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Sydenham Police Station
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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #1
23-01-2012 04:08 PM

Information from the Sydenham Society:

We've just heard that the Metropolitan Police are planning to relocate the Sydenham Safer Neighbourhood Team to Catford police station, Bromley Road SE6 and to sell the police station in Dartmouth Road SE26. This move could take place as soon as the end of March. We are very concerned about this proposal, particularily as Sydenham is experiencing high levels of crime (it is currently a "hotspot" for robbery and knife crime in Lewisham). The Sydenham Society want to register our opposition to this move and will be seeking the support of councillors, traders and local organisations.

Please register your objection by emailing Detective Chief Superintendent Jeremy Burton, Lewisham's Borough Commander. The Borough Commander's email address is: jeremyburton@metpolice.uk

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #2
24-01-2012 07:40 AM

Are they selling the flats as well? I thought that police officers actually live in the adjoining flats.

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NewForester


Posts: 379
Joined: Feb 2008
Post: #3
24-01-2012 09:41 AM

If you mean Miriam Lodge, it has not been used by PCs for a while. It is now a bail hostel for homeless people. There are a couple of discussions on Sydenham Town Forum here and here

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NewForester


Posts: 379
Joined: Feb 2008
Post: #4
24-01-2012 09:53 AM

(One of these threads rumours that it is also operating as Hotel Hive)

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councillorsusanwise


Posts: 76
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #5
28-01-2012 11:35 AM

This police station is the base for the Metropolitan Police in our area and where the constructive and productive ward Safer Neighbourhood Teams are located and the SNT Panel meetings with residents are held.
The Metropolitan Police are considering relocating the SNTs to Catford Police Station in the Bromley Road SE6 as they wish to sell the Sydenham site, which could happen as soon as the end of March 2012.
The SNTS and our panel meetings with them are a great asset to the community, and being located locally is a great advantage.
An online petition to protest against this proposal has been set up and to sign the petition, please go to
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-...e-station/
Thank you

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councillorsusanwise


Posts: 76
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #6
28-01-2012 11:38 AM

petition site should read
http://www.
ipetitions.com/petition/save-sydenham-police-station/

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nottinghillbilly


Posts: 653
Joined: Dec 2010
Post: #7
28-01-2012 12:19 PM

I've signed....and encourage others to follow suit-Everyone was quick to get involved in stopping a domino's pizza opening in HOP and this is A LOT MORE IMPORTANT!Thumbup

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Foresthillboy


Posts: 36
Joined: Jan 2012
Post: #8
30-01-2012 11:09 AM

Totall agree, we all need to sign, love of loathe them, youowuld not get that far without the good old British booby

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #9
30-01-2012 12:01 PM

The great British booby? Do we have a Fallen Madonna somewhere then?

Seriously, some years ago I was followed in my car by an aggressive driver who took exception to my driving somewhere along Wood Vale they were clearly intent on following me home and doing some damage as I could see them mimic cut throating actions in my rear view mirror. I was too scared to drive home as they would know where I lived and also was running out of petrol. I managed to lure them into the back of this police station and into the station yard where I sounded my horn and lots of police came running out. They hadnt a clue where I had taken them but I am so convinced that this saved my life, or at least from a severe beating up.

Trying to lure them to Lewisham might be a little more difficult, or even Catford,especially as Ive never worked out where Catford police station actually is. We cant afford to lose local police stations, as otherwise the whole service becomes less visible. This is why I am signing the petition. Please do the same. If they really do want to save money, let them think of interesting ways to combine their premises with other key services. I think there is one in deepest Suffolk which also contains the local pub, newsagent, and Post Office.

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Brockley_Babe


Posts: 57
Joined: Jul 2009
Post: #10
30-01-2012 12:30 PM

Catford Police Station is along Bromley Road next to the TA Centre.

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Foresthillboy


Posts: 36
Joined: Jan 2012
Post: #11
30-01-2012 01:15 PM

Apologies for the typo, should have read BOBBY

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Satchers


Posts: 262
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #12
30-01-2012 10:08 PM

It seems we are saying that a permanent-ish police presence in that part of SE23/26 is needed but I wonder that maybe it doesn't have to be in that building.

Lets just say it was replaced by a block of flats with an office or hub for the SNT in it. Would that meet most peoples expectations?

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Perryman


Posts: 820
Joined: Dec 2006
Post: #13
31-01-2012 12:19 PM

"Would that meet most peoples expectations?"

I dunno - they need to have a sound proof basement/dungeon so they can do all that extracting confessions stuff.

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poolsneighbour


Posts: 162
Joined: Mar 2011
Post: #14
31-01-2012 12:22 PM

So I hear that some guy was just chased into Dartmouth Estate (next to the pools) by another guy who was wielding a large knife..nice..home sweet home..! This kind of activity just confirms the requirement for a local police presence..shocking to think it could be closed down..

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #15
31-01-2012 03:36 PM

There was a good posting on Sydenham Town Forum from somebody who I believe is a police officer. Split over two posts due to the limit on length of postings.

Bensonby wrote:
I've read this thread with interest over the past few days but haven't had the time to sit and write a proper reply.

As it is, I'm unaware of any plans to close/move the police station or, indeed, what the latest plans for the MPS estate is locally. I do know that there is a review of front-office provision across the borough: it's actually something that happens quite regularly - examining footfall at the five front offices that are open across the London Borough of Lewisham. I also know that there is a MPS-wide review of the whole estate, how (or whether) buildings are fit for purpose, what they do, how can resources be used more efficiently and so on.....this is all being considered especially considering the strain on resources at the moment.

Before we go any further perhaps it would be useful to know what police stations we have in the borough and what happens at each of them:

Lewisham:

Lewisham Police Station is the HQ for the borough, it is shared by several departments, Lewisham Borough Operation Command Unit [BOCU] only actually uses just about half of the building - the other half are used by the Specialist Crime Directorate [Homicide and Serious Crime] and the Mounted Brach. They are pan-London deparments and are organisationally seperate from Lewisham BOCU. Aswell as the Senior Management at Lewisham, there is the custody suite, borough intelligence departments, planning departments, a training department, vehicle fleet resources, CID, case clerks that put stuff together for court, CPS lawyers, several safer neighbourhood teams [SNTs], the town centre team, and it is a parading site for response team officers. It also has a front office that is open 24 hours a day.

Catford:

Arguably, Lewisham's "2nd station". It has a custody [which is mothballed, to be used for special events, overflow, when other custody suites are being renovated etc], It is home to a couple of SNTs, it parades response team officers, it is home of the "Taskforce" which patrol in plain clothes and deal with robberies, it is also home to a couple of back-office functions such as the press office. It has a front office that is open 24 hours a day.

Deptford:

Is a smaller station than the two above, it is home to response team officers and, I think, 1 SNT. It also has a front office open 24 hours a day.

Sydenham:

Is home to 3, I think SNTs, It was until very recently also home to a Special Constabulary unit that had pan-London duties. I think they have now moved to Eltham though. It has a front office open office hours Monday-Friday.

Brockley:

Is home to a couple of SNTs. It also has a front office that is open for a few hours a day Monday-Friday staffed by volunteers.

[/quote]

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #16
31-01-2012 03:38 PM

Bensonby wrote:
...
Further to explaining the above I also think it is useful to explain how people come in contact with the police and how the police respond to calls and who comes:

The response teams are who 90% of people who call for an officer will meet: they operate 24 hours a day, every day, and turn up in marked police vehicles, such as "panda cars" and vans. as you can see above, they work out of three police stations. In some boroughs they work out of one site and it has been mooted in the past to do the same at Lewisham. (We'll come back to this in a minute.) Some years back every station had response team officers in them.When you call 999 (or 101) and it is deemed that a response is necessary the control room will most probably despatch a response car. when you call police the call goes through to the control room - which is a call centre based in Lambeth (there are three in London, but all Lewisham calls go to the Lambeth one). They then radio out the details of the call - the location and so on... Generally speaking response PCs do the initial investigation of a crime/incident and then it will be passed to teams that are dedicated to investigating particular types of crime - in theory at least leaving the response officers more free and available to answer calls.

The SNTs are "local police". They are much smaller teams (usually only a couple of PCs and a few PCSOs). The SNTs' job is to patrol areas on foot or by bicycle, to follow up with victims of crime, to get to know the area and its problems, to deal with neighbour disputes, to execute warrants, to provide ongoing support for ongoing problems etc. It's rather more slow time and a lot of lower-level issues are delegated to them. They don't work 24 hours - but they do work evenings and weekends and their hours aren't particularly "regular". Anything requiring a quick response won't be handed over to them (unless, they happen to be in the area at the right time etc)

The other way people come into contact with the police is at front counters: i.e. walking into a police station. To be honest, it's not as common as it once was - my gut instinct actually says that the demand isn't there - there has been a trend in recent years (especially with phones, internet reporting and so on) for business to be conducted over the telephone, or for the police to call at people's houses (it's all part of the service!) - to be honest, I don't understand why many calls aren't resulted in a "direction to the police station" rather than the despatch of a car. But there you go, the net result is often a very quiet front office: I've known of Catford and Deptford front office to have absolutely no callers all night. Before the advent of mobile phones, I suspect, where people in distress might have made their way to a police station - now they just dial up. Either way, this is, I believe, the rationale behind studying the footfall at the police stations. (I believe the study is still ongoing - but it might have ended).


The trend in recent years has been towards centralisation: this invariably means smaller, local, buildings have closed and resources have been centralised in larger buildings. On many levels this makes sense - vehicle fleets are easier to manage in one place, it is easier to hand cars over between shifts, custody suites are more efficient if there are, say, 30 cells in one station rather than 10 cells in three. It's about economies of scale and the effective pooling of resources.

But what about response times? Common sense would lead one to believe that if you are further from a response-team station then you won't get as quick a response. I thought so too - that's why I analysed several months' response-time data in my spare time as a bit of a hobby - it simply wasn't the case that places further from police stations got slower-response times. Why? Because the Police aren't the Fire Brigade: they don't sit in police stations waiting for things to happen. When not answering a call, or dealing with the fall-out from a call [paperwork!] police officers are out and about on patrol looking for crime/criminals etc. As such, the chances of a police car being close to a call are a little bit random.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #17
31-01-2012 03:39 PM

Bensonby wrote:
In my gut I don't like the idea of police stations closing. But we have to be efficient - especially in an era of contracting budgets. SNTs need to be near to their patches. I know some don't work out of police stations: some work in premises that aren't open to the public - offices on their patch. I like the idea of front offices - where members of the public can walk in to make an enquiry. But, again, they seem rather under used and the MPS doesn't help itself in this field by directing people to them rather than sending out officers - to calls that really aren't urgent and could be dealt with at a police station. It's something I'd encourage: but culturally it doesn't seem popular or "what's done".

It's not a straightforward issue: and if we want to have the debate let's at least have an informed debate.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #18
14-02-2012 02:07 PM

From Sydenham Society e-newsletter:

Sat 18 Feb, 10am outside Sydenham Police Station, 179 Dartmouth Road SE26 4RN

Join us this Saturday outside the police station at 10am and meet Brian Paddick, prospective Liberal Democrat Mayor of London, who is visiting Sydenham to show his support for community policing and the retention of local police stations.

This will be an opportunity to gather more signatures for the Save Sydenham Police Station petition, and to hear Brian Paddick's views on policing in London. As we have reported previously, the Metropolitan Police are reviewing all their sites and may relocate the Sydenham, Forest Hill and Perry Vale Safer Neighbourhood Teams to Catford. Come along and sign the petition on Saturday. You can still sign online at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-...e-station/

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #19
10-01-2013 04:20 PM

Proposals have now been published to close Sydenham (Dartmouth Road), Brockley, East Dulwich and many other police stations across London. In each borough only a single station would be open 24 hours. In our case Lewisham would be the only 24 hour police station.

What is not clear to me is if there are any plans for any neighbourhood presence for the police officers, such as a unit on the high street (as has been suggested previously).

http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/f...3-2016.pdf

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #20
16-01-2013 07:30 AM

There is a Lewisham borough public consultation event on 28th January 2013 on the MOPAC Police and Crime Plan. This meeting will take place at the town hall in Catford at 6pm. If you would like to attend you must register on the following weblink: http://www.london.gov.uk/events/policing...urce=mopac

The full draft MOPAC Police and Crime Plan can be found at: http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/poli...engagement

The online questionnaire for the Police and Crime Plan can be found at: http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/v.asp?i=67232epffs

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