Northumbria Police saw a 40 per cent decrease in antisocial behaviour (ASB) since rolling out its decoy buses filled with officers in plain clothes across the North East of England.
The so-called “Trojan buses” appear like a regular bus service but passengers could be arrested if they are caught committing any offences.
Since its first inception in November last year, the police force said cases of ASB across the region have dropped from 1,123 in 2022 to 669 in 2023.
ASB on across North East transport networks fell by almost 30 per cent in just six months with the Trojan buses being a contributing factor.
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The decoy bus poses as a Stagecoach vehicle which has many travel routes across the region
Northumbria Police
The police tactic looked to monitor areas of the North East that were particularly susceptible to common offences on buses, with officers undercover to help prevent the crime as it unfolds.
The decoy bus poses as a Stagecoach vehicle which has many travel routes across the region.
Kim McGuinness, Northumbria police and crime commission, said: “Transport has been a big area of investment for me. I really want people to move around our region feeling safe and that’s why we have invested significant resource into this work.
“ASB is not low level – it can really have an impact on people’s lives and ensuring people can move throughout the region safely and comfortably must be taken seriously.”
While the Trojan buses seem to be working on cutting out ASB, McGuiness recently hit out at the Government for reducing funding by £250,000.
The new funding was a merging of the ASB action plan hotspot resource fund, something promised to all 43 forces, and the Grip Fund given to 20 forces for tackling serious violence.
These changes now mean that forces are having to share budgets to deal with both serious violence and ASB incidences.
McGuiness continued: “Every time we are onto a good thing, and we demonstrate really good work funding changes, or they pull the plug on it entirely.”
She explained how in just a couple of months, the police force had £380,000 stripped from its frontline work.
McGuiness added: “Government needs to stop badging cuts up as new funds and actually put their money with their mouth is and get behind the good work that’s happening to prevent and fight crime in our region.
“Tackling ASB matters to me, it matters to local residents, but it doesn’t seem to matter to our Government.
“We were led to believe we would get funding dependent on the success of the ASB hot spot pilot, and we have delivered. It’s a shame Government isn’t delivering its promised funding in return.”
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The police tactic looked to monitor areas of the North East where antisocial behaviour is particularly high
GETTY
ASB is defined as behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to persons not of the same household as the person.