A police operation in Camberwell in the past two months has led to a significant decrease in reports of violent crimes, police say.
Reported violent crimes went down 83 per cent in October compared to September. Camberwell police told South London Lines that the number of assaults dropped from 42 in September to just seven in October.
The operation included local police officers conducting extra patrols and taking on additional shifts.
“We’ve had a lot of extra officers around Camberwell, which has made a big difference,” said Neighbourhoods Inspector Tom Cornish.
“We’ve got four extra officers. It was nine officers, it’s now 13.”
Cornish said that during the operation, the team targeted problem addresses and problem people.
“Throughout London, and the world, there’s often a small number of people responsible for a big part of the crimes,” he explained.
The operation also resulted in a 13 per cent decrease in reports of antisocial behaviour during the same period.
“It’s been a bit of a slog but it’s actually had a positive impact on the area,” said Christopher Iliffe, Sergeant for the Camberwell Green, St Giles and Champion Hill Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
“For the additional patrols, we got funding to help with that, and that’s running until sort of end of December,” Iliffe added.
During the period, the police saw an uprise in drug-related activity, but Iliffe explained that this rise came from the fact that the police used their stop and search powers more during the operation: “If we come across people with drugs, then action will be taken.”
Both Iliffe and Cornish said that drug use was one of the main issues in Camberwell, and many other crimes, both violent crimes and less serious crimes such as thefts and antisocial behaviour, were fuelled by drugs.
Iliffe said that one of the actions they took when coming across people using drugs was trying to get them into some form of drug treatment, to enable them to break the cycle of taking drugs.
‘Higher overall crime rate’
Another tactic used by the police to tackle antisocial behaviour and drug use is the issuing of closure orders.
“If we have an address with complaints, we can go to court and apply for a court closure order, which enables us to close the address for three months,” Iliffe explained.
The person living there will then usually get moved to supported accommodation.
“That’s been very successful in Camberwell. We’ve closed about three or four different addresses for three months where there have been problems with drugs and antisocial behaviour,” Cornish said.
Cornish hoped people in Camberwell feel safe, and pointed out that “statistically most people won’t be a victim of crime”.
In September 2022, the crime rate in Camberwell was nine crimes per 1000 residents, slightly higher than the overall crime rate in London, which is eight crimes per 1000 residents.
At the most recent meeting held by the Camberwell Green Safer Neighbourhood Panel in late October, the priorities set for the police to look at were drug dealing and usage, robbery, knife crime and antisocial behaviour.
