Crime can't be our normality, senior councillor says

Sarah Chambers has taken the public safety role in Derby

The councillor who has been put in charge of improving public safety in Derby says she is shocked that people who saw a daylight burglary in the city "didn't bat an eyelid".

The raid on a pawnbrokers, for which three men have been arrested and released on police bail, was one of a series of high-profile crimes in Derby this year, including the murder of Gurvinder Johal inside a bank.

Labour councillor Sarah Chambers, the city's new cabinet member for public safety, said footage of the pawnbroker raid showed witnesses who seemed unsurprised but "that can't be our normality".

However opposition Conservatives said nothing had changed since a range of incidents in the past six months.

'Reclaim the space'

Chambers has been in the public safety role since 4 September, after being given the brief when council leader Nadine Peatfield shuffled some of her cabinet's portfolios.

"Across the country any city centre has challenges," she told the BBC.

"I personally, when I go to the city centre, don't feel unsafe but I do know people that have genuine safety fears and I do know people that walk a different route as opposed to going down St Peter's Street.

"That's what we need to stamp out. We need to reclaim the space really."

A cordon was set up in the heart of the city after Gurvinder Johal was stabbed

However, opposition Conservative leader Steve Hassall said moving the public safety role away from councillor Ndukwe Onuoha was "an admission of failure".

"I think the incidents speak for themselves really," he said.

"This is not perception, it's reality, and I haven't seen anything fundamental in the way of action or positive long-term fixes."

Chambers said she believed Derby was an amazing place but would be talking to residents, businesses and the city centre agencies about how to tackle "hotspot areas" and anti-social behaviour, as well as working with the police on crime.

"It's working with the individuals that are the ones with the challenges and that are bringing the challenges to the city centre," she said.

"You know, at the end of the day, a lot of these people are vulnerable people.

"We don't just let [crime] happen, there are consequences.

"The police are working really hard on making sure that people feel safer coming into the city."