After receiving a blizzard of e-mails, I agreed to go on the Met Community Crime Fighters day in Vauxhall this past Friday. Riding up on the train that morning I had no idea what to expect: was it going to be a complete waste of time? What was the point to the day (the pre-event information was a bit vague), and would I get an official mask and cape but also have to wear my underpants on the outside of my trousers? Read more...

Our local police response team, in co-operation with a Met bomb squad team, detonated a controlled explosion on Streatham Common this morning. The explosion, witnessed by Lee Alley and friends, was about the size of a standard ordinance grenade explosion - slightly larger than big explosive fireworks used on Guy Fawkes night. The detonation was carried out to destroy a suspicious item left on the common partially up the hill near the Streatham Common North side. The Common was cleared of people for the duration of the exercise and a team secured and destroyed the item within minutes. Read more...

Posted on local Newspapers web forums and sent to local journalists.

Statement:
"We, the chairs of the Safer Neighbourhoods Panels in Streatham, send out
our heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends of young James Andre
Smartt-Ford. We are shocked and saddened by the needless and senseless
violence that has taken his life at such a tender age. We deplore these
acts in all their forms, and at any age, and we urge anyone who has any
information about this, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to
contact the police with it. Those who do not wish to speak to the police Read more...