Bus crime halved

Friday June 26, 2009

Robberies on buses have halved in the past 12 months as the increased number of local beat bobbies continues to cut crime.

Borough-wide crime figures show that overall bus crime is down by five per cent this year - including a 53 per cent drop in the number of robberies.

In 2005/06 there were 913 crimes recorded on buses in Hammersmith & Fulham. This figure has been falling consistently for the past three years and in 2008/09 the number of crimes had dropped to 646 - a 29 per cent fall.

In March, the council announced extra funding to extend the ground-breaking beat Policing pilot schemes so that each of the borough's three town centres now has an elite squad of council funded beat bobbies.

In total the council is paying for more than 50 extra bobbies and earlier this month Mayor Johnson announced two new transport hub teams to Police major transport links in the borough. From April 1, Askew Ward Safer Neighbourhood Team - which is considered a 'secondary town centre' - also gained four extra PCs.

Cllr Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Crime & Street Scene, commented: "The falls in bus crime are very welcome but there is still a lot of work to be done. The council and the Mayor of London are both ploughing more resources into cracking down on crime and we will be working tirelessly to build on this success."