The British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) has issued this year’s full targets to the officers that police Britain’s railways in the latest national and regional Policing Plans. The BTPA, which oversees the work of British Transport Police (BTP), has worked closely with BTP, representatives of the rail industry and passengers to produce this year’s Policing Plans.
The BTPA has taken on board the feedback received from more than 6,000 rail passengers and 3,700 staff collected via the National Rail Passenger survey and BTP’s own public consultation. BTP is committed to increasing its visibility, especially on late-night services, to help increase passenger confidence. Equally, included in the plans are the contact details of the commanders across the country, as well as website and Twitter links, so that rail users can say what matters to them.
This year will see the second phase of BTP’s strategy to increase the safety of young people, vulnerable adults and railway staff via its Safeguarding Unit. The BTP will work closely with other police forces and agencies and has included targets to improve the outcomes of investigations into allegations and increase confidence amongst staff as a result. The Plans will also continue to focus effort on the broader aims of reducing crime, tackling disruption, increasing confidence and delivering better value for money, in line with the longer term targets for 2019.
The 2015/16 national targets for BTP include:
- Reduce notifiable crime by at least 5%
- Reduce police related disruption by at least 5%
- Achieve at least a 80.2% confidence rating for passengers measured by the National Rail Passenger Survey
Local targets for London and East /South of England include:
- Reduce physical violence against all staff, passengers and other railway users
- Increase visibility by conducting late-night on-train patrols out of London termini on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Local targets for Pennine, Wales, Western, Midlands include:
- Reduce the number of physical violent crimes against staff and passengers
- Achieve a satisfaction rate of at least 75 per cent for both antisocial behaviour problem and disruption solving plans
Local targets for Scotland include:
- Reduce the number of physical violent crimes against all staff, passengers and those using the railways by at least 10 per cent
- Achieve a satisfaction rate of at least 75 per cent for the single D Division-wide disruption problem solving plan
Esther McVey, Chair of the BTPA said: “The targets that the Authority has given to the BTP this year aim to ensure that passengers get home safe and secure; and railway workers can get on with their job without fear of abuse or assault.
They will help BTP on the road to meeting its longer term goals against the testing background of increasing passenger numbers, a developing terrorist threat and infrastructure developments such as the Night Tube and Crossrail.
It is important that passengers and staff continue to let us know what they see as policing priorities and how these are being met so we can continue to set appropriate targets.”
The Chief Constable of BTP, Paul Crowther added: “During 2016/17 we will continue to develop our transformation programme, helping us work smarter and ensure we are in the right place at the right time, with the right equipment to make decisions and do our job effectively.”