THE Bendigo railway station, Marketplace, Hargreaves Mall and the re-opened library are all in the sights for police with extra patrols planned.

Bendigo Police Sergeant Steve Rainey said the co-ordinated approach was aimed at cracking down on anti-social behaviour.

“It might be uniform officers, plain clothes, bicycle, divvy van, we’ll mix it up,” he said.

“We’ll have police at those areas at different times and in different formats.

“It’s certainly a priority.”

Sergeant Rainey said the greater police presence had a two-pronged effect.

“It’s going to help reduce the likelihood of anti-social behaviour and deter people from committing public order offences.

“It’s also about making sure people can work or shop and enjoy their leisure activities in these areas without being subjected to that sort of behaviour.”

Sergeant Rainey said the key demographic for offenders was mostly teenagers, .

“It’s not older people that’s for sure,” he said.

“It’s the youth that are the main ones causing issues. Predominantly 13-year-olds up to 21-year-olds.”

Sergeant Rainey said the focus for police was on public order offences.

He said public behaviour in the city had been “pretty good” in recent months but added there was always room to improve safety and curb the number of incidents.

“We’ve had some recent flare-ups, which can perhaps be attributed to the school year commencing.

“They’re occurring in highly populous areas for shoppers, commuters, businesses. Where the larger crowds go police will be there as well. If we can have officers there every day we will.”

Sergeant Rainey said many offenders were well known to police. He said people who continued to do the wrong thing faced the risk of being banned from the CBD.

“We can look at exclusion orders in court for those convicted of public order offences. These can result from anything that happens in CBD, ranging from being drunk and disorderly, trespassing, assaults or anything of a public order nature.

“If you’re going to misbehave you can expect heavy scrutiny from police officers.”

He said police were constantly patrolling key areas around the city and urged anyone who witnesses violence or confrontations to contact triple-0.