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At a meeting of the Hounslow Borough Community Police Consultative Group held on Monday, 17 January 2005 at 7:00 pm at Committee Rooms 1&2, Civic Centre, Hounslow. Present: Voting Membership: Mr J Bach Secondary Schools Headteacher Jo Bacquenois Hounslow Afro-Caribbean Association Flavia Beckwith Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth Crime Reduction Panel Brian Close Heston Residents' Association Mel Collins Grand Union Developments Lata Dhiri Bereavement Services Hounslow Meenu Dhiri Victim Support Middlesex Julius Fletcher Heathrow, Hounslow & District Synagogue David Hardman LBH Neighbourhood Watch Association Bridget Jemmett HFTRA Raghbir Khangoora Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Leslie Robinson LBH Chamber of Commerce John Rowntree CAB Management Committee Jajiwan Singh Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Non-voting membership: Tony Arbour Metropolitan Police Authority Inspector Adrian Baxter Metropolitan Police, Hounslow Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei Metropolitan Police, Hounslow Chief Inspector Gareth Morgan Metropolitan Police, Hounslow Hounslow Council: Councillor Chaudhary Councillor Dhillon, A Councillor Gill, M Councillor Mann Attendees: Inspector Alan Wither British Transport Police, Waterloo PC Russell Tatt British Transport Police, Waterloo Apologies for Absence Abdul Ansary, Andy Atkinson, Brenda Baptiste, Teresa Brown, Ashton Bynoe, Mohammad Chaudhry, Marion Dunn, Andy Fielding, Manjeet Heer, Hassan Isse, Jagpal Khangura, Anne Maloney, Mahmood Mirza, Rupinder Painach and Susanna White 48. Appointment of Chair and Vice Chairs Members voted for the reappointment of Mr Mohammad Chaudhry as Chair of the Group, and acknowledged that this would be his fifth and final year as Chair in this term, in accordance with the Group’s constitution. Flavia Beckwith and John Rowntree were appointed to the posts of Vice Chair. 49. Welcome Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, Borough Commander As Mohammad Chaudhry had given his apologies for this meeting and John Rowntree had been delayed, Flavia Beckwith took the Chair and welcomed Ch. Supt. Dizaei as the new Police Borough Commander for Hounslow. Ch. Supt. Dizaei gave a brief history on his career in the Police, from his time with the Thames Valley Police from 1987 to his move to the MPS in 1999. He thanked members for their good wishes and said that the support he had received since coming to Hounslow had been breathtaking. He praised the remarkable work achieved by his predecessor, Ch. Supt. Harris, and indicated that he had a simple philosophy for his approach to the job and that was “to serve the community”. He suggested that if members of the Police force were to look back at their original application forms, they would most likely find that they too had written something similar when answering the question on why they had wanted to join the force. Ch. Supt. Dizaei expressed his view that to serve the community and to be a legitimate presence in the community would help the community to take part in helping the Police to achieve its targets and that, rather than being seen as a soft approach, this method had a direct relevance to putting criminals behind bars. John Rowntree arrived and took the Chair. 50. Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2004 The minutes of the meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record. Matters Arising: Page 1, Item 36 “Matters Arising – Control of fireworks”: Julius Fletcher noted that the fireworks had finished shortly after 12 midnight and had not proved to be as loud as in previous years. He expressed his thanks to the Police for their involvement in the festivities. 51. Presentation on the British Transport Police PC Russell Tatt and Insp. Alan Wither of the British Transport Police, gave a presentation on the work and areas of responsibilities of the London Waterloo based division of the BTP (British Transport Police). PC Russell Tatt informed members that the Waterloo office was the only 24hour office in the region, which meant that if there were a fatality in Portsmouth late at night, Waterloo staff would have to travel. It was noted that a high proportion of crimes were reported to the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) and not the BTP and that the submitted statistics had been collated from the information available to the BTP and might, therefore, not be a true reflection of the actual situation. Having said that, targets (set in consultation with passenger liaison groups) are regularly met. Insp. Wither, who was one of the inspectors responsible for operations and resources in the London South area, which recorded upwards of 60 fatalities a year, informed members that he was responsible for the London South team. He noted that the BTP priorities related to assault, robbery, hate crime and drug offences. Graffiti was also listed as a priority and combating the belief that it represented a dangerous environment. The BTP had enjoyed a high detection rate on graffiti tags and had put a high number of criminals behind bars. Waterloo had 5 teams, each with a team inspector. The outlying stations such as Feltham and Hounslow were taken care of by a ‘Case Building Team’ with the support of the MPS who took charge of an incident until the Case Building Team arrived to carry out the investigation. Investigations included serious fraud, such as fare ticket fraud. Ch. Supt Steve Morgan, based at Victoria train station was the BTP Area Commander. The force had recently recruited 2 new Ch. Insp.’s and a new Supt., which would give a breadth of fresh talent to the force. It was noted that the job of the BTP was difficult and that crimes were difficult to target and investigate, due in large part to the transient nature of the target audience. He confirmed that both Hounslow and Feltham had been relatively problem free, whereas the more densely populated South London area was more problematic. Insp. Wither invited members to keep in contact with the BTP through PC Tatt, who would be acting as their point of contact. He advised that, should information on any specific issues arise, areas could be designated as ‘hotspots’ and given due attention. John Rowntree thanked both PC Tatt and Insp. Wither for their presentation and acknowledged that they would have to leave the meeting after the break to return to duties in Waterloo. He invited questions from the membership. *** 7.20pm: Councillors Chaudhary and Gill gave their apologies to the Group, due to a booking clash with a second Council appointment. Councillor Chaudhary confirmed that the particular meeting they were attending tonight would be the last in the current series and would, therefore, not directly affect their future attendance at the CPCG. Councillors wished the Secretary of the Group, Kay Duffy, to pass on their concerns around such double bookings to colleagues in the Committee Services Department. *** Brian Close, Heston Residents’ Association, asked whether the BTP were involved in any incidents on bus routes connected to the train stations. Insp. Wither confirmed that any incident on the bus routes was the jurisdiction of Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Councillor Dhillon queried the extent of the relationship between the BTP and the MPS and acknowledged that the BTP relied heavily on the MPS for support and that the senior management liased on issues concerning central London policing. The two bodies worked in tandem with each other to provide effective policing of the region. In response to Councillor Dhillon’s query on the extent of the BTP’s visible presence on the rail network, Insp. Wither highlighted the resource issue, which prevented the BTP from being able to provide patrols on the entire network. Instead staff concentrated on the mainline and London Underground networks. Patrols are deployed for low-level disorders, around school hours, late night and weekends. Reports are then sent to the Crime Management Centre. Insp. Wither confirmed for members that Hounslow had not been targeted as a crime hotspot. Borough Commander, Ch. Supt. Dizaei, drew members’ attention to Home Office research from 2 years ago, which identified that the majority of robberies took place within 200yards of tube stations. He noted the importance of liaison with the BTP on operations, such as Operation Anapurna, which saturated the tube stations with Police presence at peak times. This had produced a very positive impact at Earl’s Court and the Borough Commander hoped to replicate this in Hounslow. He asked Insp. Wither to provide him with the contact details of a liaison officer for the tube network so that progress could be made in this area. Insp. Wither assured Ch. Supt. Dizaei that he would pass his request to the central London office and to London Transport offices at Tottenham Court Road Police Station so that a joint initiative could be developed. Jo Bacquenois, HACA, expressed her view that tonight’s presentation had put the recent TV portrayal of the BTP into perspective, particularly in respect of the lack of staff resources. Insp. Wither agreed that the BTP relied heavily on the MPS. He confirmed, however, that if the MPS were to be involved in an incident, which fell under the jurisdiction of the BTP, the BTP would be entitled to take over the resulting enquiry. 7.30pm – MPA Link Member, Tony Arbour, gave his apologies and left the meeting. In answer to a query from, Lata Dhiri of Age Concern, Insp. Wither confirmed that PC Russell Tatt had been nominated to attend future CPCG meetings. He cautioned, however, that although every effort would be made to attend future meetings, PC Tatt’s presence would depend on staff resources. Julius Fletcher, Heathrow Hounslow and District Synagogue, queried the extent of the BTP’s powers should a member of the public wish to report an incident. He used the example of having a travel ticket snatched at a tube station.

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