POLICE and council chiefs are welcoming the arrival of six new officers dedicated to clamping down on anti-social behaviour in Newport.

The police community support officers, or PCSOs, will be walking the city streets and travelling on Newport Transport buses to improve public safety.

A further PCSO has been drafted in to Cwmbran to give an extra uniformed presence.

They have powers to detain people before the arrival of a police officer and can confiscate alcohol and tobacco from youngsters.

The PCSOs will also have all the powers of a traffic warden and can confiscate alcohol in booze-ban areas.

Most of Newport city centre was recently designated an alcohol-control area.

And the officers will have the authority to seize motor vehicles being used to cause alarm.

Newport's Chief Superintendent Kevin Price said at the launch of the PCSOs yesterday: "This is a significant event for policing in Newport and will ease the pressure on tackling more serious criminality. We have the flexibility to send them where they need to go and with the support of Newport Transport we will deploy them on the buses.

"This approach provides visibility to the community and should make our public transport much safer.

"It will allow us to deal with incidents on the streets as they occur."

Chief Supt Price said the PCSOs would work alongside Newport city council's community safety wardens to combat anti-social behaviour.

He said the PCSOs were being introduced in Newport after a successful trial in Caerphilly.

Chief Supt Price said the long-term benefits of the PCSOs would be a renewed confidence in public transport and a reduction in congestion on the roads.