Forest Hill has been chosen as one of the first wards within Lewisham to have Met Trace Smart water rolled out to it’s residents. Met Trace is a 3 year burglary reduction initiative and will see the MPS visit 1 in 7 homes (440,000) across London, 2500 of these will be in Forest Hill and Downham. To date over 600 residents within Forest Hill have received their free £75 packs and the remainder will be issued by April 2016. Met Trace is a forensic smart water solution applied to just about any item of property chosen by the home owner and links that item of property to that address. This can include jewellery, power tools, computers or just about anything the owner wishes to mark. Met Trace will increase our ability to detect crime, whilst proactively deterring offenders as well as being the most significant opportunity for police to engage with the public in recent memory.

Over the past few months, officers from Forest Hill SNT have received complaints regarding motorists driving at speed along Honor Oak Road. Residents, staff and parents were concerned for the safety of children who attend the Primary School on this road as drivers were not stopping for the children whist they were on the zebra crossing. A number of complaints were of some motorists verbally abusing the school crossing lady when she challenged them. To address these complaints, the team have made regular visits to the school at peak times, conducted several speeding operations to educate drivers on how to use the road appropriately when approaching a school. This action has improved safety of parents and children on this stretch of road.

Since September, officers from Forest Hill SNT have held several bike marking events in partnership with colleagues from Safer Transport Command Officers at various locations around the ward. These events allow officers to mark cycles owned by residents for free in order to help reduce bike thefts across the ward. These events will begin again in the new year and should you require any advice on this or any other matter please contact us on 020 8721 2723 or ForestHill.SNT@met.police.uk.