The highest number of burglaries in Liverpool City Region have been identified in just half a dozen streets in a single city ward.
An average of a burglary every four and a half days is committed across six streets in the Picton ward area of Liverpool according to Merseyside Police data. In a bid to reserve this troubling statistic, Liverpool Council is to invest more than £370,000 in Police and Crime Commissioner funding it has received under the Safer Streets programme.
After working alongside the region’s police force to identify the need for intervention, the city council is to make a financial contribution to install new street lighting, improvement to alley gates, new communal bins and property marking equipment as it launches a dedicated education and communications campaign in a bid to curb the number of crimes across six identified streets. The locations identified for intervention include Cranborne Road, Salisbury Road, Alderson Road, Langton Road, Grosvenor Road and Arundel Avenue.
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Cecil Street and Liscard Road have been included as they are natural extensions of Cranborne Road and Langton Road. According to a Liverpool Council cabinet report, there are 436 privately rented properties across the six streets, 169 of which are mandatory licensable houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) containing 5 or more people from two or more households, and 229 owner occupiers.
Following consultation with Merseyside Police, the six streets were identified in the top 10 streets for burglary dwellings in the Liverpool City Region between March 2021 and March 2022 with occupiers repeatedly the victims of domestic burglaries. The report said a third of all burglaries in the ward were committed within the group of half a dozen locations.
It added: “Items found in the environment have been known to be used in assisting offenders in committing crimes within this vicinity. Student properties are particularly vulnerable because they are HMOs providing homes for multiple households and each of these households contain various small, high value goods.”
Increased vulnerability is associated with students who are often living away from their family home for the first time in a new area, city or country. The impact of the burglaries was described as causing “emotional distress” on young adults “alongside adversely affecting the lives of other people within the community.”
The report said: “This can cause heightened feelings of fear and anxiety and increase community tensions.” Merseyside Police have carried out activities in the area in response to the burglaries, including engaging with the community using a mobile police station, enforcing the message of crime prevention and handing out specialist equipment related to the prevention and detection of crime equipment.
Assessment in the document written by Joanne Tambourini-Kay, council project manager, said: “The area needs long term, sustainable target hardening. Crime prevention equipment will help initially however, a longer-term approach is required and this will explore minimum building standards agreed with university and private landlords ensuring properties meet an acceptable safety standard working towards increasing security of properties to reduce the fear of crime and the likelihood that properties in the area are subject to criminal activity.”
The report added how the overall condition of the area and the impact of environmental crime such as fly tipping and improper waste disposal also encourages criminality. It is hoped the installation of the communal bins would alleviate the issue.
Subject to cabinet approval on Friday, the funding must be used by September 2023.
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