Wandsworth Crime Rate Falls Again
Home Office crime data shows an overall fall of 6.9 per cent
The borough's police statistics also reveal drops in every major type of offence including violent crimes (10.6 per cent), racial incidents (18 per cent), and robberies (18.4 per cent).
A recent council surveys pointed to an 8 per cent rise in the number of residents that are satisfied with action taken locally
to reduce crime and vandalism. Executive member for Regeneration and Community Safety, Cllr James Cousins, said: “The Home Office’s figures confirm the finding of our own research - that Wandsworth is the safest place to live in inner London and crime rates are going down. “These excellent results reflect the hard work of the Community Safety Division and their strong relationship with the Metropolitan Police.”
The council’s Community Safety Division (CSD) coordinates a raft of crime prevention efforts, working closely with other members of Wandsworth’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP). Their responsibilities include managing the borough’s 1074 CCTV cameras. The police rely heavily on this network as around half of the cases they bring to court involve evidence from CCTV footage. The service is particularly valuable in combating late night disorder as police figures show a 16 per cent rise in late night arrests directly attributable to CCTV operations.
The CSD and its partners implement the Safer Stations Action Plan to improve security for rail passengers. Their work has contributed to a 21.3 per cent drop in crimes committed on borough railway stations over the last two years. Working with Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams the division organise and support over 450 Neighbourhood Watch teams and are encouraging more communities to establish new networks. The division has also established Retail Radio, a communication system that allows shopkeepers to alert each other and the council’s CCTV control room about troublemakers and shoplifters.
A new version of the scheme called ‘Alertbox’ has recently been launched to help small shopping parades away from town centres. They also manage the Wandsworth Security Grant Scheme, offering grants for installing community safety features such as communal gates, external lighting, locks and panic alarms. Other partnership initiatives including the No Cold Calling Zone Scheme, 'Scamnesty' - a campaign to expose fraudulent emails and the Junior and Safer Citizen Schemes which teaches children about good citizenship, personal safety and crime prevention through role play.
Labour candidate Stuart King said:
"This is indeed excellent news. Wandsworth's position as the safest borough in Inner London is a positive reflection on how well our safer neighbourhood teams are working - identifying and tackling localised crime problems and hotspots. However, I have been concerned for some time now by the disproportionately higher levels of crime that takes place in Thamesfield ward, which includes Putney town centre. The town centre is the reason that these figures are so high for an otherwise affluent area. But the fact that so much Police resource needs to go into the high street means that the rest of the Thamesfield ward must get less attention in comparison with other residential parts of Putney. I am keen to know what the police and the council intend to do to crack down on this local problem."
MP for Putney Justine Greening said:
"Many residents will be reassured to see that our local crime statistics are moving in the right direction. I discussed these results in detail last Friday at my meeting with the Wandsworth Borough Commander, Chief Superintendant Stewart Low. Crime will always be a major concern for our community, and particularly youth on youth crime which often doesn't get reported by victims and violent crime. Making sure our borough police are properly resourced to tackle crime is something I have raised with at the most senior levels in the Metropolitan Police."
February 18, 2009
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