Fireworks crackdown a big success

NEWS FROM WANDSWORTH

www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news

A joint crackdown by police and the council on yob behaviour and rowdyism in the period around Halloween and Bonfire Night has been hailed a success after a huge drop in offending rates and anti-social behaviour. 

The joint effort by the town hall and police saw the number of complaints about offences involving fireworks drop by 66 per cent compared to the previous year. Complaints about rowdy behaviour were down by 30 per cent on the year before.

This equates to more than 1,000 fewer phone calls to the police, including around 300 fewer 999 calls between October 27 and November 7.

 

There was a fall of 300 phone calls to police about youths throwing fireworks in the street and other public places, and 200 less calls to incidents of anti-social behaviour.

And as a result of a greater police presence on the streets during the operation, robberies were down 29 per cent, burglaries down 21 per cent and cases of criminal damage reduced by 31 per cent compared to the previous year.

The crackdown was arranged to tackle problems of disorder, yob behaviour and criminal damage which has become a regular feature of the period around Halloween and Bonfire Night. Youths letting off fireworks in streets or parks, combined with vandalism and other forms of anti-social behaviour connected with "Trick or Treat" have seen crime levels shoot up in recent years.

To combat these issues, a range of initiatives were put in place to deter and prevent young people from creating problems.

All premises in the borough selling fireworks and knives were visited by trading standards officers and police safer neighbourhood teams to warn them of the consequences of selling these items to anyone under 18. It is a criminal offence to sell fireworks to a minor.

All the shops were issued with information leaflets and posters highlighting the legal risks they faced if caught selling fireworks to children, as well as advice on how to resist under-age customers.

In addition a special test purchase operation was carried out using young police cadets to ensure that these shops were complying with the law. None of those tested sold any fireworks to the cadets. 

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Grocery shops were also visited and urged not to sell quantities of eggs and flour to young people in the lead up to Halloween.

Throughout the period additional police resources were directed onto the streets to offer a highly visible deterrent to troublemakers, with safer Neighbourhood Teams working 12 hour shifts for the entire period to provide more officers on the beat.

In addition other high visibility foot and bike patrols were carried out across the borough and in particular at known "hotspots". These patrols were supported by additional police vehicles, including vans, so that a swift response could be guaranteed to any incident.

The council's CCTV monitoring room, which can access live picture feeds from its entire security camera network, was also made available to police spotters, so that police resources on the ground could be rapidly directed to any emerging problems or towards known offenders.

On November 5, the CCTV monitoring room was used as a the command post for the inspector in charge of operational policing on the night, and he was able to closely monitor the dispersal from the big fireworks event in Battersea Park and dozens of other locations across the borough and direct his resources effectively.

Over the course of the operation, 31 people were arrested for a range of offences and 1,204 people were either subject to stop and search procedures or were questioned and made to account for their movements.

The council's community safety spokesman Cllr James Cousins said: "This was a hugely successful initiative to combat the mindless individuals who cause so much fear and anguish at this time of year.

"It is unacceptable for youths to hurl fireworks around town centres, parks or housing estates or to knock on doors and threaten retribution if they are not given a 'treat'. People should not have to live in fear of this type of behaviour.

"That is why we backed this operation 100 per cent and why we were so determined to give the police all the back up and support that we could to combat this kind of anti-social behaviour."

Inspector Dale Anderton, who led the police operational response on Bonfire Night, said: "There was a significant reduction in crime across the board during this period.



"By working closely with our partners, crime and the fear of crime was reduced significantly during this period compared with this time in previous years - making Wandsworth a safer place for all."