MENTIONING MARSHALS STREET SECURITY STEP-UP: HAS IT HELPED?


It would appear that, despite the recession- ary cutbacks and financial constraints generally being felt in most parts of


the


country, over the fes- tive season several marshal


schemes


were set up particu- larly to stem the usual overdose of violence, runners,


verbal


abuse, falling out over taxis at ranks and clubs which occurs during that time of year. So has this been ben- eficial? We have gathered together quite a handful of reports from over the festive season... we’re summarising


the


whereabouts of these activities, rather than printing the full news items, as space does


not permit the latter. Area by area, we had the East Riding of Yorkshire Council who provided mar- shals


between


midnight and 4am on 23, 24, 26, 30 and 31 December. Cllr Jane Evison, cabinet port- folio holder for rural issues and cultural services,


told the


local press that there were no reports of unlicensed vehicles operating in Beverley and Bridlington over the two weekends the marshal scheme was in place; and that “customers felt safe because the taxi mar- shals were there to assist where neces- sary”. A marshal scheme was funded by the Community Safety


Partnership in the Gravesham area over the festive period; for the third year running, the Gravesham Sea- sonal Taxi Marshal Scheme was devel- oped as part of a range of multi-agency schemes coordinated by the Community Safety unit to min- imise crime and anti-social behaviour. From all accounts, the festive


marshal


scheme installed in Burslem and Stoke- on-Trent was a great success over the Fri- day, Saturday and Sunday


nights


throughout December and over the New Year.


A similar


scheme, run jointly by health chiefs and the police to cut the num- ber of attendances at


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A&E, was run in Stourbridge. On the other side of the coin, there was a mixed report


enthusiastic considering from


Wo l v e r h amp t o n . Local Councillors were


about setting up a marshal scheme, and in fact Wolverhamp- ton Council already plans to spend the next 18 months work- ing to see if city centre businesses would be prepared to pay additional fees to create a Business Improvement District, from which security fees would derive. However,


unfortu-


nately due to budget cuts there were fewer marshals at the end of 2011 than over previous festive peri- ods; according to driver Muhammad Nasim, this resulted in a violent attack against his cab with- out sufficient mar- shals to help him.


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Hyndburn Community Safety Partnership, patrolled in Accring- ton town centre as part of their Christmas crime


prevention


drive. A similar moni- toring system was in place in Barnsley at the Midland Street rank. Then we Aberdeen,


have where


councillors are look- ing into a joint scheme between the city council, the taxi trade and licence holders to provide a service allowing club- goers to pre-arrange a pick-up at the door of


Already the norm in Glasgow,


the premises. they are


this


option in Aberdeen as the city’s marshal ini- tiative is under threat. The taxi marshals were first piloted in Aberdeen in Decem- ber 2005 during the winter holidays, and then fully adopted on busy weekends such as bank holidays. As a result of the mar- shal scheme, coupled with late-night


taxi


ranks and a greater police presence, seri- ous assault figures dropped by 46 per cent between 2007 and 2011 (see Round the Councils this issue


for more


details). A pilot scheme was installed over the fes- tive


season by


Cumbria police and Businesses Against Crime in Whitehaven; it was hoped this scheme would contin- ue at weekend nights into the new year. Similarly,


taxi war-


dens were out on the streets of Cannock wearing high visibility jackets, and linked by radio to Cannock Chase


Council’s


CCTV operations in the area, and local officers from Stafford- shire Police. Good news in the North East: a taxi marshal scheme was reintroduced in some areas of Tyneside dur- ing the festive period. Funded by North Tyneside Strategic Partnership,


the


scheme helped cut the queues of people waiting for taxis after a night out in Whitley Bay and Tynemouth. As one of the front runners of marshal schemes in the coun- try,


Council had their mar- shals out


Leeds City in force


during the holiday period – as they have ever since 2005.


There had been fears the scheme might not run due to lack of funding, but backing eventually came from various sources such as Leeds City Coun- cil,


the NHS, group the Business


Against Crime in Leeds, and West Yorkshire Police. Cllr Peter Gruen, Leeds City Council’s executive


board


member for commu- nity safety, said: “We know from experi- ence


that taxi


marshals make a real difference to safety in the city. We want people to come into Leeds at night and we want them to have a good time. Taxi mar- shals make it easier to do that, so I would like to thank all those who have helped fund the marshals this year.” So how did you go on in your area? Without doubt,


the three


developments and ini- tiatives that have impacted the most dramatically on this industry must be (1) the mobile phone; (2) in-car CCTV; and (3) city/town centre mar- shal schemes. And despite the nation- wide necessity to draw in council budg- eting belts, the remit of public safety surely must justify the con- tinued funding of marshal programmes in as many town cen- tres as possible. Obviously we’d like to hear from any PHTM readers in any of the areas men- tioned in this article – or indeed anywhere else in the country – as to whether your streets have been safer as a result of taxi marshal schemes having been in place. As always, you know where to get in touch.


PHTM FEBRUARY 2012


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