HALSTEAD residents are appealing for street lights to be turned back on at night after an increase in crime.

About seven in 10 street lights were initially turned off throughout Essex between 1am and 5am.

However, Harlow’s street lights have been turned back on after an increase in crime in the area.

Now some residents want Halstead’s lights turned back on too, in the wake of eight burglaries on the night of May 18.

Karl Bruen, 35, has more than 400 signatures on his petition to have the lights turned back on.

He believes although the lack of street lighting does not cause these crimes, turning the street lights back on would deter criminals and make it easier to identify suspects.

He said: “If you’re going to be going around town committing crimes, then obviously darkness helps you. You look out the window and you can hear people run past, but you can’t see a thing, you have absolutely no chance of identifying anybody because it is pitch black.

“And now the local police station has shut down, it doesn’t help at all.

“If you are going to commit a crime you know that you are waiting for the police to come from Braintree.”

Carly Stevens, 31, of Abels Road, recently started a similar petition and is certain that the street lights need to be turned back on in order to reduce crime in the town.

“I have heard people outside at night, looked and seen people shining their phones into cars, I shone a torch out and they ran off, but without street lights I have absolutely no way of identifying them and there is no point in ringing the police because it will take them at least 20 minutes to get here and without street lights and I can’t identify these people anyway,” she said.

“I moved to Halstead because it appeared to be a very quiet, nice, safe town but I don’t think that is the case any more.

“Street lights wouldn’t fix the problem, there are a number of factors, people need to be more vigilant and crime aware, but the street lights would definitely go some way to fixing it. It would definitely be more of a deterrent if the street lights were on, pitch black darkness plays into the hands of the criminals.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “The safety of Essex residents is of utmost importance and we will listen to any request from the police if there are concerns about safety in an area covered by part night lighting. We continue to work with Essex Police to monitor any patterns of crime, anti-social behaviour and road collisions that could be linked to part night lighting across the county.

“It should be noted that a recent Lanterns Project report conducted nationally concluded that there is no evidence suggesting that part night lighting has led to an increase in crime.”

Sign the petitions to show your support at: 

https://www.change.org/p/braintree-district-council-keep-halstead-street-lights-on-at-night?recruiter=258441051&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

http://www.petitions24.com/re-instate_the_halstead_essex_street_lights