Citizens' Panel - Making the borough safer

You told us from previous Panel exercises and when you joined the Panel that community safety is a key issue for you. And we know it's important to go beyond the crime statistics and hear about residents' actual experiences of crime and safety in your local area.

We, therefore, asked you about how we can make the borough safer, working in partnership with different agencies and groups across Kensington and Chelsea. By seeking your views, the Council looked to gain a better understanding of what would make local people feel safe, and to gain insights on your experiences of crime and antisocial behaviour as a witness and/or victim.

We asked you about:

• Overall feelings of safety
• Crime levels in your local neighbourhood
• Community safety priorities
• Personal experience of crime and/or ASB
• Council run teams – Community Wardens and Parks Police

Overall feelings of safety – The majority of Panel members (84 per cent) feel safe when out and about in their neighbourhood during the day, this drops to 52 per cent after dark. Females feel less safe than males after dark (42 per cent compared to 65 per cent). Those living in the centre of the borough tend to feel more safe after dark (56 per cent) than those living in the north or south (48 and 51 per cent respectively).  

Crime levels - Around half (48 per cent) of Panel members feel that the crime levels in their neighbourhood are ‘average’ with 27 per cent citing their perception of crime in their area as ‘low’. Sixty per cent feel that crime is about the same over the past 12 months, 27 per cent that there’s more crime and 11 per cent less crime. Forty-two per cent stated that there were places they would worry about visiting in their neighbourhood, when asked to specify further this included council estates, poorly lit areas, and side streets. Concern was more prevalent amongst females (48 per cent) than males (33 per cent). White respondents were also more likely to avoid places in their neighbourhood than BAME (45 per cent compared to 27 per cent). Forty-two per cent of Panel members have also changed their behaviour in the last 12 months to feel safer, including not going out after dark, increasing home security, and hiding valuables. Again, this was more prevalent amongst females compared to males (48 per cent compared to 33 per cent). 

Community safety priorities - Of the current four community safety priorities in the borough, Panel members viewed drug related offences as the biggest problem (62 per cent) followed by antisocial behaviour (50 per cent). Fifty-nine per cent based these views on personal experience followed by 44 per cent on word of mouth. 

Experience of crime/antisocial behaviour - Thirty per cent of Panel members had witnessed crime or antisocial behaviour in their neighbourhood whilst 16 per cent had been a victim and four per cent both. Of those who had been a victim or witness only 35 per cent had reported it to the authorities. The main reason given for not reporting it was that they did not think it would be acted on (68 per cent). Around half (48 per cent) of Panel members agreed that community members trust local services and organisations. Males were more likely to agree with this than females (52 per cent compared to 46 per cent). Less than half of Panel members stated that they would know how to report specific crimes/antisocial behaviour. The top three measures that Panel members thought would have the biggest impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in their neighbourhood were: high visibility by police/wardens (91 per cent); enforcement against antisocial behaviour (88 per cent) and environmental improvements (87 per cent). 

Council run teams - Only 28 per cent of Panel members had heard of the Community Wardens, of those 22 per cent were satisfied with them and ten per cent dissatisfied. More had heard of the Parks Police Team (47 per cent). of which 36 per cent were satisfied and ten per cent dissatisfied.

Results of the Making the Borough Safer survey have been shared with the Community Safety Team and initial views on how the results from the survey will be used include: 

• Informing the Community Safety Plan due for publication in July 2022 and further assist in tailoring local action plans across community safety.
• Feedback will be used to target resources, such as Wardens’ visibility, with a view to increasing the number of Community Wardens in the borough and feelings of safety.
• Demographic difference in results will be used to develop specific awareness raising campaigns to different audiences.
• Using results to develop targeted communication plans around the work of the Community Wardens, Parks Police Teams and how to report crime and antisocial behaviour.
• Results will inform the team where within the borough to focus additional safety measures and environmental improvements and also inform the Council’s response to antisocial behaviour across the borough.
• Results will be used to inform the commissioning work of the Community Safety Team.