Community Engagement

Yesterday we were at Costa Coffee for a contact session/Coffee with a Copper. 

It was great to see our residents who took the time to come and see us, discuss some areas of concerns and provide free DNA marking kits.

Why do we hold Contact Sessions?

We are aware that this does produce some negative response, seeing your local policing team sitting and having coffee.

The front counters for Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) used to be open many years ago and was run by amazing volunteers from our community for a number of years. However, some years ago things changed, local offices were closed and teams moved to work from their station where the front counter remains open 24hrs. 

Contact sessions are held at various times and locations to enable those who may want to speak to their local team regarding non crime reporting matters. In addition the teams have always had a point of contact whether it be via the Met Police website or email direct to the policing team. All of which are to enable low-level concerns to be addressed, not for reporting crime as your SNT are not 24hrs and will respond when on duty.

Please be assured that at all times, immediate calls and emergency calls are always responded to by your Bromley police emergency response teams regardless of whether or not your Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) are on duty or not.

Fortunately your SNT are based within the ward, unlike many other wards within the borough, and we have a wealth of experience and knowledge between our team including taser trained, response drivers and Level 2 trained officers.

This does mean that sometimes they are abstracted from the SNT as a priority to staff up the Emergency Response Policing Team or to carry out Level 2 AID such as when there are anticipated large crowds at demonstrations etc to prevent disorder.

Why Report?

If something is concerning our community, whether it be suspicious behaviour, anti-social behaviour or a crime, the importance of reporting and reporting direct to police is absolute. Why?

To successfully get something to a court, legislation requires continuity and intelligence to be gathered lawfully which a CAD reference provides, where as a post on social media or a group chat does not. 

In order for the report to be recorded, and used as a reference to build a profile of what is happening within the ward, the report needs to be made directly by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. 

If something has happened and its not an emergency, it can be reported online. 

All of which enables a CAD number to be created which can be vital for the SNT to gather intelligence and supporting evidence to request extra resources where need be.

There are also other ways to pass information onto Police, such as Crimestoppers which is guaranteed anonymity.   

In the meantime, we continuously reach out to our community to speak with us your local policing team, whether it be via our contact sessions, via email bigginhillsnt@met.police.uk or via the Met Police website https://www.met.police.uk/