QUESTION TIME – FOR THE POLICE
A team of local police officers and an Assistant Commissioner from the Metropolitan Police attended a ‘community crime-fighting’ event tonight as part of the Met Engage programme to listen to the concerns of people living in Richmond Borough. Over 100 people turned up at Clarendon Hall at the Council’s HQ at Twickenham’s York House.
They were invited by the police organisers to consider two key questions and to pose their individual questions on poster notes.
- What can we do to keep Richmond safe?
- What are your policing priorities for Richmond?
One of those questions was the closure of the public counter at Twickenham police station which is part of the £260million budget cuts imposed upon the Met Police. Questions focused on the importance of the front counter as a ‘connection’ to the public and access to the police for the ‘more vulnerable or elderly’ in the community.
The Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist (Frontline Policing) told the meeting: “We are making efficiencies and there are tough choices to protect frontline services.”
He said only 1.6% of crimes or less than two crimes a day were reported at Twickenham Police station which made it ‘one of the least used front counters in the Met district.’ He said that about £7m was saved by closing the counters.
The meeting heard that 77% of people in Richmond ‘trusted’ the police.
PC Amanda Stonehouse spoke about the use of ‘closure orders’ which had been successful in closing properties which had become safe havens for drugs or storing stolen property and had caused other residents a ‘loss of sleep’ and made them fearful of their neighbours and such properties had been returned to the local housing association.
PC Sam Parkinson spoke of the success of the ‘One Stop Shop’ which had been established to tackle domestic violence in Hampton Hill (One Stop Shop « Hampton Hill Medical Centre) which offered support to victims from all relevant agencies.
Other questions from the audience included the level of ‘visibility’ of the police across the Borough and the specific support for tackling violence against women and girls as well as the presence of police in schools.
Another hot issue was the effectiveness of the 101 service which is supposed to provide an answer within 3 minutes but, according to the Met Commissioner, had historically not been ‘good enough’ but had improved significantly recently and was now closer to meeting its targets.
The team said they ‘encouraged’ retailers and any other victims of shoplifting to provide CCTV if available which can be uploaded online to the police who will then use their latest techniques of facial recognition, which is ‘improving our levels of tackling shoplifting.’
One Teddington resident was particularly concerned that the SNT (Safe Neighbourhood Team) covering Teddington was based at Twickenham police station, which he considered too far away to be effective but one of the senior officers revealed the team had recently established a ‘base’ in Teddington.
Another attendee questioned the effectiveness of the local police team’s communications and PR and again the police conceded they were ‘not good enough and need to improve their communications’ which, may, in turn, help local residents better understand the work and successes of the local police.
They revealed that 3200 people in the Borough had ‘signed up’ to Met Engage which allows people to communicate directly with the police locally and raise their concerns.
The police say: “Through our new platform Met Engage you can get to know your local officers, help shape how we police your local area and direct access to key information and advice.
“This isn’t just a platform for us to tell you what we’re doing in your area, it’s an opportunity for you to tell us what’s concerning you most so we can take action on the things that truly matters to you. Our service will be tailored to your community.”
The event ended with applause and praise for the police for their community engagement.
For more information or to sign up go to metengage.co.uk