Where are the Police That Were Promised in Hanger Hill?
Ward left with just one constable serving the area
Councillor Athena Zissimos
December 6, 2022
Hanger Hill Ward, on paper is meant to have 2 police constables (PCs) and 1 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and until now a Probationary Officer.
In reality, what Hanger Hill has is one PC, as one PC is on maternity leave and the PSCO is on restricted duty and not available and one Probationary Officer who will be rotating out to another department this month and will not been replaced. So just one PC really.
Liberal Democrats believe that for policing to be effective you need them in number and working with the community. But instead, the Labour Mayor of London and the Tory Government, who are responsible for police numbers, are serving our local communities badly.
This one officer is expected to walk or get around on public transport from Acton Police Station to Hanger Hill, there is no direct route using public transport and it could take you if your timings are wrong more than 30 minutes if not longer to get to the middle of the ward, walking could take you a good 45 minutes or more to get the same spot. No car is available to Community Police on an everyday basis, it is all meant to get the police engaging with the community as we see them walk around.
I imagine it was never meant that the police would take an hour and half just going and coming back from their wards. This plan was clearly drawn up when there was a local police station on every High Street, even little hubs like there was once at Hanger Lane, we now have a barely functioning station at Ealing.
Liberal Democrats say that as a team the PC and the Probationary Officer were hugely successful on one of my key concerns, that is the organised begging on the Hanger Lane Gyratory, which I find threatening as a woman driver stuck at a red light, with someone knocking on my car window asking for money. Not to mention the horror of accidently knocking someone over as they hover on the median strips in the middle of a motorway.
Together the team issued a number of Restrictive Orders that gradually got more serious, to the point of getting them to Court, and then the Home Office and deportation. This has curtailed the begging activity, which is all organised dramatically, and I am hugely appreciative that the police have now, after some persuasion of its importance to some drivers have taken a more robust approach. Please remember any money you give a beggar on the Gyratory, along the A40 for that matter, is supporting organised crime, so do not do it.
I am sure the one PC will do the very best, but how well can they function on their own. Earlier on a day I went walkabout with local Community Police Team, they had apprehended suspects dealing drugs locally, one suspect ran one way the other another way, it will be a challenge for a lone PC to deal with a situation like this. Nor should we be expecting a lone PC to be dealing with a situation like this, or perhaps a more dangerous one on their own.
Liberal Democrats say this part of the ward feels so insecure, that residents pay for private security to operate overnight to patrol their few streets, is this going to be the future?
The Met Commissioner keeps promising us more police the Tory government keeps telling us it is recruiting thousands more police, where are they?
Councillor Athena Zissimos - Hanger Hill ward
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |