Criminal damage: Frequently asked questions
Criminal damage on public transport
What can be done to stop stone throwing at buses?
What can be done to stop criminal damage and antisocial behaviour on buses?
How can we stop problems on late night buses?
What can be done to stop stone throwing at buses?
- Stone throwing at buses is often a combination of factors relating to the victim, offender and location;
- Victim: the bus and passengers, will often be slow moving or stationary
- Offenders: typically young people, congregated together.
- Locations: often a ready supply of ammunition will be present such as building rubble or refuse from flytipping - Disrupting the problem can be done at any of these points or through a combination of approaches:
- Victim: addressing bus priority, for example through bus lanes or by giving priority at traffic lights, may reduce the times buses are stopped and therefore their vulnerability to this kind of attack. Another, but initially expensive measure is to replace normal glass windows with a type of glass which is almost unbreakable. Where this type of glass has been fitted, glass breakage has been completely eradicated.
- Offenders: engaging with young people who are congregating at hotspot locations and diverting them to other activities can help. Outward facing CCTV can be used to help identify the offender making it more likely that an arrest can be secured.
- Location: Reducing the supply of projectiles will help. The Considerate Constructor scheme ties building contractors into an agreement ensuring that surrounding areas are free from potential missiles and well maintained. Using teams of community service orders, Prince’s Trust or other volunteers to provide a clean up service in the area can remove or prevent access to sources of ammunition. - In Merseyside, the TravelSafe partnership was able to map and analyse when and where incidents were occurring and implemented Operation Greyhound. Bus operators provided a “Trojan bus” which had been fitted with perspex inside the windows to protect the volunteer passengers. The vehicle took a route through hotspot areas. Spotters were positioned on the “Trojan Bus” and an unmarked vehicle followed behind carrying police officers. This meant incidents could be reacted to immediately. In one of the most problematic areas there was a 90% reduction in incidents and levels have remained low.
- Encouraging Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), wardens and Police Officers to use public transport to travel to and from their beat may also help.
What is the difference between the penalties for throwing stones at buses and throwing stones at trains?
- When a person damages a bus (or other vehicle) by throwing stones at it, intending or being reckless as to whether that damage would occur and intends or is reckless as to engandgering the life of another, this may be covered by Section 1(2) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 - the aggravated offence of criminal damage, which attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. If the stone throwing does not meet the above criteria then the criminal damage caused would carry a lesser sentence.
- There is specific legislation that concerns the throwing of stones at trains dating from 1861. The Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 (Section 33) covers the offence of unlawfully and maliciously throwing a stone (or wood or other matter) at a railway carriage, intending to injure or endanger the safety of any person on any train. This offence also carries a life sentence.
What can be done to stop criminal damage and antisocial behaviour on buses? Have you any examples of what works?
- Those committing criminal damage on public transport may well be committing other forms of crime or be involved in antisocial behaviour.
- In Greater Manchester ‘Gateway Check’ operations have been used as one means of addressing crime and antisocial behaviour on buses. The police accompany bus inspectors on problematic routes. If passengers do not have tickets then an offence has been committed and police can carry out stop and search procedures. Very often it is then discovered that other offences are evidenced such as – a person carrying drugs/guns/ knives, going equipped for burglary/robbery, or wanted on warrant for other offences. This approach is based on what is termed as a process of self selection, which means that individuals who commit one offence are very likely to commit others as well. Additional benefits from these operations include good intelligence gathering, reassurance for drivers and passengers (thus improving perceptions of fear of crime) and a deterrent to potential offenders. The Department for Transport has produced a briefing paper on the links between bus related crime and other crimes.
- DNA swab kits can be provided to staff to recover samples from spitting incidents. These are then analysed and placed onto the national DNA database. The incident is kept on record for future identification or if a match is found prosecution can be sought. In Merseyside, when such a scheme was first piloted, publicity alone caused the level of incidents to drop. Robust protocols were developed to protect against losing cases taken to court and excellent standards in training and evidence handling were implemented.
How can we stop problems on late night buses?
- Night bus services can help disperse people quickly from night time economy venues and away from town centres, which may reduce the likelihood of criminal damage incidents in those areas.
- Night marshals can be used to manage the main points at which people join the buses. In addition providing a safe environment for boarding and leaving buses through, for example CCTV and the use of barriers to prevent queue jumping will help.
Last update: Monday, April 14, 2008