Wandsworth Park stabbing

You may have read that on Boxing Day a teenager was stabbed in Brandlehow Road, near Wandsworth Park. Our community has now become part of this worrying and unacceptable crime.

This is an issue that must be thoroughly debated in the run-up to May's Mayoral and Assembly elections, because the politicians who run the Metropolitan Police Authority - and are therefore accountable for the response to knife crime - are the Mayor and Assembly members.

One of the New Year priorities I'd like to see from the Police is far greater involvement in our schools and communities; something where our Safer Neighbourhoods teams have begun making an impact. It seems to me that one of the clearest reasons why we as a whole feel less safe on our streets despite crime actually falling markedly over the past ten years is because we no longer know our local police officers. SNTs are gradually changing that - and this is the underpinning of the continuing fall in crime I'll report on shortly with November's crime figures.

That's also a key election issue in May because the choice will be between Labour who have introduced dozens of SNT officers to Putney and the Conservatives who voted against them, attack them at every turn and will axe them if elected. Who says elections don't matter?