I was horrified to read about the problems relating to children being attacked and robbed in East Dulwich. I find it extremely disturbing that our children almost view being robbed and bullied as an occupational hazard and a part of growing up. The fact that children will make stories up rather than tell their parents that they have been robbed, threatened or beaten up is almost beyond belief. If it were not for your blog, I would not have believed it possible. I am glad that all concerned appear to be ok, however, the people responsible need to be caught if we are to be able to reassure and protect our kids. I don't live in East Dulwich but I run a business here. As part of my commitment to the area and to the local community, I am the Chair of the East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhoods Ward Panel, which is a committee of volunteers from within the local community, responsible for setting priorities for the Police Safer Neighbourhoods Team covering the East Dulwich Ward. This blog was brought to my attention by a local resident just before our last ward panel meeting. As a consequence I was able to raise the matter and raise the profile of this particularly nasty type of crime with the panel. There was much discussion about the issues and the committee unanimously agreed to set it as a priority for our Safer Neighbourhood Police Team to research the issue and look at ways in which they can target this type of crime ie look at if there is a pattern emerging about where this type of crime is committed and if so can it be traced back to particular groups, schools, estates or streets for example. It is vitally important to share information on issues like this and I would urge everyone to encourage their friends and neighbours to continue to report issues like this, if not to the police then through forums like this one, so that at least the information is out there so that anyone can find out about it and at the same time, we as a community can build up more intelligence on and awareness of the situation. I would encourage anyone to report a crime to their Safer Neighbourhood Team. Even if a crime cannot be solved, at least the Police are fully aware of what is going on in their area and can target resources appropriately if a pattern starts to emerge. If someone does not want to report the matter directly to the Police, they can email me and I will use the information to help inform the decision making process when setting priorities for the Safer Neighbourhood Team. Our Ward Panel is independent of the Police and is there to set priorities based on the perceived needs of our local community. Below are the contact details for the Safer Neighbourhood Team Tel. 02087212447 Email
[email protected] Regards Martin Cambridge
