March crime: the first recessionary causes?

The March crime figures have just come out and they show a slight rise across Putney, Roehampton and Southfields fuelled in no small part by an across-the-board increase in incidents of robbery.

The other property crime categories: burglary and theft/handling are less clear cut: both saw increases in three of the six wards but declines or no change in three others.

I flag this up time and again, but crime deteriorated in Thamesfield - Putney town centre - again. The fact that town centres all over the place attract crime is a concern but what often isn't appreciated is that town centre crime - pickpocketing, stealing from shops and general street crimes - drives other crimes.

That can be seen in these figures. Why else would Thamesfield have twice the rate of burglaries than any other ward in Putney? Yes, it's generally more affluent than some parts of our constituency but not more so than others - large parts of West Putney for instance which include the leafy avenues behind Putney Hill.

One reason surely is that if you're likely to rob a shop, or steal from a passer-by, you're also likely to have the capacity to burgle a house. And if that type of criminal is attracted to an area, it is little wonder that crimes of similar association increase.

That's yet another reason why much more resource - Police and Council - needs to be directed to Thamesfield. Given that police numbers are now back above the levels they were in 1993, there is no excuse for this not to happen.

For those of you knew to the table above, green figures represent numbers that have either fallen or stayed the same since last month; red those that have risen.

Last month's crime stats report is here.

Wandsworth Police numbers pass 700

According to the (Conservative-run) Metropolitan Police Authority, Wandsworth now has a total of 706 Police and Community Support Officers.

That's higher than it was in 1993, before the then Conservative Government under Home Secretary Michael Howard started cutting police officer numbers massively: by the trough of their cuts, Police numbers in Wandsworth had been reduced to just 568.

It's taken a decade of Labour investment to get Police numbers back up but they now show that our borough has 603 officers plus an additional 102 Community Support Officers playing their vital role in our Safer Neighbourhood teams, on patrol in your street.

This is great news for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields and its why our area continues to be one of the safest in London.

Police in the community

Regular visitors to my website will know of my longstanding support for both the concept and operation locally of police safer neighbourhood teams.

These teams of regular police officers and community support officers provide a visible uniformed presence on our streets and estates that both deter and detect crime. Without doubt they have been a phenomenal success not just here in Putney, Roehampton & Southfields, but right across London. Indeed, they are being rolled out across the country - everyone wants to see bobbies back on the beat and SNTs deliver that.

Sergeant Nigel Mussett leads West Hill's SNT, which has made tremendous inroads into tackling local concerns and crime hotpots in his ward - in particular tackling drugs issues on local estates and addressing a street disorder problem associated with a small number of unruly local pupils at the end of the school day.

Since SNTs have a very obvious and necessary community focus to their activity, it is not surprising that each team (we have six here) tries to engage directly with local residents through public meetings and ward panels. I attend as many of these as I can and recently popped along to a public meeting held by the West Hill team, one of the most successful of the 20 teams in the borough.

Five members of the police SNT were present, including Sgt Mussett, along with myself and a member of the council's housing department who were there as observers. Only four members of the public turned up. Sadly, this is not uncommon. I have attended Southfields ward meetings with as few as six people in attendance. The Roehampton SNT achieves a better turnout, with often as many as 20-25 members of the public present. And when I was a councillor in Tooting, we used to get similar numbers along to our meetings, although as councillors we worked hard to deliver this.

I think the police do a great job tackling crime, but they are still falling short of the mark when it comes to community consultation and engagement. I have some ideas how things could be improved, but I'd be interested to receive your ideas and suggestions as to how the police can get more local people to come along to these meetings. These meetings genuinely do determine the focus of activity for the SNTs, so local residents have every reason to get involved.

Real help to protect your neighbourhood

Click on the image for a larger version.

Clamping down on knife crime

The number of immediate custodial sentences handed down for offences involving possession of a knife or other offensive weapon has gone up by almost a quarter (23%) the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw MP, has announced.

This could be regarded as a reflection that knife crimes are soaring, were it not for the fact that cautions issued for knife offences fell by a third in the same period. In other words, the legal system is finally clamping down in the way most of us want on this serious problem.

Jack Straw said:

"These figures underline our determination to tackle the scourge of knife crime. And they show that the tough approach is working. As the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, has recently spelt out, if you are caught carrying a knife the consequences are serious: with jail sentences for many more offenders.

"The figures show that tougher penalties are being implemented by the courts, in line with Court of Appeal guidance. Fewer cautions are being issued and we're seeing more community sentences, more suspended sentences and more prison sentences handed out. Those getting tough community sentences are having to work more hours and those going to prison are receiving longer sentences.

"It's crucial that everyone should feel safe when they walk around our towns and cities. That is why we have clamped down on thugs who carry knives and doubled the longest jail term available."

Making a real difference

The putneysw15 website is reporting yet another example of Putney's Police Safer Neighbourhood team's effectiveness.

A teenage robber has just been sentenced to three years in jail after being caught by the West Putney Safer Neighbourhood team just moments after accosting and stealing an I-Pod from someone in Larpent Avenue.

The Safer Neighbourhood team, who were patrolling on mountain bikes in the area were able to get to the scene of the crime promptly. From the description given by the victim and the direction the robber fled in, they were able to apprehend him within minutes.

Sgt Eric Ostrowski of West Putney Safer Neighbourhoods Team said: "This arrest within minutes of the offence and subsequent conviction has come about due to the courage of the victim in reporting this matter to police, the hard work of the Safer Neighbourhoods officers who were on patrol that day and the dedication of the Robbery Squad officers at Wandsworth.

"Due to this a violent individual has been removed from the streets of Putney for the foreseeable future. I hope this shows the public that we will continue to work with the local community in making our streets safer."

As usual, what is conspicuous by its absence from this story is any praise or support for our Safer Neighbourhood Police from Putney's Conservative MP, or any of its councillors. The Conservatives tried at every turn to stop former London Mayor Ken Livingstone introducing safer neighbourhood police teams - we now have forty of them - and voted against funding them once they lost that battle.

Ever since, the Conservatives have taken every turn to criticise, undermine and ridicule as ineffective our safer neighbourhood teams. That's despite a stream of success stories like this, and the consistent fall in crime Putney has benefited from since Labour introduced them.

"Economic" crime? December crime stats

I often go on about the high level of crime in Thamesfield ward, which is almost entirely due to the amount of crime that occurs in and off of Putney High Street.

Let me try to put how much more crime there is in Thamesfield compared to the rest of Putney into context. There are more theft and handling offences alone in Thamesfield than the entire amount of reported crime in East Putney, West Hill or West Putney wards.

That's why my campaign for town centre patrollers in the High Street are so important: when they were tested out in Clapham Junction and Tooting about four years ago they cut street crime by one third. And they'll allow the Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhood teams to give more attention to the residential parts of their patch. It's why I'm also campaigning against the £472 million the Conservatives want to cut from the Metropolitan Police, which cannot but mean reductions in front-line police locally.

So-called economic crimes like theft, or burglary - ie property crimes, are likely to rise during an economic slowdown. Politicians always struggle to talk sensibly about such crimes for fear that talking about the reasons why a tiny minority become more likely to thieve and steal in such a climate equals condoning or understanding such behaviour. Of course there is never justification to take someone else's property -period.

Fortunately there isn't that much sign of property crime increasing in Putney - yet. Burglary is somewhat down in five wards and slightly up in one. Thefts did pick up noticeably in December in four wards, dropped in two. Drug offences were down across the board and sex offences down in five out of six wards. There also seems to be a delay in reporting any crimes during the Christmas period in the figures - maybe these will feed through to the January figures due out next month.

Tories tell Met to make £472milllion savings

For all the - untrue - Tory rhetoric of falling police numbers, you'd think they had a policy of massively increasing the number of bobbies on the beat, wouldn't you?

Of course, the reality is utterly different to the Tory spin. London Mayor Boris Johnson has told the Metropolitan Police Authority to make an astonishing £472 million in cuts.

It gets worse.

In the same breath as they claim that this massive cut will not reduce police numbers, they announce their intention to recruit 900 unpaid special constables in order to pick up the slack created by "redeploying" 550 existing Police Officers to other duties which have been vacated by retirees.

Doesn't that sound like a cut to you?

It really is back to the future with the Conservatives. In 1993, Wandsworth had 693 Police Officers. By the time the damage Michael Howard and the Tories had wrought had fed through, we were down to 568. That's a Tory cut in local Police numbers of 125!

By the end of November last year, Labour had increased Police numbers to 592 plus 96 Safer Neighbourhood Community Support Officers - a total of 688. Don't take my word for it: the Metropolitan Police Authority records the figures here.

Of course the Tories can't cut £472 million without sacking Police. Of course that means fewer police in Putney. And of course that means they lied to you when seeking election last year.

November crime stats

Crime fell again in all six Putney areas in November 2008 (remember there's a two month lag between the month they happened and the reporting of them).

As this graph shows, with the exception of December 2007, when crime spiked in the run-up to Christmas, all wards are now safer than they were in May 2007 when I first started reporting these figures. There have been marked falls in crime in Roehampton and Southfields during this period - during which Roehampton has become substantially safer than the London average.



As we saw at the end of last year, it's probably wise to forecast a notable jump in crime in the December figures - but what we also saw was a January fall larger than the December "blip" - so that's also something to watch out for.

Here are November's figures - a reminder that green figures show a decline or the same level of crime as the preceding month; red shows an increase.

Second jobs? Not for Police, just Tory MPs

The Conservatives last week announced that they thought Police officers should be banned from taking second jobs to supplement their income.

Tory MP David Ruffley was quoted as saying: "...the prime responsibility of an officer of the law is to have all their focus and attention on serving. It is hard to see what circumstances would justify having more than one job."

It's great when MPs take such strong, clear, principled stances. I believe exactly the same principle should be applied to MPs who should have more than enough to occupy them in representing their constituents.

Unfortunately, Mr Ruffley isn't someone who practices what he preaches. Here's his declaration from the Register of MPs' interests:

• Adviser on economic affairs to Lotus Asset Management (£15,001-£20,000)
• Adviser to Dentons Pension Management Ltd, giving general strategic business advice. (£25,001-£30,000)
• Adviser to Partnership Group Holdings Limited, giving strategic business advice (£25,001-£30,000)

So on top of his £70,000 MP's salary, Mr Ruffley has not one, not two, but THREE other jobs which combined more than double his income. And here he is telling Police officers on starting salaries of just over £20,000 a year that they can't do as he does (for much lower remuneration).

Conservatives. Hypocrites is too mild a term for them.

A proportionate response

We still don't know everything we need to about the Police investigation into Conservative MP Damian Green, who was arrested last week. I'm not in the business of commenting when I don't know the full facts, though the police behaviour at this stage seems a little heavy handed.

What I do want to comment on are the quite disgraceful outbursts that have appeared from both some MPs and in the letters pages of our newspapers and even on the putneysw15 website, equating the Police conduct with "the Stasi", or "Nazi Germany" or "the KGB".

These comments, aside from being absurd the moment you give them a moment's thought, also diminish the horrifying experience of those who actually lived through that sort of tyranny.

There is no comparison between Police pursuing a complaint of possible criminal activity against an MP - who, let's remember, is not above the law - and the brutality, torture, murder and reign of terror those organisations imposed upon their countries.

We are getting to the stage in this country where people appear to believe that making the most ridiculous, inappropriate and shocking observations are the only way to grab the public's attention. Whether or not that's true, it doesn't make their comments any more accurate, honourable or respectable.

Crime: how does Putney compare with the rest of the borough?

The October crime figures, just released, again show good progress by the Police in cutting crime. East Putney and West Hill wards all saw declines in every single category of crime; in West Putney all categories bar one were down. Overall, crime fell in five of our six council wards, with only a small rise in Southfields.



With crime figures, context is everything - it's why, alongside the ward by ward figures, I also provide the borough and London averages - so you can see how Putney is doing compared to larger areas. But this month, I thought you might be interested in seeing how Putney's six council wards compare to their fourteen counterparts elsewhere in the borough.

In the table below I'm just showing the "total" number of crimes per 1,000 - the figure that's in the shaded grey box in the table above. And, instead of ordering them alphabetically, I've ranked them in terms of that total crime rate - with the lowest crime areas at the top, and the highest at the bottom.

Three of the safest four council wards anywhere in the borough are in Putney - and four of the top ten. But Putney's Thamesfield ward is the most crime-ridden ward in the borough by far. Putney probably has the largest shopping centre in the borough, so it is to be expected that the sort of town centre crime that affects Thamesfield will be higher than other town centres. But I don't think the gap should be quite so stark.

Prisoners do not deserve the vote

At least one of the Sunday papers is reporting that the European Court of Human Rights will declare our next General Election "illegal" unless the Government bows to its Human Rights judgement that prisoners - or at least certain categories of prisoners - are given the right to vote. It is precisely this sort of idiotic interference that fuels anti-European sentiment in this country.

To present the full picture here, the European Court is ruling only that "blanket bans" on voting are illegal. But this is just as absurd: the drafting of legislation to spell out which types of sentence deserve the loss of the franchise and which do not is of course exactly the type of legal minefield that keeps Human Rights lawyers in the lifestyle they've become accustomed to - and which most of the victims of crime can only dream of.

The European Court of Human Rights does not seem to comprehend that incarceration for criminal action should not be the be-all and end-all of their punishment: it entails other losses, including the right to participate in the democratic process for the duration of a sentence. There is no case, to my mind, for a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment to be treated any differently from a burgler sentenced to four or five months. Both should lose the vote for the duration of their sentence.

There is not the slightest thing wrong with this - and believing so is not "pandering to the tabloids", or "populist electioneering": it's a fundamental principle that has existed in our country since 1870. The only argument I have read in justification of giving votes to prisoners is from the Prison Reform Trust that claims that giving prisoners the vote encourages their rehabilitation. Utter nonsense.

For the European Court to equate human rights as giving the right to vote to prisoners just shows how grotesquely out of touch the EU and its unaccountable bureaucrats (which include its judges) are. And while I respect the work the Prison Reform Trust undertakes, on this issue they are misguided and out of touch.

The Government is right to resist this nonsense.

Stabbing in Lebanon Gardens

I'm sorry to report that someone has been stabbed to death in Lebanon Gardens, which is a crescent just off Merton Road in the Wandsworth town part of the constituency.

From the Putney SW15 website:

"The victim, who was black and in his early twenties, died at the scene of the incident in Lebanon Gardens late last night. It is understood he was known to police.

"Two arrests were made of men suspected of causing grievous bodily harm but these men are not being charged in connection with the murder.

"The victim's next of kin have not yet been informed. Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Squad are leading the investigation.

"Road closures are in place while police conduct their inquiries in the area. A police spokesman said it was not known when roads would be reopened."

I'll update this post as and when I know more.

UPDATE: 19:00
The BBC has some more details here.

Police pay

Last year I was strongly critical of the government when it broke its promise to the Police to implement their pay rise in full.

As I've said before, it's not mistakes that create problems in politics - it's the failure to recognise and rectify them that does the damage. That's why I'm pleased that this year the government has agreed a three year pay deal which the Police Federation - the body that represents grassroots police officers - called "the best multi-year settlement... in the public sector".

Under the agreement, police officers over the next three years, will receive pay rises worth 2.65% in 2008, 2.6% in 2009 and 2.55% in 2010. This means that by 2010 a police constable will be able to earn up to £36,500 – 50% more than in 1997.

In 1997, under the Conservatives, a constable on completion of initial training was paid £17,274. Today their starting salary is £24,675 and from September 2010 it will be £25,962. The longest serving Constables now earn £33,800 and by 2010 will reach £36,519.

Our Police do a great job and I'm delighted that the government is properly honouring the work they do.

Putney gets safer - again

The April crime figures for Putney's six council wards are out and show another decline in crime compared to April 2007.



The only ward to buck the trend substantially was Thamesfield - I'm particularly concerned about the amount of burglaries taking place in this ward and it's disheartening that the Council - especially given that the Tory Council Leader Edward Lister represents this area - isn't doing a lot more to help the police cut crime.

One of the things that would help tremendously here would be town centre patrollers: when the Labour Government funded two trials of such patrollers in Clapham Junction and Tooting town centres, street crime - by far the biggest problem in Putney town centre - fell by a third.

Town centre patrollers wouldn't directly cut the burglary figures, but what they would do is free the Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhood Police up to focus on the rest of Thamesfield ward away from Putney High Street, and that can only be helpful.

Regretably, when the Government street patroller funding stopped, the Tory Council chose to sack the wardens rather than find the money itself to continue the excellent service. And before the Tories scream "Council Tax rises" just think how much this Council spends producing Brightside, and how it finds the money to run off (and pay to be delivered) fancy leaflets whenever it wants to attack the government - campaigning on the rates, big time. Cutting back on propaganda would go a long way to funding town centre patrollers in Putney.

As usual in these reports, here's the comparison table for March 2008:

Shalden shame

Vandals have been smashing up Shalden House in Tunworth Crescent, on the Alton Estate. I never quite understand why a tiny minority enjoys kicking in windows, or urinating in lifts or stairwells - not least their own - but sadly Shalden is the latest victim and the peaceful, self-respecting majority now have to put up with this:



This was one of the problems raised last week at the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhoods Police meeting and I've already taken the issue up with the Council's Housing Director, because this temporary repair isn't good enough: it's dangerous, it's unsightly, it's making the communal areas incredibly dark and residents deserve better. Here are some more other examples of the criminal damage done to Shalden House - you can click to enlarge them:





I know Roehampton's local Police team are working at finding those responsible for this vandalism; and I'll keep pushing the council to make sure that the damage is repaired as soon as possible - because no-one should have to put up with this for any longer than necessary.

Policeman gets it right on stab deaths

With news of the latest stab death: that of Rob Knox, killed in Sidcup protecting his brother, resonating and the murder of lewisham teenager Jimmy Mizen - not victim of knife-crime per se but still dead at the hands of someone who believed it to be acceptable to lash out with a sharp, improvised weapon, I want to flag up some comments made at the start of the month by Detective Superintendent Matthew Horne.

Superintendent Horne is the Police officer who brought the murderers of stab victims Kodjo Yenga and Paul Erhahon to justice at the High Court a few days ago.

Det Supt. Horne made one of the most impressive - and to my mind spot on - statements outside the High Court about stab deaths; my only regret is that I can't reprint the full text of it, because I haven't been able to find a full transcript. However, here's an extract.

"Kodjo was killed with one stab wound and so was Paul. We have heard today that five children in each case have been convicted of the killing of both of these boys, totalling a minimum term of imprisonment of 100 years.

"If you go out on the streets with your friends and you know your friends are carrying a knife and you arm yourself as well then the courts are going to find you guilty as if you had inflicted that fatal blow."

Put another way: carry a knife and you'll end up either in prison or dead.

I also agree, incidentally, with Jimmy Mizen's father who said that the answer to this spate of stab deaths isn't yet more legislation: because we already have the sentences needed to punish those who maim and murder - we just need the Courts to pay due seriousness to those who are caught carrying a knife or, worse, using one.

We can't get knives off the street - unlike guns they're everyday utensils we all have in our homes. So the real challenge for us: Government, Police, Society and - yes - parents, is to make sure young people know that carrying knives isn't sensible, isn't smart, doesn't make you safer and only causes a world of misery to you, your family and that of your potential victim.

Yet more Safer Neighbourhood team success

The Putney SW15 website is carrying yet another report of success for Putney's Safer Neighbourhoods Police team: this time the West Putney officers smashing a drug den in Cortis Road.

I may sound like a cracked record flagging up the success story that is our Safer Neighbourhoods team - but at worst I'm guilty of trying to rebalance each and every attack on this significant, substantive service by the Conservatives. The Tories celebrate any tabloid story that belittles our SNTs and they never cease to rubbish them as not real Police because they believe it helps them politically.

I passionately believe in Safer Neighbourhood teams: I think they'll come to be regarded as this Labour Government's most significant creation.

No, they're not "full" Police. But I don't want them to be: they fulfil a different role and have a different emphasis. We once again have "Bobbies on the Beat" simply because of SNTs - not just uniformed patrollers pounding our pavements, but officers who take the time to get to know the community, build links and use their local knowledge to deliver the results we're hearing about week-in, week-out.

Some say: why couldn't they do that if they become full Police? My answer is that full Police will simply get swept up with and subsumed into the same duties that existing full Police fulfill today. Keeping the two distinct actually guarantees that we will keep our Bobbies on the Beat. And what a record of success they're delivering.

Crime down across the board in Roehampton

On Tuesday I attended a public meeting organised by Roehampton's Safer Neighbourhood Police Team (SNT). These are regular meetings organised by these Labour-funded Police teams to explain local policing issues and address residents' concerns.

I was delighted - as were the members of the public present - to learn that crime in Roehampton has fallen significantly across the board in the past year. The extent of the fall in crime is particularly impressive, and Sergeant "Rocky" Salmon and his team deserve our praise.

Burglaries are DOWN 12%
Personal robberies are DOWN a whopping 41%
Theft from vehicle is also DOWN 41%
Theft of vehicles is DOWN 15%
Common assaults are DOWN 10%
Wounding offences are DOWN 14%

Overall, crime in Roehampton is DOWN by 19% compared to this time last year.

Sergeant Salmon attributed these successes to intelligence-led policing, whereby police action is often the result of tip offs and information provided by local people. Our SNTs - derided and maligned by local Tories as "not proper" coppers - are making us safer and more secure in our homes and community.

If you wish to report a crime or offer information to the Roehampton SNT call them confidentially on 020 8247 7861 or email them at roehampton.snt@met.police.uk

Transport Police now patrolling Putney

The British Transport Police have just set up a new team specialising in patrolling stations in South West London, including Putney.

The team of nine officers, based at station 9 in Clapham Junction will be focussed particularly on cutting down assaults, but will be taking on any policing concerns on the rail network in south west London, including drug dealing and knife crime.

The team was only launched this week, and they've already arrested what appears to be a gang member carrying a six-inch long kitchen knife who assaulted a police officer.

The stations covered by the team include Clapham Junction, Wimbledon, Richmond, Staines, Twickenham, Earlsfield, Mortlake, Norbiton, Putney, Strawberry Hill, Wandsworth Town, Kingston, Feltham, Hampton Wick, Raynes Park, New Malden, Teddington, St Margarets, North Sheen, Barnes, Whitton and Ashford.

Big fall in burglaries

I mentioned in my recent report on the Southfields Safer Neighbourhoods team meeting about the sharp fall in crime in that part of the constituency. The main reason for that fall has been a stark decline in burglaries: in one month they fell from 14 crimes per 1,000 of the population (among the highest in Putney) to just 6.5 - the second lowest.

A halving of the rate of crime in just one month is a major achievement and as I said before, the Southfields Safer Neighbourhood Police team deserve congratulation on their success.

And Southfields was not alone - the number of burglaries fell in every Putney ward except Thamesfield. Overall, the crime rate satyed broadly static in March; mainly because the decline in burglaries was off-set by an increase in theft and handling offences. Is there a direct correlation between the two?

Here's the March analysis:



And here's the comparison with February:

Clamping down on Coleman Court car crime

On Tuesday I was out and about in Coleman Court, off Kimber Road on the edge of King George's Park in Southfields.

I took the opportunity of my visit to Coleman Court to ask residents about problems that had been reported to my via my website.

A number of residents expressed their concern about a spate of car crime locally.

Although there is some parking within Coleman Court, most residents use Burr Road which runs parallel to the estate. It seems there has been an increase in damage to vehicles (broken windows) and some thefts.

Problems of this nature if not stamped out quickly can escalate. They are also exactly the type of crimes that Labour's Safer Neighbourhood police Teams were established to tackle: a local police response to very local problems.

I have been in touch with the Southfields SNT and was impressed with their response. Sgt David Mepham, who leads the team, has a number of ideas about how to tackle this and a number of other problems in the area and I am confident it is "on his radar". He'll be in touch with residents to outline how they can help - and I hope everyone will play their part in tackling this problem.

Crime down in Southfields

Yesterday I attended the panel meeting of the Southfields safer neighbourhoods police team. The meeting, held at Southfields Community College, was presented with some encouragingly low crime figures for the ward.

In the first three months of 2008 burglaries are down a whopping 38% compared to the same period in 2007; the number of drug offences is down by 22% and violence against the person is down 13%. Throughout Southfields there were fewer than 300 crimes during this period, a 5% fall compared to 2007 and one of the reasons why one member of the public present described Southfields as "a really safe ward to live in".

We should not allow complacency to creep up on us, but this is a encouraging set of figures and Sgt Mepham and his team and the local neighbourhood watches should be congratulated on their good work. However, I know that some people do not always report when they are a victim of crime, especially if they think it is a supposedly minor incident (e.g. damage to a vehicle). It really is important that ALL crimes get reported so the police can direct resources as necessary.

The meeting also confirmed the priorities for the Southfields SNT for the next three months, which will be:

• dangerous dogs
• problems with some school aged children
• safety in King George's park

If you wish to contact the Southfields SNT then you can do so by emailing southfields.snt@met.police.uk or call them on 020 8247 8760.

Safer Neighbourhoods successes

We heard it again on the BBC's Mayoral Debate on Tuesday: the Conservative slander that Safer Neighbourhoods Police teams (SNTs) aren't "real police".

Of course the Tories don't want to admit that SNTs have a value and purpose: they fought against their introduction tooth and nail and they've refused to give any reassurance they won't sack Putney's forty SNT offices. In fact, London Assembly Conservative Leader Brian Barnes is on record as saying the Metropolitan Police budget is too large!

Well, the Putney SW15 website is now reporting two more examples of the practical difference SNTs make in our communities - in West Hill by busting a cannabis factory worth £20,000, and in Roehampton breaking up two more drugs dens. And this on the back of the breakthrough a few weeks ago by the West Putney SNT in tackling the dangerous dogs menace there, which I wrote about at the time.

Enough's enough: it's time for the Conservatives to stop running down our Police. Regardless of their title and responsibilities, our Safer Neighbourhoods teams are living up to their name: making our neighbourhoods safer and contributing to the low crime rate I report month-in, month-out.

I have attended a number of public meetings that Putney's SNTs have held to publicise their work and get feedback on local crime concerns. I have never seen Justine Greening at any of these meetings so haven't been able to challenge her to stop this sniping against our police. I hope she, and Putney's Conservative councillors, will pause for thought the next time they run down the hard work of our SNTs.

Crime falls again - but what impact will Youth Club cuts have?

Crime dropped markedly in January as forecast in my last monthly report. Not only is the crime rate down compared with last month's figures, which included the unfortunate but typical surge in the run-up to Christmas, but in four of our six council wards crime is down on the figures up to November 2007 - the last broadly comparable month.

East Putney, Roehampton, Thamesfield and West Hill all saw crime drop - Southfields continues to seesaw, presumably largely dependent on the numbers of crimes committed in the Southside shopping centre which is in the ward. West Putney experienced a small rise on November, though this is explained more by November's figures being unusually good for this ward.

But my big concern as we move into the new financial year is the closure of the Putney Vale Youth Club in Roehampton and other borough youth clubs by the Conservative Council.

Most criminologists acknowledge that nuisance crimes increase when kids have nothing to divert their attention - that's not to say that most teenagers are criminals or yobs, but given no alternative, creative or recreational occupation for their time, there will be more kids on the streets and trouble will find some of them.

That's why the Tory Council's closure of youth clubs is so damaging and they should rethink things urgently. The Council meeting next Wednesday is the last chance for councillors to come to their senses and reverse these damaging closure plans. We've got to keep our youth clubs open - if anything we should be increasing youth service provision as Labour's London Mayor Ken Livingstone is committed to doing.

It's important that we don't see youth service provision solely through the prism of keeping crime down: youth clubs provide invaluable training, recreational, socialising and educational opportunities for young people - in the case of Putney Vale in the most deprived community in the whole constituency; and they reach teenagers who schools can't always reach.

The Conservatives' closure plans are just more of the short-sighted stupidity that's come to typify this Council's approach to any service that actually costs them something to provide.

Here's the chart of the 12 months to February:


And here's the comparable 12 months to January:

Christmas crime rise, but Putney still safer than London overall

Crime figures in every single ward in Putney (and, I suspect, the borough) rose in December, but five of Putney's six wards remain much safer than the London average.

Crimes associated with Christmas - like theft and possession of stolen goods - were the principal cause of the uptick in figures, though in most areas crime was on the increase. But the London-wide crime rate was 126.4 crimes per 1,000 of the population; across Wandsworth as a whole the comparable figures was 111.1 and across Putney just 98.4 - we remain one of the safest and crime free communities in London. If crime committed in Putney High Street and Wandsworth town centre is removed from the picture, our residential areas fare even better.

One final point: you may have seen some coverage in the local news and by Conservative councillors that Southfields is to lose its Safer Neighbourhoods Police team. In fact, the team of six officers Southfields and every other ward in Wandsworth was promised by Ken Livingstone in the 2004 Mayoral Election is staying put. What the stories alluded to - but did not make clear, is that any extra Police officers the borough gets (and Putney has forty SNTs even though on a strict allocation we should only have 36) are to be allocated to parts of the borough with far higher crime rates than Southfields.

Here are the figures up to January:



And here's the table showing the figures up to December for comparison:

Dangerous dogs success

I'm pleased to be able to report some success for the work the West Putney Safer Neighbourhoods team and I have put into tackling the dangerous dog problem on the Dover House estate documented here.

Following the attack on The Pleasance last October, the Police worked hard to identify several addresses in the area that possibly housed dangerous dogs. After obtaining search warrants under section 5 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, and each of these homes was called upon by the Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Police Dog Support Unit.

At one of these addresses, aPitbull type dog was seized by police and the owner prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. If someone is found to be in possession of an illegal dog or allows their dog to be dangerously out of control then not only may they be committing offences, but they may be in breach of their tenancy agreements with Wandsworth Council.

It's important that this work has been done to reassure residents and - more importantly - get action on this issue which is so worrying to so many.

Policing and politics

With the important elections for London's Mayor and Assembly on 1st May rapidly approaching, my latest Parliamentary report for the local putneysw15 website focuses on the critical issue of crime and policing locally. It's a subject I've written regularly about on this website too.

You can read my Parliamentary report here.

"You're all the same" is a criticism often made of politicians. Well, in this election, that can't be said. There are huge differences between Labour's Ken Livingstone and the Tories.

With Labour, Putney has just about recovered from the huge loss of police the last Conservative government inflicted upon us. That Michael Howard, the former Home Secretary responsible for sacking so many of our policemen and women came to Putney the day after the 2005 general election to quit was ironic - it's just a shame he didn't manage an apology for his disastrous policy.

Now Putney has 40 Police Community Support Officers - it had zero under the Conservatives - and crime is down: Putney is one of the safest parts of London. And, if re-elected, Ken will employ another 1,000 police officers over the next four years.

I'll be talking more about the other massive dividing lines in the forthcoming London elections over the coming weeks.

Putney stays safe

December saw very little change in our crime figures - Putney remains one of the safest parts of London with very much safer streets in almost every part of the constituency than anywhere else in the borough or capital.

Crime fell again in Roehampton, Southfields, West Hill and West Putney - in the case of Southfields markedly, suggesting that November's much higher figures were a blip. West Hill and West Putney wards have a crime rate almost half that of the London average: a remarkable figure and testament to the work of the local Police Community Support teams that are making such a difference to our patch.

But I'm getting really concerned about the level of theft and mugging in Putney town centre, which is behind the high Thamesfield crime figures.

Three years ago the Tory Council had the opportunity of introducing town centre patrollers to Putney - the Government had funded them in Clapham Junction and Tooting town centres with the result that street crime fell by a third. But instead of seizing the chance to make Putney High Street safer, the Council refused to find the funds to employ them (an amount equivalent to about 5p per week on council tax) - and worse still, sacked the ones in Clapham Junction and Tooting.

Correcting this situation and bringing town centre patrollers to Putney is one of the ten points in my Save Putney High Street campaign. Please complete my Save Putney High Street survey and give me your views on how to cut crime in the town centre, and on other aspects of the problems blighting the area.



Here are the crime figures for December by ward, with comparisons for the whole borough and Greater London:




And here, as usual, is the previous month's table for comparison:

Police pay

My place of work was on the route the Police marched along over their pay settlement grievances yesterday. I wrote about my complete support for the police getting their full pay settlement last month, here.

I was pleased to see Keith Vaz MP, the Labour Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee at the head of the march today - he has also tabled an "Early Day Motion" (EDM), which is a mechanism MPs have for making statements of support and testing the strength of feeling among their colleagues on the issue.

Any MP can sign an EDM, and I was pleased, on checking just now, that 220 MPs have so far signed up: 115 Labour, 50 Lib Dems, 38 Conservatives and 17 from the smaller parties.

As this shows, this isn't a party-political issue: there is a cross-party consensus that, plain and simple, the Government has made a big mistake not giving Police Officers their full pay-rise up front. But I was surprised not to see Putney Conservative MP Justine Greening on the list of MPs who have signed the EDM.

You may well be surprised that I'm in the position of chastising my Conservative opponent for not joining in the criticism of a Labour government - so am I! Maybe she believes the Police don't deserve a pay rise - in which case she should say so. But if she does, I'd urge her to add her name to the Early Day Motion - it's EDM 512. And I'd urge Putney people to email her asking her to do so as well.

Police numbers are up with Labour

My campaign team recently tried to obtain accurate data from the Metropolitan Police Authority about Police numbers in London by borough.

Unfortunately, their website left a little to be desired - but I'm pleased to report that after highlighting the problems they've overhauled it and it will from now on provide monthly updates, which you can find here.

The good thing about this site is that there are lots of statistics bandied around about the Police by all parties - but these are the basic, unspun figures.

At the end of last November, Wandsworth had 583 Police Officers and 87 Community Support Officers (CSOs) - a total of 670.

In 1997, Wandsworth had 596 Police Officers and no CSOs (they are a Labour initiative since 2000).

The Conservatives claim that this proves Labour has cost the borough officers since we were first elected. Clearly untrue. But even excluding the CSO figure, the Tories' claim is wrong.

The base year for measuring Labour's record is not 1997 but 2000 - because an officer recruited the first day we took office in 1997 would not start work until they had three years of training under their belt - by which time police numbers locally had fallen to 568 thanks to the Conservatives.

So, we actually have fifteen more Police Officers than 2000 and that's before we even start adding in the 87 CSOs.

In fact, to get a true measure of how severely the last Conservative Government cut back on Police, just look at this: in 1993, Wandsworth had 693 Police Officers. So today, including our CSO units, Labour has just about - though still not quite - got our Policing level back to what it was 15 years ago. Never forget the mess Justine Greening's party left our country in.

There's a lot more to do - I want more CSOs and more Police Officers making our borough even safer than it is today. The Council could fund even more CSOs if it had the political will to do so: Ealing (also Conservative-run) has almost twice our number of CSOs despite being a similarly sized borough because their council invests in the Police.

Next time the Conservatives demand more Police, just remember the 125 Police officers they cost Wandsworth the last time they were in power, and the progress we've made correcting their appalling record since then.

Overall crime down again in Putney

Crime - particularly burglaries - fell in all six wards in the constituency in November, despite a slight rise in crime across the borough. Violent crime also fell in five of the six wards.

Roehampton continues to see falls in crime - the area is now not so far above the borough average and very much lower than the London-wide crime level which is far-removed from some of the coverage this community too often receives.

Unfortunately, crime rose noticeably in Southfields, though it should be remembered that as well as the affluence of the Southfields "grid", this ward stretches north to include the Southside shopping centre; so like Thamesfield, its figures are somewhat skewed because of crimes that occur in the town centre.

Again, one of the main reasons for Putney's continuing broadly excellent low crime figures is the constituency's forty Safer Neighbourhood Police Officers, who have been focussing on high-priority concerns like burglary, while their presence on the streets is clearly having an impact on violent crimes.

The importance of our Safer Neighbourhoods teams is heightened as we enter 2008 because in May you'll have the choice between re-electing the Labour Mayor, Ken Livingstone, who created and has funded the Safer Neighbourhoods team; or the Conservatives and Lib Dems who voted against them, take every opportunity to attack them and are committed to axing them.

Below are the crime tables for each of the constituencies in November, with the October table underneath for comparison.

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?

Safer Neighbourhoods; real results

I don't normally blog about stories not in the constituency unless they're about policy issues I'm involved in or passionate about.

However, just posted on the Wandsworth Guardian website there's a story about a brothel near Wandsworth Common, raided by the local Safer Neighbourhood team recently - with the result that a 16-year old Estonian girl forced into prostitution is now back with her family and a brothel has been closed down.

The reason I'm highlighting this is because all we seem to hear about our Safer Neighbourhoods officers - especially from Putney's Conservatives - is whining and criticism: that they're useless; that they're not value for money; that they have no impact on the community; that they're no substitute for "proper" Police.

Well, here's a tangible example of our own Safer Neighbourhood teams making a real difference. We in Putney have 40 SNT officers patrolling our streets, building links with the community, making our constituency safer: 40 Police officers the Tories voted against paying for and keep slagging off for their own political ends.

Perhaps I could suggest a New Year's Resolution for Justine Greening and Putney Conservatives: stop attacking, rubbishing and undermining our Safer Neighbourhood teams - and start supporting them. Not too much to ask, is it?

Here's the Guardian story

Our Police deserve their pay rise...now

The headline says it all really. On any measure be it:

• The excellent job our boys and girls in blue do, day-in, day-out
• The fact that the practical difference between 2.5% (the full rise they're getting from the end of this month) and 1.9% (the amount they've received since September) is insignificant in the fight against inflation
• The damage out of all proportion to the issue that is being done to the government by digging its heels in over this issue
• That coming on the back of a bust-up with the military over its commitment to our armed services, the last fight the government should be picking is with our Police
• That 1.9% is less than inflation and is, therefore, a de facto pay cut
• That the Police - especially in London - have delivered significant drops in crime
• Or, simply that the government's just wrong and should be big enough to admit it...

...our Police deserve a full pay rise backdated from this September. No ifs, no buts.

Local crime continues to fall

Crime levels in all six Putney council wards were lower than in September, in line with the borough- and London-wide trend.

Crime in five of the wards - including Roehampton - is below the London average, but there continues to be a concerning amount of burglaries in East Putney, Roehampton and Thamesfield, and a lot more work needs to be done on the most worrying crime of all: violent crime, in Roehampton and Southfields.

But to keep even this figure in context, we're still only talking about 18 people out of more than 11,000 in Roehampton ward being affected by this per month, while the definition of violent crime against the person covers anything from a shove to more serious violence.

Here are the figures for the twelve months up to October:



..And here are the comparable figures for September:

Our Safer Neighbourhood Teams

Putney now has forty Police Safer Neighbourhood Officers - members of teams that didn't exist just four years ago, and which we wouldn't have if the Conservatives had their way - they opposed all funding of them.

Here are the details of our six local ward teams along with any details of forthcoming events they're holding:

East Putney Team

Acting Sgt Matt Snowden
PC Sandrine Tanghe
PC Russ Percy
PCSO Simoni Simoni
PCSO Alison Brownlow
PCSO Douglas Cameron
PCSO Kelly Collins
PCSO Claire Fairman
PCSO Paul Henry

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, London SW15 2PD
Phone:020 8721 2433
Mobile: 07920 233925
Email the East Putney team

Upcoming East Putney team meetings and events:

• 28/11/2007 - 19:30 - 21:30 - Community Event - Cadets, Lytton Grove
• 09/12/2007 - 11:30 - 13:30 - Street Briefing - West Hill Road
• 17/01/2008 - 19:00 - 20:30 - Public Meeting - Putney High School
• 28/01/2008 - 18:00 - 19:00 - Community Event - Brownies, Wandsworth Police Station
• 31/01/2008 - 19:00 - 20:30 - Public Meeting - London Mosque

Roehampton Team

Sgt Peter Salmon
PC Andrew Voong
PC Amanda Kennedy
PCSO Lisa Burke
PCSO Noel Perkins
PCSO Nicky Edwardes
PCSO Fuad Osman
PCSO Marco Serrano

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone: 020 8649 3551
Mobile: 07843 065885
Email the Roehampton team


Southfields Team

Sgt David Mepham
PC Darren Hunt
PCSO Liam McLaughlin
PCSO Jacek Zebracki
PCSO Alexandra Claridge
Write to them at: 146 Wandsworth High Street, LondonSW18 4JJ
Phone:020 8721 2429
Mobile: 07920 233931
Email the Southfields team


Thamesfield Team

Sgt Roger Chapple
PC Bosede Odelusi
PC Stuart Paton
PCSO Gerald Baffoe-Bonnie
PCSO Sophie Wood
PCSO Julie Kirk

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230 - 232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone:020 8721 2434
Mobile: 07920 233924
Email the Thamesfield team


West Hill Team

Sgt Nigel Mussett
PC Glen Cheal
PC Mark Toulson
PCSO Daniel Taylor
PCSO Lisa Tyler
PCSO Laura Smith
PCSO Kirsteen McPhee
PCSO Andrew Morgan

Write to them at: 146 Wandsworth High Street, LondonSW18 4JJ
Phone: 020 8721 243
Mobile: 007920 233930
Email the West Hill team

Upcoming West Hill team meetings and events:

• 01/12/2007 - 12:00 - 14:00 - Drop-in Surgery - 26 Montfort Place SW19
• 05/01/2008 - 12:00 - 14:00 - Drop-in Surgery - 26 Montfort Place SW19

West Putney Team

Sgt Eric Ostrowski
PC Stuart Baggaley
PCSO Sharon Ellis
PCSO Michael Yates

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone: 020 8721 2760
Mobile: 07747 757590
Email the West Putney team

Latest crime figures

There was a lot of interest when I published the constituency's crime figures back in June, so I thought I'd repeat the service - not least to show the strong start Chief Superintendent Stewart Low has made as Commander of Wandsworth Police.

Crime is down in every single ward except West Hill (which was and remains the council ward least affected by crime anyway); significantly so in Roehampton and Thamesfield. Crime in every single Putney ward bar Thamesfield is below the London average. Four of our six wards have figures lower than the borough average.

Some people (including me, when I first compiled the figures) have expressed surprise at the high crime level in Thamesfield ward, but remember: it also contains our town centre, so any shoplifting or robbery that occurs in the High Street gets included in the Thamesfield figures.

Here are the figures for the twelve months up to September for the six Putney wards:



And here's the comparable table that I published in June for the twelve months up to May:

Meeting the Police; keeping crime low

Last week I met with the new borough police Commander, Stewart Low. We had a wide ranging conversation over the course of an hour and I was impressed with how quickly he has mastered his local brief.

He talked me through the latest crime figures for Putney, Southfields and Roehampton. They are excellent and a demonstration that the investment in additional uniformed presence on our streets through Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) is really paying dividends.

The work of PCSOs in supporting police officers in Putney is regrettably, sometimes undervalued, especially by those with a negative political agenda. But our constituency now has over thirty of these officers - up to six per council ward, all led by a Police Sergeant and Constable - which we didn't have two years ago and which the Tories and Lib Dems voted against funding.

Indeed, Chief Superintendent Low specifically mentioned the positive impact PCSOs had had locally in reducing and tackling crime.

Attending Roehampton's Police meeting

Last night I went along to a - disappointingly - poorly attended public meeting organised by the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhoods Police team. The Government now funds a team of 6 police officers responsible for beat patrolling in Roehampton.

Despite the low attendance, important local issues were discussed. In particular residents were angry with the council for its failure to deal with youths congregating in Danebury Avenue, mainly around the shops. Embarrassingly for the council it appears that new security doors were fitted a few months agobut without any locks! According to residents the area's Tory councillors have known about this blunder for some time but done nothing. Im making sure Labour councillors sort it out.

After the meeting I spoke to long-time Alton estate residents Mrs Millard and Mrs Armstrong (pictured), who were both critical of the delays and inaction they have experienced.

Community Policing: why we need a London Mayor

One of the Conservatives who had hoped to be that Party's Mayoral candidate prior to Boris Johnson throwing his hat in to the ring is someone called Lee Rotherham.

Lee is someone who believes that the very institution of the Mayorality should be abolished and powers restored to the borough councils; and in that we disagree. But he has produced a thoughtful, well-argued policy platform; the latest aspect of which covers policing and crime. Lee argues that the Mayor is irrelevant in the fight against crime and again we disagree: we would not have Police Community Support teams (which even he recognises as beneficial) in every single ward in our borough without the Mayor's leadership.

It is inconceivable that had the responsibility been with 32 separate London boroughs we'd have any PCSOs today - in the case of Putney, Roehampton and Southfields alone that's over 30 Officers lost. Fully qualified police are invaluable, but PCSOs not only provide extra Police presence on our streets but also enable 'full' police to focus on more serious crimes.

Lee makes several other good suggestions. Apparently, every arrest produced 3.5 hours of paperwork for the arresting officer. I agree with him that this red tape must be slashed: in itself that would free up resources to put more police on our streets. I also share his view that a day of civic recognition of the contribution (and, occasionally, sacrifice) our Police Officers - and for that matter Fire Fighters and Ambulance crews - make to our city, similar to that of Washington DC, is long overdue. You can read Lee's platform for policing here.

Crime in Putney

Just thought I'd provide some information on crime rate in the constituency because, if you like this sort of thing, the stats are quite interesting.

A lot is often made of the high crime rate in Roehampton. Yet it's actually Thamesfield - the laregly very affluent area around Putney High Street and along the river - that has the highest crime rate: 148.1 crimes per 1,000 people. The reason for this surprising figure is a large number of theft and handling offences (as distinct from burglaries or robberies/muggings); presumably shoplifting given the presence of the town centre.

The figures in the table below show the crime rate per 1,000 of the population. There are approximately 12-14,000 residents in each ward, and the figures are as of May 2007 - pulled from the Metropolitan Police website.

• West Hill is - by far - the least crime-afflicted ward in the constituency - and indeed anywhere in London: it's crime rate is almost half that of the Capital as a whole. East Putney and West Putney are also comparatively crime free, though East Putney suffers from the highest number of burglaries.


• Roehampton does have a relatively high crime rate - though not massively above the London average - but essentially this is due to three types of more serious crime that are worryingly prevalent there: criminal damage, drugs offences and violence against the person.


• Southfields also has a relatively high crime rate - like Thamesfield it's also got a high proportion of thefts.

It's always worth emphasising that Wandsworth is one of the safest boroughs in London so as they say on CrimeWatch: don't have nightmares. There's more that can be done locally and I meet regularly with the Police to talk about local problems and how they're responding to them.

I'm also keen to get more Neighbourhood Watches set up around the constituency: if you're interested in helping to get one going in your patch do get in touch - I'd love to hear from you.