Dedicated police teams having a "positive effect"
Crime on London's buses has gone down by 18 percent following the introduction of police teams at transport hubs such as Westfield, the Mayor of London has said. Robberies and vandalism are said to have been cut by more than a third.
Dedicated police teams, or 'hub teams', began as pilots in West Croydon, Wood Green, and Canning Town before being rolled out at several other locations around the capital from January of this year.
The team based at Westfield patrol the shopping centre as well as the surrounding transport interchanges, such as the White City bus station. Slightly further afield, there are also teams at Hammersmith bus station, Ealing Broadway and Southall Broadway on Uxbridge Road.
The locations for the hub teams were chosen jointly by the Metropolitan Police (MPS) and Transport for London (TfL), who looked at information such as the level of public transport provision in the area, transport related recorded offences, reports of vandalism on buses and feedback from bus drivers on issues such as antisocial behaviour and fare evasion.
The most recent statistics gathered by TfL and the MPS show that compared to last year, crimes committed on or around the bus network are down by 18 percent and there are now just 12 crimes per million passenger journeys.
According to the Mayor's office, the statistics show that there has been a reduction in bus crimes in every London borough and that the most significant reductions have been in criminal damage (down 36 percent) and robberies (down 35 percent). However drug and sexual offences have both seen an increase (14 and 11 percent respectively).
Total bus-related crime
| Crime Type | 2007/8 | 2008/9 | Change between 08/09 - 07/08 |
| Burglary | 104 | 86 | -17% |
| Criminal Damage | 5,846 | 3,723 | -36% |
| Drugs | 683 | 779 | 14% |
| Fraud/Forgery | 414 | 387 | -7% |
| Other Notifiable Offences | 233 | 234 | 0% |
| Robbery | 4,266 | 2,761 | -35% |
| Sexual Offences | 480 | 535 | 11% |
| Theft and Handling | 12,699 | 10,948 | -14% |
| Violence against the Person | 8,400 | 7,609 | -9% |
| Total | 33,125 | 27,062 | -18% |
2008/9 figures show crime on the DLR and London Underground is down by eight percent and there are now just 13 crimes for every million passenger journeys taken, the Mayor's office says.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “When I became Mayor, I pledged to make buses, trains and stations safer. It is extremely encouraging to see the positive effect these policing teams are having across the capital. Crime on buses has fallen in every single borough and this is in no small part thanks to the increased number of officers around our transport network. There is still a lot of work to be done and we will be working tirelessly to build on this success.”
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rod Jarman, said: “These new policing teams, the result of an innovative partnership between the police and Transport for London, provide high visibility, locally accountable policing on busy transport interchanges and stations across the capital, increasing security and providing a reassuring presence in the areas where they have been launched. They have achieved very promising initial results, and through our partnership working and robust high visibility policing tactics, we intend to send out a clear message that anti-social and criminal activity in and around transport hubs and their environs will not be tolerated.”
16 June 2009