Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Home Secretary, visited the Borough on Wednesday 25th March to look at crime locally in Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, Osterley and Hounslow. Chris began his visit by being part of a panel in Chiswick Town Hall at a public meeting that was open to all residents to look at ways of reducing crime in the local community. Superintendent Phipps from the Metropolitan Police, Cllr John Todd and Margaret Bourne from Victim Support also joined us on the panel.
Superintendent Phipps gave an excellent overview of crime locally and described the complexities of policing in the Hounslow Borough with 140 languages, between 212-260,000 people living in the area and with half of those arrested for petty crimes, testing positive for drugs. Progress had been made though with surveillance on gateways into high-risk burglary areas, following suspect vehicles and removing Class A drug dealers from the area.
Cllr John Todd highlighted the initiatives that the Council have undertaken in relation to reducing crime, including increasing CCTV cameras in underpasses, organising a leadership course for young people who have been in trouble and creating drink free zones.
Chris highlighted four areas which he saw as a priority:
1. zero tolerance on low level criminality such as broken wing mirrors, anti-social behavior and graffiti before it leads to more serious crimes
2. ending the caution culture that has developed to save police paperwork and achieve targets
3. reviewing the licensing laws
4. reducing the amount of paperwork that the police have to deal with.
Chris and I then went on a tour of the Borough with the Drugs Squad to see the impact of drugs locally and to hear what the police were doing to identify those involved in selling drugs and the challenges they had to deal with to ensure a conviction.
We really need to deal with burglaries, vehicle crime and drug-related crime to make sure we all are safe at home, at work, on the street and in the community. Drugs are having a detrimental impact on the lives of local residents and this issue needs to be dealt with.
Photo: Mary with Chris Grayling MP and Superintendent Phipps
