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Wandsworth needs its fair share of police!
 
Crime is a major concern in Wandsworth.  There are many serious issues, such as gang membership, gun crime, murder and drug dealing which affect everyone.

Mark saw for himself what an exceptionally good job the local police do when he went out on the beat with them. But he also saw how overstretched they are. In fact, most of the time there are no beat police on duty at all in Tooting. 

Last year, the Borough's most senior police officer told Councillors that Wandsworth had "not had its fair share of police officers for some time". The reality is that Wandsworth has 80 fewer police officers than ten years ago. Tooting’s Labour MP is on record saying he supports this arrangement and has suggested that temporarily borrowing officers from other Boroughs is good enough.

As a teenager Mark used to go to Streatham ice rink, so he was particularly disturbed to learn of the murder of a teenager there recently. But Mark was especially shocked at the Government’s response, asking the police to stop and search people “known” to carry guns. Mark believes that it cannot be right to let people known to carry guns onto the streets of Tooting in the first place.

During his night on the beat Mark saw officers move on a dozen young people who were loitering in McDonalds, reviewed a Council crime reduction project on Tooting Broadway and inspected several graffiti hotspots. He also discussed recent burglary issues with the head of the local Tenants' Association. Afterwards Mark questioned officers on local crime issues.  
 
 
Mark Clarke’s ideas for improving local policing

We need more police officers

On average Tooting police station has around 10 police officers and 5 PCSOs on duty serving 30,000 residents. This is absurdly low and Wandsworth as a whole has 80 fewer officers than ten years ago. We clearly need more officers locally. For example, this lack of resources means that burglaries are only investigated if they involve a vulnerable person, are a first time offence or there is particularly good intelligence. This means that burglary victims are often left to report the crime via a phone message, only to be left a message with an interim crime reference number in return!

We need 24/7 beat policing

Safer Neighbourhood Teams are modelled on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week neighbourhood beat policing initiative which was pioneered in Chicago. In Tooting, Safer Neighbourhood Teams are made up of one shift, working eight hours a day, five days a week. In order to get the double-figure decreases in crime seen in Chicago locally, we need 24/7, high visibility, neighbourhood beat policing.

Give PCSOs a proper mandate

PCSOs take the same risk on the beat as Police Constables but are not insured for that. As a result, PCSOs are told to step away from trouble. PCSOs need to be given the mandate and the backing to tackle crime and disorder on our streets.
  
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