Redlands Liberal Democrats

Tackling Crime: Update on two Lib Dem Campaigns

Good news today as the Police report the arrest of two people for criminal damage offences (tagging) in the Erleigh Road area.

This follows the launch of our local campaign for action on tagging a couple of weeks ago.

It's good also to hear Inspector Kevin Sinfield reiterate the Police's commitment to dealing with this problem. From discussions I've had with him the problem comes when these cases get to court and the way magistrates deal with these type of offences and offenders.

I am aware that officers from RBC and TVP are meeting today to discuss the issues we have raised and ensure that resources are targetted in the right areas. I will be meeting officers shortly to get an update on what these bodies plan to do about the graffiti upsurge in Redlands and much of central and south Reading.

I know Kevin very well and have the utmost respect for him: he has invested a lot of time and effort in making  Neighbourhood Policing work for the local community of South and East Reading - attending hundreds of Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) meetings over the past couple of years. 

I meet him regularly to discuss local crime matters.

In other campaign news, I held a meeting last Friday with Cllr Warren Swaine and senior RBC officers from Marketing & PR to discuss the roll-out of a communications package for Neighbourhood Action Groups - a key Lib Dem win for local people out of the Budget process in March.

The meeting was very positive and it was great to hear how the money saved by scrapping 'Live Reading' magazine will be put to good use: engaging the local community about crime issues which affect them.

Officers are currently meeting with the Police, NAG chairs and councillors work out what communication support will be most useful to NAGs. I personally think a regular e-newsletter and leaflet for all NAGs is essential so that local people can find out when NAG meetings are and how they can get involved.

Publicising the work of the NAGs will also raise the profile of Neighbourhood Police teams in Reading and increase community confidence and reduce fear of crime.

It's not just the Lib Dems in Reading who have been saying this. Experts appointed by the government to review where Labour went wrong in the fight against crime have said the same thing.

Last June, Louise Casey led a Cabinet Office review into how best to engage communities in fighting crime and one of her key findings was that local people want more information about crime and crime fighting in their areas and they want following:

• Information about action – they want to know what the police and others are doingto tackle crime, they want feedback on action where they have reported crimes or raised problems, and to see and hear more about what happens to people arrested and convicted of crime, including more visible signs of punishment in the community. ‘What action has bee taken and who has been caught and punished’

• Straight facts – not just statistics, but reliable, clear, accessible and ‘non-spun’ facts so that theycan see not just what problems are occurring but what steps are being taken to tackle them.

• Practical information – providing names, photographs, phone numbers and e-mailaddresses of local police teams and other agencies, how to report non-emergency incidents and follow other police procedures, where and when to meet them to discuss concerns and priorities and other opportunities to get involved in tackling and preventing crime Information from a variety of sources – suggestions included ‘advertorials’ in localnewspapers, local newsletters, through Neighbourhood Watch, in public meetings, ‘surgeries’,walk-in centres and street-meetings, direct from chatting to police officers and PCSOs on thebeat, and through websites, e-mails, mobile phone texting and messaging networks.

• Local information – relevant to the neighbourhood they live in.

• Regular information

– the strongest preference was for monthly information

Obvious really. But like most things this government has done, the implementation of Neighbourhood Policing was rushed and ill-thought out, hence the need for active councillors to campaign to put things right at a local level in the way we are trying to do.

Taking our Empty Homes Campaign to the heart of government

Last Wednesday I went to Admiralty House in Whitehall, former 'grace and favour' residence of John Prescott.

I was invited to a government seminar on tackling the problem of empty homes organised by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).

This seminar was set up at the request of ministers as the issue of empty homes has risen up the national political agenda in recent months.

Other attendees included David Ireland, Chief Executive of the campaigning charity the Empty Homes Agency, officers from Manchester City Council's private sector team, civil servants, and a small selection of councillors and officers from other councils. I was one of only about three councillors at the event invited, I guess, because of my track record campaigning for action to reduce the (above average) number of empty properties in Reading.

It was fascinating to see inside government and also to get the chance to put my views directly to ministers about the need for action on this issue. Admiralty House is a beautiful venue with lots of lovely paintings and antique furniture (although having recently seen In The Loop at the cinema I did keep expecting an angry press officer marching in at any moment!) It's more or less just used for events now, I think.

Iain Wright MP , parliamentary under secretary at CLG, hosted the event and to be fair to him did seem genuinely keen to understand why more progress was not being made to reduce the thousands of empty homes in England - the EHA puts this figure currently at around 760,000.

The consensus from those gathered was not that councils lacked the right legal powers, more that not all councils see this issue as a priority for them and many do not have enough resources to tackle the problem effectively. I know for example that one council just outside Reading officers have only two hours per week to devote to the issue, compared to our one full time officer. Manchester City Council on the other hand has a whole team of people working on empty homes.

Anyway, it was clear from talking to them that the civil servants did not have much of a clue about what was going on locally and rely heavily on feedback from people on the frontline. It must be hard making policy when you don't know the true picture out there (and this may explain why we end up with so many crazy diktats from government!) For that reason I thought the seminar was a worthwhile exercise and may mean that a more thoughtful policy comes out of Whitehall at some stage (or not!)

When I spoke to our empty homes officer in Reading before I attended the event to get his view as to what the biggest single barrier is to reducing the number of empty homes locally he told me it was the fact that for years the issue had effectively been forgotten about and nothing had been done.

Iain Wright made a short speech at the event and stated "I cannot understand why all councils and councillors are not motivated to do something about empty homes". Speaking as a former councillor he said he thought that councillors would have had pressure from their constituents to act, if nothing else.

I said that the reality in some areas is much different and asked him the following question:

"Does the Minister know, how many councils a) have an empty homes strategy b) have dedicated resources to tackling the problem of empty homes?

Needless to say Iain Wright did not know and said he would need to check the facts with his officials. Having a senior politician failing to answer a straightforward question like this I felt like to an extent I had arrived. At a national level that's what political debate is like, I fear, with people in senior positions knowing often less than you might expect or hope for.

I felt I had the edge, having investigated the issue at a local level for the past two years and needn't have worried about whether or not I was senior enought to attend: by the end I felt I must have been some kind of expert the looks the civil servants were giving me!

Given the setting I did my best not to score a political point at the meeting but the simple fact is that not all councils are proactively reducing the number of empty homes in their areas and more to the point, for years, Labour-run Reading Borough Council had no empty homes strategy and did nothing about the problem. I would dearly loved to have pointed this simple fact out to Mr Wright but it seemed churlish at the time.

David Ireland in his speech acknowledged the role played by local campaigners like me who took up the issue of empty homes and ran with it. He spoke elogquently about the scandal of thousands of newly-built executive flats lying empty in their thousands from Salford to South London.

Something David said that may seem obvious but I thought was nonetheless shocking: the best time to bring empty homes back into use was during the years of the property boom -  when there was a shortage of properties in many of our towns and cities (like Reading). The recession has just made things slower and more expensive for councils to tackle.

He mentioned an excellent social enterprise charity called Canopy in Leeds who work with homeless people giving them building skills, doing up empty properties and then leasing the property to a local homeless person. I would like to see something like this tried out in Reading. I am aware that there are a couple of charities looking into bringing empty homes back into use locally.

The recession and the housing market crash has had a terrible impact on the problem of empty homes:

• The recession has led to a 4% increase in vacancy over the last year and a 9% increase in long term empties
• Increase in reposessions and a weak market returning less empty homes to use
• Over-supply of new flats (in Reading we know that 90% of properties built in
• the last two years were 2 bedroom 'executive' flats)
• Stalled regeneration schemes (like Dee Park in West Reading)

It was clear talking to other people at the event that we are only at the beginning of the journey in tackling empty homes in Reading. The first battle was getting the Labour administration to adopt an empty homes strategy, via a Lib Dem motion to Council, then ensuring that resources were put in.

I used our recent scrutiny review into empty homes as an opportnity to ensure that we keep the pressure on Labour in Reading to do something about this issue.

It could take a couple of years for the positive effects of these measures to feed through, but I feel it will be worth it. The pressure on our local housing stock is that great that we need to be thinking innovatively about ways in which we can reuse exisitng housing.

As we speak the empty homes officer is investigating around 90 empty properties in the Borough and if only one of these properties was brought back into use that could provide much needed accomodation for a family or homeless person.

I have met with the officer responsible at RBC and am confident with proper support he will start to have a real impact on reducing the number of long term empty properties across the Borough.

In Redlands we are seeing progress already with 35 Christchurch Road (corner of Kendrick Road) being refurbished as we speak.

You can find more details about where these empty properties are in Reading via this post which I wrote following our scrutiny review into the subject. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to report an empty home in Reading that you would like me to investigate.

Tagging Campaign: Update

It seems our graffiti campaign has attracted some attention, including a wag suggesting that I may be responsible for the explosion of tags in the area! Nice try.

Glenn and I continue to spot new tags appearing daily: keep up to date on the Campaign via our Facebook Group,  and  upload any tags you see to our Flickr site so we can make the authorities aware.

I was fascinated by the response of the Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment, Cllr Paul Gittings in the press article on our campaign this week:

“There is no let up in the battle and since the Big Clean Up Campaign the resources have stayed the same and we have dedicated teams who will remove graffiti all over Reading.

That's slightly at odds to what Council officers told me if you read this post. There are now fewer graffiti cleaning vehicles on the road in Reading, and as far as I'm aware the Crime Reduction Partnership (CDRP) is no longer contributing financially towards the Council's anti-graffiti effort.

Also, as I said before, the 'Big Clean Up Campaign' was strictly time limited - for one year only, which again casts doubt on Cllr Gitting's assertions that the BCUP is continuing in all but name.

I am also interested in Cllr Gitting's other claim in the Post article:

“If it is on private property then there is a charge, but if it is on the public highway we will remove it as swiftly as we can.”

This is factually not correct: the Council will remove some graffiti free of charge, but the problem is the area they do clean for free is limited to only 1 square metre. This means that with most tags on private property, the charge falls on residents.

This is particularly unfair at a time when money is tight. The Council and the Police must take some responsibility for the state of our streets: Council tax payers in Reading expect it.

This was brought home to me again by a constituent who emailed me this week:

"For the second time in two years my property has been attacked by vandals tagging a wall and two pillars. And for the second time in two years I have to pay the council for the removal of this damage.

 Although I was assured that I would only have to pay for the cost of the materials involved I believe that £71.00 for 2 litres of paint and 4 litres of a cleaning chemical is absurd.

If this is what the council is paying for these products the buyer responsible should be questioned closely.

Both incidents were reported to the police as well as to the council and yet the area is still suffering from the blight of graffiti attacks.

In addition the shop fronts along the parade at the end of Addington Road are a disgrace and no attempt has been made to clean this area up.

 Whilst this amount of graffiti remains on open view the mindless idiots who carry out this type of vandalism will assume that it is ok to continue to blight the area.

I know that this problem is dear to your heart it is a pity that it is not receiving the priority that it deserves."

I couldn't agree more which is why I have written to officers requesting a meeting to discuss what action the Police and Council, together, plan to take to halt this decline in our neighbourhoods.

Hexham Road: Time for a reality check, Evening Post

I've now had a chance to discuss issues raised by the Post in it's article on children drug dealing on Hexham estate with residents, Police and Council officers and it appears as I feared that this sensationalist article does not paint an accurate picture of life on the estate.

It would not be appropriate for me to go into detail here about what the Police told me about the case or the circumstances aroudn it. However what we did agree is that more work does need to be done to ensure we have an active Police presence on the estate.

This is something that local people and the Lib Dems have long been calling for and the Police acknowledge that we are not there yet.

I  have been campaigning some time to address this problem, with RBC, with a view to setting up a permanent base either on or near the estate. I am meeting officers shortly to try and speed this up.

I can report however, following discussions this week with RBC on the issues raised by the Post article on the ongoing work being done on the estate by RBCto reduce crime and reduce anti-social behaviour:

• The Neighbourhood Wardens actively patrol this area including carrying out block inspections and pass on any drug intelligence to TVP, the nuisance team and ASBAG'S - the wardens are also trained to remove discarded needles.

• The Youth Engagement Service is working on a number of projects based a Hexham Community Centre which have been very popular with local young people
• In conjunction with Groundworks RBC are looking at possible sponsorship of 6 local children from estate to attend residential outward bound/team building course. This work will be targeted at young people who have, for example, a sibling who is known within the youth criminal justice system.
• There are regular meetings of the Neighbourhood Action Group - local people have not identified drug dealing as being a priority issue to be dealt with (This is also reflected in the recent Hexham survey)
• The Nuisance Team is carrying out weekly Nuisance surgeries at Hexham Community Centre
• Tasking meetings are held every month, which the Nuisance officer & Neighbourhood Officer attend. This provides an opportunity of information sharing and discussing any concerns of individuals/areas.
• Joint visits are made with the Nuisance Team and PCSO or Neighbourhood officer as appropriate.
• An Anti-Social behaviour Groups (ASBAG) is held monthly, chaired by TVP
• Regular Estate Walkabouts are held involving local people, Neighbourhood officers and PCSOs
• There is CCTV on estate and we are working with TVP to highlight "hotspot" areas and to see if cameras are focussed on the 'right' areas.

It's fair to say that a few years ago the picture may not has been as rosy and Hexham estate did not get the attention it deserved by the Labour councillors for the area.

However, as a letter to the Evening Post acknowledged the active campaigning by the Lib Dems in the area has meant that the Council is now doing much more for local people on the estate, and the area is improving and will continue to improve, I am sure of it.

The fight back starts here

Well, I said earlier in the week that I could feel another campaign coming on - the campaign to turn the tide on tagging in Reading (which has recently got out of control around Redlands and across Reading).

In my previous posts I have outlined the fact that the so-called 'Big Clean Up' campaign has been quietly dropped by the Labour administration. As a result of this there is a clear need to refocus the attention of both the Council and the Police to tackle the tagging epidemic we are currently facing in Reading.

Glenn and I kicked off the campaign proper today by walking around the ward taking photos of tags and reporting them to the Council for removal. We were shocked by the number of tags we found.

I have set up a Facebook Group and am trialing a new concept: a Flickr Group to allow people to upload images of tags near them so we can get them cleared.

Get involved and help us keep the pressure up for action.

Drugs on Hexham Road

Hexham Road has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons today, with news of the arrest of a 13 year old for dealing hard drugs.

The Lib Dem team, working with the Council and the Police have been working hard over the past few years with local residents to change perceptions about Hexham Road, and articles like this obviously make that job more difficult.

However, there is clearly still a lot of work to be done to get drugs off the estate, and we are not in any way complacent.

In light of this, I have written today to senior officers in the Council, and Inspector Kevin Sinfield to seek reassurances on behalf of the local community that everything that can be done to tackle drug dealing in and around the estate is being done.

I feel it's important to underline the fact that while it is a cause for concern, this arrest is an isolated incident and does not reflect the neighbourhood as a whole. Although it is easy for journalists to magnify problems in Whitley, we know that drug-dealing is sadly a problem in many parts of Reading.

The local media have a responsibility not to increase stereotyping of places or communities. This latest article follows another negative article about Whitley which was published in the Post last November.

I know from speaking to people that that article upset a lot of people living and working in the area.

What today's article fails to mention is the strong community spirit on the estate, which I notice every time I talk to people who live there. The majority of children and young people on the estate are law-abiding and it does them a disservice to imply all local children are involved in drugs or crime.

As I have said before, the important thing is to improve opportunities for local people, particularly young people living on the estate so that they have equal chances to get on in life as people living in more prosperous parts of town, and real choices about what they do with their lives.

With the Council's Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme off the ground, and the recent survey of South Reading residents now completed there is a real opportunity for life to help make life better for local people.

And by that I mean improving access to a good education and better healthcare.

Both Labour and Tory governments have failed the people of South Reading and I'm glad that at last improving quality of life (and life chances) for people in South Reading is at the top of the Council's agenda in Reading.

Because let's be honest, drug dealing is closely linked to poverty and we cannot reduce drug dealing without tackling poverty, and the reasons young people turn to drugs.

This is about not only about the need to increasing Police presence in the area (to increase community confidence),  but also the Council taking active steps to improve facilities for young people and support for families.

We are very lucky to have an excellent youth worker from RBC on the estate, based at Hexham Rd Community Centre. His regular evening activity sessions for local young people are really popular and must continue.

A recent survey of Hexham Road estate revealed that the number one concern for local people is lack of Police in the area. The need for more visible policing is something I have actively campaigned on through my roles on the Safer Reading Campaign, North Whitley Neighbourhood Action Groups and as Chair of the South Reading Safer Forum.

The Neighbourhood Police team has undoubtedly made a difference, but we still need a Police base in North Whitley.

Hopefully soon the Evening Post will have more positive stories to write about Hexham Road.

Until then, we will continue to work hard to reduce the damage done by drugs to our communities by campaigning to ensure that the Police and the Council are putting in the necessary time and resources into the estate.

If you have concerns about drug dealing in any part of Redlands please ring crimestoppers free on 0800 555 111 or report crime via the online form.  If you would like to report any issues to the Neighbourhood Police Team please contact 08458 505 505.

Graffiti in Reading: time for a new campaign

In October 2008, Steve Waite (pictured here, copyright the Evening Post), former Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment on the Council, said of the Council's Big Clean Up" campaign:

"The project so far has been an unprecedented success and a tribute to the staff involved. However, this is just the first stage of the clean up and we are not complacent and expect our work to continue for some time to come."

I'm sorry to have to report that earlier today a Council officer confirmed to me what Superintendent Steve Kirk hinted at last week, that this highly successful campaign is no more.

As if you hadn't noticed, looking around the Borough at the massive increase in graffiti in recent months.

This campaign was launched following a dramatic increase in graffiti in 2007- when a massive 22% of Reading's streets and open spaces were defaced by graffiti and an active campaign by local Lib Dems.

It focussed on areas worst hit by graffiti - beginning in Redlands.

It had previously been Labour's policy to charge residents £35 pounds per hour for graffiti removal from private properties. The Lib Dems successfully lobbied the administration to get this changed.

The four key elements of the campaign were as follows:

1. The introduction of a third new graffiti clean-up van, with the latest specialist equipment to tackle graffiti;
2. The deployment of a further two specialist graffiti teams just for a year, clamping down on long standing graffiti which has spoiled the look of neighborhoods for a long time. This is a particular problem because it becomes part of the landscape and people don't bother to report it;
3. After the Big Graffiti Clean-up in a particular area of the town, the introduction of free graffiti removal of ‘tagging’ of up to one square metre in size from private properties, and the removal from small businesses or housing association properties for a small cost;
4. Partnership work with the police developed further to bring about more enforcement and prosecutions.

And it is clear that this approach was very effective and made a big difference to the level of graffiti on our streets.  Over an 8 month period RBC's Streetcare team responded to 820 reports from residents and 100 reports from councillors (as one officer remarked I was responsible for a large proportion of these!)

But, the campaign was only planned by Labour to last for one year: from June 2007 to July 2008.

This disappointing news makes me beg the question: was the Big Graffiti Clean Up Campaign just another pre-election bribe by Labour?

Now that the campaign has come to an end, I am told that the Council now only has three rather than five specialist vehicles at it's disposal, operating across the Borough removing graffiti tags.

In addition, the loss of the £20,000 contribution which had been made to the 'Big Clean Up' by the Safer Reading Campaign  (the local Crime Reduction Partnership) will also have an impact on what can be achieved.

Leaving aside the impact on this reduction in resources, you do wonder whether efforts to tackle graffiti are now as focussed as they were when there was an active, high proflile campaign across the Borough. This is a problem when the need for action on graffiti is no less acute.

So what now? Well, in terms of the bad graffiti situation we are facing in Reading at the moment I received this response from RBC yesterday:

"It has been noticeable that the amount of graffiti has been increasing recently across Reading and whilst I can appreciate your concerns in Abbey, Redlands and Katesgrove the problem is widespread and we have to allocate our resources accordingly, having said this we are aware of the particular problems in these wards and are reacting as best we can."

Our operatives are still working with TVP and all new tags are photographed and recorded on the database."

While it is clear that officers are working hard to deal with the graffiti upsurge within existing resources, the fact that this project has been wound up clearly shows that tackling graffiti is no longer a priority for Reading Borough Council's Labour administration.

It's good to hear that partnership working between the Council and Police continues to tackle taggers (it is one which had a number of high profile successess).

However, I do wonder whether that without resources for the 'Big Clean Up' our overstretched local Police teams will be able to continue to  crack down effectively on those responsible for this criminal damage (which is what unwanted graffiti is), whilst also dealing with other more serious crimes such as burglary.

Judging by the angry response to an article in today's Post on the explosion in graffiti in central and south Reading, I think Labour politicians may well regret the decision to cut short this popular and successful campaign.

What we would not want to see is a return to Labour's  which was to charge local householders for graffiti clean ups. This is something the Lib Dems actively campaigned to change a couple of years ago.

As I said of the "Big Clean Up" campaign last March:

"..we just need to make sure that the Council continues to invest resources into tackling graffiti and also spends wisely on diversionary tactics to prevent repeat attacks. We believe strongly that a one off clean up is needed alongside ongoing work to prevent graffiti building up in public places"

Whilst  it is apparent that some political parties in Reading appear to have lost interest in tackling graffiti, be reassured that the Lib Dems, however, will continue to campaign for a cleaner, greener Reading.

It goes without saying that In the current economic climate finding additional resources to devote to tackling the problem of graffiti over the next few years will be difficult.

We will be investigating ways in which the battle against those who deface our streets and public spaces can be stepped up in the future.

More estate wins

A recent visit to Hexham estate has led to some more positive results for the local environment and local people in Redlands.

I received this email from an officer in Housing today:

"Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the bin areas on Hadrian Walk East and West.

As part of the ongoing bin project, this area together with others on the Hexham estate have been identified for possible improvement/upgrades.

Plans have recently been drawn up and sent to us in Housing from our Property Services department with our proposals.  We are now in receipt of these plans and in the process of consulting with local residents. "

I'm pleased to see that ongoing campaigning by the Lib Dems for a cleaner, greener estate has led to officers looking into how bin areas can be improved.

I can also report that  Council planning officers are currently investigating if action can be taken to force a landowner to tackle a tumbledown wall also on Newcastle Road (edge of Northumberland Avenue).

A local resident wrote to me about this issue a few weeks ago complaining  about the dilapidated appearance of the wall and the fact it was making the area look rundown.

This follows Kirsten's efforts to get the Council to tackle dog fouling around the estate and Newcastle Road/Cintra Park in particular.

We are always keen to hear from any local residents with ideas about how we can help make the estate and the Redlands area more genearlly a more pleasant place to live.

In other news we have reported more vandalism to the fence by the allotments on Newcastle Road to the Council for repair and are hoping this will be dealt with swiftly.

What a mess!

Last week I mentioned that we had noticed a sharp rise in graffiti tags around the ward.

I received an email today from a constituent about this problem:

'...just to report an increase in the last week or so of graffiti on the walls and a garage door as well as the green "junction boxes"  between Allcroft Road and the top of Redlands.  I also note that the bus stop at the green has been attacked again as have the fronts of the shops.  I have reported the walls and garage door to the police following a recent article in the Evening Post but have heard nothing more.  I have also seen fresh graffiti this morning on the way to work on the Reading Bowling Club building on Kendrick Road - it's a real mess!'

Jonny Fordham's article in the Evening Post to which my correspondent refers helped to raise the profile of this issue and I hope the number of reports to the Council and the Police have increased.

I quizzed Superintendent Steve Kirk last night at a meeting of the Safer Reading Campaign about what was being done locally to catch the taggers responsible.

The Police have had some successes but it is difficult for them to catch taggers when this offence is just one in a long list of local priorities.

He admitted that although the 'Big Clean Up Campaign' led by the Council, working closely with the Police had been effective in reducing the amount of graffiti on our streets, resources were now being diverted elsewhere.

This is a concern. While criminal damage may appear to be a minor offence, graffiti can make our neighbourhoods look very rundown, as well as lead to other anti-social behaviour creeping up in an area.

Each month Kirsten, Glenn and I get lots of emails about graffiti so it clearly is an issue that local people get very fed up about.

Until a couple of years ago, and active campaigning  by the Lib Dems the Council used to charge residents for graffiti removal. We think that the free graffiti removal service should continue.

As my constituent points out our area is becoming a mess. Sadly, it seems every year Redlands is the target for taggers, I'm not quite sure why.

I will be making urgent enquiries about what resources are at the Council's disposal to ensure the good work achieved by the Streetcare team and local Police in tackling graffiti over the last couple of years is not undone.

The Council and Police must not let vandals hijack our streets and open spaces. Now is not the time to let taggers off the hook.

That all important info again: If you come across graffiti in your area please report it to the Police on 0845 8 505 505 so it can be logged on their database of tags. The Council will also remove the graffiti free of charge - call Streetcare on 0800 834 035.

More Police, not CCTV the way to cut crime

Last night I attended a meeting of the Safer Reading Campaign which was by turns interesting and frustrating.

It was interesting to hear Superintendent Steve Kirk dismiss Tory calls for more CCTV in Caversham.

He said, rightly I think that "CCTV is not a panacea...it's not the solution".

Back in February I blogged about that fact that increasing CCTV alone will not cut crime.

This follows a request by Conservative councillors at the last forum meeting in January for consideration to be given to funding CCTV if requested by partners.

The report we received last night confirmed that:

"At a recent meeting of the CDRP Acquisitve Crime Group a full problem solving process was carried out to identify how burglary might be reduced within hotspot areas. The use of CCTVeither covert or overt was not considered as an option and no request from any agency was made for additional CCTV at this time...Currently the issue is not around funding for CCTC, as no request for CCTV has been made by any agency."

Steve Kirk said that the only thing he thought could make an impact on reducing crimes such as burglary was increasing the number of Neighbourhood Police officers in some parts of Reading.

He also said ongoing targeted action by the Police against known, proflific offenders was helping to reduce the number of crimes committed.

This is key. As Police Chief Sara Thornton pointed out in 2006 around 30 people are responsible for most acquisitive crimes in Reading such as burglary.

Superintendent Kirk said he is now in the habit of sending Christmas cards to known offenders - 'we know where you live!' etc

Putting 10,000 "more Bobbies on the beat" to reduce crime and increase community confidence has been longstanding Lib Dem national policy (and again, something I touched on in February.

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the launch of Neighbourhood Policing. It was good to hear Steve Kirk's comments that local Police teams in East Reading and Whitley were beginning to make a noticeable impact on tackling a range of crime issues.

I am hopeful that their good work will be enhanced further following the introduction of a budget for Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) communications, something the Lib Dems successfully got the Labour administration to bring in earlier in the year.

There was some more interesting stuff about graffiti and evaluation of Safer Reading Campaign projects which I'll blog later.