Crime rates in Edinburgh's City Centre have fallen significantly thanks to the successful partnership working between the City of Edinburgh Council and Lothian & Borders Police.
Funding of £500,000 from the Council's 2007/08 budget allowed for 18 additional Police officers to address the unique policing issues of Edinburgh's thriving city centre area.
The Council and L&BP are working closely together on a comprehensive approach to deal with antisocial behaviour, alcohol-related crime and other issues affecting the City Centre.
In a report to be considered by the Council's Health, Social Care and Housing Committee on 9 October 2007, figures for the first six months of the deployment of the additional 18 Police Officers show an overall decrease in crimes for the City Centre divisional area:
- 33% reduction in assault and robbery with a 5% increase in solvency
- 10% reduction in theft shoplifting
- Significant increase in reports to the Procurator Fiscal
- 5% reduction in Groups 1-5 crimes (violence/sexual crime, dishonesty, vandalism, drugs and offensive weapons)
- Sizeable drop in Breach of the Peace (114 to 70)
- Minor assaults decreased from 211 to 124. Petty assault is slightly up
- Significant fall in Youth Calls from 152 in April to 81 in June
- Serious assault has risen but the solvency rate has gone up by 200%
- Decrease in vandalism with figures roughly in line with the three-year average
- Violent crime has increased by 5.4%
Overall, all crimes in the divisional control strategy have experienced a decrease, with the exception of domestic house breakings and serious assault. The rise in violent crime is to be specifically addressed by a forthcoming reduction campaign.
The fall in so many types of crime in the City Centre has been welcomed by L&BP and the Council, who credit their closer partnership working and the additional investment in police officer capacity with the successful outcomes to date.
The Council's pilot Licensing Standards Officers (LSOs) initiative with the Police is being continued beyond the original September 2007 end-date thanks to their success in proactively tackling issues related to licensed premises (including off-sales) in the centre of Edinburgh.
And with funding from the Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership, an additional CCTV camera has now gone live in George Street and is greatly assisting in the policing of the city centre's bustling night time economy.
Councillor Paul Edie, Health, Social Care and Housing Leader, said: "Edinburgh's City Centre is thriving, with residents and visitors flocking to the area to shop, work and enjoy its vibrant nightlife. This flourishing area requires a particular investment in policing to ensure that people can go about their business in peace and safety. We are delighted to see that our additional funding, for 18 police officers, together with the highly successful partnership working, has already had such a positive impact on crime levels in this area."
Kevin Murray, Chief Inspector, Central Policing Team, said: "Much of this success has come about as a direct result of the joint working between Lothian and Borders Police and the City of Edinburgh Council, with this ever-strengthening link making a real difference to quality of life on our streets. The funding and support provided by our Council partners has allowed the Central Policing Team to employ traditional policing methods whilst also adopting new and increasingly imaginative tactics, through intelligence-led policing. In doing so the team have achieved a number of notable arrests during the summer months for public disorder, repeat crime and drug dealing. In my view our communities can only benefit from this joint commitment."
Notes for editors
1. The City of Edinburgh Council Services for Communities department focuses on delivering better services to communities across the city, thereby improving everyone's quality of life.
2. The Edinburgh Licensing Standards Initiative (ELSI) is a partnership approach between concerned agencies in recognition of the problems caused by alcohol abuse and has been developed to proactively tackle the causal factors of alcohol-related issues and deal effectively with antisocial behaviour. Funding has been in place to enable the role of Pilot Licensing Standards Officers (LSOs). This pilot was intended to end in September 2007; however, the success of the pilot has demanded its continuance in the short term pending long term funding resulting from the full implementation of the Licensing (Scotland) Act. This funding has been found from efficiencies and allows the pilot to continue until April 2008.
3. Further quote from Kevin Murray, Chief Inspector, Central Policing Team: "It is worthy of note that in August this year, traditionally one of our busiest months (during the Festival), overall recorded crime was down 46% against the three-year average with violent crime during this period down 39% against the three-year figure.
"The Central Policing Team have recorded a 5% decrease in overall crime, solvency up 8%, with reductions in assault and robbery, theft by shoplifting, breach of the peace and minor assault. It is also heartening to see that for the first six months of the year the number of serious assaults reported has dropped by 11%, with determined enquiry work bringing about an increase in solvency of 22%."
Issued By:Katie Emslie, Media Officer, Tel: 0131 529 2427, Email: Katie.emslie@edinburgh.gov.uk
