December 10th, 2011 by Mark Rusling
The Met Police run the Neighbourhood Link- a community messaging service that provides news and information about policing, crime prevention advice and major incidents affecting your area. It is a very useful service – you can sign up for as much or as little information as you want.
For more details, and to sign up, click here.
September 30th, 2011 by Mark Rusling
New figures out from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, show that since the 2010 general election, Waltham Forest has lost 40 police officers. This leaves us vulnerable to events like the disturbances in August.
This is a direct consequence of the government’s decision to cut the deficit so fast. We are paying for a problem that none of us caused.
July 20th, 2011 by Mark Rusling
Recently, some offensive stickers have appeared on poles around the Queens Road and Hoe Street area. They are the work of a tiny minority of people intent on stirring up tension between different racial, ethnic and religious groups within Walthamstow.
The council is aware of the issue and is working with the police to identify those responsible. Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been asked to keep an eye out for the stickers and posters and to remove them. The council will not tolerate racist and offensive material and has a policy to remove any stickers or posters within 24 hours.
Council officers are engaging with local mosques and community groups, which have been very supportive. If you see any material which is racist or offensive, please report it to Waltham Forest Direct (020 8496 3000 or wfdirect@walthamforest.gov.uk) and it will be removed and investigated.
We’re proud of our borough’s diversity, and we won’t let anybody exploit that to divide us.
March 23rd, 2011 by Mark Rusling
On Monday, we held our first Community Ward Forum, at St Stephen’s Church on Copeland Road. We had a good turn-out and an interesting discussion.
Officers from the council explained about the ways in which residents can get involved in shaping the future of Walthamstow Town Centre. We then heard from the Head of Voluntary Action Waltham Forest, and from the local police Safer Neighbourhood Team. We finished up with an opportunity for residents to ask questions on any topic concerning them.
For details of the discussions and the action points from the meeting, click here. Thank you to all who attended and spoke, and to Hilda Griffith from St Stephen’s Church, who looked after us so well.
February 4th, 2011 by Mark Rusling
As part of the Council’s ‘Back To The Floor’ initiative, I spent yesterday afternoon shadowing the council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team and police Safer Neighbourhood Team. We visited a number of properties throughout the ward, assisting residents with problems and tackling houses whose occupiers regularly pose problems for their neighbours.
The anti-social behaviour team work to resolve problems before they escalate and Vedia Hannan, who covers Hoe Street ward, is clearly very experienced at dealing with issues which can make residents’ lives a misery. We will not tolerate people who behave in that way – contact us if you are experiencing problems with anti-social behaviour. For details of the council’s work in this area, click here. You can contact the team at any time by calling 020 8496 3000.
The Safer Neighbourhood Team, under Sergeant Stu Doyle, work only in Hoe Street ward, so understand the issues affecting residents. For more information, click here. To contact them, call 020 8721 2642. In an emergency, always dial 999.
Thanks to Vedia and Stu for the opportunity to see their work up close. You could say I was Hoe Street warding on the moon….
December 6th, 2010 by Mark Rusling
Local police Safer Neighbourhood Teams have made a significant impact on safety in our community. The teams provide a visible local presence, based in each ward, with named officers dedicated to their residents.
The Metropolitan Police are currently considering ways in which these local police teams can better serve their communities. The review will cover the structure and functions of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
To have your say, click here before 21 January 2011. For more information on local policing, contact any local councillor.
October 29th, 2010 by Mark Rusling
The spending cuts announced by the Conservative-Lib Dem government this week are deeply regressive. Despite the government’s claims, the cuts in public spending will hit the poor 2.5 times harder than they will hit the rich. If you would like more details, email cllr.mark.rusling@walthamforest.gov.uk and I can provide them. Click here for a detailed explanation by the BBC.
The government has made no attempt to assess the impact of the cuts on gender, race and disability inequality. We expect that the decisions made will only serve to widen the existing unfairness.
Local government funding will be reduced by 27%, hammering our ability to provide services on behalf of our residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable. We will have to find at least £65 million savings in the next four years, excluding the £270 million of funding lost because of the withdrawal of Labour’s school rebuilding programme.
Grants to fire authorities are being reduced by 25% and police funding is being reduced by 20% – putting our residents at risk. Education budgets for the over-16s are all being slashed, hampering the ambitions of Walthamstow residents. Rents for social housing are being increased, at the same time as Waltham Forest faces an influx of thousands of people from inner London who have had their Housing Benefit capped at unreasonable levels.
Bus and rail fares are going up, reducing the ability of people from our borough to find work. Free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions, the right to one-to-one nursing for cancer patients, and the one-week target for cancer diagnostics – all introduced by Labour – are all being scrapped. Warm Front – providing free insulation for the poor and elderly – is also going.
All this amounts to a concerted attack on the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community. We do not deny that savings have to be made, but the decisions taken by the Conservatives and Lib Dems this week are not decisions that Labour would have made. We would not have chosen to balance the budget on the backs of those least able to bear that load. The cuts announced this week were not inevitable – the government has chosen to cut in this way. All Conservative and Lib Dem politicians – local and national – must be held to account for their choices.
October 27th, 2010 by Mark Rusling
Waltham Forest has seen a recent increase in distraction burglaries, with many bogus callers posing as officials from the ‘water board’ (which does not exist). These callers do not try to break into homes – they try to trick or con their way in instead. Many claim to be on official business from the council, police, health authority or water, gas or electricity companies. Some may ask for a drink of water, to use your phone or wash their hands.
Don’t be fooled – follow these steps:
September 23rd, 2010 by Mark Rusling
We have had a message from the police Safer Neighbourhood Team that we would like to pass on:
Please remember to lock your uPVC door from the inside with the key. Pulling the handle up does not fully engage the locking mechanism. All keys should then be taken away from the area of the door so that they are not on show. However, it is imperative that you can find the keys should you need them in an emergency, such as fire.
February 27th, 2010 by Mark Rusling
Today, after helping out at the community health event in the Orford Road Asian Centre, we headed to Milton, Cairo and Tower Hamlets Roads. We spoke to over 50 residents about parking issues and crime. Some residents told us that they would like to see more police on their streets, and we are working hard to make that happen.
We attend the Hoe Street Safer Neighbourhood Team panel meetings, where we feed back your views to the local police officers. The Labour Party is also backing the 120 Campaign, to persuade the Mayor of London to allocate enough funding to Waltham Forest to bring our police numbers in line with neighbouring boroughs. At the moment, we have the same number of police as Redbridge, but the same number of crimes as Hackney.
We are very happy to take a stand with residents against crime in our area. We all live locally, so we all have the same experiences of crime – do get in touch if you would like to work with us.
