Transport police to focus more on sex offences after U-turn over axing unit
ment of repeat sex offenders and providing intelligence to help officers target criminals effectively.
Assistant chief constable Mark Newton said: “We’re investing more money in tackling sex offending than in virtually anything else, under this proposal. The new unit we’re putting in place means about £1.2 million extra per year.”
This is part of a broader plan for a new “crime allocation” policy that will change how BTP determines which officers investigate which cases, with crimes being prioritised according to the “threat they pose, the harm it causes to a victim, and the complexity of the investigation required”.
Crimes given the highest priority will be investigated by more experienced officers who will have fewer cases than colleagues. Sexual assault will be given greater priority than “volume crimes” such as pickpocketing and bicycle theft, and come second only to homicide and rape.
“All crime is equal as we deal with it currently,” Mr Newton said. “But all crime isn’t equal. We have to put our resources into the areas that are most threatening and harmful to the public. It’s gutting if you lose your bike but it is more important we deal with violent or sexual offences.”
Proactive teams — who currently patrol the transport network to deter and detect specific crimes — will now tackle all forms of criminal activity. However, at least two proactive teams will focus on tracking, identifying and arresting sex offenders.
This comes after an internal document was leaked to the Standard in March which showed that BTP intended to axe its sexual offences unit. This revelation — and the outcry that followed — led two weeks later to BTP halting its plans to disband the team and carrying out an urgent review.
“We’ve listened and we’ve been learning,” said Mr Newton. “Why wouldn’t we change our minds?”
He anticipates that the new measures will result in a recorded increase in the number of sexual offences — because more victims will report: “We’re saying to women: ‘please come forward, have confidence in us, help us [stop] these offenders reoffending in future.’”