Category: Policing

Great news. It seems that new Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has come round to the idea that the police should patrol on their own more often. Quite right too. I welcomed Sir Paul’s appointment at the end of January this year and at the time I called for more single-handed patrolling, see previous posting.

This morning on the Today programme the Police Federation spokesman Peter Smyth was typically wary. He should not be. The public have to walk alone so the idea that trained coppers wearing stab-proof vest, carrying pepper spray and telescopic batons with a radio to call for back-up can’t walk alone is simply unsupportable.

I raised this issue with Boris Johnson when I met him at the House of Commons at the start of his mayoral campaign.

As I said three years ago:

It seems to me that two policemen patrolling together will spend most of their time chatting and miss a lot. Anyone who has travelled on their own will tell you that you meet loads more people on your own than you do as a couple. Two policemen, one each side of a busy road, will provide two sets of eyes and many more positive interactions with the public than two on the same side of the road. It is not hard. Next time you see a couple of coppers walking down the road why don’t you suggest they each walk down one side?

See BBC coverage here (from where I borrowed the picture used above) and the Daily Telegraph here.

Today’s big London news is that we have a new Commissioner of the Met, see BBC coverage here. On the whole the new boss seems to be hitting the right note. He was though reported to say a couple of things that jarred with me in the Standard, here.

Firstly, he said:

It is my aim to be a top police leader in charge of one of the most important police services in the world.

I am sorry but the Met’s split focus on both national and local policing issues leads to this kind of overblown statement. I really want to see very focussed delivery of local policing priorities in London and I don’t see how you can do that and deliver of counter terrorism, diplomatic protection, etc. Sorry to be parochial but I want focus on London, not the world.

Stephenson also made a silly reference to “the world famous Scotland Yard brand”. This irked Dave Hill too. Again how does this fit into local policing?

Again in the Standard Tony Travers speculates about the Met’s future:

But the unseemly spat with Boris Johnson and the Opposition front bench could, if the new Commissioner cannot de-politicise his force’s reputation, tempt the Tories into reforms the Met would not like at all. They might, for example, split the “national” and “London” functions into two separate operations.

For my money a London force reporting to the Mayor and a national security service reporting to the Home Secretary would give us proper accountability and clarity of purpose.

Simon Jenkins in yesterday’s Standard returns to one of his favourite ideas (and mine) of making London policemen patrol on their own. Jenkins berates the Met for lack of focus on local policing without caring to mention the Safer Neighbourhood Teams which seems somewhat myopic. Our own experience in Northfield is that the SNTs are very effective.

There is much to be done to make London’s police force serve London and not policemen themselves or politicians for that matter.

On Saturday I heard from one of our Safer Neighbourhood Team constables, Jav Khan, that they are moving into the new Ealing Common & Northfield ward base on South Ealing Road, just south of Little Ealing Lane, on Tuesday 6th January. It has a reception area and interview room where the public can meet their teams and report issues to them. Apparently the public areas will not be in use for a while due to staffing issues but it is good to hear that our team will be nearer and will hopefully be able to spend more time on station as a result.

The Northfield Safer Neighbourhood Team is a great asset to our community. If you have information that could help this team do their job or you have ongoing nuisance type problems call them on 07879 888989. Their role is to proactively tackle relatively low-level nuisance crime, such as graffiti, car crime, burglary, street robbery, etc. Hence they won’t necessarily answer the phone immediately having been up all night trying to catch a burglar they are after. If there is something live happening then call 999.

The Mayor and the Metropolitan Police are today highlighting the work they have done to tackle knife crime. 193 weapons have been seized and 210 people arrested. You have to hope that they convert some of these arrests into jail sentences if the message is going to get through.

Altogether 4,277 stop and searches have been made so far as a part of what they call Operation Blunt 2.

Sir Al Aynsley-Green, who has previous for being wasteful with money, has put himself on the wrong side of the debate about stopping and searching young people by saying:

There is a balance here. On the one hand for young people to feel safer by having the presence of the police – but on the other hand making sure the new powers don’t create further antagonism by increased stopping and searching.

These are very contentious and I certainly support the case for much more research on the effects of these policies on them.

You can’t argue with his point about striking a balance but to use the word contentious in the context of the police addressing our horrific teen murder rate in London is just to make a prat of yourself. Sir Al needs to get to a few London secondary schools and ask a few of the kids what their biggest worry is – other kids carrying knives silly.

It is good to hear that the judiciary are hearing the people. Hilariously named senior judge Sir Igor Judge, who is the President of the High Court Queen’s Bench Division, was quoted in the Telegraph today:

Carrying a knife or offensive weapon without reasonable excuse is a crime which is being committed far too often by far too many people. Every weapon carried about the streets, even if concealed from sight, even if not likely to be used or intended to be used, represents a threat to public safety and public order. That is because, even if carried only for bravado or carried for some misguided sense that it would be used in possible self-defense, it takes only a moment of irritation, drunkenness, anger, perceived insult, or something utterly trivial like a ‘look’, for the weapon to be produced. Then you have mayhem, and offences of the greatest possible seriousness follow, including murder, manslaughter, GBH, wounding and assault.

Offences of this kind have recently escalated. They are reaching epidemic proportions. Every knife or weapon carried in the street represents a public danger and, therefore, in the public interest, this crime must be confronted and stopped. The courts will do what they can to reduce and, so far as it is practicable, eradicate it. In our view, it is important for public confidence in the criminal justice system that the man or woman caught in possession of a knife or offensive weapon without reasonable excuse should normally be brought before the courts and prosecuted. Even if the offender does no more than carry the weapon, even when the weapon is not used to threaten or cause fear, when considering the seriousness of the offence, courts should bear in mind the harm which the weapon might foreseeably have caused.

So, the message is stark: this is a serious offence and it should be treated with the seriousness it deserves.

Welcome to our world Judge Judge.

Today Jenny Jones, one of the two Green party members of the London Assembly, is quoted by the BBC as saying:

Stop and search already disproportionately targets young people from ethnic minority communities and this aggressive approach has, in the past, had the long-term effect of alienating the young people it is seeking to protect, as well as having a damaging effect on community relations in London.

She added that she will raise her concerns at the next Metropolitan Police Authority meeting on 29th May and will ask for a report into the potential long-term consequences of reducing the safeguards in the stop and search process.

Her comments are in response to Tuesday’s announcement that the Met will use their powers under section 60 of the Public Order Act to stop and search people without the need for reasonable suspicion.

By contrast the new mayor has said:

I welcome this new initiative by the Met and I believe that Londoners will also be reassured to see the police being proactive in the fight back against the terrible scourge of knife crime.

Quite right Boris. Totally wrong Jones.