It's little over a fortnight since the last set of bad headlines about Reading which highlighted high levels of anti-social behaviour we are facing locally, today the town is at the top of another dubious chart: burglary.
getreading has the story, reporting that Reading is third in the country for burglary behind Manchester and Nottingham.
Of course this is not really news, it's sad to say.
Back in April I highlighted the big increase in burglary that the Police were reporting to us.
Although today's article is the result of a national Conservative party press release there is no comment made in the piece by any of the local Conservative representatives about what they would do to tackle burglary problems in Reading, so we are still none the wiser.
At the April meeting of the Safer Reading Campaign as I mentioned in my blog, Superintendent Steve Kirk said:
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.
This came after Cllr Chowdhary suggested that more CCTV was what was needed to reduce burglary.
I understand why the Tories say things like this: it certainly is the type of thing people want to hear. But tackling crime isn't that simple.
Many local residents say to me they would like to see more CCTV in their areas as they hope it will put an end to crimes occuring but I point out to them that a) the Police don't have enough officers to monitor all the CCTV we have now b) we would need additional Police officers to go out and arrest the people caught on camera (with our local teams very stretched as it is).
Additional CCTV appears to be the only solution the Tories have in mind despite the fact, as I blogged in Febuary, research by the Police themselves has found CCTV to be ineffective at tackling these sorts of crimes.
Today Steve Kirk was forced to defend Thames Valley Police's record online in response to comments from residents on the getreading site, saying:
"Reading has a number of active burglars and too many burglaries which is why working to reduce this crime has been my top priority for the past five years. Last year we saw a 25% reduction comapared to 2003/4. So far this year we are experiencing a further 13% reduction on last year, we arrest on average 5 burglars a week.Sorry for quoting statistics but that is what the story seems to be about. I will continue to do my utmost to either deter or convict burglars. The police can't do it alone and we have had great assistance from the Council, Probation Service, Neighbourhood Action Groups, Neighbourhood Watch and Crimestoppers. We still have some way to go so if you want to help, contact me at Reading Police Station"
I would back up what Supt Kirk says here - it is all about local agencies working together to cut crime and it is not simply the responsibility of the Police to do it. Most burglary is caused by known repeat offenders and they need to be managed by a range of bodies as Supt Kirk outlinies above.
However, it isn't just burglary that requires a more intelligent approach from local agencies.
As the Lib Dems highlighted only a few weeks ago, thanks to poor local leadership by Labour politicians in Reading local people have lost faith in the ability of the Council and the Police to tackle things like asb and the result is crime and fear of crime is still a problem in parts of Reading.
As a result RBC will be visited by an 'action squad' from the Home Office focussing on helping the Council to reduce anti-social behaviour.
Labour politicians have been invisible on these issues locally on many occasions despite the fact they are supposed to be in charge of measures to reduce crime.
On Reading Borough Council in recent years it has been the Lib Dems who have been campaigning the most actively of the three political parties for a better response to crime problems:-
of this year's Budget to help NAGs communicate better with local people
- We put pressure on Thames Valley Police to improve the response from its call centres to crime reports from Reading residents
- We called for more effective local strategies to tackle anti-social behaviour
- We have campaigned for more Police on the streets in areas which have historically been neglected such as North Whitley and Katesgrove.
And locally in the ward we have successfully won extra money for local crime reduction measures across Redlands.
Tomorrow I am attending the re-launch of the Council's nuisance team. I'm hoping those in charge of this service will have listened to some the concerns we have raised about the need for the Council to be more joined up in the way it responds to anti-social behaviour reports from the public.
Issues we have faced in the ward such as mini-moto nuisance on Bede Walk could be better handled I think.
That said, the presence of the wardens and nuisance team on Hexham Road - something we campaigned for - is having a very positive impact and is an example of where things are working well in Reading.
UPDATE:
Chief Constable Sara Thornton has responded to yesterday's news report on burglary. Local MP Rob Wilson thinks the situation is "disappointing", saying "change is needed now".
Still no details on what the Tories would do differently if they were in charge which I have to say I find...disasppointing.
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