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Policy deny crime increase around new Arsenal stadium
POLICE have hit back at claims in a national newspaper that Arsenal’s new stadium and the construction work at its old ground are causing a burglary “crime wave”.
Last month a Guardian columnist claimed burglaries around Highbury Hill “have almost doubled in the six months since the stadium opened”.
The column blamed two new bridges running over the railway tracks, which provide a “handy escape route for thieves”.
The newspaper continued: “There are also concerns among residents whose homes back on to the building site around Highbury, currently being converted into flats. They report an increase in thefts from gardens.”
Not so, say peeved officers at Islington’s Tolpuddle Street headquarters.
Official figures given to the Tribune show that in the past 12 months there was only one more residential break-in than the previous year – 34 as opposed to 33.
Last month there were no reported burglaries around the Ashburton Grove stadium or the old site in Avenell Road, which is being redeveloped.
The statistics do not take account for crimes that were not reported to police.
An Islington Police spokesman said: “It’s really clutching at straws to say that two bridges over a railway line are going to increase the burglary rate.
“In fact it’s rare to have areas that have zero burglaries in a month.”
Columnist Paul Kelso is on holiday and unavailable for comment.
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