Gypsies will not be moved from public land during the coronavirus lockdown, councils say – despite new figures showing crime near traveller sites is around 50 per cent higher than the national average.
Kent Police are allowing illegal campers to stay on council-owned land provided they do not burn rubbish, drive on footpaths or go to the toilet in the open.
They must also agree not to damage the site and not to abuse, intimidate or harass anyone near the site or participate in any form of antisocial behaviour.
It follows an investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches finding crime near traveller sites is around 50 per cent higher than the national average, while police are frustrated at not being able to tackle it effectively.
The show claims the average crime rate around 30 traveller sites sampled was almost one and a half times the national crime average.
A second random sample of more than 200 sites recorded that the average crime rate around all sites was 106 per 1,000 people – well over the average 89/1,000.
Councils were asked to allow travelling communities to stay on suitable sites in Kent, and it is hoped this will allow them access to healthcare and reduce the potential spread of Covid-19.
Last year Canterbury City Council was granted an injunction that enables it to move travellers off council land without first having to go to court.
But the arrival of coronavirus has forced the local authority to temporarily change its approach in order to follow national guidelines.
Communities across England have reported higher numbers of shootings and driving offences while locals have even received death threats.
Communities in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, and Norfolk have reported higher numbers of shootings and driving offences while locals have even received death threats
Bedfordshire Police have been called out several times over the last three years to four traveller sites for reports of domestic violence and stolen goods (pictured, ram)
Canterbury City council will provide facilities such as water, toilets and waste removal and traveller families have been asked to agree to a strict set of rules in return.
If they fail to follow the rules, they will be evicted by police and the local council following normal processes.
Travellers arriving on Canterbury Council land will be directed to the motor home area of park and ride sites if their presence is causing a problem.
The site is already equipped with standpipes and the facility to empty chemical toilets. It will also provide portaloos and take waste away on a regular basis.
An enforcement team will visit the site regularly to carry out welfare, behaviour and safety checks with CCTV in operation.
It comes amid reports Bedfordshire Police have been called out several times over the last three years to four traveller sites for reports of domestic violence and stolen goods.
One officer told Channel 4 Dispatches: ‘I think there’s a lot of political correctness’
One officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was a fear of being called racist for talking openly about crimes being committed by travellers.
They told Dispatches: ‘I think there’s a lot of political correctness. When we see that there is a specific part of the community in quite large numbers committing crimes – and we’re almost not allowed to mention it, that can be quite frustrating.
‘There are specific operations directed at travellers. But that isn’t outwardly publicised, because the last thing the police want is more criticism by people who feel that… this is just an attack on a minority group that is unwarranted’.
Another police whistleblower said: ‘We need to keep this balanced. It’s not simple by saying that all travelling fraternity are criminals.
‘But ultimately it’s very clear that there is a disproportionate level of crime committed by travellers. If we can just get the truth out there, stop sweeping the problem under – under the carpet perhaps we can solve it.’
A farmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that he was attacked by a hare coursing gang: ‘I got beaten up and ended up in hospital.
‘In the last two years, steel ball bearings from catapults put through pick-up truck windows. Chasing you with, a lump of wood that they’ve found, metal bars… your truck rammed – it’s intimidation and violence.’
A Surrey resident told Channel 4 Dispatches that his car was attacked as he drove past the Littleton Lane Caravan site last year.
Tory MP Andrew Selous told Channel 4 that some of his South West Bedfordshire constituents had moved out of the area ‘because they don’t feel safe’
‘I suddenly heard a massive bang,’ he claimed, ‘so I thought I’d hit something so I pulled over and I found out that they’d chucked a brick at my car and there was literally bricks right across the roundabout where they’d attacked other cars at all.
‘It was just here. I suddenly heard a bang against the side of my car, I panicked – I got out of the car and looked at the tree-line outside the road and they all held the bricks up like as if to say don’t come any nearer that sort of thing.’
Tory MP Andrew Selous told Channel 4 that some of his South West Bedfordshire constituents had moved out of the area ‘because they don’t feel safe’. He said: ‘I happen to have a very high concentration of traveller sites in my constituency, so they’re perhaps slightly more acute.’
Mr Selous described these parts of his constituency as ‘ungoverned spaces’.
It ‘was actually a term used of Afghanistan during the Taliban era,’ he explained. ‘And the previous Chief Constable of Bedfordshire was not very happy with me using that phrase, but I stand by it, because traveller sites can be out of sight, out of mind.’
The first sample examined crime rates around 30 sites, where there have been reports of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Channel 4 then examined the recorded the crime figures for a one-mile radius over a 12 month period from December 2018 to November last year.
They showed that at around 70 per cent of sites the rate was above the national average, while it was a third above the average at 47 per cent of sites.
According to Channel 4, the average crime rate around all 30 sites was almost one and a half times the national crime average.
The second sample, which examine crime rates around a random sample of 237 sites from across England, confirmed in the same period that the average crime rate around all sites was 106/1,000 – well over the national average of 89/1,000.
Elizabeth Yardley of Birmingham City University suggested: ‘There is an association between the presence of a traveller site and a crime rate increase or a higher crime rate’
Leading criminologist Prof Elizabeth Yardley of Birmingham City University said: ‘The findings suggest that there is an association between the presence of a traveller site and a crime rate increase or a higher crime rate.
‘But it’s not just the presence of a traveller site that will affect the crime rate, there are other factors as well. So there are things like population stability, population composition, poverty, deprivation.’
A Canterbury City Council spokesperson said: ‘The police will no longer evict travelling families from unauthorised encampments and have asked councils to allow those families to stay on suitable sites all the while the crisis continues.
‘With some vulnerable people among their number, this will allow them to access healthcare and reduce the potential spread of the virus.
‘There is no evidence to suggest travelling families are directly responsible for the spread of coronavirus and are just as likely to catch it as the rest of us.’
City council chief executive, Colin Carmichael, said coronavirus does not discriminate and nor should we as we continue to fight the virus together.
He said: ‘This temporary change to our approach has been sparked by a change to the national guidelines of dealing with traveller encampments.
‘If this crisis has taught us anything, it is that those who are not normally vulnerable and in need of help quickly become so because of the disruptive power of the virus.
‘We need to put the normal rules of engagement to one side in order to ensure everyone gets the help they deserve.
‘Coronavirus has shown us time and again it does not discriminate and to beat it nor should we.’
Dispatches: The Truth About Traveller Crime is on Channel 4 at 9pm today.