Greg Hands visited one of his local Metropolitan Police teams and went on a beat with officers to learn more about the hard work that they do to keep his constituents safe.
On Monday, 10 August, Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands, attended the daily “pacesetter” meeting held by the Metropolitan Police’s Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea team at the invitation of Ch. Supt Ellie O’Connor. These daily meetings involve not only a review of the past 24 hours, but also a forward-facing plan for the deployment of assets, as well as a critical performance review. Observing the meeting, Greg Hands was impressed to see modern technology being used to provide predictive crime mapping in an effort to determine the best deployment of police assets.
Issues covered during the meeting ranged from stolen mopeds to the personal safety of tourists, and planning for VJ Day celebrations and the Notting Hill Carnival. The police officers in attendance revealed the wide range of expertise and resources on offer in the Royal Borough, and included officers who specialise in counter-terrorism and gangs, for example.
Before Greg had the chance to get out on a beat, however, Ch. Supt O’Connor raised a number of issues which may be of particular concern to some constituents of Chelsea and Fulham. First, Ch. Supt O’Connor reiterated the problems associated with keyless-entry vehicles, and specifically that owners of very expensive keyless-entry vehicles should protect them with a steering wheel or crook lock in order to foil the attempts of criminals who steal such vehicles using cheaply acquired tools.
On a related note, Ch. Supt O’Connor raised the issue of so-called super cars, which have caused concern to a number of local residents on account of the volume of noise that they produce. Ch. Supt O’Connor referred to the potential for a new Public Space Protection Order which could serve to restrict the use of such noisy vehicles. Continuing on a similar vehicular theme, Ch. Supt O’Connor reminded Greg about the improved technology of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) devices, which can identify vehicles that may be uninsured or stolen, for example.