The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today joined Metropolitan Police Commander Rod Jarman and Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy to announce the 30 locations across London that will benefit from new transport policing teams. This follows the success of three pilot teams launched by the Mayor in May that have reduced some crimes by more than a third.

The Mayor promised to increase the police presence on buses to make Londoners feel safer, and launched Hub Team trials in West Croydon, Wood Green, and Canning Town within the first weeks of his administration. Since then the teams have reduced robberies by 37.8 per cent and overall crime by more than 16 per cent. Violent crime has fallen by 5.6 per cent*. They have carried out more than 6,000 stops in their areas and conducted almost 200 street briefings with the local communities.

As well as the roll out of the Hub Teams, 11 newly deployed inner London borough-based policing teams will now be made permanent after bus related crime was reduced in the boroughs served by the teams by 13.6 per cent in recent months.

New figures since the Mayor's election in May show that these measures are having an impact.  In the first quarter of 2008/9 there has been a fall in violent crime of 7.9 per cent* across the bus network.

London Mayor, Boris Johnson has said that, although very positive, more work needs to be done to reassure Londoners.

The Mayor said:

“The most frequent complaint made to me during the election was that local people did not feel safe on the buses. Therefore, one of my first actions as Mayor was to introduce new transport hub police teams to kick-start the work of taking back our public spaces, and cutting so-called 'minor crime'.

“These teams have had great initial success, cutting the number of robberies by over a third where they have operated, and I am now working with the Metropolitan police and TfL to get them rolled to other boroughs where I hope they will have an equally impressive impact.

“But there is still a lot of work to be done to reassure Londoners that travelling around our city is safe. I want to ensure that all Londoners can travel safely around our city, and can do so in confidence. The latest figures show that we are starting to turn the tide, and I will be working tirelessly to build on this success.”

Commander Rod Jarman, of the Metropolitan Police, said:

“Whilst travelling on buses in London is generally safe, and is getting safer, we are aware of the impact of fear of crime, and anti social behaviour on people's lives, and the impact this may have on their ability to travel freely to and from work, or school.

“This extension of the Safer Transport Teams has already proved very popular with the public, our staff and with the bus operators, and has led to even greater reductions in crime.

"We are therefore pleased to be able to announce today how the teams will be extended across London, focusing on the areas of greatest need and where most passengers will gain from them.”

Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy said:

“In keeping with the Mayor’s focus on this as a top priority, our transport policing teams are working together to make sure everyone in London not only is safe, but feels safe on public transport.

“There are now thousands of police and community support officers on and around the buses and the difference they are making is clear.

“We are seeing pensioners using the buses again and young people behaving with more respect across the bus network.“

Chief Superintendent Joe Royle of the MPS Transport Operational Command Unit, which oversees more than 1,200 uniformed officers including the new inner London teams said:

“The Transport Operational Command Unit is working together to keep London moving safely.

 “We are in the business of tackling bus-related crime and anti-social behaviour on London’s bus network. The concerns of the travelling public are important to us and there is every indication from them that our continual policing presence is proving popular.

“Our Transport OCU Reassurance Teams provide that regular, hi-visibility reassurance to drive down the fear of crime on the inner London bus network.”

An additional 440 uniformed officers are being used to establish the new hub teams, with each one being made up of one sergeant, one police constable and seven PCSOs.

The Metropolitan Police Service is now also launching a major recruitment drive for an additional 1,600 Special Constables across London to assist the hub teams, which will be rolled out to the new locations from January 2009.

In addition to the Hub Teams, every one of London's 21 Safer Transport teams, introduced last year, will receive an extra seven officers as part of the Mayor's pledge to boost transport policing across the capital.

Ends

Notes to Editors

* Figures comprise violence against the person, robbery, and sexual offences.          
Hub teams (part of the MPS)

The current Hub pilot areas – Canning Town, Wood Green and West Croydon – key successes between May 15th and August 7th – the 12 week pilot of the operation:

• Street briefings have been held with more than 3,000 people.
• Surgeries and leaflet campaigns have also been carried out, with positive feedback from the public.
• Proactive policing has resulted in more than 6,000 stop and search/stop and accounts.
• There have been 38 knife arch operations.
• There have been 236 arrests.

Crime statistics (all crime, not just bus related) within the Hub Team areas for May, June, July and August compared to the same period the year before show:

• The Hub team areas have shown a reduction of 16.4 per cent (1,900 to 1,589)
• This is compared to borough-wide reductions in crime of 1.56 per cent. This shows that while crime is effectively being reduced across the borough, the most marked reductions have occurred within the Hub areas.
• Robberies are down by 37.8 per cent; theft and pick pocketing is down by 30 per cent and criminal damage is down by 21.1 per cent.

The new Hub Team locations (including the three pilot locations) are:
1 Turnpike Lane and Wood Green Haringey
2 Canning Town/Barking Road Newham
3 West and East Croydon Croydon
4 Ilford BR Station Redbridge
5 Stratford Newham
6 Seven Sisters Tottenham High Road Haringey
7 Bromley Centre and Bromley North Station Bromley
8 Edmonton Green Enfield
9 Bexleyheath Broadway Bexley
10 Ealing Broadway Ealing
11 Romford Town Centre Havering
12 Harrow on the Hill Harrow
13 Barking Stations Barking
14 Crystal Palace Bromley
15 Woolwich Arsenal Greenwich
16 Walthamstow Central Stations Waltham Forest
17 Peckham High St/Camberwell Green Southwark
18 Hammersmith Bus Station Hammersmith and Fulham
19 Westfield Shopping Centre Hammersmith and Fulham
20 Elephant and Castle Southwark
21 Finsbury Park Islington
22 Lewisham Bus Station Lewisham
23 Mile End Tower Hamlets
24 Hounslow High Street (Bus station) Hounslow
25 Wembley Central Brent
26 Hayes Town Hillingdon
27 Edgware LUL Barnet
28 Uxbridge Road (Southall Broadway) Ealing
29 Enfield Town Centre Enfield
30 Dalston Kingsland Hackney
Across London:

Year end 2007/8 figures show that:

• Robbery has gone down 31% and bus vandalism has gone down by 24% in 2007/8.
• Bus related crime has gone down by around 14% in 2007/8.
• Key figures for Q1 2008/9
• Total bus related offences are continuing to go down significantly – a further 13.7% reduction in Q1 2008/9.
• Violent offences have gone down 18% from 52 to 44
• More weapons are being detected mainly through proactive operations – up 29.5% from 44 to 57.
• Robberies have gone down by a further 26.3% from 1222 to 901.
• Bus criminal damage has gone down 26.4% from 1534 to 1129.

Hub teams background:

• These hub teams were introduced by Mayor Boris Johnson in May 2008, and are being deployed into a variety of interchanges across the capital, specifically targeted at those areas experiencing the greatest problems.
• Implementation is over 12 months from May 2008 with an initial pilot at three sites – West Croydon, Wood Green (Haringey) and Canning Town (Newham).
• May to August 2008: Teams of a Sergeant, PC and 7 PCSOs will provide an immediate change and create the time to recruit and train the new teams.
• September to December 2008: Fully established teams at the three sites. During this time a major programme of recruitment, training and implementation will be undertaken.
• January 2009 to June 2009: Roll out across the full 30 sites.
• In this financial year, the cost of these new teams will be £11.3m, which is jointly funded by TfL and the MPS. The MPS contribution within this figure is £2.1m with TfL contributing £9.2m.

TOCU Reassurance Teams Background:

• These teams of up to 50 police and community support officers will patrol buses in 11 inner London boroughs.
• The MPS TOCU is funded by TfL at a cost of more than £70m a year.
  It is made up of more than 1,200 uniformed officers dedicated to patrolling on and around London’s bus network.

Safer Transport Teams:

• 21 outer London teams of police and community support officers patrolling the bus network
• The extra officers being deployed to the Safer Transport Teams will be made up of one inspector, one sergeant, two police constables and three PCSOs, boosting each team to a minimum of 28 TfL-funded officers ( 1 Inspector, 3 Sgts, 3 PCs and 21 PCSOs).