The St Leonards Safer Neighbourhoods Panel team wish to welcome you to our first panel newsletter! We've been talking about this for ages so finally Lee put finger to keyboard and set it all up. Should you wish to be apprised of upcoming meetings, posted meeting minutes, local e-mail alerts and other Safer Neighbourhoods updates you can select each specific type of update you want by logging into the website and clicking on "Subscriptions" in your user area (call "My Account" in the menu). We plan to send these out at least once per month and will send out more often if there are specific items to update you on. We think we've spoken to everyone but if you've gotten this inadvertently, then our apologies and please drop us an e-mail (or reply to this one) and let us know - we don't want to bother you unnecessarily.
First off Ben has posted the minutes for the last meeting on the website. We urge you to have a look as this set is not just informative but quite amusing as well. We had fun compiling them.
Speaking of entertainment, the EDO bar seems to have disappeared without a trace. They might have heard of the ferocious nature of some of our activists who also jumped to the keyboard to protest a 24 hour license application by The Goose on the High Rd. Fortunately they only wanted to open a bit earlier and serve breakfast (possibly hoping to cash in on hungry coppers, specifically the new A23 High Road team, wethinks!) thus our activists were able to stand down. Licensees are on notice, however - we are watching!
Interestingly, about the same time, one of our panel was accosted in a most impolite manner (aggressively, bordering on the criminal, is how the Chair and others described it having witnessed the event) by folk hoping to re-open the Blue Ice Club. Renovation is going on there and a delivery of quite a lot of catering equipment has been seen. We have been reliably informed, though, that the police will not support a license there, particularly when associates of the former landlords are involved, in the event a late license application is filed by the council.
The Chair, the Secretary and the Chair of Streatham South were able to sit in on a briefing with the new Lambeth SubCommand Chief Superintendent Dave Musker. The meeting was most informative and went a long way to demonstrating that the police have not only got a grip on our priorities, but have developed plans and processes to extend this to improving clearing up rates. The SubCommand is specifically targeting burglary, vice and gang activity (mostly up North). Burglary clear up rates have already improved from about a 40 year run at 5% to almost 9% since just before Christmas.
Now PCSOs get a lot of stick. We think this is undeserved. A couple of our team's PCSOs have taken it upon themselves to make a list of all of the vulnerable elderly folk on the ward and visit them regularly so we want to big them up! Aside from the cups of tea and biscuits collected along the way, they pass on safety tips to avoid rogue traders, burglars, unsavoury door-to-door salespeople and generally keep up with them to make sure they're alright. Many older folk can be quite isolated and vulnerable to various kinds of criminality or anti-social behaviour so the team's efforts helps nip this in the bud and provides a much valued social aspect to these folks lives. Additionally it's a superb way to collect excellent intelligence on specific geographical areas. And this was something Kerry and Jed came up with themselves - good on 'em!
Coming up in the next couple of weeks the Chair will be meeting with the Town Centre Management consultation group, the Love Streatham crew (as introduced in the minutes of the last meeting).
That's the news up to the moment. Feel free to login and post your comments below the newsletter on the website. Whilst you're at it, tell your friends to sign up too, and keep tabs on what's going on around here.
Take care and enjoy the sunshine!
The St Leonards Safer Neighbourhoods Panel
