Bromley Borough Commander's Newsletter for September

Welcome to September’s newsletter.
Changes to policing in Bromley will begin from Monday 16th September 2013, when the borough will go live with the Metropolitan Police's local policing model. The model will see changes to Safer Neighbourhoods Teams [SNTs]. With more officers and additional responsibilities, SNTs will take a stronger approach to catching criminals and protecting our communities.

Using their detailed local knowledge, SNTs will now be responsible for investigating
neighbourhood crime, tackling those that cause harm to our communities and reducing
anti-social behaviour. SNTs will be more visible with officers on patrol later into the
evenings, over the weekends and at peak times.

A neighbourhood inspector will have the flexibility to direct officers to where they are needed un-restricted by ward boundaries. They will take responsibility for reducing crime in their area and be held accountable to the local community. Neighbourhoods will be made up of at least four neighbouring wards within the borough. Each ward will continue to have a named PC and PCSO that will not be removed from ward duties; the other officers on the team will work across wards. This means the neighbourhood inspector has more officers to use that will not be restricted by ward boundaries.

There will be new ways to contact the police. Victims of crime, or those who wish to speak with a local police officer, can make an appointment at a time and place convenient to them. Bromley police station remains open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Penge police base and West Wickham police base will provide standard front counter services.

There will be additional contact points in police buildings and staffed by SNTs across their neighbourhoods for a minimum of three hours per week. The 101 telephone number will remain for non-emergencies and the public will be able to request a visit from a local officer within 48 hours. In an emergency there is the 999 system that answers just under five million calls a year - 93 per cent in ten seconds or less.

Details on the borough’s Neighbourhood Inspectors, Public Access details and Contact Points can all be found in this month’s newsletter as a PDF file at:-  Borough Commisioner's Full Newsletter

Bromley Police Station Open Day Sunday 22nd September

Bromley Police Station is to open to the public for a public engagement event on Sunday 22nd September 2013 between 10am - 4pm.

Click on the image to enlarge it

This event will give members of the public a rare and behind-the-scenes glimpse at what goes on inside a police station and see some of the vehicles, specialist units, equipment and resources that the MPS has at its disposal.

Visitors and residents will also be able to talk to local Senior Police Officers about policing in their area and will be on hand to give out crime prevention advice and material.

Safer Transport Teams will be carrying out free cycle security marking of bicycles and registering the details on BikeRegister to help tackle and prevent cycle crime.

Members of the public can attend the police station in Bromley High Street anytime between 10-4pm where they will be greeted by Borough Police Officers and given a talk and tour of the station and an opportunity to ask questions.

There is no requirement to register for the event or the cycle marking, simply turn up.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said:

"We are very clear that we are here to serve London and by inviting the public into our police stations we can give an insight to our daily work to keep them safe and tackle criminals."
"I’d urge all Londoner’s to visit one of the police stations which is opening near them on the day and learn more about the Met."
"I want the Met to be an open organisation. We are accountable to the public. These open days symbolise that openness - and I hope people enjoy looking around their local station."

Burnt Ash Library Reading Group 26th September

The next meeting of the reading group at Burnt Ash Library is on Thursday 29th August 2013 at 2.15 pm.

The book to be discussed is:-

The Girl in the Painted Caravan: Memories of a Romany Childhood 

by Eva Petulengro

'The Girl in the Painted Caravan' vividly captures a way of life that has now, sadly, all but disappeared.

Describes the characters in the author's family, from her grandfather 'Naughty' Petulengro to her four beautiful aunts who entranced everyone they met, as well as the fascinating people they came across on the road.

'The Girl in the Painted Caravan' vividly captures a way of life that has now, sadly, all but disappeared.

Due to high demand they are currently unable to take new members.  Please ask if you wish to join the waiting list


For more details visit the library or contact the librarians on 020 8460 3405 or by email at burntash.library@bromley.gov.uk
For details of other activities at the Burnt Ash Library see the following link:-
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/directory_record/34386/burnt_ash_library

Reporting Excessively Noisy Parties

A householder in the Links Estate was badly disturbed on Saturday night (7th September) by a party in Leamington Avenue. At midnight her house was still reverberating to the thud of music from the party.

The Leamington Avenue party had a marquee in the garden so the sound carried further than for a party held indoors. A couple of weeks previously a party in Oaktree Gardens caused similar problems. People holding parties don't realise how much the noise carries and that a large proportion of the estate were being kept awake. There are often sick people, people with small children and people who just need a decent night's sleep.

If you are affected by such a problem and you don't feel that explaining the problem to the people holding a party will have much effect you can report it to Bromley Council at the following web page:-

http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/412/pollution_control-noise/453/reporting_noise_problems

If you are being affected by a noise nuisance, contact Bromley and they can give advice and take action when appropriate.

When can they take action

• domestic noise like amplified music, parties, barking dogs or noise from DIY
• commercial noise from pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, shops or warehouses
• industrial noise
• construction and demolition noise
• intruder alarms and car alarms

The out of hours noise service is at :

http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/412/pollution_control-noise/453/reporting_noise_problems/3

They provide a noise service outside office hours from 5:00pm - 3:00am Monday - Friday and 8:00am - 3:00am  at the weekend and on Bank Holidays for responding to 'emergency' noise problems.

SNP Street Briefing 7th September Boadlands Road

This meeting is at the junction of Broadlands Road and Ridgeway Drive. The previous briefing was very successful and was a great opportunity for getting to know the Safer Neighbourhood Team. 

Roslin Way Allotments Open Day

On Saturday 7th September the Roslin Way Allotments Association will be holding their Open Day.

The gates will open to the public at 10.00am. As always there will be a selection of fresh, local produce to buy including:-

• Fruit and vegetables 
• Flowers and plants
• Cakes and Produce

This is a small sample of produce which will be on sale

This is a popular event and the best items go very quickly so although the notices say it is open till 1.00pm you should try to get there early. Tea and coffee will also be available as well as some gardening tools.

If you are interested in becoming an allotmenteer and growing your own fresh food this is a good opportunity to come and chat to some of the plot holders.

Please try and bring a bag or two and please make sure you have some coins rather than £10 or £20 notes as we only have a very small float.

Attempted burglary Ridgeway Drive 29th October

There was a break in at a house in Ridgeway Drive on Thursday 29th at about 4.45 pm in broad daylight.

The owner had just got in from work and had gone upstairs. She heard a bang and went downstairs and confronted a young intruder who had kicked in her front door. She screamed and he ran off along Briary Gardens.

The police were soon on the scene and concluded that it was an opportunist entry with the thief looking for car keys to their very expensive four wheel drive car which was parked outside the house.

The police canvassed the area without success. They have been along parts of  Ridgeway Drive posting crime prevention leaflets warning of other similar burglaries in the area.

Since car manufacturers have made it more difficult to steal cars without having the keys this kind of burglary has become more common. Car owners should avoid leaving car keys anywhere near the front door or any window. There have even been cases of thieves putting a fishing rod through the letter box to retrieve a set of car keys.

If you need more information the Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood team are holding a drop in session tomorrow Tuesday 3rd September between 11am and 1pm.

Property registration with Immobilise.com

Following an event as large as the Notting Hill Carnival it is highly likely

that a number of items of personal property will have been lost or possibly

stolen. Due to the sheer numbers of attendees it may not have been possible

to report these losses during the event.

You can  enter any such missing items on the free www.Immobilise.com  

database.  This excellent website contains 27 million accounts and is the 

best register of lost or stolen personal items in the UK.

It is easy to register an account and the guides to registering items such

as mobile phones, laptop computers, camera and so on are very clear and easy

to follow.

The important detail that is required is the unique serial number of the

item that is lost/stolen. This is because when officers discover property ,

they will check only the serial number against the National Register and so

any other numbers will  not accurately identify your property.

Even if you have not lost any items it is a good time to create a

free account and register your possessions.The Police anywhere in

the UK can intercept stolen items, arrest offenders and more importantly ,

return your property to you!

Mobile phones are perhaps the most common items that is lost or stolen.

Every phone or  any other device which can connect to a network using a Sim

card, such as iPads and Tablet computers,  contains a 15 digit unique

serial number  which is referred to as the IMEI number. Careful recording of

this number is essential when registering your phone or device.

Once you have registered and seen the array of items you can protect, please

spread the word among family and friends.

I have an account and have protected all of my families devices and

identifiable personal property from cycles to guitars, and I thoroughly

recommend you do the same. 

National Mobile Phone Crime Unit 

www.nmpcu.police.uk