, not a police one. According to the county council’s Operation Vanguard page:
- two security operatives patrol Colchester city centre, with two more each in Braintree and Chelmsford
- they wear red vests, carry Security Industry Authority identification and wear body cameras
- they work seven days a week, from about 10am to 6pm
- they have no police powers: they cannot arrest, stop or search anyone
- the trial runs for an initial three months and is capped at £150,000 across the three places
The operatives are employed by the private firm My Local Bobby. The county council launched the trial in response to concerns about men from the Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre gathering in the three town centres. The council says the patrols do not involve profiling.
The scheme has been contested. Braintree District Council’s leader raised concerns in an open letter, and the county council leader replied on 28 September. Complaints about an operative go to My Local Bobby; complaints about the scheme go to Essex County Council.
What it means for you
If you live, shop or work around Tollgate, expect to see more police on foot over the winter. The patrols are meant to be targeted at the times trouble happens, so reports help decide where they go.
Colchester City Council’s anti-social behaviour page lists the ways to report it:
- online, through the council’s or Essex Police’s reporting forms
- by calling Essex Police on 101, or 999 if a crime is happening or someone is in danger
- through Colchester Borough Homes, if you are one of its tenants
To report a crime anonymously, use Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you have reported three incidents in six months and feel nothing has been done, you can ask for an ASB case review. The council’s page explains how.
We will report on the results when the commissioner’s office publishes them. For more on the area, see our Colchester house prices and planning news pages.
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