The need for visible policing in Chiswick

Image above: Leader of Hounslow Council Shantanu Rajawat at George IV in Chiswick

Working with the Police and retailers

Inspector Michael Binns, who is in charge of the Safer Neighbourhood Team across the whole of Hounslow, and Sergeant Jim Cope, who is responsible for community policing in Chiswick, addressed a meeting of Chiswick’s retailers on Friday (1 September), and listened to their accounts of the impact persistent shoplifting has had on them.

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Leader of Hounslow Council Cllr Shantanu Rajawat was also there, answering questions on behalf of the Council. He has written a guest blog for The Chiswick Calendar on the ways in which he hopes the Council, Police and traders can work together to deter crime in Chiswick.

Guest blog by Leader of Hounslow Council, Cllr Shantanu Rajawat

The safety of our residents and businesses is a key commitment of my administration and one of the priorities of our Safer Communities strategy. Working with the Police is key to this and we have a very good working relationship with them.

Following Baroness Casey’s review of the Met Police, we continue to work closely with the Met Police in Hounslow to ensure that trust in the police is restored and that visible policing remains front and centre of their new Met for London plan.

We understand the concerns of business owners in Chiswick and recognise the need for swift action from the Metropolitan Police to tackle any spikes in criminal offences that arise in the borough.
We have seen an increase in shoplifting and associated crime. The recent research by The Chiswick Calendar has also laid out the issues being felt by traders in Chiswick.

I was therefore very happy to attend a meeting organised in Chiswick by Councillors Giles, Biddolph and Gill to hear first-hand from traders of their experience. I was joined by Cllr. Amy Croft as well as Council officers from our Neighbourhood Community Enforcement and Regulatory and Community Safety Services.

I found the meeting to be incredibly helpful and appreciated the wiliness of traders to describe the problems they were facing as well as their desire to find solutions in partnership with the police and council.

Likewise, police colleagues were very open in highlighting their desire to find solutions whilst also sharing some of the challenges policing in Hounslow and across London is facing. It was great to see a real willingness to co-design solutions and take action to deal with the problem across the borough.

There is also a well-established radio scheme in Hounslow Town Centre, which has been active for a number of years, managed by the West London Chamber of Commerce and we could explore a similar approach in Chiswick.

There was a focus on replicating a model used in neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham Council with a dedicated “Law Enforcement Team”. I committed at the meeting that I was open to exploring this model further as part of our wider review of enforcement activity in the borough.

I do fully believe that visibility is a crucial deterrent to crime and want to ensure our enforcement function supports the police in that visible deterrent, however I am also clear that any solution needs to be long lasting and viable in the face of the difficult financial choices we have to make over the medium term.

Hounslow is a low crime borough but we remain committed to ensuring everyone feels safe and secure by reducing opportunities for crime.

Cllr Shantanu Rajawat is Leader of Hounslow Council

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar