Forum Topic

What appears to be rising 'serious' crime in Acton - need for some immediate action

This is a worry, does anyone else think so apart from KW and myself?See below K Waddington's post under Bookshop'Right now, there are more important matters that need to be dealt with in Acton streets: in the last 2 weeks there have been 3 stabbings in our neighbourhood and 3 burglaries in our street only.Question 1: Why does Acton high street look so grim compared to Ealing ‘s ,Chiswick’s or even Shepherd’s bush? Question2: Would fine and attractive retail shops, cafes, restaurants, bookshops(!) help to improve the local demography profile and attract  an educated populace?  Would a large bookstore help to decrease crime? '

Dee Cook ● 5894d22 Comments

From elsewhere on the website. "A Chiswick man has been charged with stabbing a 27 year old in Alfred Road, Acton.Unemployed 46 year old Hassan Omer of Wilkinson Way, Chiswick will appear at Ealing Magistrates' Court today, Monday 26 July, charged with assault and GBH with intent following the attack on Saturday 24th July."I suspect that the presence or absence of a bookshop won't have much impact. The problem needs a much more full-on solution than that. Scrapping hippy drippy immigration policies and welfare dependency cultures would be a good start.

Paul Grady ● 5894d

"Scrapping hippy drippy immigration policies and welfare dependency cultures would be a good start."Are you destined for the dizzy heights, - so soon?

George Knox ● 5894d

"Scrapping hippy drippy immigration policies and welfare dependency cultures would be a good start."What, in your evidently cultured and well informed opinion, is 'hippy drippy' about UK immigration policies?For that matter, how would scrapping welfare dependency help, given that one likely effect would be widespread increases in deprivation, inequality and crime, as happened in the 1980s.

Thomas Barry ● 5894d

ThomasIn 1996 the graph for reported crime rose at a faster rate than since for ever.Something to do with the Tories increasing social deprivation engineering which took its time to work through the system and thanks to the lady in blue.Can vaguely remember hippies.

George Knox ● 5894d

Crime prevention, . . . .CAUTION, this method may NOT always work. . . . 

Fred Bray ● 5894d

i really don't think we are worse off than shepherds bush which is scarey to walk about at night.

Thea Buchan ● 5894d

Armed police, helecopters overhead, what IS happening in this area?  They say crime is going down yet all too frequently we hear the sound of helecopters circling overhead and sireens screeching out from emergency vehicles rushing along Horn Lane to attend some other 'incident' in the vacinity.Perhaps if we had more uniformed police patrolling these streets these incidents would be few and far between?

Jean F Fernandez ● 5893d

I lived in Shepherds Bush before buying my place in Acton and to be honest feel much safer here.

Tony Crumpton ● 5893d

Our community policeman said the helicopter was part of a crackdown on car crime - I would have thought it too far off but no doubt they know.And there were these four bobbies on bikes in the park yesterday but have no idea what they were doing

Sara Nathan ● 5893d

I've lived in West London for over 30 years and Acton's the sort of place that you keep expecting to get gentrified and it somehow never does. I'm not sure that better shops would attract a better type of resident: I suspect that it works the other way round or may be an insoluble chicken/egg situation.come to think of it, I have noticed that better shops and posh cafés are often the first sign that an area is upping and coming, or maybe just the first that I notice. Northfields is a good example, where cappuccino bars now rub shoulders with greasy spoons and a shop selling useless 'gifts' will be next door to a second-hand furniture dealer (and I don't mean antiques).So maybe the original poster is on to something!

Susan Kelly ● 5893d

And maybe that's what's happening - if not in the high street then anyhow a bit in Churchfield Road with its new and flourishing cafes and slightly bijou shops.By the way, just drove past Poet's Brasseris and it looked opem for business with people sitting outside. Anyone tried it?

Sara Nathan ● 5893d

And a response to the helicopter thread.....Interesting, we see more evidence of active policing, helicopter, PCSO’s and in my case police cars loitering in my local area and the conclusion is that we are experiencing more crime.....Yet the oft spoken request is to see more police on the streets, patrolling...’evening all’Yet again from memory stats show this is not the best way to tackle crime, area based and targeted crime projects better than random patrolsMy gut reaction is that we have relatively low crime in Acton, there will be an increase in burglary and ASB in summer, Violence and knife crime will be episodic, a few close together will raise awareness.However actual stats challenge my perception......There is a handy nationwide web link which allows you to enter your postcode and get recent crime stats and a comparison to other area’s. http://maps.police.uk/view/Most of Acton and Ealing wards show ‘Average’ for London crime rates, East Acton and North Acton show ‘Higher than average’. For each ward you can drill down to check crime rates under different categories, Burglary, Car crime, ASB etc and see recent stats compared with one year ago.Most wards show significantly higher crime rates than a year ago. 20 – 40%This could be due to many factors in the collection of the stats, redefinition of crimes, increased reporting, better recording etc etcSo having read the initial thread my initial response was fear of crime rather than reality, having looked at the local stats I am now puzzled!Perhaps all the recent active policing is a result of these stats and we should welcome it...Iain

Iain Muir ● 5892d

Acton Central reads as average for the met police area for all crimes except violence where it is above average.Gripping chart so thanks.

Sara Nathan ● 5892d

Perhaps. I would certainly welcome an informed comment from any policeperson reading this thread.As for welcoming active policing, the jury is out. Bobbies on the beat - yes. High speed police cars - probably not. Buzzing police helicopers - definitely not. Police machine guns in the distance - thankfully we're not there yet.

Ian M Green ● 5892d

Most of the people responding to this and the helicopter thread appeared to link increased police activity (active policing) to greater present crime, rather than targeted action to reduce crime. Bit of a problem for police and politicians, more you do, the worse the problem appears to be!Also interesting in the Met Map is the link to more crime within poorer, more deprived (on other indices) wards rather than nervous suburbia, aka most of Ealing!I live in the 'higher than average' East Acton ward which encompasses a broad mix of housing tenure, council housing with a lot of right to buy north of the A40, privately owned with some council/housing association to the south.Why is my ward above average compared to it's neighbours?And think yourself lucky in Acton Central!Iain

Iain Muir ● 5892d

Those figures are as one would expect with a finger in the wind. I compared my post code with my bank on Shepherd's Bush Green, my mum in New Malden Surrey, the BBC in Gt Portland St and a flat in Kilburn (first five postcodes to hand!)and it was as you would expect with Shepherd's Bush a bit of a hell-hole, Marylebone not much better then us and Kilburn and leafy Coombe Vale a pretty good (if very boring) place to be. Interestingly though, even there came out as mostly average.At least we didn't have any "highs" - legal or otherwise - unllike Shepherds Bush and Marylebone.

Sara Nathan ● 5892d

It would be interesting to know how many people per street (and in what streets) actually report crime.The more crime reported, it would appear, produces more action by the Police.So do more 'middle class' people report 'crime'?  Who reports 'crime'?One persons 'crime' is another's 'not much point in reporting it because nothing gets done'.

Dee Cook ● 5891d

I would take these figures with a very large pinch of salt. Reporting practice varies with time, and also across the country.The map colouring either compares a distract to local districts or to "similar policing areas", whatever that means. Dartmoor (6 offences / month / 1000 people) is coloured average; adjacent Plymouth (8 offences) is above average; while Marylebone (20 offences) is only average.On the other hand, if the count "per 1000 people" means residents, then central London is likely to appear worse, due to the real numbers being swollen by commuters and visitors.Anyway, it's an improvement on Booth's Victorian map, where streets coloured black were inhabited by "Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal. Their life is the life of savages, with vicissitudes of extreme hardship and their only luxury is drink."

Ian M Green ● 5891d

'Average' The level of crime in this area is above average (compared with the rest of Metropolitan Police change)So East Acton is above average for London, Acton Central is average for London.I agree the figures have lots of room for error but presume they have some relevance as published.

Iain Muir ● 5891d

Agreed - Acton Central is "average", and East Acton "above average" compared to other Met areas. But if you click "change" to compare them to "similar policing areas", both appear as "above average". I didn't make this clear in the post above, and would quite like to know what is consided a "similar policing area".

Ian M Green ● 5891d

It's certainly hard to see how the police will ever prioritise crime that isn't reported. I think it certainly helps in setting local/London/national priorities.People's experiences of crime, and how they respond to it, vary, which is one of the reasons that many people view the huge annual British Crime Survey as a better barometer of trends than report logs to the police. I may give up reporting stolen bikes (other than for insurance purposes) if I stop believing that the police will recover them; however, if I'm asked by the Survey if I have experienced theft, I will respond accordingly. (I don't have a bike, as it happens.)The difficulty with crime stats is that they have been a political football, with parties tending to favour the stats which back up their case, depending whether they are buying or selling. Governments like stats which show a downward trend; oppositions the converse. The BCS has been showing a reducing trend in crime for some years now, and has been treated pretty sniffily by the Tories in that period. But now that they are in power, they are making no criticism of the latest figures, even though they relate to a period of Labour government, because they hope to be able to pray them in aid themselves in future years. It's not particularly an anti-Tory point; it's just politics.I'm not persuaded that Acton is in any sense a more dangerous or crime-ridden place than when I came here over twenty years ago. Certainly some violent crime - especially that which is both by and against young people - is a bit different in its characteristics and profile, but the overall picture is, I think, more optimistic. If the police have access now to a helicopter to deter and pursue burglars and car thieves, I can put up with a little noise from time to time.

Steve Donnelly ● 5891d

I do not know the answer to your question but have done some comparisons across the country which show marked differences!Location       Crime rate Crime LevelEast Acton           18.3       Above AverageActon Central           13.5       AverageS Bush Green           33.7       HighWest End (inc pt Oxfd St) 208.4       High Liverpool City Centre   54.5       AverageLiverpool Suburb   3.8       Average Birmingham City Centre 158.1       HighBirmingham Suburb     7       Average Harrogate Centre   17.6       HighHarrogate Suburb   1.2       AverageAs the figures are population based they can be skewed in city centre's (low pop)Shepherds Bush scores highly largely because of a high incidence of ASB, possibly linked to the concentration of pubs?

Iain Muir ● 5891d