Robbery back on the increase again across Chiswick

Recently published crime figures for the Chiswick Area show alarming rises in a number of offences.

Robbery witnessed a very sharp increase in certain areas during the 12 months to December 2006 with the largest rise in the Chiswick Riverside area which saw such crimes increase by 73.9% Turnham Green Ward had an increase of 52.2%.

The steepest growth in recorded robberies occured towards the latter part of the year and would appear to correspond with a time when Hounslow Police cut back sharply on the amount of information that was issued to the public via the local media. In Southfield Ward, which is part of Ealing Borough, robberies actually fell over the course of the year.

Inspector David Osborne who is based at Chiswick Police station said, "Percentages can be misleading as in Chiswick's case we are dealing with relatively small numbers of crimes compared to other parts of London. For example, Riverside Ward with only 14 robberies last financial year (2005/6) had one incident recently with 7 victims. This alone represented 50% of the target for the whole year."

He added that the high increases in Chiswick were in part due to successes in the previous year which had led to a low base for comparison. He dismissed any suggestion that Chiswick is being short changed in relation to the rest of the borough which has a lower incidence of robbery saying that regular plain clothes patrols are made and that since December the Safer Neighbourhoods Team has been at full strength in the area.

Drugs offences were up by a 218% in Chiswick Homefields Ward and by 160% in Chiswick Riverside Ward. (Drug offences fall into three categories - trafficking in controlled drugs, possession of controlled drugs and other drug offences.)

Burglary was the only offence to see a decrease across the whole of Chiswick with criminal damage also down in most areas.

Source: www.met.police.uk

February 21, 2007