Last Friday I popped down to Tooting for a small event to mark the launch of the Tooting town centre police team. I’ve already written about the team, here and here, so I’m not proposing so comment too much here other than to:
With the blanket coverage of MPs’ expenses late last week I almost missed a BBC News story about stops under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000
The article contacts a few facts and figures about how effective section 44 has really been.
They are staggering figures, essentially around 2,600 searches need to be conducted to get one terror related arrest. You can argue that those 2,600 searches act as a deterrent, but I think there’s a stronger argument that the police time taken to conduct 2,600 searches would be more effectively spent on intelligent policing.
Assuming five minutes and two officers per search my back of the envelope calculation is that, including holidays, it’s about three months of police time for each arrest – and it would seem that those arrests haven’t led to any charges. You shouldn’t assess police effectiveness on arrests alone, but I can’t help but think it isn’t an effective use of police time.
And the real question, why has a supposed temporary power been in force for eight years when it’s so ineffective?
The Clapham Junction Transport Hub Team was formally launched this morning (although they have been operational for a month). Kit Malthouse, the Deputy Mayor with responsibility for policing came down to Lavender Hill police station and Clapham Junction.
The team is one of 32 being introduced across London by Boris Johnson as part of his manifesto commitments to reduce crime on the transport system.
The trials elsewhere in London were incredibly successful, seeing robberies drop by 38% and overall crime by 16%.
Local Safer Neighbourhood Teams will also benefit, Northcote, for example, had been focusing on vagrancy and taxi touting outside the station – they now have an extra resource to help, meaning they can dedicate more time to residents’ other concerns.
It’s great to see the team in place and with support from high-up in the Boris administration. This is exactly the sort of team Wandsworth had been lobbying Ken to provide, but despite warm words from his people nothing was done.
[As an aside, in the non-public area of any police station there are various pictures of ne’er-do-wells, so I was somewhat disturbed to see my picture – and not a flattering one – displayed in a prominent position right outside the police mess. I don’t think I’m wanted for anything, honest.]
Here’s the mapped crime briefing for crimes reported between 23 – 30 April.
If you have any information on any of these crimes you can get in touch with the local police on 020 7350 1122 or via Crimestoppers (anonymously, if you wish) on 0800 555 111.
The map is hosted by Google, who seem to provide a fairly unreliable service. If the map does not load, or will not load the flags, try refreshing the page or following the link directly under the map; I assure you the map is there! As usual there are some health warnings following the map.
You can click on the individual markers for more information.
I’ve just been told that there has been a murder outside Wandsworth Prison. The victim had apparently been visiting an inmate and was shot when leaving. Police are hunting the suspects.
I will update if I have any more relevant details.
UPDATE: The story is now being covered by BBC News – Man killed outside prison gates – who have more information.
And arrests have been made – Three held over prison shooting.
It’s Monday so it must be crime mapping!
If you have any information on any of these crimes you can get in touch with the local police on 020 7350 1122 or via Crimestoppers (anonymously, if you wish) on 0800 555 111.
The map is hosted by Google, who seem to provide a fairly unreliable service. If the map does not load, or will not load the flags, try refreshing the page or following the link directly under the map; I assure you the map is there! As usual there are some health warnings following the map.
You can click on the individual markers for more information.
After Tuesday night’s BATCA Open Forum I was pointed in the direction of Sadiq Khan’s website, and, specifically, his coverage of the news that Tooting town centre is to get its own police team.
Obviously I’m glad that he also welcomes the team. But I was drawn to the comment that “Labour Councillors and Sadiq have lobbied Wandsworth Council to introduce” the new team.
I have to take issue with this for two reasons:
Now Sadiq is a minister in the Department for Local Government. He was also a Wandworth Councillor for many years before becoming an MP. I suppose it’s entirely possible you could do both those roles without knowing what’s going on (Gordon Brown was Chancellor for ten years, after all), but it is stretching credibility a bit far.
The more realistic explanation is that he knows the council is not responsible for the police, but took the gamble many people don’t know. And to his credit it’s actually a pretty good gamble, I’ve spoken to many residents who assume the police are just a part of the council. And it makes good political sense for a Labour MP in a marginal seat. You take credit for good news, and get to imply the Conservative council are the bad guys.
So, lesson one: if it’s good, take credit for it. If possible, do this while suggesting your opponents were to blame for whatever wasn’t so good before.
I won’t pretend that I or my party are whiter than white. Only this morning I was accused of doing much the same thing, and re-reading my announcement of the news feel I should add to it.
I will still give some credit to this to the Mayor, neighbourhood resources are allocated centrally and very little flexibility is allowed. When we’d previously tried to address this, by seeing if resources could be moved to priority areas it was refused out of hand: Boris deserves credit for allowing a more pragmatic approach.
And I will still point out that we have repeatedly asked for town centre teams for Tooting and Clapham Junction. What’s more, we were asking the right people.
However, I didn’t give credit to the police borough commander, Chief Superintendent Stewart Low, who actually made it possible by re-organising his teams to free up the sergeant, constables and community support officers necessary to create the team. If there is a single individual who deserves credit it is him, and I’m happy to apologise for not pointing that out when I first had the opportunity.
Here’s the crime briefing for burglary and street crime reported in Wandsworth between 9-16 April, 2009.
It’s a relatively sparsely populated map, with only 56 flags. Although it looks a lot when zoomed out, it’s worth bearing in mind this covers a population similar in size to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a city in its own right.
If you have any information on any of these crimes you can get in touch with the local police on 020 7350 1122 or via Crimestoppers (anonymously, if you wish) on 0800 555 111.
The map is hosted by Google, who seem to provide a fairly unreliable service. If the map does not load, or will not load the flags, try refreshing the page or following the link directly under the map; I assure you the map is there! As usual there are some health warnings following the map.
You can click on the individual markers for more information.
The council’s Community Safety Division, in partnership with the police Safer Neighbourhood Team, are running their crime prevention roadshow at Asda Clapham Junction tomorrow (Saturday 18th).
Staff from Community Safety and the police will both be on hand to offer assistance or advice on all matters relating to crime prevention. There’s usually free balloons for children too, and often a councillor unable to resist playing with the helium!
No appointment is necessary, so just pop along to the main entrance to Asda between 11am and 3pm.
And after last week’s news that Tooting were getting their own town centre police team comes the news that Clapham Junction is getting one too.
I had known it was coming, but had understood it was some time away. In fact, I’ve now been told the police team will be starting within the next month or so and will consist of 1 police sergeant, 2 constables and 8 Police Community Support Officers.
Like Tooting, Clapham Junction was an area we’d asked Labour’s Len Duvall to consider for a dedicated town centre team, but had been knocked back despite his positive statements in a public meeting held in Wandsworth. But also like Tooting, things are thankfully different under a Boris mayorality.
I’ll obviously provide more details on both as I get them.
