The Met has now created a 'crime map' of London that highlights the hotspots in different boroughs. Although Lewisham is regarded as average compared to the rest of the London, Forest hill (west of the tracks) has been identified as a high crime area. See for yourself.
http://maps.met.police.uk/
I was playing with this tool yesterday in the office and you can take it right down to sub-ward level. I stay 'above average' until I do that although the other side of the road is High.
The numbers are based on the last available month's data so think it's currently only showing June with May for the trend. It does give the actual numbers though so although you might be in a 'red' area, it can still only be something like 5 robberies/burglaries/car incidents in the month. I'm curious as to how they're measured in terms of how serious the crimes are - is car vandalism seen the same as car theft for instance?
Very interesting. Surprising or is it that the highest crime area is the most affluent part of SE 23.
You would have thought highest crime in Perry Vale Ward but I guess richer pickings on other side of tracks.
Presumably the met will be targeting SE london and 'high' crime areas to try to balance the map.... yeah right.
Don't forget that not every crime is necessarily reported so the figures can never be accurate.
the reason for the higher crime rate on this side of the track is probably due to the high concentration of pubs and bars. and with the way FH has these disused pockets of space it promotes crime.
Did anyone notice the small pocket of 'below average crime' in the Perry Vale area. Around Kilmore Rd?
North West of Honor Oak Park Station is low crime while the rest of Honor Oak Park is average.
Maybe the low crime are arround Kilmore because signs saying police are operating in the area. I am sure they make a large difference.
the reason for the higher crime rate on this side of the track is probably due to the high concentration of pubs and bars. and with the way FH has these disused pockets of space it promotes crime.
And don't forget Paddy Power....
This crime map is inconsistent, the only reason the London Road side of the tracks has a higher crime rate, is because we report more crime. If you look at areas like Dagenham they (as the map suggest) have a low crime rate, this is inaccurate, people just don't report crime there.
I would suggest that we submit our feedback on the met-police website, as all this does is effect house prices.
https://secure.met.police.uk/crimemapping/
Excuse me, are you comparing the Perry Vale side of the tracks to Dagenham? Seriously?
The Perry Vale side is more concentrated residential. The London rd side, has the train station, pubs and resturants the more bus routes--of course that would make for higher instances of petty crime at least.
I was interested by Ghis' observation that crime in the area north-west of Honor Oak Park was below average in contrast to the surrounding areas. I wondered why that was.
My first thought was that maybe like wasn't being compared with like, and that the inclusion of One Tree Hill and Brenchley Gardens in that sub-ward meant that the population density was lower than surrounding areas. But then shouldn't the boundaries of wards and sub-wards be designed to reflect roughly equivalent population densities?
Maybe some bits of suburban topography are more or less crime-friendly than others? Maybe, if you're a burglar, you might face lower risks - but also lower rewards - in blocks of appartments than in a street of semis with Neighbourhood Watch stickers in the windows?Maybe, if you're a street-robber, then you'd want to waylay your victim somewhere remote or quiet, but not so remote or quiet that no-one ever passed by? In both cases, you'd probably want to disppear quickly into an area that the police would find it hard to follow you.
If I had to guess off the top of my head, I'd imagine that the bits of the 'burbs where crime was most likely to occur might be those parts where relatively affluent blocks of streets sit right next to large council estates. (But I ought to qualify that by saying that I spent many years living on a council estate myself, and I'm fully aware that most council tenants are completely honest and law-abiding.)
I suppose there might be something to the idea that the culture of reporting crime might vary between neighbourhoods. That would be difficult to prove.
Anyone else got any ideas about the below average crime incidence in that area north-west of Honor Oak Park? Is it just dumb luck? Or do you think that there's even the remotest possibilty that they're doing something right that the rest of us could learn from? Probably not!
I suspect that all Se 23 roughly the same crime level , but some areas report crimes more than others.
Reporting crime probably increases the insurance premium for your postcode area!