It looks like the Council has caught up with the collection of domestic waste at least in the Westfield area today.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said for commercial waste with some problems reported weeks ago still to be resolved.
We have reported on previous occasions that the lane between the Front Street shops and Beaconsfield Street reflects badly on the area.
This is mainly down to poor waste handing and storage arrangements at some of the shops. Need a permanent fix now
The latest crime figures taken from the nation policing web site (click) show a stable picture in York.
A lot of effort has gone into making the City centre safer and this shows with a slight downward trend in crime reports during the last 12 months. The number of reports each month varies between 450 and 550. The largest number of incidents were reported in December 2018 so all eyes will be on the figures for last month when they become available.
Anti-social behaviour accounts for 34% of the reports. This is in line with the popular conception that the City centre can be a rowdy environment at times.
Looking at the area outside the centre, which includes a large rural neighbourhood, crime reports have averaged around 1300 a month over the last year.
Anti social behaviour again is the most frequent report (31%) but is closely followed by “violence and sexual offences” (26%). The latter is mainly domestic disagreements.
A lot of historic information is available at a more local level.
In the Westfield Ward crime reports average around 150 a month. Reports peak in the summer months.
Anti social behaviour (33%) and violence (28%) are the biggest issues. 10% of reports concern criminal damage (vandalism, graffiti etc) and arson.
A graph of crime reports in Westfield (left), prepared 5 years ago, shows a very similar volume of issues.
The Police are currently recruiting additional officers and PCSOs in North Yorkshire.
A meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) will hear how the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner intends to tackle an increase in crime levels in the area. The meeting will be told that there some 3837 crimes reported during September.
Across the whole of North Yorkshire, including York, the Guildhall Ward had the largest number of crimes (212).
In York it was followed by Huntington (91) and Westfield (79).
The largest proportion of crimes in York relate to violence (457), followed by theft (390), arson/criminal damage (153) and burglary (120). Perhaps surprisingly only 47 drug offences were reported.
Overall across the county there has been a 2.5% increase in crime levels this year so far compared to 12 months ago. Over the last two years the increase has been 16%. The biggest increase has been in public order offences. Violence against the person offences have increased from 5504 in 2017 to 7747 this year (up 40%)
There has been an increase in shoplifting in York this year. Recorded anti-social behaviour has however shown a reduction (-17%)
The scale of the problems with the Police switchboard are revealed.
222 calls to 999 were abandoned during August.
There is a similar picture on 101 calls where 6050 were abandoned during July.
Time to answer on both channels improved during September.
The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and police staff deserve credit for producing figures which can be accessed via the web. Click here The sheer size of the county, and its diversity, make it difficult to produce performance stats which are both accessible and relevant to local neighbourhoods.
There is some good work going on at neighbourhood level with police in west York proactively checking security issues this week
There will, however, be niggling doubts about some aspects of crime prevention.
Lack of reports of drug related crime is probably not the right way to access the scale of that issue.
Equally worrying is the failure of the force to recruit up to its budgeted staff numbers. There were estill over 30 vacancies for police officers in the force in September. The police don’t expect to hit their target number (1450 officers) until December. There are also 36 vacancies for PCSOs.
Performance stats for the Fire service can be viewed by clicking here
There has been an increase in the number of cases of graffiti reported to the York Council over the last 30 months.
During the first quarter of the financial year 20% of residents surveyed said that vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to property or vehicles was a problem in their local area.
This is the highest level ever recorded in responses to the Councils “customer panel” survey.
According to the Police web site, there were 119 instances of criminal damage and arson recorded in the York area during the most recent month for which stats are available (August 2019).
During the 12 month period up to August there have been 1619 reports in total.
The Council recently advertised for two new members of staff who will be responsible for removing graffiti from public locations in the City.
It is unclear whether they will also help to apply anti graffiti coatings to vulnerable walls (see right)
Councillors have access to “graffiti removal kits”.
Some flood alerts in York today. Worth keeping an eye on the real time warnings if you live near the Ouse. https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Map/Summary/2060/2175
Useful sites
Digital water cams CCTV covering Kings Staithe
York Magistrates have ordered four men to pay total costs of £1773 for urinating in public in York.
On Tuesday 16 July 2019, York Magistrates heard that Luke Beaumont (aged 20 of Southwold Close, Scarborough) was found by a police officer, urinating against the wall of St. Martin Le Grand Church on Coney Street, York, at 7.25pm on Sunday 21 April 2019.
Mr Beaumont, who apologised for his actions during the incident, pleaded guilty by post and was fined £81, ordered to pay costs of £264 and a court surcharge of £30.
Jordan Haigh (aged 21 or The Willows, Thirsk) was seen by a police officer, urinating against a wall on Lendal, York, around 1.50am on Sunday 24 March 2019. Mr Haigh fled the scene however was located shortly after and admitted the offence.
Mr Haigh pleaded guilty by post and was fined £133, ordered to pay costs of £264 and a court surcharge of £30.
York Magistrates (16 July 2019) also heard that Paul Peacock (aged 44 of Boulmer Lea, Durham) was seen by a York BID Ranger, urinating on a ramp between Boots and WH Smiths on Coney Street, York, at around 8.40pm on Saturday 27 April 2019.
Following the assistance of North Yorkshire Police Officers, Mr Peacock’s identity was confirmed. He pleaded guilty by post and was fined £163, ordered to pay costs of £264 and a court surcharge of £30.
Jack Pearson (aged 23 of Kitchener Street, York) was found by a police officer, urinating against a wall at the rear of Coney Street, York, at 2.50am on Saturday 30 March 2019.
Mr Pearson failed to attend court of submit a plea and was found guilty in his absence. He was fined £220, ordered to pay costs of £264 and a court surcharge of £30.
Local residents have raised concerns about an apparent increase in street level crime in the city.
Media reports wrangle over policing budget
The Foxwood Residents Association has pointed to incidents including attempted arson which happened last week while the police have issued a warning About vehicle crime in the Walker Drive area
Over the weekend the police had to invoke a “disposal order” on City centre streets following increased anti-social behaviour. An dispersal order, to leave an area, can be triggered by “any behaviour that is unacceptable including foul and abusive language causing alarm, distress and harassment to members of the public”
Meanwhile local Councillors are at logger heads about next year’s policing budget. They need to sort their differences out quickly. If more street level police are required – and they seem to be – then a recruitment campaign needs to start straight away.
Crime levels in Westfield more generally were stable during 2018. It is only during recent weeks that concerns have been raised about trends
The increase is revealed in a Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) “Crime in England and Wales, year ending June 2018” bulletin
It shows there were a total of 40,782 crimes in North Yorkshire during the 12-month period, giving a crime rate of 49.7 per 1,000 of the population.
This 9% local increase is below the national average crime increase of 10%.
Broken down into the main crime categories, the ONS figures for North Yorkshire show:
Chief Constable Lisa Winward said: “Today’s figures show North Yorkshire remains the lowest crime area in England and Wales. There has been an increase in recorded offences, but this is also slightly lower than the national average.
