Conservative councillors were annoyed that by taking up time with a lot of procedural points at last night's Council meeting. The Labour councillors talked out their own motion on crime. We would have proposed the following amendmnmet:
AMENDMENT TO SPECIAL MOTION NO. 5 – CRIME AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM FULL COUNCIL MEETING 29/06/2011
Delete all after “This Council” and replace with:
Welcomes the fall in reported crime in Hammersmith & Fulham by 10,818
offences since 2006, whilst noting the opening of Westfield London in 2008
has added c. 1,600 crimes per year to reported crime in the borough.
Supports the strong record of the Conservative Administration in fighting
crime and anti-social behavior in Hammersmith & Fulham through – amongst
others – the following measures:
• £1.3 million a year on enhanced town centre beat policing in Fulham,
Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush;
• Financial support for Police specialist drugs desk, crack house closure
programme and other operations such as ‘sting’ bikes;
• Expansion of cctv network on streets and council estates, with 24/7
monitoring;
• A borough wide Controlled Drinking Zone;
• Licensing Saturation Zones in Fulham and Shepherds Bush town
centres;
• Expansion of Neighbourhood Watch from 6 schemes in 2006 to over
200 today.
Also thanks Mayor of London Boris Johnson for increasing Police numbers in the Borough through Transport Hub Teams at Hammersmith Broadway and Westfield London; and welcomes news that there will be 1,000 more Police officers in London at the end of his current Mayoral term compared to at the start of it.
Further thanks Westfield London and Hammersmith London BID (Business Improvement District) for providing an extra £350,000 a year to fund more Police Officers for the Borough on top of the Council’s £1.3 million a year.
Notes that there is still much more to do in the fight against crime and anti- social behaviour in H&F; further acknowledges that the 2010/11 reporting year was not as strong as previous years and vows to continue to work together with the Police, Mayor of London, Neighbourhood Watch groups, the voluntary sector and local businesses to cut crime and anti-social behavior further.
Proposed by: Cllr Greg Smith
Seconded by: Cllr Thomas Crofts
This is the speech that Cllr Greg Smith would have made:
Madam Mayor, it is bluntly a cheek of Labour to try to criticize this Administration on crime – when their record was so risible.
During the previous administration, they budgeted just £750,000 over three years to put a handful of extra cops on the streets.
This Conservative administration has spent millions on extra policing. With our new 44 officer £1.3 million a year enhanced town centre policing model announced just last week – with an additional £350,00 a year coming from Westfield and Hammersmith London BID.
When they ran the Council, not only did they preside over a virtually unmonitored cctv control room, which we have restored to a 24/7 fully manned operation; they allowed cctv systems on our council estates to fall into a state of unusable disrepair. It is this administration that is installing brand new cctv onto our estates from the Clem Attlee to White City, with the Bayonee Road and Lampeter Square estates getting cctv for the first time ever.
It was a Labour government that devastated our neighbourhoods with their Licensing Act and the last Labour Council that waved through late night licences that have caused misery to so many of our residents. Whilst this Administration is picking up the pieces, with saturation zones now in Fulham and Shepherds Bush.
And they failed to support Neighbourhood Watch, whilst this Administration has increased the number of watches from 6 under them to over 200 streets covered today.
***
Furthemore, contrary to Labour’s fantasy-land claims about the Mayor of London not enhancing Police numbers in the borough, they don’t need to look further than their own wards to see the transport hub teams he has put into Hammersmith Broadway and Westfield London.
And as a further boost for London, Mayor Boris Johnson has promised an extra £42million for frontline policing. That means that by next year there will be around a 1,000 more warranted police officers on London's streets than at the start of his Mayoralty.
***
Now, let’s take the crime statistics point head on.
Since 2006 there have been 10,818 fewer crimes reported in this borough. That is with both a significant up turn in proactive arrests for crimes that would otherwise never make it to the statistics and the opening of Europe’s largest inner city shopping centre, with a footfall comparable to hosting the FA Cup Final in the borough every single day, bringing an extra c.1,600 crimes a year.
Let’s look at some specific crime types since 2006:
• Motor vehicle crime has fallen from 4,052 offences to 2896 last year – a 28.5% fall.
• Residential burglary has fallen from 2,240 crimes to 1,878 - a 16% fall.
• Robbery is down from 1,244 offences to 769– a 38% fall.
• And drugs arrests, a key indicator of Police proactivity – up from 914 in 2005/6 to 1,821 last year, from a peak of 2,132 in 2008/9.
This is real progress.
Nevertheless, I will be the first to acknowledge – as I did at the Crime Summit in March – that last year’s figures were not as strong as previous years. We saw a small increase in crime across the borough. That is not good enough and we will continue to do everything possible to cut crime and anti-social behavior.
***
Labour seem to want to make a big thing about the success of Republican Mayors in New York. It is quite right that I did praise – in particular Mayor Guilliani, for his success in cutting crime in New York – and I remain convinced a full roll out of that style of policing in London would bring similar results.
Our funding for enhanced town centre beat policing goes someway to replicating that model. They are reducing the number of crimes with a victim and being proactive in catching criminals that would otherwise never become crime statistics. Indeed, as much as 11% of crime on the books in Shepherds Bush has been down to proactive policing rather than victim reports.
Our new town centre model, with all PCs and no PCSOs will continue that work: and in the long term will pay off with big reductions in overall crime in those areas.
***
We are proud of our record – and will continue to work to fight crime and anti-social behaviour:
• Enhanced town centre policing
• more cctv
• tough action on problem licensed premises
• as well as pioneering work around stopping recidivism through integrated offender management.
It’s time for Labour to stop carping – apologise for their own record - and get behind our crime fighters in this borough.
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