Last week Camden Conservatives arranged a public meeting at St Stephens on Rosslyn Hill, for residents and local business owners to hear from the Metropolitan Police Borough Commander, Det Ch Sup Catherine Roper, about the scourge of moped crime that has been causing much anxiety across our neighbourhood.
Cllr Claire-Louise Leyland introduced the Borough Commander and set out some of the fears and concerns about the rise in moped crime that people had shared with their councillors. Det Ch Sup Catherine Roper explained more about the new combined Camden and Islington police service (the 'pathfinder model') to the audience. She also noted that while there has been no reduction in police staffing levels, it was true that current crime levels statistics showed Camden to be at the top of the league for moped crime. She then explained some of the work that is being done in the borough, particularly Operation Attrition, an intelligence-led operation that uses a range of policing tactics to tackle moped related crime. Cllr Jonny Bucknell then demonstrated several moped theft methods that are seen in the area and how these may be prevented.
Many questions were taken from the floor about the many different individual experiences that people had of this crime and how police had responded when they had called to report the incident. The Borough Commander and her team responded sympathetically to victims' stories and they were able to answer some of the questions. While this was appreciated, many people said they were still waiting to hear what would actually be done to stop these criminals.
At the end of the meeting the Borough Commander expressed surprise and concern at some of the stories that local people shared with her. She said that she would take back all of points made and look into them carefully to make sure that she could use this feedback to improve her team's performance. She also agreed to return to speak to the community after Christmas, to report on the steps she’d taken and how this had helped her to impact moped crime in Camden.
Your Councillors will continue to communicate with both the Mayor's Office and the Home Office about residents’ concerns and how we can work together to support police to eradicate this crime in Camden.
Cllr Claire-Louise Leyland: 07798 846240 [email protected]
The full notes from the meeting are attached as a PDF below