Minutes:
Chief Inspector Rob Harper and Sergeant Stewart Turnbull were in attendance.
Sgt Turnbull reported that Sgt Warren Gregory was the new ward sergeant in College ward. He had served twenty six years on the police force and eight of those he worked as a sergeant in Peckham and Lewisham. Sgt Gregory conveyed a message to say he was looking forward to working with members.
Councillor Helen Hayes said she formally welcomed Sgt Gregory and looked forward to working with him as well.
Sgt Turnbull gave a general overview on the Dulwich area, provided names of officers based within the policy team of the met police; (Chief Superintendent Charles Griggs, Superintendent Cheryl Burden, Chief Inspector, Rob Harper and Inspector Phil Parrett, responsible for Dulwich and Camberwell). He stated that the wards in the Dulwich community council featured low in crime mapping with Cathedrals ward (north of the borough) being the highest.
Sgt Turnbull spoke about staffing matters in College ward where the PCSOs were currently being trained as police officers, and a recruitment process of new PCSOs would take place. East Dulwich SNT had no change in staffing.
Priorities for College ward:
· School officers from the Met Police for the DCC area were stationed at Charter School and Kingsdale School.
· Burglary – Kingswood Estate, Herne Hill Triangle and Turney Road were hot spots. Many victims were away from home and the windows and doors were not secure where the perpetrators gained access to the rear of the houses. Other reasons for easy access included with single glazed windows
Measures/action
· Highly visible patrols that involved plain clothes patrols
· Intelligence picture developed
· Leaflets - advice distributed
Mapping details on residential burglary over a four week period in all wards included:
The crime prevention advice would be not to leave curtains open and keys on display if you are going to be away for a long period of time. Also, call the local SNT if you think your house could be vulnerable.
Sgt Turnbull provided further mapping information concerning robbery in the hot spot areas like, Sunray Avenue, Red Post Hill and North Dulwich British Rail Station. This involved some “bumping” and “snatching” of mobile phones and purses carried out mostly by adults. High visible patrols and plain clothes tactics were in place to deal with this sort of crime.
There was additional mapping information on motor vehicle crime. This involved “smash and grab” which could be preventable if valuables were not left on display. In order to address this type of crime there were enforcement patrols by the Police constables and reassurance patrols by the PCSOs.
Other issues included:
In response to questions, Sgt Turnbull spoke about crime statistics in Lambeth and Southwark particularly in light of a recent assault that took place in Norwood Road. He confirmed Southwark offences could be investigated by Lambeth. Also the CCTV along Half Moon Lane and Norwood; the cameras are to be updated from analogue to digital, subject to a response from the head of community safety on the specific timescales.
Presentation from the Anti Social Behaviour Unit
Joan Leary, anti social behaviour officer from ASB unit gave a brief overview on the role of the unit and the types of incidences that are investigated by the team. The officer said she was glad be back at Kingswood where she had previously worked with the youth worker on the Kingswood Estate dealing with local gangs that came from Lambeth borough on to the Kingswood.
The officer stated that the team consisted of 10 council officers, and 2 police officers; they work closely with the safer neighbourhoods teams in the wards. Anti social behaviour incidences were relatively low in Dulwich due to early intervention.
The following information was noted:
The chair thanked the representatives for their presentation.