Street crime strategy reaps results

Responding to the publication today of Streets Ahead, the joint inspectorate report on the Street Crime Initiative, the Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "The Street Crime Initiative is an outstanding success. The results speak for themselves - robbery cut by 17 per cent in the ten street

crime areas, meaning 17,000 fewer victims. These results are a real

credit to the police forces who worked so hard.

"Robbery is a serious crime which traumatises victims and makes

people feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods. The Government is

determined to tackle it, and through the Street Crime Initiative is

cutting it significantly, making our communities safer places to live

and work.

"We are making progress on cutting crime right across the board -

including diverting young people from crime, targeting police

activity on robbery hotspots, overhauling the criminal justice system

to ensure better care of victims and witnesses, increasing drug

treatment, and putting a record number of police officers (132,268)

on our streets supported by 1,400 Community Support Officers.

"The report rightly points out that some parts of the system don't

work as well as they should. That is exactly why we started the

Street Crime Initiative - to look at new ways of working, to bridge

gaps and make parts of the system work together better. Its success

shows that that effective partnership working can make a real

difference.

"The Street Crime Initiative is not a one-off - the Government's

drive to tackle crime continues unabated and we look forward to

building on the success of the Initiative to cut crime even further."

Mr Blunkett pointed to the following achievements and on-going work:

- 17 per cent reduction in robbery across the ten street crime police

forces, meaning thousands of fewer victims.

- Record numbers of police on our streets - 132,268 - backed by 1,400

Community Support Officers.

- Video identification kit in all ten forces which dramatically

speeds up the parade process and is less stressful for victims or

witnesses.

- Action on stolen mobiles. Tough punishments of up to five years in

jail for mobile 'phone reprogrammers. A database of lost and stolen

'phones to make any stolen phone useless on any network.

- £4 million invested during the first year of the Street Crime

Initiative in improving the facilities available for witnesses

attending the designated Street Crime Courts, to ensure they are

able to give evidence without the fear of intimidation.

- Total spending on tackling drugs is to rise from £1.2 billion this

year to nearly £1.5 billion by 2005. Spending on treatment alone

(including prisons) to rise to £573 million by 2005.

- The Department for Education and Skills' £342 million Behaviour

Improvement Programme in place in 34 Local Education Authorities

(LEAs) in street crime areas and a further 27 LEAs encouraging

innovative action in tackling poor behaviour and attendance.

(GMcG)