Received from Forest Hill Police:

"Local officers including myself and Joanna will visit every address within the ward over the next few weeks to speak to you about our new plans to maintain contact and keep you up to date with crime in your area or last minute changes of plans to prearranged events."


That will take absolutely ages to get to every address - beggars belief........

"The intention is to provide a text messaging service whereby your local team will send text messages notifying you with local crimes that have taken place, when they happen, in your specific area so you are aware and also to provide you with crime prevention advice".

Just set up a Whatsapp group for this purpose and get those interested to contact you with their details.

Does a WhatsApp group show its members others' contact details?

Yes it does,
We use them at work

Which is probably the reason why the police don't use that medium - as I would expect that it opens up GDPR and privacy issues.

Thanks for clarifying though.

The most logical (to me anyway) system for our local SNT to use for communication would be a mailing list..
they could post a link here and whoever wishes to could subscribe to weekly updates pretty much like one does with TFL.
They could also then do the odd 'newsflash' one if there is a local issue that needs immediate attention
ie: missing child etc.

Like stolen cars, lots and lots and lots of them and no apparent action
Lots of break ins and again no action
Hit and runs and again no action
Mobile phone thefts and again no action
Retail thefts and again no action

The common theme of the police is no action, so WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY DO, because I have no absolutely idea. Oh apart from getting the public to use speed guns because some one is driving just over 20mph. A joke and absolute joke.

A common thread is immediately apparent, they don't do anything and the thieves and villains know this this so they do what they want knowing they won't get caught. It has become an utter farce and what does the Mayor do, oh he increases his bit of the council tax, says there are more police, but I don't see them. What you do see is more unmarked cars responding but here on the ground nothing happens.

Actually go and do the policing they are meant to do, because it is becoming a lawless society.

Try and report a crime, oh you can't because they closed all the police stations and when you go to Lewisham you wait and wait and wait to be seen, not by a PC but by an admin person who doesn't even work for them, guess what, front desk has been contracted out. No wonder nothing happens or works.

This post was last modified: 27-03-2024 10:10 PM by samuelsen.

Good shout!
To NottingHillBilly's post

This post was last modified: 28-03-2024 12:31 PM by Anotherjohn.

Re Samuelson's post -

I understood that the police had recovered many stolen cars and dealt with numerous crimes and their perpetrators.

It's not the police officer's fault that funding cuts and ineffective legislation have left them in an almost impossible situation.

Most policemen & women are trying extremely hard to make a fist of it and I appreciate their efforts.

But, yes, as with the crazed zombie knife attack at school home time on a local train yesterday, I totally agree that things have become desperately lawless - and we can only hope that those in Westminster and County Hall will do the right things to get a grip!

This post was last modified: 28-03-2024 12:41 PM by Anotherjohn.

I am aware of at least four cars having been stolen from my road in the last 6- 8 weeks, no action, case closed.
Hit and run in my road, no action
Mobile phone thefts, no action
Retail thefts, police can't be bothered
Drugs use, turn a blind eye

Funding cuts and legislation issues are merely excuses, I want the police to be seen, to be active, to do what the name implies, police, solve crimes, catch criminals, put together water tight cases so they can't get off on a technicality, but no they just take the easy way out.

You say most are trying extremely hard, I totally disagree. London is becoming more lawless day by day. They can't even get the basics right, what chance do we have of them doing what they get paid to do, go and police, i.e solve crimes, make the streets safe, change that to safer.

And in City Hall in his big comyf chair. And don't get me started on the waste of council tax money that City Hall and Councils seem to achieve. Do those staff really deserve annual six figure salaries and ditto in TfL, that's where the increases go to pay for all the paper pushing bureaucrats who love nothing more than layer upon layer of administration which we have to pay for.

thank you

Shouldn't it be Coffee and Donuts with the invisible Cops?.

I have lived in this area for over 35 years and have not seen a police officer for many years. May be base them in portacabins in each ward or my other suggestion I put on other post on this forum: Why Forest Hill deserves its spot in the Best Places to Live in London. Make them walk the area the full shift rather then hiding behind high fences and locked doors and take away they vehicles and use public transport this would improve the safety of the area.

This post was last modified: 30-03-2024 02:47 PM by Herbparis.

There were crimes in Forest Hill on the night from Saturday to Sunday. The police do not respond, your phone does not answer, I leave messages and there is no response. I wonder about the meaning of your existence. It turns out that we residents have to clean up Forest Hill ourselves since the council and police do nothing, and pretend that nothing is happening! We have the right to self-defense after exhausting "legal" ways of solving problems. THE POLICE ARE LYING TO PEOPLE by claiming that there was no crime .... it is a tragedy when the police deliberately lie or do not know the law! Today I am sending you an OFFICIAL registered letter by post with a description of the situation and a link to the evidence. I would also like to point out that there are CCTV recordings to which only the police can have access, and I hope that this time the contact from your side will be so quick that the recording will not be deleted! I also ask people who contacted the police on the night of August 17-18, 2024 and were left without help to contact me. Only together can we change something. 07475008451

Ok... the case continues. I would like to thank the police officer from our local team for contacting me by email and phone. He promised to deal with the matter. But the greatest power lies in us, the residents! We must report every case of robbery or violation of the night silence, but also persistent violation of the health protection act, and specifically about nuisance noise. It is not like someone has the right to play music all day long. If it is a nuisance to people, it is illegal. Even official events have limits to a reasonable level of noise. So an idiot who listens to music in a room at full volume with the windows open is breaking the law. And recently we have a few intelligent people who do just that. In order for this to change, first of all we need to put pressure on Lewisham council and in this case L&Q... because it is in their building that 90% of violations of the rules of social coexistence have recently occurred. We need to put pressure on the local authorities so that the noise team has, for example, one person who will come at night to measure the noise level. We need to put pressure on the authorities to monitor and SIGNIFICANTLY increase the number of police patrols. We need to fight to get the local police station back! A policeman on foot (or on a scooter) is 1000 times more effective than hundreds of meetings that result in nothing. Do not ignore a violation of the law. Every phone call, even if it does not provide a solution ... generates a report number. And this is the basis for fighting for a sufficient number of policemen. Remember that it starts with minor robberies and ends with a knife in the back.... it is better to react while there is time to suppress the criminals before they run wild.

There are two issues here, general criminality and your own particular problem with noise. The council have powers to deal with is so I understand, doubt the Police have the time or inclination to even attend noise. Try reporting it as anti social behaviour , you may stand a better chance.

Forest Hill/Sydenham publish their "newsletter", I'd rather see them deal directly with criminality than waste time producing newsletters which somehow seem to say nothing, never quote numbers of crimes committed by category and clear up rates. Its as though quantitative data isn't produced because they know how poorly they are doing.

The only time I've seen a huge Police response was to Police chase from Southwark into Lewisham borough ending up with the Police ramming the car off the road on Westwood Park. And another unmarked Police car x4 chase only last week, along Benchley Gardens turning right into Forest Hill Road, I don't know what direction the chase went in after that.

It seems Police walking the beat is a thing of the past, they much prefer to be in cars and even occasionally on push bikes.

So, until the power is shifted in City Hall and someone else runs London (bearing in mind the very latest election) the incumbent was re-elected for a further five years, little if anything will improve and is highly likely to become much worse. I have no faith in his ability as has been proven over two terms in office that he can actually do the job.

We need our Police Stations back, but they've been sold off, we need more reliable police officers, we need all police services to be taken back in house and not contracted out, we need front office of stations where you can actually speak to a police officer and not ill informed police staff.

We need needs the drugs and knife crime epidemic in this City dealt with where stabbings are no longer reported as they are so frequent. We need phone thefts eradicated, but its a multi pound industry to China where the phones mostly end up. We need burglaries investigated, problem is there are now not enough spaces in prison.

Try getting an appointment with a GP, they are still working from home rather than seeing patients in surgery, because of COVID. A rubbish excuse or receptionists who you have to repeat everything to because they think they are gate keeper, not merely a receptionist.

Add to that a failing education system, where people can no longer do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. Where in shops staff can't give change because they are incapable of working out the correct change from a £5 note. Or Pharmacists who can't count the right number of pills for a prescription.

Try finding a reliable plumber, electrician, carpenter, painter, builder who is skilled at their trade, does a proper job, can be trusted and works at a reasonable price.

I hate to say it, but it actually makes you want to leave London and move as far away as possible. Even more so if you have young children. London in the suburbs is no longer a safe place to live in.

Politicians and councillors of all persuasions are only interested in their own careers, which makes the carer politicians, they are not there for us but purely for themselves. A prime example is the former Mayor of Lewisham who walked out of the job to be elected as an MP in Bristol.

Constituents no longer can trust the politicians we have. And in Parliament with the landslide majority they hold, they can and will do anything THEY want. Government at all levels from local councils to Westminster are supposed to work on our behalf, not a chance in hell these days of that happening.

And honestly, Lewisham does not need a Mayor we have a Chief Executive of the council already. All a Mayor does is become another level of costly and unneeded beauracracy. Ditto London does not need a Mayor either, look at the stonking 8% increase he adds annually to council tax bills to fund and fill the voids of his apparent budget deficit, whist having £M in the bank anyway.

Money does not grow on trees, people are still struggling, first it was the poor, then the middle classes (and I hate the terms the poor and middle classes), but the rich
never pay, they have schemes to prevent paying tax. It's one rule for us and another for the Establishment. We were told a change was going to come, and it certainly has, Just wait till the October 2024 budget when our pockets will be well and truly picked yet again.

Huge pay rises cannot be given, because the Government purse doesn't have sufficient funds to pay for it all so from a £9M blackhole it becomes a 20M black hole, When will they realise money does NOT grow on trees.

This country is gradually sinking into the abyss and is going to the dogs.

That got it off your chest!

I've heard from Maxxonline with an update on his previous post.

He emailed the Forest Hill Safer Neighbourhoods Team officer, and he agreed that the Police hadn't handled the matter as they should've done - so he's taken it on himself and will try to ensure that things will be done better for us in future.

So, hopefully, that, together with the new Labour government's commitment to stamp-out ainti-social behaviour, will soon start to get a grip with the inconsiderate and disruptive few who don't understand or haven't learned the concept of showing respect and common decency to others and who cause these types of problems, which, incidentally, include regular nightly street noise, drug-dealing/taking, drinking alcohol, sexual acts, verbal abuse (often to women), vandalism, theft/burglary, you name it!

I don't know how many people on here experience any of these problems, but when I called 101 yesterday I was given a link by the operator with a tip to ALWAYS report any such instances immediately on http://bit.ly/40Sj4TP as it gets logged - and the more people who do it the better prospect of getting it up the list of police priorities.

We're only a small town and community, so it shouldn't take too much effort to make it good again - should it?

Yes, it was a lengthy rant and thanks for reading through it.

I'm afraid that this is the thin edge of the wedge though.

The new Government said a change was gonna come, oh it most certainly has, next to go will be or almost is gone, yes free speech or rather any criticism of the new Administration and those who make it up.

Worst still, although they have a stonking majority, they were elected by a minority of the population, I believe and correct me if I'm quite possibly wrong, it was the lowest turn out for the election.

Just wait till the Budget on 30th October, then the pain will really hit home, Austerity Version 2.01, just in time for Christmas 2024. Lot's of grinding of teeth no doubt to come.

This post was last modified: 20-08-2024 02:20 PM by samuelsen.