Hot topic: beat bobbies

Hot topic: beat bobbies

H&F Council is currently spending £1.8 million per year on 60 extra town centre beat bobbies.

Crime is falling and people say policing is improving. In Shepherds Bush, 67% of people said the police are doing a good job, up 12 per cent.

No-go inner-city areas have been reclaimed.

Councils do not usually fund the Police but H&F Council understands that cracking down on crime is residents' number one concern so has made it a council priority. The borough's three town centres - Fulham, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush - are now all covered by their own elite squad of council-funded beat bobbies. » Read more on this

» Read the Night on the beat special feature | » See the photos on Flickr (opens new window)

• Do you think more Beat Bobbies are needed? 
• Should council tax be spent on extra police?
• What is crime like in your area?
• Do rising arrests make you feel safer?

» Send us your comments now

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I would like to thank our borough for funding our 24/7 Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in Shepherds Bush Green ward. We have had a lot of successes, our streets are much safer, and our neighbourhoods are more vibrant. Businesses are now beginning to warm up to the advantages of coming on board, in particular our smaller more local businesses in W12.  We are seeing a lot of good initiatives, let us all support the excellent work, we all have benefiting from these past 2 years, and fully support our safer neighbourhoods teams in W12, to continue the work into the future.
From John Ryan on 04/04/09

We have seen crime tumble in the two town centres with extra beat Bobbies. This approach, combined with more traditional beat policing, is the only way to tackle Britain’s growing epidemic of booze-fuelled town centre crime. It is not the Police’s fault that there are not enough of them in our town centres. It is up to the Home Office to release our Bobbies from all the pointless and obstructive red tape they have to endure. If they did this then maybe council taxpayers might not have to foot this bill. The stats prove that our beat Policing trials have worked and they should now be rolled out across London as standard.
Councillor Greg Smith, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Residents' Services