Volunteers and policing

Published: 7 July, 2011

• SINCE 2004, the radical introduction of dedicated Safer Neighbourhoods community policing, combined with high levels of partnership between council and senior police, have together had a major impact in reducing crime in our borough year on year. 

Yet this would not have been possible without the participation of hundreds of volunteers supporting police engagement with the community. Over 300 volunteers sit on the panels of the 18 Safer Neighbourhoods panels, working with police teams to set priorities specific to each area over and above daily crime-fighting. 

Over 300 citizens have volunteered as Special Constables, allowing – to take just one example – Camden police to double weekend coverage of Camden Town’s night economy. 

Along with other volunteers in all aspects of Camden’s community safety partnership, that means up to 1,000 participating citizen volunteers, costing the taxpayer virtually nothing. 

The latest round of Metropolitan Police cuts, driven by government, represents a top-down threat to this rich and productive partnership. In the long term it is proposed some 300 sergeant posts should be axed in the Met area, an average of 10 per borough: this will inevitably lead to amalgamation of police teams resulting in loss of focus on the detail currently addressed by ward-based teams, and a progressive dilution of the funding for the volunteer support base. The fact is that the volunteer-supported Safer Neighbourhoods police scheme has delivered the street-level detail, ward by ward, that the old sector policing model was unable to do. At a time when the Prime Minister is calling for a nationwide corps of 500,000 volunteers, Camden residents must fight to maintain community volunteer participation in the way our borough is policed. 

On July 18 concerned Camden residents are invited to attend a meeting organised by the Camden Council & Police Consultative Group to find out more about the impact of the cuts in the context of current concerns about youth violence and disorder.

ROY WALKER, Chair 
SIMON HORVAT-MARCOVIC 
& CHRIS FAGG, Vice-Chairs CCPCG