Category Archives: Community Safety

Have your say on policing

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The Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) are holding a series of public meetings on next year’s police and crime plans. Similar meetings used to be held in Wandsworth (I did a few of them myself, and if you were so inclined you can watch a series of three videos of my presentation from
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Creating (irrational) fear

It's probably nothing

Thanks to the leaflet the Met popped through my door the other day I know exactly what to look out for to prevent terrorism. I’m reassured that I’m playing my part, looking out for people who have “bought or hired a vehicle in suspicious circumstances.” or who hold “passports or other documents in different names
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Police innovation…

Police appeal

This sign, one of many that have appeared around Clapham Junction after the recent murder there, caught my attention. It struck me as a surprisingly innovative approach to witness appeals, especially as the police (with good reason) place a lot of faith in traditional, tried and tested, approaches. A few thoughts, positive and negative, occurred
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At the frontline

They even nicked the pens

Reflecting further on the Neil Kinghan report I cannot help but feel a resonance with another report by David Hunter I read a few months ago on public sector health partnerships (which I think has relevance to all partnerships). Hunter’s conclusion, after getting through more than £250,000 on research, is that there is no proof
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Kinghan report published

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Neil Kinghan’s report in the looting at Clapham Junction (and elsewhere) was published today. It is, by necessity, not an in-depth look into the riots, they causes and consequences, but instead a first look: trying to show what happened and draw out some key recommendations. And it is, by the nature of the process, a
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The Kinghan inquiry: Battersea’s riot meeting

Battersea Arts Centre signage

Last week I wondered if most people had moved on from the riots, mentally consigning them to history and getting on as if they had happened in another time or place. Last night I might have got an answer when 50 people attended the first of three public meetings being held at Battersea Arts Centre
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Learning from the rioters (and the cleaners)

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I am not alone in spending a lot of time thinking, possibly brooding, about the recent disorder, and one of the things that has struck me is that, in many ways, there are things we can learn from the rioters. Just as we can learn from the responses of public agencies and things like #riotcleanup.
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Some more thanks

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I’ve just been into the council’s Community Safety division to thank some of the staff for their response to Monday’s disruption. It’s all too easy to overlook those that often work unseen, or who you might just think it’s their job. However, I felt it worthwhile publicly noting their work over the past few days
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It’s today and tomorrow, not last night, that count

Philip Beddows and Jenny Browne at the Clapham Junction clean-up this morning

Like every other decent person I was following what was happening in Clapham Junction and elsewhere last night with horror. But while there has been and will be plenty written about last night (including, I suspect by me) I know that what is really important is not what happened in Clapham Junction last night –
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Be community safety’s friend

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At tonight’s council meeting I’ll formally lose my responsibility for community safety in Wandsworth. While I’ve not had de facto responsibility for some time (indeed, since before the annual council meeting) the formality is a milestone. But as a leaving present we have finally gone live with a social media presence for community safety in
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