MP Welcomes Call For 'Change of Culture'

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So crime no longer viewed as problem for someone else to solve

Local MP Mary Macleod welcomed the report of Baroness Newlove, the Government’s Champion for Active Safer Communities, which sets out a radical new approach to community activism.

The report suggests there needs to be a change of culture so neighbourhoods no longer view crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder as a problem for someone else to solve. Residents, businesses and police all need to join forces to combat anti-social behaviour.

Some of the recommendations in the report include:

• Providing a ‘Community Reward’ – where information provided by the community which leads to a conviction is given back to pay for further crime prevention work
• Taking the Government’s crime maps to the next level so that the public can use them to report crime and see what action has been taken against offenders
• Rolling out the use of the 101 number as a single point of contact for people reporting anti-social behaviour
• Providing a ‘bling back’ option – where money made from selling local drug dealers’ assets is given back to the neighbourhood they blighted

The Government has a clear plan to cut crime through reforming the police and the criminal justice system. They have already abolished all the complex targets that Labour imposed from Whitehall and set the police just one goal: to cut crime.

Communities also have an important role to play in the fight against crime. The www.police.uk website, launched in February, gives local people real information in map form about exactly what crime is happening in their areas and allows them to hold the police to account for their work.

Further reforms include plans to introduce Police and Crime Commissioners from next May, driving out unnecessary bureaucracy and reforming and strengthening the powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Mary said: ‘I fully support this commitment from Government and Baroness Newlove to harness the great energy of communities across Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, Osterley and Hounslow in the fight against crime.

‘Crime and anti-social behaviour are not someone else’s problem but a real issue we all must work together to address. We already have great Neighbourhood Watch schemes in place and a strong Hounslow Community and Police Consultative Group but we can always do more. I want to see our streets reclaimed by the people who live here’.

April 7, 2011