Security on London Underground 23

The safety and security of customers is top priority at London Underground. The Underground can never be immune from crime, but many levels of criminal activity - including violent crime - are falling in noted contrast with rising trends nationally. The measures taken by London Underground jointly with the London Underground Area of the British Transport Police as part of an ongoing programme of security improvements have helped to make the Underground safer.

Since 1987 all crimes have fallen by over 40 per cent, making London Underground one of the safest metro systems in the world. In recent years, representatives from Russia, Poland, Japan, Hong Kong, Washington DC, New York, Paris and British Rail have visited the London Underground to learn how to prevent crime.

Trial Measures
With crime reaching its peak on the Underground in 1987 a series of pilot measures was commissioned by London Underground, in conjunction with the BT Police. Complementing these measures, BT Police at the same time decentralised its operations with new stations at Stockwell and Finsbury Park, and the concept of a Home Beat Constable was developed.

Costing £3.5 million the pilot schemes were undertaken at three groups of stations to test measures which could be implemented elsewhere on the Underground. The three areas adopted were stations at the southern end of the Northern Line, which had the highest violent crime rate per passenger of any on the system; Oxford Circus, where petty crime such as pick-pocketing was prevalent; and the eastern end of the Central Line, where crime was virtually non-existent but passengers' perceptions were of a very high level of crime.
The security measures introduced at the stations involved included:

The trials were successful, on the Northern Line in particular, considerably reducing the level of crime. The Control or Focal Points introduced on the Northern Line have proved to be popular with staff and passengers alike. They are large glass-fronted offices and contain CCTV monitors, video recorders and station radio system and various other monitors. Also they provide a location where the passenger can locate a member of staff.

A number of lessons were learnt from the pilot schemes, in particular resulting in a new design of Help Point which has been fitted at several stations. This design will be introduced progressively throughout the central area. The white round Help Points incorporate a green emergency button, a blue information button, and at deep-level and sub-surface stations, fire alarm panels. Operation of the information button immediately connects the passenger with a member of staff. If, after pressing the emergency button, a member of staff does not answer the call within ten seconds, the call is transferred to the British Transport Police control room at St James's Park.

Colour CCTV forms a key part of London Underground station management philosophy. Originally, CCTV was used simply as a means of control/surveillance of passenger flows. More recently, surveillance for security and safety reasons has become a priority, influenced by the Department of Transport's 1986 report "Crime on the Underground" and by the report into the King's Cross fire. Colour CCTV systems now provide extensive views of platforms, passageways, escalators and other strategic areas. Increasing use is being made of video records. In addition to local monitoring, pictures from all CCTV cameras are available to the British Transport Police control room at St James's Park.

British Transport Police, London Underground Area
The British Transport Police is principally responsible for policing the national railway systems, but there is a special division consisting of some 420 uniformed and plain-clothed officers which is concerned solely with the London Underground. Specialised squads exist to deal with car park theft, pickpocketing and graffiti. Full civilian back-up is provided.

Policing of the Underground is monitored via a control room at St James's Park. The room, the most modern of its kind in Britain, has CCTV colour monitors capable of monitoring all the CCTV cameras on the system, video recording facilities, a modern touch-screen telephone system and radio communication with all officers, above or below ground, on stations, on trains or in the street. In addition to the control room, local police posts with appropriate complements of officers and back-up staff are located at Aldgate, Baker Street, East Ham, Finsbury Park, Hammersmith, Heathrow, Stockwell and Wembley Park. A new police station is planned for Canning Town in connection with the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension in 1999.

Ladbroke Grove
A new approach to providing security at a group of stations is being tried out on the Hammersmith & City Line between Hammersmith and Paddington. Each of the eight stations in the group has colour CCTV cameras which are continuously video recorded in the Group Station Control Room (GSCR), located at Ladbroke Grove. There are CCTV-monitored waiting areas on all platforms fitted with draught screens and Help Points, and it is eventually hoped to provide public telephones and vending machines in the area. The new design of Help Point has been installed at each station. Staff are linked by radio to the GSCR, which houses all the video recording and monitoring equipment. Each station has its own dedicated monitor in the GSCR and all the cameras are linked to the British Transport Police control room at St James's Park. An emergency generator is provided so that the GSCR can continue to function in the rare event of a major power failure.

Graffiti
During the late 1980s London Underground suffered from the unwanted attention of graffiti daubers, both on stations and on trains. Many passengers find the presence of graffiti threatening and gain the erroneous impression that the system is mismanaged. Since 1991 a specific Manager, reporting to the Passenger Services Director, has provided a co-ordinated response on stations, trains and other infrastructure on a system-wide basis. There is a small graffiti squad within the British Transport Police.

The graffiting of trains is potentially extremely dangerous. Greater security at train depôts has helped counteract the problem, with measures ranging from simple security fencing and suitably trained security guards through to high technology systems using CCTV cameras, infra-red beams and increased lighting. As part of a major refurbishment of its existing rolling stock, London Underground is providing a high quality paint which will enable any graffiti to be simply and easily removed without damaging the rolling stock.

The annual cost to London Underground of removing graffiti is estimated at £10 million.

On-Train Security
One third of the crime on London Underground is committed on trains. As part of the proposals to address on-train crime, a Piccadilly Line train was successfully fitted with video-recorded colour CCTV in early 1991. The experiment having been a success, a number of the refurbished Piccadilly Line trains will be equipped with colour CCTV and video recording facilities.

In order to ease the fear of crime while travelling alone, the new designs for refurbished train stock have incorporated improvements as a result of lessons learnt. End car windows, allowing passengers to see into the next carriage, have been installed in the refurbished trains on the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines and on the new Central Line trains. All trains have brighter interiors making them cleaner, offering a reassuring environment.