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CRIME IN CHISWICK FALLING ACCORDING TO LATEST FIGURES New figures show crime falling by nearly 7% in Chiswick against the trend in the borough overall. Despite a general feeling that crime has been increasing in the area, the latest figures published by the Hounslow Community Safety Partnership show a marked drop. The three Chiswick wards in the borough of Hounslow saw crime fall by nearly 7% in the six months to March 2002 with 2,185 incidents reported. During the same period overall in the borough crime rose by 4.5% The level of crime in Chiswick remains significant with two of the Chiswick wards (Turnham Green and Chiswick Homefields) being in the top five for reported crime in the borough. There are twenty wards in total. Crime dropped most sharply in the Chiswick Riverside ward which saw a reduction of 12% in reported incidents. However this area was also the scene of the most serious crime in Chiswick recently - a violent rape. Not all crimes are falling however. Most notably burglaries were up by 7% with 271 taking place between October 2001 and March 2002. Many of these were the so-called letter box thefts in which criminals steal house and car keys through letter boxes. One area that has seen improvement has been vehicle crime which was down by 6% to 678 incidents. Street crime has been rising with the number of incidents up by 6% to 106. This had previously been the fastest growing area of local crime with many of the incidents relating to mobile phone thefts from teenagers. Chiswick has an extremely low level of hate crime compared to the rest of the borough and the number of racial incidents fell from 51 to 19. Homophobic crimes have risen but from a relatively low number of 2 to 6. One possible reason for the falling crime levels could be the high usage of the Ringmaster messaging system by Chiswick residents. Although it is available across the borough by far the highest take-up is in this area. Through this system the police send out messages giving information about patterns of reported crime and useful prevention measures. It is available by e-mail and the messages are also posted on this site's discussion forum. The full report on crime statistics is to be presented to the Chiswick Area Committee Monitoring Group meeting on Tuesday 23rd July. There will also be details given of the Crime and Disorder Action Plan framework. This has been formulated by the Chiswick Town Centre Group which comprises representatives from the police, local councillors, the local traders association and borough community safety officers. Initiatives like the graffiti clean up day are to be continued and youth crime in the town centre is to be targeted.
July 20, 2002 Mugger's Alley - a crime hot spot in Chiswick Street Crime in Chiswick a problem in year to March 2001 Crime in Chiswick - ward by ward Get notified of local crime through Ringmaster How safe are the underpasses under the A4?
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