Oliver, and others on this thread, I do feel that the police activity at Brentford Station yesterday needs clarifying, as well as the complaint that police are never seen in Brentford.With regards the police presence at Brentford BR station, this was a joint initiative between the Hounslow Council Road Safety Team and Police. The aim was to educate the general public on the dangers of driving the morning after consuming too much alcohol, and the likely result that drivers will still be unfit to drive and thereby a danger on the road. This initiative is being carried out at various locations across Hounslow Borough to reach as wide an audience as possible. The purpose of doing it at Brentford BR station was purely a matter of convenience in that it guaranteed a large number of people being present, hence a wider message being spread. I can confirm that the police presence at the station yesterday was between 0730hrs to 0900hrs. There was one Sergeant (not myself) three PCs (two of whom were from the Traffic Dept and not local officers) and four PCSOs. Representatives from the Road Safety team were also present. It received positive feedback and comments from those people who did stop for a chat. With regards the perceived lack of police presence on the streets, I do understand peoples concerns on this matter. In April this year every electoral ward across London was given a dedicated policing team known as Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT). Brentford has four teams covering the four electoral wards of: Osterely and Spring Grove, Isleworth, Syon, and Brentford. Each team has one Sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs. The Brentford and Syon teams are based at Brentford Police Station, the Osterely and Isleworth teams are based at Coombe House St Johns Road Isleworth.Each SNT are set priorities by a Steering Group made up of local residents. Each ward may have different priorities set depending on the problems being encountered on that ward. The Brentford Ward steering group recently set two priorities for my team; Drugs and Graffiti. These will be reviewed in March.Since April this year my two PCs have arrested twenty-nine drug dealers in Brentford ward. Many of them were very dangerous people. The officers received a commendation for their excellent work in this area. We are also working alongside housing providers to identify and close down premises being used by people to supply / take class A drugs. In the New Year we will continue to tackle the drug problem. We will also start an initiative in partnership with the Local Authority and local businesses to tackle the graffiti problem. As well as these two priorities we deal with many other day-to-day local issues that are brought to our attention.If you have problems in your street of youths causing anti social behaviour and graffiti or have any other concerns about crime and disorder then you should contact your local Safer Neighbourhood Team. We are not on duty 24 hours a day and we work a shift pattern. If you require police in an emergency you should always dial 999 and officers from the 24-hour Response Teams will answer your call for assistance. To find the contact details of your Safer Neighbourhood Team visit the Met Police website on www.met.police.ukNathan Fane PS54TXBrentford Safer Neighbourhood Team0788172389102082475974email: brentford.snt@met.police.uk
Nathan Fane ● 6744d