Policing Update

We've had a bit of a spike in crime across the ward over the summer. Total recorded crime is up year on year across Acocks Green by 25%. Within that, burglary is up by 92%, which translates to 35 offences; vehicle crime is up 13%; and robbery is up by 20%, which equates to five offences. As I wrote earlier, I'm always conscious about the level of fear of crime that exists in Yardley, so there needs to be some perspective. This is still a safe place to live. We've got a very good and dedicated policing team here and they are committed to cutting crime and dealing with offenders.

The Gospel Estate has borne the brunt of this - hence the meeting at Lakey Lane School for the start of Operation Seabreeze - this is divided into patrol strategy, offender management and community development, with short, medium and long term goals for each area. The officers in Acocks Green have been clearly very stretched - the Gospel Estate started out with one PC and two PCSOs. One PCSO was removed and after the local PC was redeployed elsewhere, his replacement unfortunately went on long term sick. We now have a replacement - PC Nick Hale, who started last week. An additional PCSO, Dan Coxhead, has also been sent to the Gospel to support PCSO Chelsie Beardsmore. Sadly, PC Ian Davis, who has been a key member of the team, has been sent to a new posting as an Acting Sergeant in Stechford. We'll certainly miss him here in Acocks Green, but we already have a replacement, PC Dan Poore.

In terms of the Gospel Estate, officers from Acocks Green will liaise with their colleagues across the borders in Solihull and Hall Green. Other departments, such as traffic, are putting their people into the area to carry out patrols as urgent commitments allow. There is also work going on to put some additional youth activities onto the Gospel. The initial response, even from some of the young people involved, has been positive and residents have welcomed the additional, visible patrols. Surveys have been carried out by the local teams across hundreds of properties to assess local concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour. On a long term basis, they will look to take out a dispersal order - a civil measure that allows the police to order groups that are causing disruption to leave the area and not to return without facing the possibility of arrest. A number of youths have been identified as getting involved with a number of problems on the estate and the initial response is to explore civil anti-social behaviour action, which may lead to ASBOs. However, this isn't a short term option - evidence has to be gathered and a civil case built.

Elsewhere, anti-speeding operations have recently been carried out on Olton Boulevard East, where nine drivers were spoken to about exceeding the speed limit; four were warned on Tyndale Road, eleven on Fox Hollies Road and none on Mayfield Road. Other speeding operations are planned for coming weeks on other roads.