British Transport Police (BTP) has pointed to an 11th consecutive year of reduced crime on the railways; although not all categories of crime have seen a fall. An additional 724 violent crimes were recorded by BTP in 2014/15, which represents a rise of eight per cent, albeit this is much lower than the average rise reported by Home Office forces. The majority of cases were lesser types of assault involving pushing and shoving rather than those resulting in more serious injuries, according to the force.
Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock said: “The rise in violent crime is a concern, but is also worth noting, again, that the chances of being a victim of any crime are small. The use of more officers patrolling late-night trains and at peak periods, as well as our extensive CCTV network is helping to halt this rise. What is worrying is that in a disproportionate amount of these offences, it is police officers or railway staff that are the victims of assault, often as a result of their intervention in seemingly ordinary incidents such as non-payment of fares or petty anti-social behaviour.”
The full BTP annual report and statistical bulletin can be viewed online at http://www.btp.police.uk/annualreport2014-15. Tumblr site: http://btpannualreport2014-15.tumblr.com/
In 2014/15, the force recorded a total of 46,688 notifiable crimes, down from more than 50,000 in the 12 months before. The force points to targeting of robbery and fraud offences, both down by 18 per cent, and reductions in the theft of passenger property, such as smartphones and tablets, down by 16 per cent.
This year BTP launched ‘Report It to Stop It’, a high-profile campaign aimed at empowering people to report any instances of sexual offences on trains and tubes. This initiative builds on the London-focused ‘Project Guardian’ featured in the September 2015 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
Earlier this year, a 31-year-old man was jailed for 12 months for sexually assaulting two schoolgirls outside Sheffield station, after a BTP investigation. The same month, a 44-year-old man who was already banned from sitting next to women on public transport was sentenced to 15 months in prison after an incident on a Bristol to Taunton train.
DCC Hanstock added: “The increased reports we received of sexual offences being committed on trains and tubes, revealed by Project Guardian, made it abundantly clear this issue was a significant concern for people yet was considerably underreported. Last year we asked people to tell us about their experiences so we can do more, and that is exactly what they have done.
“When you consider that 4.5 million passenger journeys were made on the rail network each day in 2014/15, the chances of becoming a victim of crime are minimal – but we are well aware that individual experiences can differ greatly to that wider picture.
“Members of the public now have a variety of ways to contact us thanks to our text service and since its launch in 2013, more than 17,000 texts have been received from the public. In 2014/15, BTP received 8926 texts – an average of nearly 750 a month.
“A great example of the effectiveness of our text service came earlier this year. A woman who had previously reported being the victim of a sexual offence on a train noticed her offender a few weeks later and sent a text us to make us aware the same man was on her train. She was able to give us a really helpful description of the suspect and direct us to his location. Just 20 minutes after the woman contacted us, two police officers boarded the train and one arrested the suspect while the other spoke to the victim. He is now due to appear at crown court.”
Pictured: Buffers, Waterloo station.
