Bobbies target street a week
Tuesday August 24, 2010
Residents can expect a visit from their local beat-bobby soon as part of a Police initiative to get a better understanding of ordinary people’s crime priorities.
It is not just criminals who can expect a knock on the door over the coming weeks and months as Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNTs) officers plan to visit every home in the borough as part of an ongoing project to strengthen ties between officers and the local community.
The street-a-week scheme will see officers visit more than 75,000 homes in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) to explain what the SNTs do, give contact details and listen to residents’ concerns.
The borough's three town centres are all covered by their own elite squad of council-funded beat bobbies – with H&F Council spending £1.8 million a year to pay for 60 extra officers. The extra funding means innovative initiatives – like street-a-week – have become a reality.
Cllr Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services, says: “We have some of the best resourced Police teams in Britain. It is not rocket-science – more bobbies generate more arrests, which results in safer streets. It also enables the local Police to do much more than the standard SNTs and really drill down into the detail of a local problem and hopefully solve it.
“On top of the council annual Crime Summit and our promotion of Neighbourhood Watch groups, the intelligence and feedback we receive from residents is second to none.”
The street-a-week scheme is already proving a success, according to the Police, with officers directly tackling and resolving issues raised by local residents. In one case, residents flagged up issues with a regular event at the Hammersmith Club. After closing time, residents in the surrounding area claimed that they were being affected by noise and anti-social behaviour. Acting on this information, officers worked with the club and H&F Council and the club night has since been stopped.
Inspector Tony Hirst, Hammersmith Safer Neighbourhoods said: “As well as dealing directly with the concerns of local residents street-a-week has led to new people joining local Neighbourhood Watch schemes and local ward panels as a result of meeting their local officers.”
To contact your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team, visit: www.met.police.uk/hammersmith
Do you feel safer? Have you say at www.lbhf.gov.uk/crime
