29 Nov Hammersmith Business Crime and Safety Forum
On 18 November, the BID organised and hosted a Business Crime and Safety Forum. Attendees included representatives from the Met Police Safer Neighbourhood Team, Met Police Counter Terrorism, the Youth Engagement Team, and Safer Transport. The LBHF Community Safety Team was also represented, along with the Council’s CCTV team.
BID businesses who attended the Forum included the Novotel London South West, 245 Hammersmith Road, A&E Networks, TK Maxx, Marks and Spencer, Primark, Romulus/Shortlands, Barclays, HSBC and the Broadway Centre
The aim of the Forum was to bring our business community and supporting partners together into the room and explore how we can work together for a safer Hammersmith.
It was noted that the UK’s terrorism threat level that has now been raised to ‘severe’ – meaning an attack is ‘highly likely’.
The Met Police, Counter Terrorism, suggested that the key to improved security and resilience is to get to know neighbouring businesses, communicate, observe and be alert to unusual behaviour or incidents. National training courses such as ACT Awareness and SCaN were also recommended.
The Met Police – Safer Neighbourhoods team sought information and greater dialogue with businesses, in order to be able to act on security concerns in a timely fashion. Crime prevention site surveys were also offered to businesses; and joint patrols with security teams would also be available on request.
Businesses were able to voice their own concerns about crimes and anti-social behaviour affecting their trade, and to seek advice directly from the partners at the meeting.
The types of incident discussed included theft of goods in transit, distraction thefts, pick-pocketing, repeat offenders and anti-social behaviour.
LBHF Community Safety reported that the Council has signed up to the Mayor of London’s Women’s Night Safety Charter and is engaged in improvements and initiatives that contribute to women’s safety.
To compliment the Council’s women’s safety strategy, the BID reported that it is working on a Discussion Paper. The aim is to create a Women’s Safety Forum – a space for people to share resources and best practice, listen and contribute to the conversation. For more information about this, please contact the BID team.
To get a more detailed insight into the Forum’s content, or to sign up for the next event, please contact Gordon Brockie, Operations Manager, on g.brockie@hammersmithbid.co.uk