Belmont Primary School want Police to protect their children

Image: Children at Belmont School

Parents tackle Police at Chiswick Area Forum meeting

Parents from Belmont Primary School want Police to take action to stop young children being mugged by older children in the area around the school.

A group of around 20 parents and staff went to the Chiswick Area Forum meeting on Tuesday 24 September to voice their concerns about street robberies. The school’s Business Manager Kristy Kierzkowski told The Chiswick Calendar:

“In our community over the past couple of months there has been a very high incidence of muggings, robberies by young people doing it to younger children – kids wearing balaclavas riding around on Lime bikes attacking them for the iPhones or ear pods.”

The school is just behind Chiswick High Road and Year Six children are allowed to walk to and from school on their own, with parental consent.

“A young child, Year Seven age I think, was recently physically beaten over an iPhone. One of our Year Six and one of our Year Two witnessed it because it took place outside their house, so this is an issue which has funnelled through our community.”

Image: Belmont School in spring

Arrests made by plain clothes police

At the Area Forum meeting they did not have much time to speak about the issue, she said, because it was raised in the open forum part of the meeting, not down as an item on the agenda.

“The main part of the meeting was about the changes to Hogarth Roundabout, so by the time it came to the open forum there wasn’t much time,” but she said the police at the meeting were “very responsive while we were there,” and the next day Metropolitan Police turned up at the school gates on horses at school drop off and pick up times.

READ ALSO: Chiswick residents object to TfL plans for Hogarth Roundabout

“They told us the Friday before they arrested three kids who had come from outside Chiswick, who they think were the main culprits, and they stopped a robbery.”

The Police prefer to have plain clothes presence rather than uniformed, so they have a chance of catching muggers in the act. On this occasion once the arrest took place uniformed police were very quickly on the scene. But in the summer term, when the school’s CCTV picked up two other incidents, she said:

“We reported it to the Police, but we never heard anything else about it.”

Image: Belmont School aerial view

Getting street crime on the agenda

Now Kristy intends to keep street crime at the forefront of the minds of local police:

“We need them out all the time, not just when crime gets higher. It’s a big concern. It happens in broad daylight, at four or five in the afternoon, in front of high traffic areas and a lot of the time people just look away.

“We are a small, close-knit community and we need to work together with local police to stop this happening.”

She intends to try and get the issue on the agenda of the next Chiswick Area Forum meeting on Wednesday 11 December. Chiswick Area Forum meetings are organised by local councillors and take place at Chiswick Town Hall, starting at 7.30pm.

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar