Southfield To Have Police Team Increased

The news follows a local petition calling for more officers

The Southfield area is to have its police team increased, according to local Liberal Democrat councillor Gary Malcolm. The news follows a recent petition in the area which collected 650 signatures calling for the local police team to be brought up to full strength to cope with an increase in crime.

Cllr Malcolm said the recent Southfield ward police panel AGM revealed that the local police team would be boosted .

The AGM heard that the local team would have 5.75 police officers instead of the current four, which Cllr. Malcolm welcomed as "good news". The petition had wanted the team to operate at full strength at six officers.

“We have two PCs, 3 PCSOs and our sergeant will share some of his time assisting the police team in South Acton.”

Cllr Malcolm said it appeared that a number of changes would happen that should enable the police to deal more quickly with serious crime as well as the less urgent crimes.

“Basically it will mean that there will be less "blue light" teams to investigate 999 calls. Instead they would ONLY investigate top priority crimes such as murder, gun/knife attacks, robbery, domestic violence etc.

“Then there will be more police added to the local teams who will then deal with the current types of cases plus the less urgent 999 calls. This should mean that urgent call get a faster response as well as local teams being better resourced so that they can deal with non urgent but important matters.

"We will see how this plays out next year, but it appears in Southfield we will get extra police.”

At the AGM, local resident Gary Busuttil was chosen to be a member of the police panel, and he said he would work to create local awareness of police meetings.

"My aim over the next year, with the help of the rest of the panel, is to set up a Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) on Steele Road, which is one of the few roads in the ward without a NHW.

"Living in Steele Road for four years I want to see more people aware of the local police meetings and how they can help people to reduce the chance of them being a victim of crime", he added.

October 2, 2012