Violent crime in Southend – something has to change

A police meeting, called to address the terrible events that occurred in the Farringdon Service Road in May, was in many ways shambolic, and suffered from being badly run. But there were high points, and these all featured residents. The residents who spoke were clear and eloquent, and not a little angry and frustrated.

Are residents being properly listened to? When they are being shouted down then the answer is “no”. At times it can appear that all residents receive is platitudes, or being effectively told that they are wrong. This is a long way from the reassurance that I believe is needed.

We cannot have business as usual, for whatever we may wish to think, the reality is that violent crime is on the increase. However, what would not be helpful at the moment is for action without thought.

“Oh no, not another one”. An instinctive reaction born partially out of the growing realisation that these sorts of incidents are happening frequently and regularly. Outrage will fall victim to nonchalance if we are not careful.

Cuts: always rolled out as an excuse for all sorts of things. Yet, those cuts are significantly affecting the world we all inhabit. There are fewer police; this impacts the visibility of law enforcement. This gives rise to the impression that crime often goes unpunished.

We do not have a lawless borough. What we do have is an increasingly violent one. Whatever reassurances we, the residents, receive is little comfort after our families and friends have been threatened and robbed at knifepoint. Something has to change.

Top five crimes in Southend

David Webb is a regular question setter at Council meetings. One this week interested me, well the answer elucidated some fascinating data.

Last year there was 15,012 crimes in Southend-on-Sea - some 12.5% (an eighth) of all crime reported in Essex.

The top five crimes by volume in Southend-on-Sea were as follows:

Classification	Number of offences	%
Theft	3523	24%
Violence without injury	2757	18%
Criminal damage	1835	12%
Violence with injury	1623	11%
Vehicle crime	1459	10%

A fifth of all crime in Southend-on-Sea is committed in Milton ward

Here follows an extract from the Annual Crime Report 2015-2016:

There were 14254 crimes last year; this represents:

Southend Crime Increase - 10.8%

Essex Crime Increase - 11.5%

There were marginally less sexual offences, burglary (other) and vehicle crime, but an increase in crime in all other classifications; there were 734 more ‘violence without injury offences’, which was our biggest issue. This crime group now includes malicious communications and social media offences so we are hoping that with changing reporting mechanisms, this year may be the bench mark for future crime recording.

We have solved 22% of all crime

The demands of Southend Policing remain: 175,000 population; 6 million visitors each year, the third best attended theme park in the Country, Southend United Football Club, and a significant seasonal variation of 27% during the summer months.

The report also included statistics on crimes per ward in the borough, presented in tabular form:

Ward	Number of Crimes	%	Rank
Milton	2855	20.03	1
Victoria	1643	11.53	2
Kursaal	1482	10.40	3
Prittlewell	834	5.85	4
Southchurch	783	5.49	5
Shoebury	727	5.10	6
St Lukes	717	5.03	7
Chalkwell	711	4.99	8
Westborough	652	4.57	9
St Lawrence	629	4.41	10
Leigh	615	4.31	11
West Shoebury	590	4.13	12
Blenheim Park	509	3.57	13
Thorpe	421	2.95	14
Belfairs	406	2.84	15
West Leigh	352	2.47	16
Eastwood Park	328	2.30	17
TOTAL	14254	100

Milton is the town centre ward, has the majority of nightclubs plus other entertainment venues. It also has two high streets, the pier, many pubs and restaurants, etc. However, I cannot take any joy in Milton being foremost in the Borough (and probably all of Essex) in respect of crimes reported, just over a fifth of all reported for the borough.

Whilst to some extent crime reporting may be more diligently undertaken in Milton ward, the fact that this ward is nearly twice as crime-ridden as the wards in second and third place, and four times as crime-ridden as the next nearest wards, is a worry.