Next 5 areas to be included in the scheme announced
Ealing Borough Police have announced the next Wards in Ealing Borough to receive Safer Neighbourhood Police Teams.
The next group of five wards to receive teams were confirmed, and will have teams put in place during the next financial year (April 2005 – March 2006):
What is a Safer Neighbourhood police team?
Safer Neighbourhoods is a new policing style, which was introduced in April 2004. The programme gives you a team of police dedicated to your local area. This team includes a Sergeant, two Constables and three Police Community Support Officers. Safer Neighbourhoods teams will be tackling the quality-of-life crimes and issues that affect the day-to-day lives of the public in each area/ward. This includes such issues as graffiti, abandoned cars, noisy neighbours, drunks and vandalism. They will also be working with the community and in partnership with local authorities to ensure other issues that affect the public's feeling of safety and security are tackled � for example poor lighting or truancy.
Ealing Borough Police Safer neighbourhood teams will not solve all the problems in any given area by themselves, as working in partnership is a key to the success of the project
As well as working closely with local authorities, community groups, housing associations and other such organisations, Safer Neighbourhoods teams will be undertaking a variety of methods of consultation with the public. These could include public meetings or freepost questionnaires. People can also raise their concerns by phone, by e-mail, by visiting the officers at their bases or by talking to them as they patrol.
The first three wards (Dormers Wells, Ealing Broadway, South Acton) selected for Safer Neighbourhoods Teams this year in Ealing Borough were decided by crime statistical information in consultation and partnership with Ealing Council.
However, Ealing Police Borough Commander, Martin Bridger, was concerned that the level of consultation and the criteria used was insufficient to decide which wards in Ealing would be the first to receive the teams.
In April 2004, he therefore set up a Management Board to address how wards are selected. This management board includes representatives from partners and the community, such as from the youth service, the housing department and the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.
The Board agreed a process for selecting the next areas, using the following criteria:
1. Anti-Social Behaviour: disturbance (including in public and licensed premises, drunkenness), hate crime, harassment and environmental (incl. noise, abandoned vehicles, fly tipping, graffiti and vehicle related problems).
2. Signal (i.e. visible) Incidents/Crimes: criminal damage, domestic violence, public order, assault (including ABH & Common Assault), drugs supply, drug information, community problems.
3. Priority Crime: burglary, robbery (including snatch), theft of/from motor vehicles.
Each board member completed a form, which contained fourteen major headings, which related to quality of life issues across the borough. Each heading received an agreed weighting value by the management board. This value was applied to the statistical information gathered for each heading, which resulted in each ward being appointed a total number of incidents/crimes/quality of life issues. Based on this statistical information, wards were prioritised.
Ealing Police Borough Commander Martin Bridger states:
�I know that some sections of the community whose particular areas have not been successful in obtaining a safer neighbourhoods team will be disappointed. However, I am satisfied that the process currently being used to select the wards and the consultation we have undertaken is a fair, open, and transparent process. The management board consists of a cross section of our partners and community representatives who are key to preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour in our neighbourhoods.
The MPS and Ealing Borough Police are fully committed to delivering this programme to every neighbourhood in the Borough; however, this will require funding over several years and at this stage we are not in a position to say how long this will take. We can assure all Ealing Borough residents that the MPS and ourselves will roll this programme out as quickly as is possible.�
December 8, 2004
| Related links |
Met. Police Safer Neighbourhoods site Gang steal 29 E Class mercs in 5 weeks Ealing police issue bogus caller warning Have you been a victim of serial con-woman? Six year reign of terror ends with life imprisonment Top
Borough Policeman Hails 'Tremendous' Results If you reside on a ward, which has not yet received a Safer Neighbourhoods Team, and would like to find out more about the Project, then please feel free to contact The Ealing Borough Safer Neighbourhoods Implementation Team at: Borough Liaison Office Ealing Police Station, 67-69 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, W5 5SJ 020 8246 9434 or see the site linked to above
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