AS STUDENTS across Birmingham return to class next week, more than 100 West Midlands Police officers will be involved with after-school patrols across the city’s bus network.
Operation Hay will run for two weeks from Monday 6 September and see police officers working in partnership with a range of agencies to conduct high visibility patrols, offering crime reduction advice to pupils about how to keep their belongings safe and ensure they are not vulnerable while travelling to and from school.
Statistics show that electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and i-Pods top the list of items regularly stolen from people in public places. With the return of pupils to school in September, there is a rise in the number of young people carrying and using these items at specific times.
Operation Hay is being co-ordinated by the Safer Travel Partnership, and all 40 members of its policing team will be out on the bus network feeding into Birmingham city centre. They will be supported by Operations Traffic officers, who will be enforcing traffic regulations along designated corridors into Birmingham, and Local Policing Unit colleagues. Street wardens, National Express staff and officers from the city’s Educational Welfare Service will accompany the patrols.
Safer Travel Team Sergeant Al Green said: "Operation Hay is all about ensuring pupils have a safe journey home during what we recognise is a key period of the school year. A lot of the children going to and from secondary school may be travelling on their own for the first time and over the two weeks we hope to encourage them to be aware of their environment and behave accordingly.”
He added: “Certain groups of people recognise this as a vulnerable period and in the past we have had an increase in offences related to the theft of property and even issues of violence involving pupils.”
On key feeder routes into Birmingham, officers will meet pupils as they come out of school and travel with them on city centre-bound buses. Additional officers from Birmingham West and Central LPU will patrol key terminae in the city centre – Priory Queensway, Colmore Row, Moor Street Queensway, Bull Street and Corporation Street – to oversee safe change-overs on the journey home.
Sgt Green said: “This will reduce the window of opportunity for pupils to become victims of crime.”
He added: “The underlying message is one of reassurance and crime prevention rather than detection. However, if anything does happen the area will be flooded with officers and this operation will ensure Birmingham city centre will be an even harder place in which to commit crime during this period.”
Passengers are being encouraged to report nuisance and anti-social behaviour on the bus and Midland Metro networks, by texting 83010. The ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign enables the Safer Travel Partnership to pinpoint crime and anti-social behaviour hot spots and target its response accordingly.
Crime on the region’s bus network is at its lowest for five years, in part attributable to the ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign. Figures released in July showed that over the previous 12 months the average number of recorded crimes had fallen from 330 to 260 a month across the whole of the West Midlands.
Travellers wanting to report a non-urgent offence can also phone West Midlands Police on 0845 113 5000. In the case of an emergency, dial 999.
Note to Editors:
Safer Travel is a partnership between West Midlands Police, the Safer Birmingham Partnership, National Express West Midlands, British Transport Police and Centro, the region’s passenger transport authority. The partnership works to make public transport even safer for passengers by deterring crime and anti-social behaviour on and around the network.
Funding for Operation Hay has come from the Safer Birmingham Partnership and the Youth Crime Action Plan.
The key bus corridors into Birmingham covered by Operation Hay are from Harborne and Edgbaston (bus routes 9, 11, 23 and 103), Moseley (5 and 6), Bordesley and Eastside (97), Washwood Heath (14), Small Heath (17), Frankley (61), Perry Barr (47), Kings Heath (2 and 12) and Handsworth (74 and 79).
Last updated : 02-Sep-10
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