The Committee heard from the Police Borough Commander, Andrew Ewing regarding police performance in Tower Hamlets including the importance of raising public confidence. He then received feedback from Members in a range of areas, including neighbourhood policing, response times, knife crime and the enforcement of the 20 mph limit.  The main points of the discussion may be summarised as follows:

1.    The Treasury had now indicated that police spending would be protected in line with inflation, which would represent an increase of £900m by 2019-20;

2.    With regard to the MOPAC7 Performance the Borough had not seen the reduction in car and property crimes as evidenced elsewhere in London;

3.    The Borough’s Wards each have a panel made up of members of the community who live or work within that ward. These panels meet regularly to discuss the concerns facing the local community around crime and anti-social behaviour, and help set the priorities that the local police team will tackle e.g. knife and drug crimes. They also get involved in working proactively with the police team and local partner agencies such as the Council to find lasting solutions to these priorities;

4.    The Borough Commander is happy to attend other local community meetings to hear what needs to be addressed and to build trust with all communities;

5. The police service considers that if accompanied by proper engagement and education with the local communities then the 20mph limit can be enforced.

6.    Mobile Police Office (MPO) Community safety surgeries and ward walkabouts are being held. These will be targeting specific locations in each ward that are ASB/crime hot spots. This will be an ideal opportunity for partners to visit individual wards together and experience first-hand the local issues affecting residents. Issues identified at the walkabouts will be taken away by the relevant partners to action and respond to promptly.

7.    Details of the Community safety surgeries and ward walkabouts are available on the website

8.    The police service want to encourage wider use of the police non-emergency number 101

9.    There would be an increase in the counter-terrorism budget by 30%; investment in new border security and increased protective measures around key locations and increase reassurance to all communities within the metropolis.

In conclusion the Chair placed on record his thanks to Borough Commander and the Portfolio Lead Member for their attendance and participation at tonight’s committee meeting.