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24/04/08 : Home Secretary visits Reading
Jacqui Smith says “Reading’s good partnership working is causing crime to fall.”
On a visit to Reading, at which she met Chief Constable Sarah Thornton, local police chief Steve Kirk, Martin Salter MP, Mayor Chris Maskell, Police Authority member Cllr. Tony Page and other senior Labour Councillors, Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that good partnership working between Reading Council and the police was what was behind the fall in crime figures in the Borough.
Latest figures available on the Thames Valley Police website show that reported crime in Reading has dropped from 15,706 in 2003-4 to 13,465 in 2007-8, a cumulative fall of 14.3%.
The 3.5% drop in the last year includes increases of over 20% in wounding and common assaults in domestic violence situations, which police put down to a welcome increase in reporting rather than to an actual increase in incidents. The police and the council have been giving high priority to tackling domestic violence: a domestic violence co-ordinator has been appointed and a new domestic violence strategy is out for consultation.
The Home Secretary went on a walk down Oxford Road and chatted to local traders and others about how they felt things were going. She got a very positive message that the changes that partnership working had brought about, with the image and feel of the area greatly improved.
Cllr. Tony Page, who chairs the Safer Reading Partnership on which the police and local community groups are represented, says: “The downward trend in crime is very welcome, and I would expect that, with the roll-out of neighbourhood policing across the Borough now complete and neighbourhood teams in place, we will see even better results next year.”
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