BID writes to Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire to share the impact of Crime & ASB
Posted in Chester News
Crime and Anti-social Behaviour in Chester City Centre
Dear Mr John Dwyer,
I am writing regarding the impact of crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) on businesses in Chester City Centre. Chester BID represents over 460 businesses who regularly share with us the negative impact that crime and ASB has on their business, staff, and customers. To quantify this impact, we have recently undertaken a survey of our members, receiving over 100 responses. Our survey highlights several issues of real concern amongst our members.
- Almost three quarters of respondents had been impacted by crime/ASB in the last 3 months with almost half reporting that this had left their staff or customers feeling unsafe.
- Nearly 70% of respondents felt that crime and anti-social behaviour had increased over the previous 3 months, almost 30% of these stating levels had increased ‘significantly’.
- Every respondent had witnessed people sat begging for money and over 90% had seen people approaching others for money within the last month.
- Within the last month over 60% of respondents had witnessed drug dealing, over 90% had witnessed people either taking or under the influence of drugs and over half had been impacted by discarded syringes and drug paraphernalia.
- Almost half of respondents had been victims of shoplifting within the last month.Separate to emergency 999 calls, businesses continue to tell us that the reporting of crime and ASB is an issue. Of those businesses that have reported crime or ASB in the last 3 months nearly 30% of businesses had a negative experience when reporting. Of those businesses that haven’t reported incidents in the last 3 months:
- Over 25% have reported in the past but received no follow up or response.
- Nearly 20% have reported in the past but felt the response was inadequate.I recognise the recent changes to how the city is policed and Chester BID will continue to support Cheshire Police to tackle ongoing issues associated with crime and ASB. The survey results can be accessed via the following link:https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-ZPJMPHBxFATSiM22mSxINw_3D_3D/I hope the data assists you in directing resources accordingly and thank you for your continued support.
Yours Sincerely,
Carl Critchlow | Chief Executive Officer | Chester BID
The Police and Crime Commissioner replied to this letter on the 20th January 2022 with the below statement
Dear Carl,
Thank you for your letter regarding the Crime Survey conducted by Chester BID.
Firstly, I must register my disappointment that the letter was issued to the media at the same time, meaning I have been approached for comment by the press before I have had the chance to consider the issues and response directly to you.
I have withheld any public comment before sending this letter, however the Constabulary has already issued a response which echoes similar frustration, as I am sure you will have seen.
Turning to the substantive issues raised by the survey, it is naturally concerning to hear about any perception that businesses in Chester are being impacted by crime and anti-social behaviour and I am determined to work with you to reassure them. The Constabulary’s response details recent operations undertaken by the police in Chester which I hope is of reassurance to your members.
However, it also highlights areas where the survey results conflict with performance statistics from our City Centre team, covering the same period, which demonstrate the situation they face on the ground and highlight the positive work they are doing.
We all have a stake in talking up Chester, so it is particularly frustrating, considering these discrepancies between the survey and reported crime statistics, that Chester has been portrayed negatively in the media.
With all that said, I echo the Constabulary’s call for us to not be complacent. I know from my walkabouts with Chester BID that there is more work to be done in the city centre and going forward I hope we continue to work together to reassure your members and the public.
I value the working relationship that I and the Constabulary have with Chester BID and would not want that to be fundamentally undermined by any further occurrences like this. Going forward, I think a meeting between all partners who have a role in tackling these issues would he useful and I will ask my team to facilitate this, please look out for an invite in due course.
Yours sincerely John Dwyer
Police and Crime Commissioner
