Bournemouth needs '90s New York approach' to tackle crime

Dorset’s police and crime commissioner said authorities including the council need to have “tough policies” and a “no broken windows approach” to the town centre. 

In the 90s, the then NYC police commissioner Bill Bratton believed by fixing the visible signs of crime in the city, it would lead to a reduction in people committing offences. 

And this is what Mr Sidwick is calling for. 

Speaking to the Echo, he said: “When I was a candidate, I asked one of the police officers what they want and one of the things they said was ‘make us crimefighters again’. 

David Sidwick (Image: Daily Echo)

“And that’s the philosophy – it's beginning to happen now. We need a New York approach and with that comes tough, visible community policing.” 

The crime commissioner said at night, there is now record numbers of police officers patrolling the streets, with violent crime numbers in Dorset falling quicker than the national average reduction. 

He has also been advocating for a violence reduction unit “to address the issue of too many young people carrying knives”. All police cars have been given knife wands and there is now CCTV in anti-social behaviour (ASB) hotspots. 

But during the day, there is still too much anti-social behaviour, drug taking and shoplifting, Mr Sidwick said. 

NYPD (Image: Daily Echo/Matt Simpson)

“I’m asking the public to help us, particularly with the drug dealing,” he added. 

“Let’s manage expectations. When a drug deal is done, it’s done extremely quickly. A member of the public may see it and believe it’s exactly what it looks like. 

“But the police have to satisfy evidential requirements, so they need a lot of intelligence to stop drug dealing. The only place they get that is the public.  

“There will be a campaign starting shortly, I'm equipping all the stakeholders, councillors, MPs with a card which says exactly how them, and residents, should report crime and it talks about reporting intelligence.” 

NYPD (Image: Daily Echo/Matt Simpson)

Mr Sidwick, whose role includes holding the police to account, added: “You also need the no broken windows approach, the local authorities to put community safety at the forefront of their thinking. 

“We need, for example, streetlights being repaired – that's one of the things that help criminals do their work [broken streetlights]. We need more CCTV and for it to be monitored.  

“And we need the approach of making certain the graffiti is clean, the weeds are cut back and that we have a robust and compassionate way of dealing with the homeless that actually addresses that issue.

“It needs to be a combination of two things: support, but also to liaise with the police when that person doesn’t take the support, doesn’t want the support, but then actually creates ASB and possibly drug dealing and shoplifting. 

“If we get those, we will get the third thing: investment back into Bournemouth. I love this place. I’ve seen it decline over a number of years.  

“I know the plan is right, it’s working with the police and the operational vision is working for the police. 

“The culture has changed, with the police now being tougher on crime, but now it needs to be delivered.” 

It's expected BCP Council will switch off a number of street lights from April in a bid to save money, as well as CCTV monitoring and in other towns taking away the community accredited safety officers.