Photo by: David Holt
Police in Hackney rely on Neighbourhood Watch groups to keep them informed about the area, a police officer has admitted.
Hackney police constable Thomas Coe said people were often reluctant to contact the police and it was Neighbourhood Watch groups that helped keep them informed.
He was speaking at a residents’ association meeting in Albion Square, Haggerston, where the Neighbourhood Watch has lapsed in recent years. Locals planned to set up a new watch after seeing a 171 per cent increase in serious crime in their area.
PC Coe backed the idea, telling residents at the meeting: “I think without you the police don’t know what’s going on. The problem is when police aren’t informed and they’re not aware.”
Albion Square has seen a sharp rise in crime this year. Although crime has fallen in both Queensbridge and Hackney as a whole since August, the area around Albion Square experienced a 26 per cent rise in serious offences between August and September this year, including burglary and violent crime.
The number of serious offences has jumped at an even greater rate since last year. The number has risen from just seven offences in September 2011 in comparison to 19 in September 2012, representing a 171 per cent increase. There were 15 offences in August this year in comparison to just two in August 2011.
As well as the recent theft of two racing bikes from a property in the street, incidents of heavy drinking, vandalism, and the theft of brass fittings from a public fountain have left residents upset. “We’ve had quite a few issues with antisocial behaviour and theft and what-have-you over the summer, so we thought it would be a good idea to … see if we can kick off again under the Neighbourhood Watch,” said Kate Turner, a member of the Residents’ Association Committee.
Some see the recent serious vandalism of the listed gardener’s hut in Albion Square as an example of changing patterns of crime in the area. “Over the years people have bashed in the windows, but this is much more,” said a 20-year resident of the square who wished to remain anonymous. “They’ve bashed in the door … it is padlocked. I think this is destruction.”
PC Coe argued that crime in the area experienced periodic increases “in stages and waves rather than constant”. He said the police had received lots of calls about antisocial behaviour in neighbouring Stonebridge Park in recent weeks, “and now it seems to have died down”.
“I have so many things to do in a day that I struggle to keep everything going, but as long as I know that I’m going to be meeting up with you all again, there’s going to be a sense of, ‘what has been done since last time?’” said PC Coe.
