Charing Cross Police

It has been a rather mixed year for the Covent Garden Police Team. On the one hand our excellent relationship with the local community continues to flourish. Against this there have been some changes in personnel and sadly for most of the end of last year Nicola Ainsworth was absent from work due to illness. This left PS John Hunter in charge and he coped admirably. I am pleased to say that Nicola has now recovered and has moved to other duties which still keep her in contact with the community on a borough-wide basis. I thank her on your behalf for all her excellent work. Sadly, PS John Hunter has also left the team but is still at Charing Cross. I have now had an opportunity to take over the reigns and have met some of you already.

From the police perspective, enthusiasm is high and we welcome the new 'Community Steering Group' chaired by myself. The group members are PS Alan Blacklock, Jo Weir, Des Passey from HSBC, Peter Reeves WCC and Diane Mounsey-Thear from St Clement Danes School. This group will be charting the progress of the Covent Garden Community Safety Plan, soon to be published, which will target Illegal Street Trading/Busking, Begging, Theft, Drug Abuse and Rowdyism.

We will also be concentrating on the main priorities set for the Metropolitan Police and Home Office which cover Burglary, Youth Crime and Terrorism.

We launched a Day Surgery for Odhams Walk and other close-by residents on the 25th April based at the Age Concern Day Centre. This is an experimental idea driven by Mandy King and Paul Evans. The initiative will be reviewed after its first few openings to gauge interest and usage.

The Network Pager Scheme continues to increase its membership and Sandra Thomas has launched a first class licensing initiative to improve awareness of criminal activity in the area.

Now also based at Charing Cross is the joint police and WCC 'Spotlight Team' who will be concentrating on 'quality of life' issues on a pan-Westminster basis.

Through the Network Evenings and formal contact, I hope to maintain our excellent relationships over the coming year to cement our partnership in all of this together, as crime and quality of life is an issue for all of us.

Insp Paul Wright, Covent Garden Sector

 

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