Tube sex crimes unit faces uphill struggle

With the number of sex crimes on London Transport having risen by over a third last year, it’s quite the wrong time to close down the specialist sexual offences team which deals with these matters. Fortunately, British Transport Police have today announced that the unit will remain.

Confusion had been caused when the Police had drawn up an alternative structure, in which the unit did not feature. The proposals immediately caused concern – until today’s announcement that the proposals were only a draft, and this part will not be implemented. The announcement that the unit is safe has been welcomed by women’s groups.

With 1,603 reports of sexually-related crimes over the last nine months of last year, an increase of 43% over the same period the year before, the Transport Police clearly have an enormous task ahead of them if this trend is to be reversed. It’s particularly urgent that they up their game ahead of the introduction of the Night Tube, which will see the potential for sex crime increase.

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