Your Police, Your Neighbourhood

Londoners are being encouraged to come and discuss crime and policing in their local area at a series of borough roadshow events, starting tonight in Merton.

Spearheaded by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, and the Metropolitan Police, the ‘Your Police, Your Neighbourhood’ public meetings will give Londoners the chance to comment on recent changes to improve local policing and make neighbourhoods safer.

One year ago, the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) visited every London borough to listen to local people’s views on the Mayor’s draft Police and Crime Plan. The final plan was published in March 2013 and set the MPS the 20:20:20 Challenge, to reduce key neighbourhood crimes and cut costs by 20 per cent, while boosting confidence in the police by 20 per cent.

Since then, the first phase of changes have been rolled out, which have focused on putting more police officers on the streets, recruiting to fill vacancies, and selling off under-used and expensive police buildings to reinvest in boosting police numbers. With an extra 2,600 officers in neighbourhoods by 2015, every borough will benefit from larger Safer Neighbourhood Teams and more police visible and available where and when they are needed.

Stephen Greenhalgh, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, said: ‘Last year’s public town hall meetings were incredibly valuable and helped us improve our plan by listening to local views. Overwhelmingly, Londoners told us that they preferred to see resources invested in more bobbies instead of buildings.

‘This year I want to visit boroughs and hear how these reforms are working in practice and about other public safety concerns people may have. In addition to discussing local policing, I’m keen to share with Londoners the latest crime and confidence numbers for their neighbourhood so everyone has a clearer picture of where the challenges are.

‘Crime is now falling faster in London than the rest of the country and confidence in the police is rising, but there is more work to be done and we want to hear from Londoners about what else we can do to help make their neighbourhoods safer.’

Simon Byrne, Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing at the MPS, said: ‘Since March we have been reshaping local policing and recruiting new officers so we can put more resources into the frontline. We are on a journey and still have some way to go, but these meetings offer us the chance to explain the progress we have already made. ‘Local police leaders will join me to explain how policing has changed, what current performance looks like, and what service people can expect from their police.’

Organised by MOPAC, the two-hour town hall events will be chaired by local Council Leaders with speakers including Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne, and the local borough commander. The first tranche of public meetings will cover the sixteen boroughs that originally implemented the new local policing model in June 2013. The second tranche of meetings in the remaining boroughs will take place in Autumn 2014.

To register to attend the roadshows visit the MOPAC website /get-involved/events/mopac-roadshows