H & F to Have More Police on the Streets
89 officers to be reallocated to Safer Neighbourhood Teams
Hammersmith and Fulham is set to have more police on the streets with plans to reallocate 89 officers from other jobs to local Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
The move is part of a Londonwide plan which will see the Met Police redeploy a total of 2,600 officers for street patrols.
In our borough that means the number of SNT officers is expected to rise from 46 in 2011 to 135 by 2015.
The overall number of police officers in H &F however will rise by only three, from 553 to 556 in 2015.
The plan, which follows months of consultation by the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC), means SNT officers teams will no longer be restricted by strict ward boundaries and victims of crime will be able to make an appointment with a local police officer at a time and place convenient to them.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has welcomed the move. Says Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Council Deputy Leader: “The police are at their best when they are out and about catching criminals and acting as a reassuring presence on our streets.
"Releasing more officers from behind their desks and deploying them onto our streets is a positive move that will continue to exert strong downward pressure on crime in our borough."
The move comes as part of the Mayor of London’s Police and Crime Plan which aims to make the Police more active and visible and save £500million by 2015. This has resulted in a new policing "model" introduced last month in our borough, which saw front counters closed or restricted. You can read the details here
The Met says that instead of visiting a front counter to talk to a police officer, residents will be able to request a visit from a local officer within 48 hours by calling 101.
The front counter changes coincide with the radical shake-up of SNT, with wards grouped together in clusters led by an inspector. SNT will also carry out more investigations into low-level crime rather than passing cases on to other departments.
Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne says: "We've listened to the public and understand people just want to know police are close by. So we are changing the way we do things to make neighbourhood policing our priority. We will now have around 200 places for the public to access police, in more convenient locations and at differing times.
"We are telling Londoners exactly where their police will be and when, making it clearer what the best way to access police is depending on what their need is."
Meanwhile, H&F Council says it continues to spend £1.3million a year for three enhanced town centre squads of beat Police and recorded crime in the borough is at an historic low.
Find your local SNT here or to read more about crime in H&F, visit the council's pages on crime.
July 2, 2013
