Police Introduce Dispersal Zones To Combat Crime In Chiswick

Rapid response units will also get emergency back up from 'Interceptor' team

Police have been given extra powers to combat the rise in crime in Chiswick. Two dispersal zones were announced this Wednesday (16 January), for Turnham Green and Homefields wards, which means that police can order anyone they believe to be intent on criminal activity, to leave the area.

Police said the zones, which are active for 48 hours before having to be renewed, are in response to the increase in robberies in the area. The dispersal zone permission was "granted to prevent offenders carrying out criminal activities from 10:00 hours today until 09:59hrs 18th Jan 2019".

Local officers are implementing a range of both uniform and plain clothes tactics in order to tackle the issue head on and reassure the public. The issue is crime continues to cause a great deal of local concern, as you can read on our forum.

Extra back up from 'Interceptor' teams, who have high powered vehicles for pursuing criminals, with highly trained police officers who can use tasers, are also announced for the West Area Basic Command area, which includes Chiswick and Ealing. They will be on call 24/7 to respond to emergencies, in addition to the Rapid Response teams. 'Operation Stallion' has been put in place for a three-month period as part of the emergency police response to the recent increase in muggings and knife attacks.

Equipped with 3 BMW high-powered vehicles and a Volvo with 4x4 capability, officers will be directed to target problem areas and focus on high risk offenders to proactively disrupt criminality. West Area BCU Commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Martin said “The team enables 24/7 capability for dynamic response to emerging threats and high risk issues that are affecting our community.

"The officers were selected from Emergency Response for their outstanding performance and aptitude for the task. “

Chiswick Back Common has seen a number of incidents

Dispersal zones, which are granted by a Police Inspector, are to combat Anti-social Behaviour, under the Crime and Policing Act 2014. A uniformed police officer can order an individual to leave the locality (or part of the locality), and not to return to the locality (or part of the locality) for the period specified in order, which cannot be more than 48 hours. Hounslow Town Centre has also been declared a dispersal zone.

The officer has to satisfied on reasonable grounds that the action will remove or reduce the likelihood of members of the public in the locality being harassed, or the occurrence in the locality of crime or disorder. Operation Wolverine, which has focused on knife crime, has also been successful in making a number of arrests recently.

The team with West Area BCU Commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Martin

The extra measures are being taken to reassure the public that the police are taking action to make the area safe. Three quarters of the Chiswick residents who responded to a survey on policing are not confident that the police can protect them from crime, and the majority (87%) feel that their area will be a worse place to live in the next twelve months.

Respondents overwhelmingly believe (95%) that police patrolling in their area would prevent crime. Nearly a quarter of all respondents (24%) report that they never see a police patrol in their area.

Local residents have been subscribing to the OWL service to get information on crime and how to report it.

OWL is a shared, secure platform for the public and local authorities to maximise the potential of NW and dozens of other schemes. OWL sends out the latest local crime alerts and provides management tools for maintaining and expanding watches.

There will be an update report from the police at the Chiswick Area Forum on the 5th of February.

January 16, 2019