Crime drops on the railways

CRIME on the railways has dropped by more than eight per cent, new figures released by British Transport Police (BTP) reveal.

According to the force’s statistics for 2009/10, the number of recorded offences fell from 13,867 to 12,716 - a reduction of 8.3 per cent.

The figures are for BTP’s London North Area, which encompasses First Capital Connect’s (FCC) nine railway stations in Times Territory, including WGC, Hatfield and Potters Bar.

BTP chief superintendent Mark Smith said: “This is the fourth year in a row that crime has been reduced, a trend that we want to see continue and which represents good news for passengers and rail staff.

“Hard work by officers has helped to achieve successes in a number of key areas, including robbery, which has dropped by more than 15 per cent, and overall violent crime, which fell by almost seven per cent.”

Fraud, criminal damage, theft and public order offences also fell during 2009/10.

FCC managing director Neal Lawson said: “Crime is low on our railway and I am very pleased that together with the British Transport Police we are succeeding in reducing it further while improving security.

“Ensuring the safety and security of our customers and their possessions is a top priority for us and we must continue to work with BTP on further initiatives.

“We are aiming to have all of our stations accredited as Secure Stations and station car parks accredited with the Park Mark Award as well as increasing our extensive CCTV coverage.”

Elsewhere, the number of recorded drug and sexual offences increased by 9 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

BTP attributes the rise in drug offences to an increase in the frequency of pro-active narcotics operations carried out by its officers.

Meanwhile, the force said that the majority of sexual offences recorded each year relate to either exposure or public decency incidents.