Guildford
Alcohol related violence Guildford town centre
Violent incidents in Guildford town centre decreased 20% this period. Violence with injury accounted for 65% of offences in this area, and violence without injury the remaining 35%
2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013
Change (2012/2013
vs 2011/2012)
% change
Apr 41 24 23 -1 -4.2%
May 39 28 20 -8 -28.6%
Jun 24 29 16 -13 -44.8%
Jul 31 35 34 -1 -2.9%
Aug 43 21 24 3 14.3%
Sep 45 24 25 1 4.2%
Oct 41 27 21 -6 -22.2%
Nov 45 36
Dec 34 29
Jan 29 13
Feb 32 20
Mar 23 25
67% of all Violence Against the Person Crimes within the Town were alcohol related.
This is 313 alcohol flagged crimes out of 465 crimes. Assaults (ABH & Battery accounted for 50% of all Town Centre alcohol related Violence).
The 92% figure relates to alcohol related disorder borough wide and not just within the Town Centre. It also includes a wider selection of crimes and ICADS, not just violence against the person crimes as in the above section. This includes alcohol flagged violence against the person, criminal damage and ASB ICADS. The most affected area for
alcohol related disorder was Guildford Town Centre where 92% of all disorder crimes
ALCOHOL RELATED VIOLENCE GUILDFORD TOWN CENTRE
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar MONTH
CRIME
2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013
were alcohol flagged violence (313 VATP incl assaults, public order, offensive weapon offences compared to 24 criminal damage offences).
North Street, Bridge Street, Onslow Street and High Street were the most affected locations because of the concentration of licensed premises, with many offences occurring in the street directly outside bars. Dusk and Casino nightclubs, and Wetherspoons, recorded the highest volume of incidents.
The peak time for offences was Saturday and Sunday between midnight and 3am.
Annually, offences peaked between May and July, and November and December. This pattern is linked to the changing student population and increased numbers of visitors over the Christmas period.
The months of September and October, a period when the student population increases, has recorded higher levels of violence in previous years. October 2012, has seen a reduction of over 20% when compared to previous October figures. (Casino, being the main contributory premise to the violent figures, was served with a review in September 2012, which prompted new management to take over the premise earlier than planned.
Subsequent changes in management team and door staff, shows early signs of improvement at that venue).
90% of offenders were male; within this group of offenders, 69% of incidents were alcohol-related. Of the 10% of incidents linked to female offenders, 59% were alcohol- related.
The majority of both victims and offenders were aged between 18 and 25 years old, reflecting the population profile of the night time economy and the student population in the immediate area.
Where employment status was known, 14% of victims were students, 12% police officers and 4% door staff.
15% of residents thought it likely they would be attacked in the borough, while 38%
thought it was likely they would be threatened, insulted or harassed by strangers in public (local citizen panel consultation, April 2011). Just over one third of respondents to the local survey said there were areas they felt unsafe in the borough, particularly at night and in the town centre. The biggest reason for feeling unsafe was rowdy / drunken behaviour.
Interestingly, people being drunk or rowdy in public is recorded is an issue of concern for only 4.2% of residents in the local consultation. In the Joint Resident’s Survey, this was a very big or fairly big problem for 13.4% of respondents this period (compared to 15.8%
the previous year).
Physical attacks was viewed as a very big or fairly big problem for 5% of respondents in the Joint Residents’ Survey (compared to 2.9% the previous year)
General alcohol related disorder
The number of crime incidents (violence against the person and criminal damage) flagged as alcohol-related fell 25% in this period, while alcohol-related ASB increased 10%. It has been suggested this indicates the seriousness of incidents has declined, but this needs to be examined further and consider the mechanisms causing the decline
As outlined above, Guildford town centre is a focus for alcohol-related disorder in the borough, accounting for 43% of all incidents
Alcohol-related criminal damage (to vehicles and commercial premises) is closely associated with the night time economy, showing the same peak times and locations as violence above
Guildford Residential is also an affected location because of its proximity to the town centre, with a number of incidents taking place in Chertsey Street.
Antisocial behaviour
ASB ICADs decreased 8% in this period – Rowdy / inconsiderate behaviour accounted for over half of all incidents (61.4%), followed by vehicle nuisance (16.1%) and nuisance neighbours (8.5%).
Antisocial driving
The number of nuisance vehicle incidents fell 25.2% in the period. The most affected location was Ash and Ash Vale, which accounted for 12% of all ICADs. The volume of incidents in this area was 57% higher than the next notable location, Stoughton, which accounted for 7% of ICADs
The antisocial use of motorcycles and quad bikes by youths was of particular note in Ash and Ash Vale in the vicinity of Ash Hill estate and Ash ranges. Incidents tend to occur in the afternoon or evening, between midday and 10pm, and are of significant concern to local residents
It is possible the same youths are responsible for criminal damage in the Ash Hill estate, although this requires further investigation
Criminal damage
Incidents of criminal damage fell 4.5% this period, following slightly smaller drop the year before
Ash and Guildford town centre Ash were the most affected localities; Ash accounted for 10% of incidents, while Guildford town centre accounted for 8%.
Of note in Ash was damage to properties and vehicles committed by youths around the Ash Hill estate and number of local youths aged between 10 and 18 years (particularly 12-14 year olds) were identified as being responsible – one 14 year old male in particular was managed through CIAG and ASBO proceedings, and these offences are now
reduced.
Interestingly, no pattern of offences was reported for particular days of the week and offences were relatively level throughout the entire year, with a slight peak coinciding with February half-term. 43% of all crimes committed during February were committed during half term period. Please see below graph.
Criminal Damage GD Borough 2011-2012
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Month
Crimes
Criminal Damage
The peak time for offences was 5pm onwards coinciding with times when young people are home from school
20% of all criminal damage in Guildford town centre was alcohol related and was committed close the licensed premises on North Street, High Street and Bridge Street.
The peak for these town centre offences were Friday and Saturdays during the evening and overnight (between 6pm and 9pm and 11pm and 2am), overlapping with the peak times for town centre violence and indicating a link with the night time economy.
November was the peak month for criminal damage in Guildford town centre, coinciding with a peak period for violence
Offenders were predominantly male aged 18 to 21 years old Nuisance neighbours
Incidents of nuisance neighbours remained stable this period, increasing by less than 1%. Ash was the most affected location accounting for 15% of all ICADs, although this is partly attributable to repeat complaints of noise in relation to one address. This is being managed in Police/GBC partnership, with both parties subject to CIAG.
Westborough, Park Barn, Pirbright, Bellfields, Stoughton and Compton all received similar levels of complaints
The top 10 locations for nuisance neighbours were:
ASH 95
WESTBOROUGH 40
PIRBRIGHT 35
BELLFIELDS 34
PARK_BARN 34
STOUGHTON 33
COMPTON 31
GUILDFORD_RESIDENTIAL 23
CHILWORTH 21
CHARLOTTEVILLE 20
Ash received 95 reports of nuisance neighbours which is more than twice the number received in the next most affected localities as quoted above- Westborough, Park Barn, Pirbright, Bellfields, Stoughton and Compton which received between 31-40 reports per locality throughout the year.
NUISANCE NEIGHBOUR ICADS GD BOROUGH 2011-2012
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
ASH
WESTBO ROUGH
PIRBRIGHT BELLFIELDS
PARK_BARN STOUGHTON
COMPTON
LOCALITY
NUMBER OF ICADS
NUMBER OF NUISANCE NEIGHBOUR ICADS
Specific incidents concerning vulnerable adults in Foxburrows Avenue, Park Barn, and Spiceall, Compton, are not believed to involve harassment from the local community in general and have been resolved through multi-agency plans
Other reports include civil disputes (Vapery Lane, Pirbright – a neighbourhood dispute which relates to one repeat caller) and drug-related ASB (Cypress Road, Bellfields, Southway Court, Park Barn, and Grange Road/Manor Road, Stoughton). Drug issues have been tackled using drug warrants in the past and future robust tackling of similar issues should be effective in proactive targeting of the drug related ASB in Bellfields, Stoughton and Park Barn.
Domestic violence
Incidents of domestic violence reported to police decreased 6.7%% this period, 56% of which were non-crime domestic incidents, followed 25% violence against the person
Incidents were evenly distributed throughout the year, dipping slightly in December and peaking in October to coincide with Domestic Abuse Awareness Week and the Eagle Radio campaign. The dip in December coincided with a Surrey Police poster campaign, possibly suggesting this campaign was less impactive, but there is also evidence that incidents occurring at Christmas are often unreported
Park Barn and Westborough recorded the highest level of domestic incidents in the borough. In fact, it is the second most prevalent neighbourhood in the county (by volume)
86% of offenders were male and 14% female. As might be expected, 77% of complainants were female and 23% were male. Whilst victims are typically female, reluctance of male victims to report domestic abuse cannot be ruled out
Referrals to South West Surrey outreach decreased 32.9% this period, in keeping with the most areas and possibly linked to a change in risk assessment tools
Based on aggregated figures for South West Surrey outreach, 94.5% of referrals to outreach were from women, notably higher than the breakdown for reports to police. The most prevalent age group amongst clients is 35 to 49 years old (28.9%) followed by 25 to 34 years old (24.2%)
92.3% of outreach clients were white British / white other; no other ethnic group presented above 1% with exception of Black Other (1.8%)
Repeat offenders were linked to 68% of incidents
Almost one third of domestic incidents were alcohol flagged indicating that alcohol is a significant motivating factor in domestic abuse.
