H&F Police Merge with Neighbours in New Basic Command Unit

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Radical shake up creates Central West BCU with 1,800 officers across three boroughs

Hammersmith and Fulham Police have today, Wednesday 20 February, officially merged with police from two neighbouring boroughs, Kensington & Chelsea & Westminster to create a new Basic Command Unit, or BCU.

That means officers have swapped epaulettes bearing the code FH - for Fulham and Hammersmith - to new badges with the initials AW. This means Area West, though the BCU's full title is Central West BCU.

1,800 officers will now cover the three boroughs, with each wards keeping two dedicated officers dealing with local issues such as like antisocial behaviour, burglary and theft, and shoplifting.

Local police teams announced the change this morning on Twitter, with Addison Police tweeting @MPSAddison:
"Today @MPSHammFul merges with @MPSKenChel and @MPSWestminster to become Central West Basic Command Unit (BCU). Change of number code for us from FH to AW. Lots of changes and challenges however your neighbourhood officers are staying firmly put tackling local community issues."

College Park& Old Oak's New Ward Panel gave further details, tweeting @WardPanelOldOak: "#CentralWestBCU launches today and combines @MPSWestminster, @MPSKenChel and @MPSHammFul under a single command structure. 1,800 officers will police the three boroughs and will be based at Charing Cross and Hammersmith Police Stations from 2020. #AWBCU

Golbourne Police meanwhile struck an optimistic note, tweeting @MPSGolbourne: "Today is the Go live date we are now AW. One big happy team, Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster & Hammersmith Police are now one family."

The merged BCU is split into four key sections - emergency response, neighbourhood police, Criminal Investigations Department and safeguarding and the Met says local people should benefit from a boosted emergency response and increasing focus on 999 call responses, public order offences and unfolding incidents.

The merger is part of a radical shake up of London's police, announced at the beginning of 2018, to scrap 32 borough police services and replace them with 12 BCU's.

Each BCU will be led by a chief superintendent who will be the BCU Commander. The Met claim that with a BCU, people, buildings and resources will be shared across the borough boundaries meaning greater flexibility in how these are used.

When the changes were announced in October, Hammersmith and Fulham Police said on their Twitter account, MPSHammFul: "It is with pride, and a little sadness, that the last intake to bear the letters FH on their shoulders pass out today. Congratulations to all six officers and remember - The hard work starts now!"

They continued: " From February 2019, Hammersmith & Fulham (FH) Kensington & Chelsea (BS) and Westminster (CW) will merge to become A central BCU unit, with the code AW - PC’s will now have four unique numbers (and the new BCU code AW) on their epaulettes."

A statement issued by the Met said: "We need to plan for a future with less, and become more resilient so we can continue to meet our financial and operational challenges, and our current and future policing challenges - terrorism and safeguarding in particular. Without significant changes in how we manage our resources we would be unable to meet these head on.

"As well as saving money and increasing efficiency, we want to invest in other areas of policing which the new model will enable us to do more effectively. Increasing community confidence is a priority and these changes will build on the success of Safer Neighbourhoods, where local officers are visible in each London ward.

"We have met our commitment to put two Dedicated Ward Officers (DWOs) and one PCSO in every London ward. These officers work with local people on local priorities and are not taken away to help with policing elsewhere in London."

The 12 Basic Command Units (BCUs) are:
Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster,
Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth
Bromley, Croydon, Sutton
Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham
Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge
Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow
Lambeth, Southwark
Enfield, Haringey
Hackney, Tower Hamlets
Camden, Islington
Barnet, Brent, Harrow
Newham, Waltham Forest

The move is part of a programme by the Met to make make savings of £325m by 2021/22. Police officer numbers are expected to fall to 30,000 by April, and further by 2021.

These plans have already meant the closure and demoliton of Fulham Police Station, with the site set to become home to Fulham Boys School and only one station in our borough offering 24 hour public access. This is currently Shepherd's Bush Station in Uxbridge Road, while Hammersmith Police Station in Shepherd's Bush Road is being redeveloped.

 

February 20, 2019