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[kenworthy]

Week 1:

In this week of remembrance it is incredibly sad that another of our colleagues, DC Cashman died on duty this week whilst chasing a suspect in North London. It is a stark reminder that Police Officers do their duty in the knowledge that they may have to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
I am therefore very pleased to tell you that this week a 19 year old man, Brian Mudziwepasi was found guilty of intentionally firing a gun at 3 of my officers with intent to endanger their lives and has been jailed for 11 years.
This was one of the first major incidents that I had to deal with when I joined the Borough. Sgt Dean Croft and Pc's Jonathan Case & Jonathan Grabauskas attended an address at a block of flats in Morden Road, Morden, to carry out a routine enquiry. One of the officers recognised Mudziwepasi as he was leaving the communal entrance. As they tried to speak to him he pushed past them, produced a silver handgun from his waistband and pointed it at their heads.

Mudziwepasi ran off and as the 3 officers chased him into the street he turned and shot at the officers. Fortunately he missed them and Mudziwepasi escaped down a nearby alleyway. Forensic examination of the area revealed a single shell casing and the gun that fired it - a converted Baikal self-loading pistol. It was later recovered at a location believed unconnected with Mudziwepasi. Following superb work by our Police & Local Authority Integrated Offender Management Team and Trident Gang Crime Command. Mudziwepasi gave himself up at Tooting police station.

Fortunately this kind of incident is rare on the streets of London but particularly so here in Merton. My 3 officers showed incredible bravery and professionalism when facing a dangerous suspect with a live firearm who they continued to pursue even after he had fired at them. Mudziwepasi now thankfully now faces a considerable length of time in prison to consider the consequences of his actions.

I have been telling you for some time that crime is at a 10 year low here in Merton and we have some of the highest detection rates in London. I thought I would put that into a bit more local context by concentrating on one ward - Longthornton. Sgt Steve Burke has been working incredibly hard leading his team to reduce crime. This has involved leaflet dropping, high visibility patrols, getting to know the community and good old fashioned good police work. Over the last year he and his team have reduced burglary by 36% and even more impressively the last 3 months have shown 67% drops since the previous year. Despite these successes Steve has recently written to his team thanking them for all their work but reminding them of the challenge that November presents every year and motivating them to be even more vigilant, not rest on their laurels and continue to make positive difference to his residents.
Some of you know that the Met are looking to replace under-used front counters and open up some of our other non-public buildings, share places with partners or be in public locations like supermarkets, libraries, Post Offices etc at fixed times. The idea being that you will have access to us at the times you want us, in places you already visit. I would welcome your views on this issues and particularly if you have suggestions about places we can use to increase our availability to you.
On a personal level this week I went to the fabulous Merton Partnership Conference on Tuesday which affirmed for me what a fantastic borough this and how lucky I am to be part of Team Merton. I then went with some of you to the Annual Solemn Requiem Mass for Deceased Police Officers at Westminster Cathedral. On Wednesday we hosted the lovely children from The Rowens School on a visit to the Police Station, I went to a Love Wimbledon event in the Town Centre and in the evening I was incredibly honoured to be invited to the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden for their "Mercy for Mankind" exhibition. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are very inspiring to me, their peaceful message of Love for All, Hatred Of None really resonated with me. The evening had many highlights but many of us sat in awe as £350,000 was handed out in donations to local and London wide Charities. This money was all raised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to provide humanitarian aid to those in need and to devote time and expertise for social projects. I met many great people during the evening and I really hope to start work with them soon on youth engagement activities and ideas to engender social harmony.
Finally, today of course is the Remembrance Service at the Civic Centre and then on Sunday, one of the most important days of the year for me - Remembrance Sunday. This year I will be attending 2 Ceremonies with you. Firstly at Nelson Hospital and then Wimbledon War Memorial - I would love to see you there and please come and say hello if you can make it.
I think that is about it for now - have a great weekend and I hope to see some of you today and over the weekend.
Many Thanks
Darren

Darren Williams
Chief Superintendent
Borough Commander
Merton Borough

You can follow MPS Merton on Twitter, @MpsMerton


Week 2:


Another great week in Merton where my officers, teams and managers have achieved some remarkable results.

Those who have seen my speech at the Merton Annual Staff Conference will have seen the smile on my face as I tell proudly that amongst other things;

• Crime is at its lowest level in Merton for 10 years
• We are 2nd in the MPS for TNO (Total Notifiable Offence) detection rates - this is across every crime type that is reported to us
• 999 response time is in the top 5 in the MPS and the best of any Borough in South London
• In relation to QCB data, victims of crime tell us that we are improving in all areas.
• Most Serious Violence - we have the best detection rates of any Borough in London
• We are the only Borough in the MPS to have the 4 key factors of Public Confidence - Engagement, Treatment, Effectiveness & Perception of ASB all above the MPS average.

I could go on, but my point is that none of these things just happen. They have all been achieved by teams and individuals working in partnership with the Local Authority & other
partners at a time when all of us are having even more calls for service and the strain on our resources has never been greater.
Earlier in the week we conducted a series of co-ordinated raids on 15 houses across the Borough to disrupt criminal networks suspected of money laundering offences. We
arrested 10 people, seized cash and drugs but also obtained restraint orders on 2 houses, a high value car and cash valuing over £800,000 - a clear example that we will not let
crime pay.
As you know the MPS is in the mist of a major financial challenge - to save more than £500million by April 2015. We also need to meet difficult targets set for us by MOPAC of
decreasing crimes by 20 per cent, costs by 20 per cent and increasing public confidence by 20 per cent by 2016.
What this does present is an opportunity for us to redesign ourselves to make sure we are match fit for future challenges. One of the things that I need to look at is the use of
buildings across Merton. I want to create a more flexible, locally shaped access that meets the needs of the community, reduces costs and releases officers to do what I think you
want them to do - be out on the streets, not behind a front desk that isn’t being used. A much smarter plan is to use places that you already visit at times you already visit them.
Please be reassured that despite my eagerness to start making this happen, none of these changes will happen without consultation with Senior Partners and Leaders across
Merton. I do know from speaking to many at public events that this period of uncertainty is causing concern for you. I am working with these partners to arrange a series of
consultation meetings with you to discuss this is more detail and give you the opportunity to highlight concerns or ask specificquestions you may have.
On a personal note this week, I am working at the rugby tomorrow where I will shadow the Gold Commander to see what, if any, learning we can gain from Twickenham to bring back to the policing of the Tennis and on Sunday I am a guest at the Christ Church in West Wimbledon.
Next week we are having the Award Ceremony for our latest TKO graduates on Thursday at Nuffield Gym in the Broadway (you are welcome to come and see how this works) and later the same night I am hosting a Local Scout Group at Wimbledon Police Station who are working towards their Emergency Services Badge.
Thanks again to all those that follow us on twitter @MPSMerton and for your messages of support during not only this week but throughout the year so far.
This is a fabulous borough where exceptional people are doing exceptional things week in week out.
Many thanks
Darren

Darren Williams
Chief Superintendent
Borough Commander
Merton Borough


You can follow MPS Merton on Twitter, @MpsMerton

[Stripes]

Thanks for the update :)

[kenworthy]

Week 3


Dear all,
I have to start my message to you this week with the very sad news that one of our finest officers PC Terry Elmer died yesterday.
Terry was only 48 years old and was a key part of our Safer Neighbourhood Team, his ward being in Wimbledon Park where he was widely known and much loved. Terry was taken ill at home during the night and rushed to Kingston Hospital where he died. His wife Jill and son Craig (a PCSO on Trinity SNT) and other family members were with him at hospital.
Terry's death has hit everyone at Merton very hard - Terry seemed fit and well and even just the day before he died he was bantering with his colleagues at an SNT training day.
We have been flying the station flag at half mast as a sign of respect to Terry and we have opened a Book of Condolences at Wimbledon Police Station and will open another at the Wimbledon Park Safer Neighbourhood Base for those of you wishing to leave a message for Terry's family. It is of course too early to give you any further details of the family's wishes regarding Terry's funeral but I will keep you all updated with arrangements.
Last week I wrote to you about how the fantastic work by my teams and individuals has delivered some fantastic results so far this year. I am pleased to tell you that this work has continued since I last wrote to you. Last week we carried out 24 warrants in support of MPS Operation Hawk - this is where we react to intelligence from the community about criminal activity that is affecting your lives. They key part of this is that information from the community is vital to allow us to react to things that are issues for you. There are many ways that you can do this, 999 in an emergency, 101 if not or alternatively if you wish to remain anonymous you can call crimestoppers on 0800 555 1111.
Please don't think that the information that you give us has to always be at the "serious" end of the crime scale, we are always interested in hearing about things that are affecting community life. This week, I have been made aware of ongoing issues with cyclists causing nuisance and danger by using the pavements around Colliers Wood. I have asked the relevant SNT Inspector, Stuart Buchan to come up with a plan of action to deal with this.
One crime that appears to be affecting the Borough disproportionately at the moment is thefts from cars & vans. Where cars are involved it is either number plates that are stolen or property that is visible from outside the car. Both of these are to a degree preventable, tamper proof screws are available for a reasonably small price and I would also recommend that people don’t leave mobile phones, sat navs or iPads on display in cars - all of these items have been stolen from cars in Merton this week.
This time last year saw a dramatic rise in Burglary in Merton and so I have been regularly talking about, tweeting and communicating information about offences and simple things you can do to protect your home. This seems to be paying off so far this year as we haven't yet seen huge rises but we must stay vigilant. Sheds are being broken into and then tools inside (particularly spades) are being using to force open French Windows and UPC doors. Please let your communities know about this and encourage people to secure their sheds and think about the security at the rear of their home.
On a personal level I have been to a number of events across the Borough to discuss the Local Policing Plan and how it effects Merton and on Thursday we had our second TKO Awards night at Nuffield Health & Leisure in Broadway.
This Sunday is the Lotus Floating Flower Festival at the Buddhapadipa Temple in Calonne Road, Wimbledon. It is an amazing event and I will be bringing my family with me so please come over and say hello if you are intending to go.
Next week I have a meeting to discuss our plans to work with Merton Volunteers and the Fire Brigade to provide a unique new service to residents, The Merton Partnership Conference on Thursday and my final appearance at the Annual Staff Conference on Friday.
My final comment today is about my Deputy Superintendent Pete Dobson. Today is Pete's last operational day before he retires after 35 years service to the Metropolitan Police. I have said before that Pete is basically "Mr Merton". He has been here for over 10 years during which time he has been an inspiration to colleagues and partners. He will be missed by each and everyone of us. Pete has promised to come back in March (when he actually retires) and have a formal retirement function and I will of course let you all know the details. The unenviable task of filling Pete's role as my deputy now falls to Supt Dave Palmer who brings a wealth of experience from roles as a Supt on 3 other MPS Boroughs as well as a year at Merton as the D/Supt for crime.

Many Thanks for your continuing support I hope you all have a great weekend.
Darren

Darren Williams
Chief Superintendent
Borough Commander
Merton Borough
Wimbledon Police Station

You too can follow @MPSMerton on Twitter!

[kenworthy]

Week 4




Dear All,
I wanted to start my message with a massive thank you to everybody who has attended the public events I have been at this week. These have provided great opportunities for me to explain my plans to cut crime, catch criminals and be more available to you, in locations and at times that you need us.
I been able to set out our intention to increase the number of Police Constables and strengthen our Safer Neighbourhood Teams by reducing the number of managers we have and realign supervision ratios to those seen in other forces across the country.
We have had some very positive discussions with you about the current use of police buildings and how we improve on this by using public buildings that you already go to at times that you already go to them. These discussion have all been a huge help to me, not only to know that I have your support but also to hear specific ideas about where these places are.
I have been particularly encouraged by your understanding that in order to put more constables back on the streets we need to look at services that we could share with neighbouring boroughs. The current spending & efficiency savings provide real opportunities to look at what we do and ask ourselves what needs to change.
Crime across the borough continues to fall and detection levels continue to rise. I have got to say that this week, you, the community have been fantastic. I have been saying for a while that we needed to increase the amount of people that call 999 when burglaries are happening. This week you have really risen to the occasion - for the last four days in a row, someone in Merton has seen something they thought was suspicious and called 999. In all four occasions burglars have then been caught by our officers at or near to the scene. This really is how the police and community need to work together to make this the safest borough in London.
As if this wasn't already enough, yesterday a male, in a car with four others, jumped out of car, snatched a ladies handbag from a victim before getting back into the car and driving off. A mini cab driver saw what happened, followed the car and wrote down the index number. He called us with this information before going to the aid of the female victim. As a result of his actions - four males have been arrested for this offence. The vehicle is linked with another robbery from last Friday and two further robberies on other boroughs.
In terms of crime prevention I have two things to tell you - there continues to be a spate of burglaries not only here but on other boroughs. An increasingly common method is to break into your shed and then use garden tools (normally spades) to force the UPV / French Windows. Please check the security on your windows, doors AND your sheds.
We continue to see a monthly increase in thefts from cars. All too often iPads, Laptops, Phones and Cash are being left on display in cars - they are like a magnet for thieves.
As you know we are in the mist of a real drive on domestic violence and violence against women. It is called "Op Athena" and is a campaign being run all over London. In support of this officers from Hillside Safer Neighbourhoods Team lead on operation on an address suspected of being run as a brothel. Two Chinese sex workers were discovered inside the premises and they are now being supported by specialist officers from SCD9. Further enquiries are being conducted into the landlord/leaseholder. Great work by Hillside SNT. Again this would not have happened without people in the community calling us to tell us what's going on.
Also in support of "Op Athena" we are organising a toy and gift collection for Solace Women's Aid to distribute to children living in domestic violence refuge accommodation. Hopefully this will make life a little bit brighter for them over Christmas. Solace is a London based charity that supports women and children affected by domestic and sexual violence. They have around 120 children in their refuges. The refuges cater for boys up to the age of 14 years and girls up to the age of 16 years, although most children are under the age of 10 years.
We are looking for gifts such as puzzles, arts and crafts materials, pyjamas, boards games, books, colouring pens and pencils, selection boxes, sweeties – the list of goodies are endless, no gift is too small, and each and every one will be very used. The gifts should be new, unwrapped and not be religious in nature or promote violence in any way.
Any such gifts would needed to be handed in to us at Wimbledon Police Station by Wed 12th Dec to allow us to get them to the central collection points.
That's about it for now - again a massive well done and thank you to all those that picked up the phone and made a real difference to the safety of others in Merton, you are my stars of the week.
Many Thanks
Darren
Darren Williams
Chief Superintendent
Borough Commander
Merton Borough

[kenworthy]

Week 5:

 

 

Dear All,

My message this week starts sombrely as this morning was the funeral of one of our finest officers PC Terry Elmer who died suddenly and unexpectedly two weeks ago.

Terry was hugely popular with everyone here at Merton and judging by the crowds of people that attended his funeral he was also hugely popular outside of the Police. We will all miss him greatly but we will not forget him.

This week has seen the start of our Christmas Initiative Operation Blitzen. It has been designed to tackle an expected rise in crime in the run up to Christmas and we are employing a variety of tactics across the Borough.

As part of this, on Wednesday we carried out a safety awareness display in Wimbledon Town Centre with our colleagues from London Fire Brigade (LFB), London Borough of Merton Traffic Patrol and Safer Merton. For the display we used an Operation Reclaim car to mock up a car crash scenario where a victim is cut out by the LFB. During the display LFB offered smoke alarms and fire prevention advice to shoppers and we gave out crime prevention advice. One thousand Blitzen leaflets were distributed to crowds and shoppers and nineteen push bikes were property marked & registered by our cycle task force.

Twenty-four people have been arrested this week during Op Blitzen - some of them as a direct result of information you have given us. Two examples of this were; you told us that stolen goods were being sold at Wimbledon Sunday Market. Op Blitzen officers went there this week and arrested a man trying to sell a stolen bike and we later recovered a further twenty stolen bikes at his house. On another stall we discovered two men selling stolen mobile phones and their arrests led to us seizing stolen phones and cash that are suspected as coming from burglaries across SW London.

Op Blitzen will run right up to Christmas Eve and is a combination of uniform and plain clothes patrols. If you have any information that may assist us to make this the most crime free Christmas ever in Merton please get in touch via 101 or if you wish to remain anonymous on crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Thank you to everyone who has brought in toys and gifts for our collection for Solace Women's Aid. Items we are given will be donated to children living in domestic violence refuge accommodation to hopefully make this Christmas just a bit brighter. Solace refuges cater for boys up to the age of 14 years and girls up to the age of 16 years, although most children are under the age of 10 years.

We are looking for gifts such as puzzles, arts and crafts materials, pyjamas, board games, books, colouring pens and pencils, selection boxes, sweeties – the list of goodies are endless, no gift is too small, and everyone will be used.  Please can gifts be new, unwrapped and not be religious in nature or promote violence in any way. Any donations need to be handed in to Wimbledon Police Station by next Wed 12th Dec to allow us to get them to the central collection points.

Crime in Merton continues to fall in every area EXCEPT thefts from cars & lorries. This has been a continuing problem all year. Money, iPads, SatNavs and tools are the favoured things that thieves seem to be stealing. With cars it tends to be things on display but thieves are also breaking into vans to see what is inside. Please can you circulate this amongst your communities as simple things like not leaving items on display will help.

Finally, we are really on a roll in Merton with people calling 999 and that call resulting in thieves being arrested. We had a great week this last week and it got even better on Saturday when an eagle-eyed resident in Merton Park spotted two men acting suspiciously early in the morning. As a direct result of their 999 call,  two men were arrested and we recovered a stolen car, five stolen pedal cycles, mobile phones, cash and over £4,000 of mechanical tools. The suspects have been charged with offences across the Borough and on Monday they were remanded in custody.

I will deliberately finish here on a positive note on what has been an emotional day for us - thanks for your continuing messages of support.

Darren

Darren Williams 
Chief Superintendent 
Borough Commander 
Merton Borough 
Wimbledon Police Station

[kenworthy]

Dear All,

Another week closer to Christmas and judging by the numbers of people that seem to be flooding into our town centres most people are leaving their shopping until the last 2 weeks.

Unfortunately this season is also the time that thieves, fraudsters and robbers increase their criminal activities with no regard for anyone else's Christmas. That seems to happening in Merton this last week as we have seen a spike specifically in Burglary and Theft Person. There seems to be no pattern to the burglaries other than front / rear doors and windows being forced to gain entry. Houses in Calder Rd, Chaucer Way, Dorset Rd, Cottenham Dr, Panmuir Rd & Mitcham Park have all being burgled over the last couple of days.

Please can you ask people in your communities to re-think their security. Things such as leaving lights on, making sure doors, windows, side gates and sheds are always locked and secure can and do make a difference. However, probably the single most impactive thing is for people to call us when they see or hear something suspicious. As a resident said on Twitter this morning - Come on Merton - these crimes don’t happen in silence - let's look out for each other.

With regards to the "Theft Person" offences these seem to be split into 2 main groups. It is either wallets, purses and phones being stolen in crowded shopping places or phone & ipods being snatched out of peoples hands. In both circumstances you can, to a degree, take preventative measures by taking extra care of your property when in crowds and not openly displaying expensive phones/ ipods.

As you know we have a dedicated team of officers in plain clothes & uniform working up to & over Christmas to cater for the rise in crime. The officers who are working in shopping centres and crime hotspots. Please encourage people across your communities to keep information coming in to us. Some of the successes we have had since the beginning of December have been as a direct result of things you have told us. Well done and thank you to all those that have picked up the phone and made a real difference to safety of everyone in Merton.

On a much more positive note a prolific thief linked to burglaries, motor vehicle crime and drugs was sentenced yesterday following excellent work by our Crime Squad. Oliver Cooper who was wanted by police for a number of offences crashed a car whilst on the run. We traced him to a hotel where he jumped from a 1st floor window to escape. The room was found to contain stolen goods from burglaries all over SW London and a large quantity of drugs. Cooper was convicted of burglary, handling stolen goods, dangerous driving and drugs offences and sentenced to three and a half years in Prison. I hope that this sentence indicates to those burgle and steal in Merton that they can expect to go to prison for a long time.  DC James Leeks ran the Cooper case and he worked tirelessly to gather a vast number of statements and forensic evidence. It is thanks to his work that Cooper now has this and the next few Christmas' to reflect on the harm he has caused in Merton.

As you know last week was the funeral of PC Terry Elmer. Thank you to all of you that have signed the Book of Condolence we opened for him. It will be at Wimbledon Police Station for another week for anyone who wants to leave a message for his family.

For the next two Fridays and next Saturday we are taking members of the public out on patrol with us to show them what we do and to get some direct feedback about things that we may be able to do better. They will be tweeting live whilst out on patrol with us so it may give you a member of the public's view of Friday / Saturday night with Merton Police.

Finally we have been running a toy and gift collection to make sure children living in domestic violence refuge accommodation get a present this Christmas. The picture below contains just some of the many and varied items that people across Merton donated. I am absolutely delighted by the response and cannot thank enough those of you who donated items. We took them to the central collection point today and they too were astounded by the scale of the generosity from the people of Merton.

Have a safe weekend - look out for our public on patrol this weekend and I write again next Friday.

Darren

 

Darren Williams 
Chief Superintendent 
Borough Commander 
Merton Borough 
Wimbledon Police Station

[kenworthy]

Week 7

 

 

Dear All,

As this is my last message to you before Christmas I wanted to reflect on the last 12 months in Merton.

I have had the honour of being your Borough Commander for 10 months now and I would like to thank you all for your personal support to me and your unwavering support to Merton Borough Police.

I also wish to publicly acknowledge and thank my wonderful officers, staff, volunteers and cadets for their hard work and dedication over the year that without a doubt has made Merton a safer borough to work, live, commute in or visit.

It has been an extremely challenging year for us. They have had to work many unsociable hours, particularly over the summer and this has meant that they have often missed out on valuable time with their families and friends.

It is because of these sacrifices that crime in Merton is now the lowest it has ever been for 10 years. We have the best burglary detection rate for 10 years, the best 999 response times anywhere in South London and our reductions in gun crime, knife crime & violence are some of the highest anywhere in London. Across the range of offences (referred to as Total Notifiable Offences) we detect more crimes than any other London borough except one.

I am delighted and extremely proud of these achievements but we have not achieved these results alone. We have been working closely with the Local Authority, partners and local residents to make Merton a hard place for criminals to operate. We have encouraged the reporting of suspicious activity and asked residents to use the property marking schemes and take extra time to secure their homes.

As I have already mentioned the summer saw the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations followed by the awesome London Olympic and Paralympic Games. My officers and staff worked tirelessly to ensure that these events were safe and secure whilst driving down crime figures in Merton to record lows. These have all provided us with different yet exciting challenges over the past twelve months.

My Senior Leadership Team and I are all very proud of the hard work, commitment and dedication shown by our officers and staff in 2012. We are ready for the challenges ahead and we are committed to continuing to provide you with high quality borough focused policing that you can be proud of.

Please take care to keep your possessions and homes secure over the Christmas and New Year periods and if you see anything suspicious call 999 straight away.   

From all my officers and staff Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Darren

Darren Williams 
Chief Superintendent 
Borough Commander 
Merton Borough 
Wimbledon Police Station

[kenworthy]

Week 8:

 

 

Dear Friends,

A very Happy New Year to you all - I hope that you all had a good time over the holidays and let's hope 2013 is as successful as 2012. My teams have been working tirelessly over the Christmas and New Year periods to ensure that the momentum we built during 2012 was maintained, crime levels were kept low and victims were given the excellent care they have come to expect in Merton.

  
I mentioned in December that we were running a month long initiative. It was called Op Blitzen and it specifically related to predicted seasonal rises in crime leading up to & over Christmas & New Year. It is no surprise that these rises occur within our 3 town centres with Wimbledon Town Centre being the main focus. In 2011 there was a rise in most crime types during this periods but the rise in violence was a specific concern.

So to prevent this, this December we ran Operation Blitzen and used a variety of tactics including; overt and covert visits to licensed premises and Christmas markets, overt and covert patrols, test purchase, sting operations, bike marking and IMEI scanning. We also utalised our PCSOs and volunteer Cadets in high foot fall localities during peak times to engage with shoppers, give out crime prevention leaflets and further enhance our uniformed presence.

These activities within the Town Centre resulted in a 32% reduction in theft from shops and a 30% reduction in theft of cycles. Total offending (TNO's) reduced by 24% from last December, there were no Burglary's and probably most significantly there was a 50% reduction in violence against the person. I would like to publicly acknowledge the commitment and leadership of Chief Inspector Jim Corbett who led Op Blitzen and all the officers who worked on the operation. Long hours, often at times when everyone else was out celebrating but they achieved exactly what they set out to do. 

Another success story has been the excellent work of the staff on Longthornton SNT around reductions in Burglary on their ward. Sgt Steve Burke identified that during November and December 2011 there had been 36 burglary offences. He told his team that he would not let this happen this year. Steve delivered on his promise. During November and December 2012 there were only 13 offences of all types of burglary and access to a residential property was gained on only 5 occasions - a 64% reduction. This success is a reflection of the Steve's team had throughout 2012 as they achieved 43% reduction in burglary during 2012. Well done Sgt Steve Blake, PC Raoul Sebastian and PCSO's Jodie Trenoweth and Aneta Kapuscinska.

Many of you will have heard my views on Domestic Violence. I believe that it the single biggest contributing factor to community cohesion, broken families and violent offending. It will always be at the very top of my priority list and so I am delighted to tell you about some superb work by one of my officers, TDC Helen Lawson. Helen has been running a complicated domestic violence investigation involving a long history of abuse. The victim had previously been unwilling to support allegations made to police but Helen worked tirelessly to win the trust of the victim. She further strengthened her case by getting independent evidence from a neighbour. The suspect appeared at court on the 7th January and because of the overwhelming evidence against him he pleaded guilty to Grievous Bodily Harm and Breach of a Non-Molestation Order. He receiving 28 months for the GBH, 6 months for the breach and was given a 10 year restraining order.

I was also very pleased this week to find out that one of our schools officers, PC Chris Couch who covers Rutlish School has been awarded a National Jack Petchey Leadership Award for the outstanding way that he has encouraged and motivated young people in Merton.

On a different note some of you will have read articles in the press this week about the MPOAC Policing Plan for the MPS and in particular what it means for Merton. It is a long document with many different aspects to it but I believe that it presents real opportunities for us to look at what we do and make simple but effective changes that will result in more constables on the beat in your communities. I committed to do this when I arrived in Jan last year and it is still my intention to do this. I urge you all to come along to the public meeting to discuss this report with the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne. The meeting is at the Civic Centre on 26th February 2013 at 6.00pm. You need to go onto the MPOAC website to register for the event and straight afterwards Andrew Wakefield will be holding a Police Consultative Group meeting to discuss and debate issues raised. Please try and stay for that one too - you don’t need to pre-register for that part.

Those that follow us on twitter @MPSMerton will know that we are still seeing a rise in Motor vehicle crime. I have been communicating the specific crimes on a daily basis and there are a number of locations that are coming up as repeat venues. IPods, laptops, cash and satnavs have all been stolen this week, many of them were left on display in cars. Several vans have also been broken into and we have had a few number plates stolen across the Borough. Please continue to contact us with any information you have about these crimes and to report suspicious behaviour if you see it. 999 in an emergency, 101 if not and if you wish to remain anonymous then crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.  

I think that this is about all for the moment. I realise this year will be a challenge and many of these challenges will come out of the blue when we least expect them. This is a fantastic Borough and if we continue to work together, look out for each other and talk regularly, Merton will remain a hard place for criminals to operate and we will continue to see crime levels falling.

Thank you for your support

Darren

Darren Williams 
Chief Superintendent 
Borough Commander 
Merton Borough 
Wimbledon Police Station

[kenworthy]

Dear all,

I want to start my weekly message this time with an update on something that has been concerning lots of you and has given us our first operational policing test of 2013.  As many of you know, 4 young people have been robbed of their mobile phones at gunpoint recently in a 4 linked series of armed robberies in the Wimbledon Chase area.  These offences presented some real challenges to us because of the nature of the offences and the location.  I took a deliberate decision to not tell you about some of the tactics we were employing because of the need to protect the covert side of some of them.  I am therefore really pleased to be able to tell you that last night, during a covert operation the main suspect was arrested in Wimbledon near to where the offences were happening. Two other suspects were later arrested and an imitation firearm was recovered along with at least one of the phones stolen in the robberies.  The three suspects are currently in custody at Wimbledon Police Station.

My first round of thanks is to the members of public who came forward with information and intelligence.  Secondly, I need to publicly highlight the drive, determination and leadership of Detective Inspector Dan O"Sullivan who led the enquiry and his team, in particular DS Danny Taylor, who has worked exceptionally long hours over the last two weeks to identify the suspects.

Another officer that I need to highlight this week is Acting Chief Inspector Jim Corbett who led our Christmas initiative Op Polar. This week he has been leading another operation, this time against illegal vehicles and driver. In just five days of activity Jim and his team have seized 31 vehicles, arrested 6 people and issued over 90 notices of prosecution.

I realise that you will have become used to these types of good news stories here in Merton and I hope you will recall my pre-Christmas message where I said that 2012 was good but 2013 would be better!  I really feel that this is the case here in Merton.  We are very lucky that we have some exceptional people working here and everyday they do fantastic things to make it a better place for everyone.  This is why I am approaching the new financial challenges for the MPS as an opportunity to make us even better.  If we can bring uniform officers out from back office functions and put them onto the streets of Merton that must be a better thing for everyone. Thinking about the effective use of our buildings and reverting to using just Mitcham and Wimbledon police stations will further improve our effectiveness and service to you.

Those that follow us on twitter @MPSMerton will know that there has been a rise in burglary the last few days and also theft from motor vehicles continues to be a problem across the Borough.  Both of these crimes are opportunist and to a degree, can be prevented by relatively simple crime prevention tactics.  Doors and windows left insecure, keys in locks and inappropriate security have all been factors this week.
Finally, I hope that the weather does not cause you to much disruption this week.  Please secure you homes and possessions if you take the opportunity to enjoy the snow and I will write again next week

Many Thanks

Darren Williams 
Chief Superintendent 
Borough Commander 
Merton Borough 
Wimbledon Police Station