Vandalism in Wokingham town centre

The local press has highlighted worrying vandalism over the holiday period in the centre of Wokingham. I am in touch with Councillors who have been working on this matter, who in turn are co-operating with the local police. I am willing to take up matters with government if that is needed, and thank the Councillors and police for their work so far to try to get on top of this problem.

3 Comments

  1. Alan Jutson
    January 8, 2019

    Increasing vandalism and attacks on people, property, and cars has been ongoing and increasing for some time now John.

    Even if the percentage of crime per resident stayed the same, with an ever increasing local population, then crime will rise, thus police numbers also need to rise to help fight it.

    Neighbourhood Action Groups (where they are set up) are trying to work with the Police to try and highlight and fight such crime, but essentially it comes down to having enough police man/woman power to investigate and prosecute, and then have a system which will give out the right message with regards to punishment to back up the Police, rather than some of the rather more farcical sentences given at present.

  2. Nigel Seymour
    January 8, 2019

    Sir J, I like Wokingham – nice little town and all that. Is it down to basic yobos, bad parenting, etc ed? Me thinks I’ve covered the most likely ‘potential’ offenders but would be really interested to hear back from you in due course…

    Reply I do not prejudge who the criminals might be and just want the police to deal with them.

  3. Adam
    January 9, 2019

    Vandalism, such as graffiti needs instant remedy. Time lost in removal presents an area that people donā€™t care about, which invites more destruction from others. A graffito markā€™s author derives satisfaction from its lingering display, & finds its rapid removal discouraging.

    Vandalism should be easy to stop locally. Single instances cost thousands of pounds, readily affording Ā£500 reward for prevention. Ordinary phone cameras embed time, date & location. A sole person assigned to monitor & track graffiti can soon have images pointing to its origin.

    Magistrates could sentence any vandal to wear a dunceā€™s cap for a year with a visible L-plate vest, enforced with immediate custodial sentence for non-compliance. This would help rehabilitate them with a daily reminder of their error on public display.

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