The Crime Reduction Unit: help us help you

FORCEWIDE

Serious Acquisitive Crime (SAC) is an incredibly intrusive crime that strikes at the heart of people’s feelings of safety in their home and communities.

SAC can have long-lasting and profound effects on victims, leading them to live in fear of going out or no longer feeling safe in their own home. Sometimes, the consequences can also leave some people in long-term financial difficulties.

SAC covers a broad range of crimes, but is mostly defined as:

• Domestic burglary when someone breaks into a building with the intention of stealing, hurting someone or committing unlawful damage
• Personal robbery when someone takes another person’s property using force or threatening to hurt them
• Theft from a person, or theft of, and from a motor vehicle which is when a person’s property is taken from the owner without their consent, but doesn’t involve using force or threatening to hurt them

When you report a crime of this nature, it’s usually one of our patrol officers or Neighbourhood Policing teams (NPT) who will visit to begin enquiries and obtain statements, and where there are forensic opportunities, you might even see Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) at the scene dusting for DNA, fingerprints, footprints, and other evidence that may help us identify a suspect.

Most cases will be sent to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to be investigated thoroughly by the most appropriate team, but in some instances, your case may be referred to the Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) for a security review to be arranged. The review is conducted separately from any investigation, with a report being provided to identify improvements that could be considered.

Security reviews at residential properties are conducted by officers within the local Neighbourhood Teams across the force who have completed a national Level 3 qualification in crime prevention, providing Humberside Police with greater resilience within the area of crime reduction and problem solving.

The CRU consists of a police officer and two police staff members who cover the entire force area and their main focus, well, it’s in the name – to reduce crime.

They are a proactive team who offer a whole host of crime prevention advice and tips to try help prevent people becoming victims of these kinds of acquisitive crimes in the first place. They work closely with NPTs and partner agencies like local authorities, housing authorities, charities, support agencies, schools, universities, and community groups to look at ways we can all make our property, and properties, secure, safe, and successful in making it difficult for opportunistic thieves to pounce.

Designing Out Crime Officer Marc Dias spoke to us about his role and what the CRU do to help people help themselves and reduce the number of victims in our force area. But what is a Designing Out Crime Officer, we hear you ask? Well, let’s find out.

A lot of people have probably never heard of your job role, so let’s start there. What is a Designing Out Crime officer and what do you do?

In simple terms, the idea is that if we can make an area more attractive and secure, we can help deter crime within that area.

The main part of my role is to follow the national police crime prevention initiative ‘Secure by Design’ which looks at creating fewer victims, fewer offences and less demand on policing by addressing underlying causes and using partnership-orientated problem solving. It incorporates crime prevention techniques into the layout, landscaping, and physical security of a development to ensure that it is safe, secure, and sustainable for the future. In essence, designing out crime!

We work in collaboration with local authorities, housing authorities, support networks, charities, and schools, as well as officers from our neighbourhood and patrol teams, and CID, to not only look at how we can make properties, people, and places as safe and secure as possible, but also what we can do to design nicer places to live, work, and visit too.

This involves assessing designs of large housing developments and commercial premises to make it as hard as possible for criminals to gain access to houses, businesses, belongings, and vehicles.

We work closely with Planning Departments, local Neighbourhood Teams, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), Licensing, and Counter Terrorism Officers, CID, and also the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner.

We look to understand areas that are more prone to crime such as antisocial behaviour, burglary, theft of and from motor vehicles, and drugs crime, so we can determine what measures can be put in place to make those communities feel safer in and around their home, as well as within their wider community when it comes to visiting the local park, facilities, or just going for walks around the local area. This partnership approach also enables us to access the right funding to be able to achieve positive results.

So, what does this entail?

All sorts!

Part of my role is to respond to planning application consultations, looking at the layouts and security of doors and windows to ensure it meets with Secured by Design guidance and there is nothing that could further advantage a criminal. This can include advising on changes or additions to be made such as security lighting, additional CCTV cameras, secure gates, secure tested windows and doors, and locks to specific standards.

We also conduct assessments called Environmental Visual Audits (EVAs) under the Safer Street project which have been conducted in places like Pearson Park in Hull, East and West Marsh in Grimsby, Bridlington, and urban areas in Scunthorpe.

What successes have you seen already?

We have improved the security for a whole host of organisations from large housing estates and commercial buildings, to universities, women's centres, parks, places of worship, schools, car parks, and more!

Everything from new secure communal doors in blocks of flats, improved door entry systems, stronger fencing, locked bike pods, as well as facilitating additional home security measures like house alarms, video doorbells, and solar lights for residents. All in an attempt to make it as uncomfortable as possible for criminals to operate in the area.

Proactive policing, having a visible presence, and regularly engaging with our communities is key to our successes, and we are able to make a tangible difference because of the information provided to us from members of the public.

For example, in the East Marsh in Grimsby police officers on the streets, alongside partners, have been speaking to local residents about their needs, concerns, and understanding what’s important to them to make them feel safer. This community feedback helps shape the EVAs and recommendations.

We are then able to act upon the information provided to target the crimes which are most affecting that specific community.

In the East Marsh alone, many homes have been made safer, alleyways cleared of rubbish and tidied of overgrowth, tonnes of waste removed, new alley gates installed or alley locks repaired, new CCTV cameras installed, along with lighting improvements.

Pearson Park in Hull has seen additional CCTV installed, and local young people have planted flowers and foliage giving them pride in where they live, encouraging positivity in an effort to keep them off the streets, and making the area more attractive.

Our team have also won national awards in recognition for our work designing out crime. 

All this work out in our communities is further embellished by having officers who are trained in crime prevention based in our neighbourhood policing teams. They have had additional training from the police crime prevention academy and utilise this training to offer more advice that reaches more people.

What are your top tips when it comes to crime prevention?

The unfortunate reality is, most people we speak to are already victims of crime, and we want to try to reduce people from becoming victims in the first place.

We understand how crimes of this nature can significantly impact those involved, whether that be mentally, physically, financially, or all three.

We always do everything we can to identify offenders, bring them to justice, or prevent reoffending, but we also want to get people thinking before an incident happens to ensure they are doing everything in their power to prevent a criminal from targeting them, their homes, or belongings.

We have an array of crime prevention advice on our website.

You can also find out more about Secured by Design, here: www.securedbydesign.com 

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