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CRIME
IN CHISWICK FALLING ACCORDING TO LATEST FIGURES
New
figures show crime falling by nearly 7% in
Chiswick against the trend in the borough overall.
Despite
a general feeling that crime has been increasing
in the area, the latest figures published by
the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership show
a marked drop. The three Chiswick wards in
the borough of Hounslow saw crime fall by nearly
7% in the six months to March 2002 with 2,185
incidents reported. During the same period
overall in the borough crime rose by 4.5%
The
level of crime in Chiswick remains significant
with two of the Chiswick wards (Turnham Green
and Chiswick Homefields) being in the top five
for reported crime in the borough. There are
twenty wards in total.
Crime
dropped most sharply in the Chiswick Riverside
ward which saw a reduction of 12% in reported
incidents. However this area was also the scene
of the most serious crime in Chiswick recently
- a violent rape.
Not
all crimes are falling however. Most notably
burglaries were up by 7% with 271 taking place
between October 2001 and March 2002. Many of
these were the so-called letter box thefts
in which criminals steal house and car keys
through letter boxes.
One
area that has seen improvement has been vehicle
crime which was down by 6% to 678 incidents.
Street crime has been rising with the number
of incidents up by 6% to 106. This had previously
been the fastest growing area of local crime
with many of the incidents relating to mobile
phone thefts from teenagers.
Chiswick
has an extremely low level of hate crime compared
to the rest of the borough and the number of
racial incidents fell from 51 to 19. Homophobic
crimes have risen but from a relatively low
number of 2 to 6.
One
possible reason for the falling crime levels
could be the high usage of the Ringmaster
messaging system by Chiswick residents.
Although it is available across the borough
by far the highest take-up is in this area.
Through this system the police send out messages
giving information about patterns of reported
crime and useful prevention measures. It is
available by e-mail and the messages are also
posted on this site's discussion forum.
The
full report on crime statistics is to be presented
to the Chiswick Area
Committee Monitoring Group meeting on Tuesday
23rd July. There will also be details given
of the Crime and Disorder Action Plan framework.
This has been formulated by the Chiswick Town
Centre Group which comprises representatives
from the police, local councillors, the local
traders association and borough community safety
officers. Initiatives like the graffiti
clean up day are to be continued and youth
crime in the town centre is to be targeted.
July
20, 2002
Mugger's
Alley - a crime hot spot in Chiswick
Graffiti
Clean-up Day
Chiswick
Rapist gets life
Street
Crime in Chiswick a problem in year to March
2001
Crime
in Chiswick - ward by ward
Hitmen
in Chiswick
Get
notified of local crime through Ringmaster
How
safe are the underpasses under the A4?
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