One girl woke up and found a man in her room
A 13 per cent rise in crime – including more knife-point robberies and burglaries – has left residents of Newland wary of their safety.
One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, was walking home down Newland Avenue last Friday night at 4am, around the Tofts area, where he came across a fight between two men. He tried to help break it up, and in turn received a black eye.
He told The Tab: “I was alone, otherwise it probably wouldn’t have happened. I don’t think it was students.”
Although he wasn’t personally involved in the fight, the violence that was taking place in this heavily populated student area resulted in his injury.
He added: “I feel reasonably safe down Newland Avenue, but Beverley Road not so much.”
When The Tab spoke to Humberside police, they said there had been “a recent increase in knife-point robberies and crimes around the Beverley Road area” – one of them being an incident down Newland Avenue where a shop employee was threatened with a dirty needle.
A few weeks ago, a group were followed on their way to Welly by a man counting to 10. While following them, he muttered “my victims always turn around before 10”. One of the members of this group, Rob Dennis – a second year Politics student – said they “pretty much jogged the rest of the way to the club, with their keys between their fingers, constantly looking over their shoulders”.
Break-ins are also on the up. On Grafton Street – statistically the most dangerous road in Hull – one girl woke up in the middle of the night to find a man creeping about her room, scouting her belongings. She laid there frozen for about an hour until he decided to leave.
Humberside Police were eager to point out the increase in crime is below the national average.
They said: “While we have seen a 13 per cent increase in the number of violence against the person offences in Humberside, this is smaller than the national increase of 25 per cent and follows changes to the National Crime Recording Standard to ensure it is firmly focused on providing the best possible quality of service to victims.
“In total, 1,134 of Humberside’s 1,658 increase in violence is accounted for by the less serious violence without injury.”
There has been a 13 per cent increase in crime
But Debbie from Dovehouse’s Vintage Charity Shop No. 87 on Newland Avenue doesn’t think this is a good enough excuse.
She said: “I think the council are spending all of their time and resources sorting out the city centre for 2017. A lot of the problems they had there have dispersed into the surrounding areas, policing isn’t happening around here like it should be.
“What makes me really cross is Newland Avenue is one of the most cosmopolitan streets in the whole of Hull. It’s been built up from the ground by individual traders and I feel like this is one of the main places that won Hull the title of City of Culture in the first place, and it’s being neglected.
“Over the last few months, maybe the last year, Newland Avenue has gone from being a lovely, safe area where I’ve lived in for 25 years to somewhere I think twice about leaving my house to pop to the shop.
“But since we got City of Culture, criminals are being moved out of the city centre and into areas like this, and with so many new people it makes you uneasy in your own community.”
Newland residents don’t feel safe anymore
Sonia, from Moon on a Stick on Newland Avenue, told the Tab: “I’ve worked in various shops down Newland and Princes Avenue for about 15 years. I first came to Hull as a student in the 1980s, and in the last four to five months I’ve seen about five times as much shoplifting and crime as I have ever encountered living and working here.
“We weren’t sure why this was at first, but through chatting to people we’ve found out the police have made cuts on the policing in this area of Hull.”
Another member of staff added: “When you actually see a policeman you get excited. You sometimes see them riding up and down in cars, but you don’t get any walking about or an officer pop in and ask if everything’s okay, not like you used to.”
According to local shopkeepers, hostels have been opened on and around Newland Avenue and Beverley Road to house people who have just been let out of prison.
Sonia continued: “I really don’t mind that – I’m all for rehabilitating those with drug and alcohol problems, that isn’t the issue. It’s the fact they aren’t run properly. You don’t stick people with drug and alcohol problems in a flat above a 24 hour Off License, in the middle of one of the biggest drinking areas in Hull.
“You get to work and there are drunk people staggering about at 9am, falling into shops and trying to pinch things. It makes you uncomfortable in your own place of work.
“Newland Avenue has always been a beautiful and safe area for families and students, and in the last few months there has been a definite shift. I’m not saying there can’t be a shift back to how it used to be, and hopefully there will be.”
The Tab asked Humberside Police if this increase in crime was due to cuts in police funding and the prioritising of keeping the city centre crime free in time for 2017. They told us: “The City of Culture Award has no current bearing on policing of the City of Hull and Humberside as a whole but more to do with the widely reported policing policy brought in across the Humberside Police area in April 2015.”