The new Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Susan Dungworth has taken a trip on the Tyne and Wear Metro to observe policing and security measures on the system.
The PCC travelled through North Tyneside and Newcastle on Saturday evening, 17 August, along with officers from the Northumbria Force and the Metro security team. It culminated with a brief tour of the Metro Control Room at South Gosforth.
The visit formed part of the PCC announcing that incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) at identified hotspot areas across the Northumbria Police force area have dropped by 30 per cent.
As part of Project Shield, launched by the PCC, Northumbria Police and partners this summer, officers have been rolling out extra patrols along with councils and transport network partners. Together they have been delivering targeted activity in identified areas of concern, which has is making a promising impact.
So far, the project has seen 68 additional police patrols delivered across the transport system which has corresponded with ASB incidents falling from 170 to 119 - a 30 per cent reduction in the first quarter of the project. The number of knife crime incidents also dropped from 3 to 1 which has been welcomed by project leads.
The Commissioner said the project was all about community confidence and driving down crime like anti-social behaviour and serious violence – two areas of heightened public concern given the recent protests and disorder across the region.
She said: “Project Shield is about us all coming together to get officers and partners out there on our public transport network, creating a really visible uniformed presence. As these falling ASB numbers show – the impact has been positive.
“As it happens, in light of recent events relating to disorder and increased fears around racism, having Project Shield operating will no doubt bring added reassurance for people travelling on our public transport. People should be able to get on with their lives and get about our region without fear of abuse or harm. As well as helping people feel reassured it means there is greater resource on hand to catch those responsible for causing misery and harm in our communities too.”
We’re working hard in partnership with the police and our local authority colleagues to provide greater customer reassurance and reduce anti-social behaviour on Metro and wider public transport network.
Cathy Massarella, Managing Director of Nexus, said: “These latest ASB figures show progress and the extra policing we have seen through Operation Shield, and other similar policing operations, has had an impact. Metro is fundamentally a safe transport system and we will continue to work hard to reduce crime and low level disorder hot spots where it occurs.
“This builds on the work that we have already done to improve safety and security, including the roll out of our dedicated security team, new CCTV, body-worn video cameras for frontline teams, and the launch of our new text alert system to allow customers to contact the Metro control room more quickly and more easily.
“Our message remains the same: anyone causing trouble on Metro should think again, as they are likely to get caught and face prosecution through the courts, a fine, and even a ban from using the system.”