Forum Topic

Have police numbers in Hammersmith been cut?

This time a 14 year old boy stabbed and left in a critical condition. Within the last few weeks a man has been killed on Sulgrave Road and another shot near Sinclair Road. We get lots of statistics thrown at us about police numbers but is the truth that there have been serious reductions in front line policing now manifesting itself in a sharp increase in violent crime locally?

Ellen Kearney ● 5094d5 Comments

Frankie - I missed this meeting but may be interested in going to a future one. Are they all open to the public and if so is there a listing anywhere of future meeting dates?

Karen Cooper ● 5089d

Would be interesting to know of how many youths searched, how many were actually found to be carrying dangerous weapons.  Surely from that it could be determined whether the stop and search policy is working?

Carol Burge ● 5093d

If you are interested in policing within the borough and related matters, there is a public meeting tonight at the town hall at 6.30 p.m. This is the regular two-monthly meeting of the Community Safety Board and this evening's main topic is Road Safety - however there is always an opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns about any police issues.

Frankie McAllister ● 5093d

I think numbers are down but this probably is not the main reason for the apparent upsurge in violent crime recently. Hopefully three major incidents in a short space of time is a just a blip. A more important reason for the rise in knife crime is the controversy over the ethnic bias over stop and search with a disproportionate number of black youths targetted. As a disproportionate number of black youths are victimes of knife crime it might be worth allowing the police more discretion in this area.

Paul Corcoran ● 5093d

I don't know if police numbers have been cut but there seem to be more community support officers on the street.  At one time you would never see police walking the beat, now it is very rare that you don't see somebody in uniform.  Obviously though that does not take anything away from the seriousness of these crimes.  My concern is why it seems so "normal" for the youth of today to be carrying knives or guns?  And that using these weapons seems to come so easy to them?  I know a lot of it will be to do with being seen as the big guy/girl in a gang but when I was younger a lot of the battles were dealt with by a bit of a fist fight or hair pulling!

Carol Burge ● 5094d