Local Law Enforcement Team Come To Aid of Teenage Girl
16-year-old was been harassed by man on Fulham Broadway
There are now 72 officers working for the team in the borough
A 16-year-old girl was assisted by officers from the borough’s Law Enforcement Team after being harassed late at night by a man in Fulham.
The H&F officers stepped in after coming across an intoxicated young woman alone with a much older man. The two were sat at a bus stop at 2.30am near a bar in Fulham Broadway.
The three LET officers immediately noticed that the girl appeared to be ‘very upset’ and arrived in time to witness the man’s behaviour towards the girl.
“He had his arm around the female’s neck and pulled her towards him. It looked forced,” reported LET officer Daniel Nurse.
Meanwhile, a couple of bystanders had approached the pair and started quizzing the man on his actions. Officer Nurse said, “The guy sat in silence, but every time they tried to talk directly to the girl, he adjusted his grip around her neck and pulled her further away from them. That’s when we knew.”
The three officers separated the man from the girl. While one of the officers took the man aside, officer Nurse discovered that she had been separated from her friends earlier that night. She had only recently turned 16.
“It quickly became clear that she was highly intoxicated. I asked her if she knew the man – she said that she had met him inside the bar but looked very confused,” officer Nurse remembered.
During their conversation, the girl informed the two officers that she had no money to make her way back home and that the man ‘was getting her an Uber home’.
“I told her that this wasn’t a good idea and asked if any of her friends could help instead,” officer Nurse added. The H&F officers helped her get a hold of a friend, who booked a cab on her behalf. The LET officers comforted the young girl and made sure to stay by her side until the cab arrived and picked her up to take her home safely.
Officers from the borough’s 72-strong LET work with the Met Police and other emergency services patrolling 24/7. The council says this collaborative approach enables it to prevent, detect and crackdown on local crime more quickly and effectively.
If you see them out and about and want to say hello or need help, you are encouraged to approach them. They are easily recognisable by their uniform – red tie, high-vis jacket and hat – and will always identify themselves as council officers through their H&F staff and warrant cards.
In a survey of residents, conducted in 2021 to inform the development of the council’s new strategy to end Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), many women admitted to feeling unsafe at night. Many also reported they’d been threatened and harassed by men.
To show the LET’s commitment to prioritising women’s safety, all officers undergo special VAWG training as part of their induction. In addition, the council has joined forces with specialist VAWG charity Standing Together to provide advanced training to the dedicated VAWG leads among the officers – our Women’s Safety Champions.
To ensure the safety of all women and girls, the council has increased the numbers of LET patrols in local night time hotspots, especially Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush.
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February 4, 2022