Cracking down on crime and anti-social behaviour is very much a team effort for the council and the police in Southall.
Officers from the council’s envirocrime, safer communities and regulatory operations teams have joined local police in a series of regular partnership enforcement days aimed at tackling problems such as street drinking, fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles in the local area.
The partnership days tackle a range of issues affecting local people in the Southall area. This includes rubbish and fly-tipping, non-compliance for local businesses – which means cracking down on unlicensed goods and counterfeit products – as well as helping local shops and traders maintain high standards of practice.
Sergeant for Norwood Green ward, Guy Rooney, is one of the officers leading the partnership enforcement days and has seen the joint effort between the council and police already see success recently in Norwood Green, and last month in Southall Broadway.
Sergeant Rooney explains: “Our most recent partnership day took place in Southall Broadway and we were targeting enviro-crime and issues around trading standards and licencing.
“In Norwood Green, we were able to seize 27 litres of unregulated alcohol from a local shop, which obviously could pose a health risk to local people. By cracking down on non-UK duty and counterfeit alcohol, we can help tackle the problem of street drinking at the source, which in turn see less anti-social behaviour in Southall.
“We also issued a £300 fine to a driver for having rubbish bags in the back of his van and no waste licence, part of our tough action against fly-tipping and our aims of stopping potential rubbish dumping before it happens.”
Sergeant Rooney is keen to emphasise how the strong partnership between the council and police is helping achieve real results in Southall: “This is all about joined up work between the police and the council,” he said. “We have achieved some really good results so far and with more planned we’ll be looking to continue this.
“The really positive thing is the partnership aspect, as the name suggests. It makes everyone’s job easier and helps us to achieve real results for the local community.
“A good example of this has been our joint effort to removed abandoned cars in the local area. We’ve worked together to share information about these problem vehicles which makes our job of getting them off the streets easier – reducing the anti-social behaviour in the process.
“The vast majority of local residents witnessing our partnership and the work we are doing are incredibly positive and are pleased to see action taking place to help make the local area safer and more pleasant.
“We know how important issues such as fly-tipping and street drinking are to local people, which is why reducing crime and fear of crime, and improving the quality and cleanliness of the local area in Southall is a real priority.”
“The focus is engaging residents with local businesses to help them comply with the law. By educating and intervening we can make a difference and improve community safety in Southall.”
