SIMONE McGURK has called for a sobering-up shelter to be built in the port city.

Responding to a stream of letters to the Herald bemoaning anti-social behaviour in the CBD, and her own encounters in the city centre, the local Labor MP says a shelter could relieve pressure from police and social services.

“I think that is an issue with some of the homies I have encountered,” she told the Herald.

“It’s somewhere they could go—I fully understand why St Pat’s don’t allow people in who are drunk.”

Ms McGurk says she’s getting the feeling crime’s creeping back up in Fremantle’s CBD and wonders whether new police neighbourhood teams are having an effect.

“Anecdotally there been a few questions of whether the new new model is taking resources from the ground in Freo.”

A local constable confirmed police are aware of a spike in anti-social behaviour and petty crime and have ordered the reintroduction of Operation Peyton.

It was launched with great fanfare last year but quietly shelved after the introduction of the neighbourhood teams. During its first six months police, predominantly on foot patrols, arrested 62 people and laid 73 charges, while issuing 95 move-on notices.

We tried to confirm its reintroduction with police’s top brass, but no-one got back to us.

by STEVE GRANT