Across Hounslow Borough the number of recorded residential burglaries is some 25% less than this time last year. However the invasion of a person’s home and privacy is an appalling crime and for that reason my community team will be utilising latest scientific research from the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science, in an effort to combat residential burglaries in Chiswick.

Criminologists suggest that existing methods of predicting and mapping future locations of crime are intrinsically retrospective and have explored the concept of developing “Prospective Hot-Spotting” procedures.

Their research demonstrates that the risk of burglary is communicable, with properties within 400 metres of a burgled household being at a significantly higher risk of victimisation for up to two months after the initial event. Therefore when we receive the report of a residential burglary we will subsequently target the immediate vicinity.

We shall conduct uniform patrols in the area to provide a visible presence, to provide reassurance and prevent crime. A notice will be delivered to households advising them to review their security, offering them the expert advice of our Crime Prevention Officers and appealing for any information in relation to recent suspicious behaviour to gather intelligence on the perpetrators of these crimes. We shall also look to increase membership of the Ringmaster Messaging System in the locality to ensure latest information is shared with the community.

I am confident that these measures will have a positive effect in reducing even further the number of burglaries in Chiswick and I am very grateful to the Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth Crime Prevention Panel for supporting me and helping to fund this initiative.

Inspector Ged Boyer - Chiswick Sector