Recording and monitoring incidents

Recording and monitoring incidents

Operators work with limited resources, and preventing crime can be expensive. Recording the scale, pattern and cost of crime is the first step in identifying those measures which will be most effective. Monitoring recorded incidents enables the operator to direct resources where they are most needed.

Crime and - more particularly - incivility on public transport is under-reported. The crime figures do not reflect the passenger's real experience of travel. And yet that experience contributes to a perception of public transport as risky, and can lead to the passenger using other modes of transport or avoiding travel altogether, especially after dark.

Operators and the police need to encourage reporting of incidents, and ensure that those who do report receive a sympathetic and helpful response.

And incidents which are reported need to be recorded and monitored, so that levels can be measured, trends and patterns identified.

Encouraging reporting

Passengers and staff experience a range of behaviours on public transport which contribute to feelings of insecurity. These are often not reported because they seem 'too trivial', reporting takes time, there does not seem to be anyone to report to, they fear an unsympathetic response, or they do not believe that any good will come of it.

Operators need to be proactive in encouraging reporting so that passengers and staff overcome their reluctance. This requires a real commitment and a belief that the information gained will improve the service and ultimately its profitability. And this commitment needs to be consistent across the organisation, and sustained over time.

Publicity

Operators may be reluctant to actively encourage reporting. They may feel that to do so would promote the belief that public transport is unsafe. But passengers who already feel unsafe are unlikely to feel more so by knowing that something is being done about the problem. If anything, knowing that the operator understands, is concerned about how they feel, and is taking steps to improve the service, is better than believing that they do not care.

Publicity can be carefully presented so as not to sensationalise crime or be alarmist, but to emphasise what is being done and to invite the public to help by giving information.

Make reporting easy

Tell passengers and staff that you welcome all reports, however minor they may seem.

Offer alternative ways of reporting: filling in a form, telling a member of staff or calling a freephone number If it is a form, make it quick and simple to complete. For passenger reports offer a member of staff to help them fill it in if that would help.

Tell passengers where they will find staff who will take their report, and make sure that those staff treat receiving such reports as an important part of their job.

Allow the facility for all reports - whether from staff or passengers - to be anonymous. The person may understand the value of the information that they have, but may want to put the incident behind them and feel that giving their name would jeopardise this.

Make sure that your managers understand the value of reports from both passengers and staff, so that those who do report are not made to feel that they are being a nuisance.

Treat all incidents seriously

The same experience may affect each of us differently. What one person shrugs off may be quite traumatic to another. Make sure that your staff and managers understand this. If someone has gone to the trouble to report an incident, then to them it is serious and deserves to be treated as such.

And it is often apparently minor incidents that are seldom reported but so useful to know about. These are the ones that give a real picture of what it is like to travel.

Respond appropriately

Make sure that your staff respond appropriately. Treating the report seriously is an important first point. They also need to listen, and let the passenger know they are listening. Your staff don't need to be trained counsellors, but they may benefit from some training in basic communication skills.

The passenger may or may not want to report the incident to the police. Make sure they know they have the choice, and then respect their wishes.

Make sure that your staff know about any local support service for victims of crime. There may be a local Victim Support scheme, and it may be helpful for your staff to have their leaflet to hand out. For rail passengers who also want to report the incident to the British Transport Police, the BTP may in any case make a referral to the passenger's local Victim Support Scheme.

In the case of incidents against staff, make sure that they feel supported rather than judged. There may have been nothing they could do, in which case they may be left feeling very vulnerable and fearful for the future. Or they may feel that they did something to provoke the incident, or did not do something to prevent it, in which case they may be blaming themselves.

Make sure they are given help to understand what happened without feeling blamed. If there is a staff counselling service, encourage them to use it. The sooner they are helped to recover from the experience and - if there is a lesson learn from it, the sooner they will feel able to return to work with confidence.

Feedback

If passengers and staff are going to take the time and trouble to report incidents, they must believe that the information they have is going to be put to good use.

Give them a contact name - the person who is dealing with their report.

Let them know what action, if any, is being taken. If none is being taken, explain why. If later information helps you to act on theirs, make sure you let them know.

This may seem time consuming but is well worthwhile in restoring confidence in you as an operator and maintaining your sources of information.

Recording incidents

Make sure that what you record is what you want to know. Do not allow your systems to get weighed down with superfluous information. On the other hand, if there is something that you want to monitor - such as cost - make sure it is included at the stage of recording. It will be much harder to add later.

If you want to measure the true cost of violence against staff to the organisation, make sure that you code time off through violent attack separately from time off through other sickness.

If you want to record levels and trends in vandalism and graffiti, make sure that you code all damage accurately, specifying, if possible, whether it was caused by criminal activity or by accident.

Monitoring incidents

Recorded incidents can be a useful tool for operators if they are thoughtfully analysed and presented. This might be by:

Area - so that problematic localities are identified

Time - to highlight times of day when problems occur, which may in turn give an indication of their source

Type - to reveal which kinds of criminal or antisocial behaviour are most prevalent

Perpetrator - characteristics (eg age, gender) to develop a picture of who (in broad categories) is causing the problems

Cost - in terms of service and staff time and - in the case of vandalism and graffiti - cleaning, repair and replacement.

Regular monitoring of incidents in this form can help you build a picture of how crime and antisocial behaviour affects your operation, and so guide you in working to prevent it.