Great stuff ! I spent five years on what was then called Relief, at West End Central covering Mayfair and Soho. Looking back, I had a great time, worked with great people, and made some wonderful memories.
My best day came during a foot patrol, reuniting a lost child with a distraught parent.
I could write an interesting ‘compare and contrast’ paper on the diverse *ahem* services provided by the (mostly) ladies of Soho and Mayfair.
Earlier I saw a post on Linked In extolling the virtues of a couple of security patrols who had saved someone’s life in the King’s Road. They were referred to by their employer as “Bobbies”. In some retail neighbourhoods they have taken over as crime prevention patrols from the real police. I made a snippy comment about their nickname, saying that it was traditionally used for patrolling police officers. It seems that rare breed is almost extinct, and has evolved into a private function of a for profit company. This is very sad for the reasons you eloquently described, Dom.
Ray, whilst I agree it’s sad that it’s fallen to a for profit company to patrol the streets of certain areas it goes to show that there is still a need for the service and as I follow their employer I see all the different types of function they perform.
Basically they are doing much of what Dom has written about and as I did in my early service. The fact that these needs are not met by the Met says a lot about modern policing. We all love a squad and feeling of importance in fighting crime when a large part of what the public want is reassurance that there is someone out there looking after them.
It’s a sad fact that certain areas are happy to pay for these “bobbies” and have that service whilst other areas have chosen to spend money using “community wardens” etc who wear a uniform concentrate on money making for their employers with ticketing etc. I know which I’d rather have and if it were at all possible I’d like to have the Met doing it in London but it’s not to be. At least the “Bobbies” company are following it all up with taking people to court and getting convictions which is something else we used to do.
Lot of great memories Dom, of the same grounding I experienced back in the day before taking my journey into investigating serious organised crime as a career choice. Great post, thanks for sharing,
Another great read that brought up lots of happy memories walking the beat on “S” and “Q” Divisions as well as the occasional jaunt up to the bright lights…👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Good description Dom. Like you, my earliest days on team were being assigned to a ‘beat’ and being expected to patrol it. However, our I Spector wanted us to write up process etc away from the station, seeing it as a way to find ‘tea-holes’ and gain community intelligence.
However, my view is SNTs we’re the best opportunity to get it right the Met had for decades. Unfortunately -and as usual - the middle management gap doomed it. It was ONLY one sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs but even that brought the pains on. Now, there were some egregious anomalies -like CX having THREE SNTs in one station that was only two wards, and there WERE scandals like Mottingham SNT which was entirely due to a failure of leadership at sergeant and above level - but overall the model was good. However, as you say, it became in places a refuge for the indigent, malingering and stupid that nobody wanted to deal with. However, that is true of any team that is a bit isolated. CID thought that they should have had more officers too and bitched and carped against SNTs. It takes time to build community links and you had officers who wanted to ‘tick the box’ en route to promotion or specialism who weren’t really interested in making those contacts and were gone anyway in 12-18 months. They never patrolled if they could help it, seeing patrol as the PCSOs job. The sergeants ensured their ‘shifts’ were mainly 9-5 Monday to Friday and allowed the PCs to do likewise. As a SNT Inspector I initially had a battle keeping duties from posting my officers on ‘routine aid’ and got no assistance when I appealed to the centre who we were told were there to bat for us. Many of the later officers assigned to SNTs really had little interest or understanding of where they fitted in. The environmental scanning issue was key and quickly got skipped.
I also found SLT who seemed to think that SNTs were the panacea of all ills and seemed to expect them to be out on patrol 24/7 - clearly not achievable with 1-2& 3.
But the biggest bugbear was around ward panels and particularly ward panel priorities. Quite rightly ward panels wanted quality of life issues addressed. These are long term and usually not sexy, so eventually we got top down priorities that were set by the SLT -burglary or robbery reduction etc, that frankly the locals really didn’t know about or care about. As CI Partnerships at a bust S London borough that was historically lowest in confidence in the MPS (according to the surveys-which could be a whole new blog…) it was frustrating to see my resources redeployed onto anti robbery patrols rather than other work. Now, I have nothing against catching criminals but the way these patrols were carried out achieved almost nothing. Meanwhile I had beggars proliferating down the High St. Low level - yes. Unsexy work -yes. Symptomatic of a social problem -maybe. However, that was what made the local community feel unsafe, not a schoolboy ‘robbery (usually bullying more than anything…) on a bus going home. Maybe 200 people got approached by the beggars. Some felt very threatened by them. They see no police, or worse police ignoring them. They tell just ten friends. That’s 2000 people affected. They all feel less confident in the local police, they all feel less safe and go to the high street less. Businesses feel the pinch with inevitable consequences. One schoolboy gets robbed by a classmate. The class know about it. Some tell parents, some parents talk to others. Perhaps 50 people, who perhaps feel the school is less safe than they thought. The crime is recorded in a street the bus was in, so we up patrols in that area, EVEN THOUGH they would not have caught the culprits under any circumstances! They may be in hi-vis but they are reassuring nobody. They could have been in the high street and interacting with traders, shoppers and yes, the beggars, talking to them, moving them on, arresting if needs be as a last resort. One persistent begger was seen on the IBO camera for three hours. In the end I was so frustrated I went out and exercised my own power of arrest. About fifty people (in an area believed to be ‘anti-police) clapped and cheered. When searched said begger had £400 in coins on him… When the SN Ward Panels started to be side-lined I knew the end was near.
In fairness there was a real discussion to be had about who was on the panels and who they represented, but it was a start, a nod to the fact that policing needed buy-in from the locals. In my experience few really worry about car crime or drugs. However, patrol an stairwell known for youth ASB,grafitti and broken lights, get the local authority to fix the bits they need to do, and you’ll probably disrupt and area of drug taking/dealing and where stolen goods are exchanged. Maybe even a robbery hit spot too!
As you say, foot patrol is now a thing of the past. PCs go around in threes in a car mostly and never wear their Beat Duty Helmets, which should be a source of pride as a trademark of British Policing PLC.
Unfortunately I don’t see much hope for a change either.
Great stuff ! I spent five years on what was then called Relief, at West End Central covering Mayfair and Soho. Looking back, I had a great time, worked with great people, and made some wonderful memories.
My best day came during a foot patrol, reuniting a lost child with a distraught parent.
I could write an interesting ‘compare and contrast’ paper on the diverse *ahem* services provided by the (mostly) ladies of Soho and Mayfair.
Happy days 🤣
That definitely brought back similar memories from my time at BH!
Earlier I saw a post on Linked In extolling the virtues of a couple of security patrols who had saved someone’s life in the King’s Road. They were referred to by their employer as “Bobbies”. In some retail neighbourhoods they have taken over as crime prevention patrols from the real police. I made a snippy comment about their nickname, saying that it was traditionally used for patrolling police officers. It seems that rare breed is almost extinct, and has evolved into a private function of a for profit company. This is very sad for the reasons you eloquently described, Dom.
Ray, whilst I agree it’s sad that it’s fallen to a for profit company to patrol the streets of certain areas it goes to show that there is still a need for the service and as I follow their employer I see all the different types of function they perform.
Basically they are doing much of what Dom has written about and as I did in my early service. The fact that these needs are not met by the Met says a lot about modern policing. We all love a squad and feeling of importance in fighting crime when a large part of what the public want is reassurance that there is someone out there looking after them.
It’s a sad fact that certain areas are happy to pay for these “bobbies” and have that service whilst other areas have chosen to spend money using “community wardens” etc who wear a uniform concentrate on money making for their employers with ticketing etc. I know which I’d rather have and if it were at all possible I’d like to have the Met doing it in London but it’s not to be. At least the “Bobbies” company are following it all up with taking people to court and getting convictions which is something else we used to do.
Well argued! Quite right.
Lot of great memories Dom, of the same grounding I experienced back in the day before taking my journey into investigating serious organised crime as a career choice. Great post, thanks for sharing,
Matt Horne
Another great read that brought up lots of happy memories walking the beat on “S” and “Q” Divisions as well as the occasional jaunt up to the bright lights…👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Good description Dom. Like you, my earliest days on team were being assigned to a ‘beat’ and being expected to patrol it. However, our I Spector wanted us to write up process etc away from the station, seeing it as a way to find ‘tea-holes’ and gain community intelligence.
However, my view is SNTs we’re the best opportunity to get it right the Met had for decades. Unfortunately -and as usual - the middle management gap doomed it. It was ONLY one sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs but even that brought the pains on. Now, there were some egregious anomalies -like CX having THREE SNTs in one station that was only two wards, and there WERE scandals like Mottingham SNT which was entirely due to a failure of leadership at sergeant and above level - but overall the model was good. However, as you say, it became in places a refuge for the indigent, malingering and stupid that nobody wanted to deal with. However, that is true of any team that is a bit isolated. CID thought that they should have had more officers too and bitched and carped against SNTs. It takes time to build community links and you had officers who wanted to ‘tick the box’ en route to promotion or specialism who weren’t really interested in making those contacts and were gone anyway in 12-18 months. They never patrolled if they could help it, seeing patrol as the PCSOs job. The sergeants ensured their ‘shifts’ were mainly 9-5 Monday to Friday and allowed the PCs to do likewise. As a SNT Inspector I initially had a battle keeping duties from posting my officers on ‘routine aid’ and got no assistance when I appealed to the centre who we were told were there to bat for us. Many of the later officers assigned to SNTs really had little interest or understanding of where they fitted in. The environmental scanning issue was key and quickly got skipped.
I also found SLT who seemed to think that SNTs were the panacea of all ills and seemed to expect them to be out on patrol 24/7 - clearly not achievable with 1-2& 3.
But the biggest bugbear was around ward panels and particularly ward panel priorities. Quite rightly ward panels wanted quality of life issues addressed. These are long term and usually not sexy, so eventually we got top down priorities that were set by the SLT -burglary or robbery reduction etc, that frankly the locals really didn’t know about or care about. As CI Partnerships at a bust S London borough that was historically lowest in confidence in the MPS (according to the surveys-which could be a whole new blog…) it was frustrating to see my resources redeployed onto anti robbery patrols rather than other work. Now, I have nothing against catching criminals but the way these patrols were carried out achieved almost nothing. Meanwhile I had beggars proliferating down the High St. Low level - yes. Unsexy work -yes. Symptomatic of a social problem -maybe. However, that was what made the local community feel unsafe, not a schoolboy ‘robbery (usually bullying more than anything…) on a bus going home. Maybe 200 people got approached by the beggars. Some felt very threatened by them. They see no police, or worse police ignoring them. They tell just ten friends. That’s 2000 people affected. They all feel less confident in the local police, they all feel less safe and go to the high street less. Businesses feel the pinch with inevitable consequences. One schoolboy gets robbed by a classmate. The class know about it. Some tell parents, some parents talk to others. Perhaps 50 people, who perhaps feel the school is less safe than they thought. The crime is recorded in a street the bus was in, so we up patrols in that area, EVEN THOUGH they would not have caught the culprits under any circumstances! They may be in hi-vis but they are reassuring nobody. They could have been in the high street and interacting with traders, shoppers and yes, the beggars, talking to them, moving them on, arresting if needs be as a last resort. One persistent begger was seen on the IBO camera for three hours. In the end I was so frustrated I went out and exercised my own power of arrest. About fifty people (in an area believed to be ‘anti-police) clapped and cheered. When searched said begger had £400 in coins on him… When the SN Ward Panels started to be side-lined I knew the end was near.
In fairness there was a real discussion to be had about who was on the panels and who they represented, but it was a start, a nod to the fact that policing needed buy-in from the locals. In my experience few really worry about car crime or drugs. However, patrol an stairwell known for youth ASB,grafitti and broken lights, get the local authority to fix the bits they need to do, and you’ll probably disrupt and area of drug taking/dealing and where stolen goods are exchanged. Maybe even a robbery hit spot too!
As you say, foot patrol is now a thing of the past. PCs go around in threes in a car mostly and never wear their Beat Duty Helmets, which should be a source of pride as a trademark of British Policing PLC.
Unfortunately I don’t see much hope for a change either.