Offences in Osterley & Spring Grove on the Increase

January local policing update

As part of the regular IBAF meetings (Isleworth and Brentford Action Forums) local police produce a combined report on police and criminal activity for Brentford, Syon and Osterley & Spring Grove wards. You can hear the reports being presented and discussed at IBAF.

The figures referred to cover the period from October to December. During the last Area Forum October’s figures were included due to the dates in which it fell. As you will see from the figures below October is also included in this final quarter report and the figures included below are in line with the ward priorities.

Your dedicated ward officers have been deployed on Operation Winter Nights over the last few weeks. This is an annual operation that focuses on Burglary and ASB during the holiday period. Historically Burglary and theft related offence rise due to the time of year. In the lead up to this period we have been promoting crime prevention to try and target harden areas and make life more difficult for criminals to commit offences.

Total Notifiable Offences (TNO) is the overall number of offences reported on each ward. Two wards have seen a reduction on the previous three months – Brentford 12.5 % (a total of 57 less offences) and Syon – 5% reduction (a total of 20 less offences) this is very positive especially considering we entered a period where historically offences are higher than normal. Brentford and Syon have also seen a good reduction in total notifiable offences over the last 12 months.

Osterley and Spring Grove saw and increase in total notifiable offences of 13.5% (a total of 44 more offences). This is in large part down to the spate of shed burglaries which accounted for more than half of the increase in offences. Over the last 12 months Osterley has seen an increase in TNO of 11.5%. This is of course disappointing, and we will be working with the local councillors, ward panels and residents groups to reverse this.

Burglary –
There has been an increase on Brentford and Osterley in Burglary offences in the last three months. This is not unexpected as we enter a peak time for this offence and in large part down to the festive period.

Osterley and Spring Grove saw a small increase in offences. In October there was a spike in shed burglaries which has no doubt contributed to the increase however PC Greg Price was tasked with understanding what had happened and how we can prevent this. He implemented an action plan to prevent offences and following this there were no repeat offences in the area he targeted. In October we saw 39 burglary offences whereas in November and December this was reduced to 10 and 12 respectively.

However over 12 months it is positive for Brentford and Syon wards with a big reduction in offences over a 12 month period whereas again in Osterley there has been a 36% increase. Overall in Hounslow Borough Burglary offences are down 1% The teams have been looking at hotspot locations and times offences have been occurring in an effort to direct patrols more appropriately. Research has shown that offences occur in clusters meaning there are a number of burglaries occurring in an area in a short space of time. To combat this we will be working with neighbourhood watch co-ordinators to spread the crime prevention advice message quickly through OWL when an offence occurs.

Theft from Motor Vehicle
Theft from motor vehicle continues to be a focus for all three ward teams. Brentford has seen a reduction over the last three months and over the last 12 months a significant drop in TFMV across the ward.

Syon has seen a reduction in the last quarter but overall a slight rise with 9 more offences committed over a 12 month period.

Osterley has seen the most significant rise on both the last quarter and over the last 12 months as a whole. To combat this the DWO’s will be completing some further analytical research over the next few weeks to understand the problem and put an intervention in place. This will centre around crime prevention and trying to educate both those who reside in the ward and commuters who leave their vehicles parked near to the transport hubs.

ASB
ASB has seen a far more positive decrease over the last quarter and the last 12 months as a whole. All three wards have seen reductions which can be attributed to the additional patrols provide by the Violent Crime task Force as well as Operation Winter Nights and Operation Autumn Nights. The focus on all of these operations is to reduce Anti- Social Behaviour and tackle violent crime which is often linked to drugs.

Officers will continue to engage with the local communities to try and identify issues early and intervene to prevent issues escalating. The use of OWL to flag any instances to the Police will play a key role in maintaining this reduction. Residents can register for OWL at www.owl.co.uk

February 22, 2019