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Home Secretary names Kingston as violent crime hotspot (From Your Local Guardian)
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Home Secretary names Kingston as violent crime hotspot
8:00am Friday 24th July 2009
The Home Secretary has placed Kingston town centre on a list of eight hot spots in London where police are targeting drink-fuelled violence at closing time.
It joins on the list places such as Croydon, Stratford, Camden and the West End, as well as nearby Sutton, despite violent crime figures dropping in the town centre from 922 last year to 664 this year.
The Safer Kingston Partnership, which includes the police and council, reacted with surprise to being named on the list.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Rolson Davies, responsible for health and adult community services, said: "My belief was that the figures were going down so I find it very surprising that Kingston has been identified."
But Conservative Councillor Ian George said: "I’m not surprised to be on the list at all.
"Any help is welcome but it is quite shameful we are on a list with these other boroughs."
The Kingston Conservative party is set to meet the new borough commander Martin Greenslade to urge him to put more police attention on tackling antisocial behaviour in the town centre.
Conservative leader Coun Howard Jones, an ex-policeman, said: "I have always been a proponent of a much stronger policing regime where this just wouldn’t be tolerated."
Some of the proposals announced this week, including knife arches and taxi marshalls, are already being used in Kingston.
According to Metropolitan Police figures for the Grove ward, which includes the town centre, there were 105 serious violent offences in the financial year to April 2009, and so far in the first three months of this financial year, another 20.
It was recently revealed that knife crime had risen across Kingston to 122 offences last year.
Ian Taylorson, chairman of Pubwatch, was not aware Kingston was a hotspot. He said: "Personally I don’t think Kingston is a dangerous place.
"Crime has reduced dramatically in the past three years but we do all we can."
Graham McNally, town centre manager, was also surprised to see Kingston on the list as Metropolitan Police official statistics showed a 20 per cent drop in violent crime in Grove in the past year.
The Surrey Comet revealed last year that police were called out to pubs and clubs in the town centre 680 times in six months with the area around Oceana responsible for 360 calls alone.
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Your Say YourLocal Guardian
Wibblechick, Chessington says...
5:29pm Fri 24 Jul 09
Maybe if Kingston Council were not to licence any more pubs, clubs or takeaway outlets, Kingston might be a healthier, cleaner place
Fred1, Surbiton says...
11:20am Sat 25 Jul 09
Upon my own further investigation, I have found three other sources that report on this story: the Evening Standard, the Daily Mail and the London Paper. The Daily Mail does not list these eight flashpoints but the Evening Standard and the London Paper do.
Contrary to what it says in this article, these other sources don't say it was Alan Johnson who identified the flashpoints; rather, it's a *police source* who has said where the flashpoints are. Warwickshire Chief Constable Keith Bristow is also mentioned, but it's not made explicit whether or not he's the guy behind the list of eight towns.
The eight towns in full are the West End, Camden, Peckham High Street, Romford, Kingston, Sutton, Croydon and Stratford.
While I appreciate that the sensitivities of those who think they're already trying to do something about it may have been hurt, I for one am very much in favour of even more being done to tackle night-time disorder in all of these areas. I don't want to see the authorities resting on their laurels on this one.
howardfredrics, Hampton Wick says...
7:36pm Sat 25 Jul 09
Home Secretary names Kingston as violent crime hotspot
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cllr_rolsondavies, Tolworth says...
2:34pm Fri 24 Jul 09
There is no reference to Kingston town centre in the press release of the Home Secretary’s latest initiative on tackling violent crime:
http://press.homeoff
ice.gov.uk/press-rel
eases/plans-tackle-y
outh-violence
It appears that the Home Office simply suggested Kingston as an example of town centre with a vibrant night life economy, along with many other areas, and the Evening Standard made incorrect assumptions following from that.
To report Kingston as a “violent crime hot spot” is irresponsible and ill-judged. Crime is falling in the town centre thanks to the stellar work of Safer Kingston Partnership who have been employing for months the initiatives the Government is now proposing: taxi marshalling, security on fast food outlets and installing knife ‘arches’ in our large night clubs to name but a few.
The positive results are evident: in 2008-9 violent crime against the person in Kingston was down 14.2% when in London the trend was for an increase.
Whilst I of course welcome the Government supporting the police services to keep our town safe – I fear that the Standard’s article is (unintentionally) undermining the positive work the local police, Council, health services, voluntary and charity groups are doing to reduce crime in the town centre.
Cllr Rolson Davies