Safer Neighbourhoods - WATCH Schemes

Operation Opal is the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) part of the UK's National Reassurance Policing Plan - the Operational name has only been referred to within the Metropolitan Police Service and mainly for use solely within the organisation. However some community members, agency partners and officers still use the name during 2004-5.

Other both inside and outside the MPS know Operational Opal as STEP CHANGE. Sir John Stevens QPM, Commissioner of the MPS, took up the 'STEP CHANGE Programme' phrase after a speech in early 2004 where he spoke about significant expansion of the MPS, which would be a 'step change in policing'.

During 2004 these two strands have been combined in Safer Neighbourhoods. To maintain the branding that our communities are becoming used to (Safer Streets, Safer Homes etc) The MPS are using Safer Neighbourhoods as its branding for STEP CHANGE - its objective being to have more staff ring-fenced to a specific neighbourhood delivering local reassurance policing. This has long been a process and progress led by police/community partnership and is very much the way forward for the Sector Working Group and Paddington Division Police. See Partnership Policing and the ethos of the Sector Working Group for Paddington Hyde Park Ward.

During 2004-5, a new programme - Safer Neighbourhoods - underlines The UK Metropolitan Police Service's (The MET) commitment to local policing in London. Driven forward through Safer Neighbourhoods, this programme is about local, community-based teams of officers and Police Community Support Officers who can work effectively with partners, such as the Sector Working Group (SWG), to provide results in the reduction of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour at the local level. Paddington Division Police are a pilot area for this programme in 2004-5 working closely with their Paddington Police Division Sector Working Group (SWG).

For more information on The METs Safer Neighbourhoods visit http://www.met.police.uk/saferneighbourhoods

Or the Metropolitan Police Website at http://www.met.police.uk/

Metropolitan Police Pubwatch

Making Pubwatch work. The heart of Pubwatch is the rapid, accurate and efficient communication of details about potential problems. Inspector Paula Light is seen here with Gary Griffin who runs the Monkey Puzzle pub in Paddington's Sussex Gardens taking a lead in the value placed on Pubwatch by customers, the licensed trade and the police.

Another aspect of Safer Neighbourhoods and Safer Streets that our Paddington Sector Working Group in the busy Hyde Park Ward are keen to encourage, is that all local licensed premises join PUBWATCH. This is a joint Metropolitan police/community based crime prevention scheme. It is organised by the licensees themselves to afford each other confidence and support, as well as some form of protection. The scheme, at its simplest, is a message-passing link between licensees, the object of which is to combat violence and other criminal conduct. It also provides better communication between licensees and police and provides a forum for the discussion and solution of problems relating to violence on licensed premises. If you are not a member of the new Paddington Pubwatch scheme, you should consider the merits of a tried and tested system which will give the following positive results -

• Troublemakers Deterred
• A Quicker Police Response
• Fewer Assaults
• Less Damage To Property
• Increased Trade
• Improved Public Image

Chris Dell is Paddington's Partnership Officer responsible for the introduction of the launched PUBWATCH scheme in Paddington. He says "The setting up of Paddington Pubwatch will have a productive influence on the area. Not only will it improve the public’s image of the licence trade, by promoting responsible drinking. The scheme will also encourage people to visit Paddington, and not just use it as a gateway to the West-End, thereby increasing trade in the area to all the businesses, and not just the pubs."

If your licensed premises wants to be part of Paddington's Pubwatch Scheme contact Officer Dell on
Phone: 020 7321 9696
E-mail: Chris.Dell@met.police.uk

For more information on the Metropolitan Police Pubwatch Scheme visit http://www.met.police.uk/crimeprevention/pubwatch.htm

ShopWatch

ShopWatch - bringing the retail industry and the police together in the fight against crime in our stores and shops accross London.
For full information (including the ShopWatch video) visit www.ShopWatch.info

Neighbourhood Watch

The Metropolitan Police(The MET) believes that Neighbourhood Watch (NW) plays an important part in improving local quality of life and making communities safer. It can also yield a valuable source of community and criminal intelligence for the police. Paddington Sector Working Group has a NW co-ordinator on their team. London's diverse communities are being encouraged to join or set up local NW schemes and The Metropolitan Police has translated its current range of NW literature into Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Somali and Urdu. By providing publicity material in languages other than English, it is hoped that members of the capital's racially diverse communities, such as in Paddington, will be encouraged to become involved in NW and reap the benefits that many Londoners are already experiencing. MET Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens QPM (seen above with Gurbux Singh - Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and John Howell - Director of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association) sees the newly translated material as part of the Met's overall mission to make London safe for all the people it serves.

CRE Chair welcomed the initiative. He said: "Community involvement in policing through NW is an important part of creating a modern police service able to meet the needs of London's diverse population. Members of ethnic minority communities are more likely to be victims of crime than the rest of the population. Offering them the opportunity to be fully involved in the work of tackling crime in this way is an important step forward."

For more information on Neighbourhood Watch(NW) visit http://www.met.police.uk/crimeprevention/neighbor.htm

For further information on all aspects of crime prevention visit our SWG Police/Community Safety Strategy Plan page.