Fear of crime

'Fear of Crime' usually refers to a when a person experiences the fear that they will be a victim of crime regardless of any specific threats and is often not unrelated to the actual chance of them any becoming a victim.

Fear of crime is something that can affect anybody whether young or old and wherever they are from. This makes it different from actual crime which tends to be concentrated on particular areas, victims and committed by a small number of offenders.

However, this can be more acutely felt by: 

• People live in an area of high crime 
• People have been victims/witnesses of crime 
• People feel vulnerable 
• People feel poorly informed 
• People feel isolated 
• People feel subjected to anti-social behaviour
• Environmental issues (graffiti, vandalised areas, shabby surroundings, rubbish over the streets, poorly lit areas but also physical security measures: e.g. CCTV) 
• Transport issues: whether people have concerns about personal security or concerns about crime on public transport

Why is it important to tackle this?

Living with this fear can impair the lives of community and prevent the successes that have been made in making Lambeth safer being recognised.

How is this being addressed?

• The council is funding 22 extra Police Community Support Officers to engage with the community and be a contact part on issues around crime and disorder. 
• The Lighting Public Finance Initiative which has upgraded lighting in the borough has prioritised areas of high crime and fear of crime. 
• The Park Rangers Service which is now in its 2nd year enables park users to report crime and anti-social behaviour. 
• The Safer neighbourhood Police Initiative is also in its 2nd year and each ward now has a dedicated police team dealing with issues around, crime, anti social behaviour and fear of crime and disorder. 
• The Fear of Crime action plan will set out projects to tackle evidence based issues around fear of crime and disorder. 
• We will be undertaking a project to assess the level of fear of crime in the borough through extensive research and public consultation. This will involve working in partnership with London South Bank University who will be conducting the research. This will involve 600 street-based questionnaires in two sites within the three borough subcommands of North, Central and South. The surveying with be conducted in order to represent the diversity of the borough and will therefore take into consideration age, ethnicity and gender. A report of the research results will be produced and used to inform the development of a borough-wide Fear of Crime Strategy. From this we will develop an action plan to provide a more effective delivery of services to tackle fear of crime and disorder.