§ Mr. BaldryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what indications he has about the effectiveness of recent crime prevention initiatives taken or encouraged by his Department.
§ Mr. John PattenWe have been encouraged by reports from a number of chief officers of police in urban areas of falls in the recorded level of certain crimes notably burglary, which are often targeted by local crime prevention schemes. The Department will continue to encourage the expansion of these schemes in the light of growing evidence that, when they are properly organised and supported, they can be effective in preventing certain crimes and in reducing the fear of crime more generally.
A good example of the effectiveness of the multi-agency preventive approach to local crime problems is a burglary reduction project in Rochdale, supported by the Home Office. This has produced a 60 per cent. reduction in that crime over a seven-month period.
Multi-agency crime prevention projects established as demonstration models in "Five Towns" in 1986 with Home Office funded co-ordinators have each demonstrated their effectiveness in a number of different ways, notably in securing increased public support for crime prevention work, bringing down the figures for particular crimes and in reducing also the public's fear of crime. It is a measure of the success of the "Five Towns" projects that each has gained sufficient local support to continue beyond the period of Home Office funding. The lessons learned in the "Five Towns" projects will be applied to the development of the "Safer Cities" programme.