This morning I took my Crime Survey to Eyres Monsell, a large 1950s housing estate on the southern side of Leicester adjacent to the southern ring road. It was a lovely sunny morning to be out - though a bit chilly. I soon warmed up as I trotted along. I knocked on doors and, if nobody answered, pushed a copy of the survey through the letterbox.
The most serious crime that was brought up by the people that I spoke to was theft from vans. The thieves attack at night and are, of course, after power tools. These can fetch a good cash price and are difficult to trace back to their real owner. Sensible tradesmen remove their tools from vans overnight and store them safely in the house or workshop. But the thieves don't know that, and break into vans anyway. Even when nothing is stolen that means the van has been damaged and has to go for repair. While it is off the road the owner can't get to work. If he or she is self-employed that means a loss of income and sometimes the loss of a contract.
The other subject that came up more than once was the speed of traffic in the estate. There are a lot of families with young children in Eyres Monsell, and motorists need to take extra care when navigating the area. Speed enforcement is clearly the answer, but the council could be proactive by installing traffic calming measures in the worse affected roads.
Overall, it was an interesting morning out knocking on doors and chatting to people. I will be collating the results and will be looking to take measures to try to cope with the key problems if I am elected to be Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland in May.
You can see a couple of videos that I shot this morning in Eyres Monsell here:
