Ian Johnston, Chief Constable British Transport Police
Four events occurred in August that highlight a significant problem facing the rail industry at the moment.
The first was when a 41-year-old man was sent to prison for three years following his conviction for cable theft and obstructing the railway in Stockport in June. His crime caused 1,453 minutes of delay, affected 143 trains and thousands of passengers and cost Network Rail £28,000.
The second involved a man in his mid-20s who was rushed to hospital with serious electrical burns after an attempted cable theft in the Basildon area. Just two days later a 15-year-old boy sustained severe burns to his hands in Widnes after engaging in the same activity.
The fourth incident was a major signalling failure in the Miles Platting area of Manchester, the result of the theft of around 10 metres of lineside cable. The serious disruption caused involved 100 trains being cancelled or part-cancelled, again with inconvenience to a very large number of travellers.
Metal theft in general, and cable theft on the rail system, has become a major problem due to the high price of copper and other metals on world markets.
We have just published our new three-year strategic plan (see July’s Railnews) and cable theft features prominently under the heading of protecting the railway economy. That plan also sets out key strategic aims to reduce crime and disorder and improve our service delivery to passengers and rail staff.
The plan contains in some detail a breakdown of what we will be doing to achieve those aims, and I highlight cable theft reduction as a good example of what can be achieved.
We have been working with Network Rail on combating cable theft and have had significant success, although it does remain a major disruptive factor to services.
As well as combating theft on Britain’s railways, we have moved the issue of metal theft up the police agenda nationally and BTP is now the police lead on metal theft for England and Wales. Cable theft affects many of the utilities, and whole villages have been plunged into darkness by cable thieves.
What is important is that when we have a shared problem such as metal theft, we work together to solve it. We’ve done this as an industry with route crime – that covers crimes like trespass, obstructing trains and stone-throwing – with spectacular results. Vandalism is down from 15,000 offences to 12,000 over five years, and trespass has dropped from 17,000 to just over 10,500 in the same period.
With the support of our Police Authority and the rail industry, there has been significant investment in BTP over the past three years, and rail businesses and staff are now beginning to reap the rewards.
The rail system is a low-crime environment which is safer than it has ever been. For example, there are less than three robberies a day across the whole network in England, Scotland and Wales. However, we still have a problem with anti-social behaviour, which has a significant impact on frontline rail staff, as well as rail passengers.
To help deal with that, we have started to roll out Neighbourhood Policing Teams at strategic points across the network and I firmly believe that they are a key part of the future for BTP. These are local teams of police officers and Police Community Support Officers who can really engage with rail staff and the local community to solve problems that are affecting their lives. They have already helped reduce crime, and I believe they can help make people feel safer as well.
So far there are 19 Neighbourhood Policing Teams on the National Rail network – ideally, I would like every community to have the benefit of an NPT, but that is not possible with the current level of resources. However, we are hoping to introduce more by making savings in our back office functions to re-invest in the frontline.
One of the first teams to be set up covers the Birmingham Cross City line. It is now a year old and has helped cut crime in the area by over half.
Neighbourhood policing is a long-term commitment for us to deliver dedicated, accessible and accountable policing at a local level. The teams operate under the banner of ‘Safer Station, Safer Journey’, which I think says it all.
By getting neighbourhood policing right and effectively engaging with communities, we can also help solve the problems at the top end of police priorities, such as terrorism and cable theft.