21 March (Part 2) - Bexley’s Safety Survey
It is always pleasing when Chairman Cheryl Bacon streaks through her Places
Scrutiny meeting in only 90 minutes. Maybe I can knock off a quick report before
the Spring sunshine has decided it has done its bit for the day.
There were three main topics up for discussion. Anti-Social
Behaviour, Street Cleaning and Recycling.
Sidcup
has been the site of a new initiative relating to ASB and the like. As you
would expect, schools were asked to co-operate.
Despite it being the first subject to air, Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour,
Thamesmead East) immediately switched to Hate Crime. “Is there any data on the race of those who completed the recent Community Safety Survey?”
Hate doesn’t figure in the survey’s Top Ten Crime concerns or the Top Ten ASB
concerns for Bexley residents. 77% of respondents said they had never
encountered it but the subject was Councillor Ogundayo’s Number 1 interest.
Whilst not flagged as a particular concern the survey revealed that there were more Hate Crime incidents relating to Race than all the other Hate categories put together
but they were not usually reported to the Police because they are not seen as trustworthy.
60% of the Survey’s 708 respondents were aged 40 to 70 and almost none under 20
years old and it was accepted that more needs to be done to remedy that shortcoming.
No attempt was made to answer Mabel’s race data question.
The Police has a dedicated Hate Crime Officer and another is to be appointed
to spread the “Good News”; perception of crime being more of a problem than the actualité.
Councillor Chris Ball (Labour, Erith) noted a pleasing reduction in
the discarded laughing gas canister count but I was beginning to think that the
debate would end without a single ‘traditional’ crime meriting a Councillor question.
Then Cameron Smith (Conservative, St. Mary’s & St. James) came along to steer the discussion in a more sensible
direction. “What about Burglary, Drugs and Vehicle Crime reports noted by the
Survey Respondents?” would be a reasonable summary of his question.
Unfortunately the Police didn’t feel able to answer the question without knowing
what the Survey had asked. However it was accepted that Bexley was a Burglary
Hotspot. (24% of S.E. London burglaries. All victims receive a Police visit.)
In passing it was noted that school children are being encouraged to be less violent and
Bexley is now 20th worst in London for Domestic Violence but no one commented on that figure.