The Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands has called for ‘London-style’ banning orders for persistent criminal offenders on the region’s public transport network.
David Jamieson wants Centro to able to ban repeat offenders from its entire network. Currently, transport authorities in the West Midlands have to apply for separate injunctions for each local authority, meaning that a criminal could, for example, be banned from using buses in Walsall but not in Birmingham.
Mr Jamieson made his call during a tour of the CCTV Central Command Centre for the West Midlands at Centro House in Birmingham.
He said: “The current Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014) gives only Transport For London (TFL) the ability to use Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) to ban people, who persistently commit criminal acts on the region’s transport, from using it.
“It makes no sense that these powers are not available to the authorities here in the West Midlands. Frankly, if it’s good enough for London then it’s good enough for our region too.”
Although total recorded crime on public transport in the West Midlands fell by 7.5% between 2011 and 2014, research carried out by independent watchdog Passenger Focus shows a correlation between anti-social behaviour (ASB) and passengers’ perception of personal safety.
Centro chairman Cllr John McNicholas said: “It is important to remember that crime is down on public transport and that the network in the West Midlands is a very safe way of getting about.
“However there are instances of ASB and crime from a minority of passengers which needs to be tackled, and having the sort of powers that Mr Jamieson is proposing would be a useful weapon in the armoury.”
