Harrow Safer Neighbourhood

Over the last couple of weeks there have been several knife attacks across London, which has caused concerns on how safe London is and how safe our own boroughs are. In a recent news article published by the Harrow Police it mentioned that Harrow has the lowest crime rates in Northwest London.

Local police have been working to make harrow a safer neighbour hood. Many authoritative structures have been put in place to carry out the necessity of a safer environment for local residents. Here are some of the things that the police have been doing to make Harrow a safe neighbour hood.

1. Undertaking initiative programmes to tackle knife related crimes committed by youths. The police have been disrupting and detecting knife enabled crimes and showing zero tolerance towards anyone in possession/carrying knives and weapons. An operation was undertaken in South Harrow underground station where officers both plain and uniform clothes stopped and searched around 90 youths, and out of this one person was arrested. This proved to be a successful exercise as it reassured the residents and commuters of harrow that as a borough we do not have a knife crime issue.

2. To combat anti-social behaviour the police have increased their foot patrol, and gated the alleys to prevent fly tipping. By gating alleys this should help reduce the increasing illegal activities that have been taking place.

3. The police have increased their stops with young people in possession of alcohol. They have taken the alcohol of the teenagers who are in possession of a significant quantity. This has helped combat any alcohol related crimes and is therefore making the streets safer.

4. The police have been arranging activities such as football coaching sessions for those aged between the ages of 8-16 and half term activities. This should help take the youth wandering the streets.

5. A new team has been created to patrol the streets of Harrow town centre. Their tasks will include

a. Distributing street trading that is illegal
b. Deterring pick pockets from the area
c. Ensuring people are felt safe in the town centre areas at night.
d. Tackling anti-social behaviour and
e. Dealing with shoplifters.

6. Increase in speed guns purchased to deter motorist speeding.

7. “Bin watch” has been launched to reduce burglaries in the areas.

As well as the police undertaking the above initiatives, local businesses have also been doing there bit to help tackle knife crimes and anti social behaviour. The police erected a knife arch outside the Crazy Horse pub in Stanmore one Friday night.

A youth fashion show was also staged in St Ann’s shopping centre that involved youths from Harrow and local business showing their support for the event. This provided an opportunity for the youths to invest their energy into a community project and at the same time raising money for a local charity.

The Harrow Police have evidently found a way to keep violent crime to a minimum. They appear to be actively involved with the youth to ensure that Harrow remains a safe area for everyone in the neighbourhood.