Mar/Apr 2024

26
South Woodford Village Gazette
ON THE CASE
Inspector Chris Russell, who oversees neighbourhood policing for South
Woodford, Churchfields and surrounding wards, explains how the
Baroness Casey Review is improving local policing
A
warm hello from your new
neighbourhood policing inspector
for north Redbridge. I recently
joined the team in January and am based
at Barkingside police station, where I
oversee neighbourhood policing for South
Woodford, Churchfields and 10 other
surrounding wards.
I joined the Met in 2014 after a period of
neighbourhood policing in South Wales,
where I am originally from. I then took a leap
of faith and moved to the bright lights of
London. I initially worked in Barnet for six
years on both neighbourhood and response
policing. I then joined the Met’s counterterrorism
command, working at Heathrow and
London City Airport before gaining promotion
to sergeant. After that, I worked as a custody
sergeant, later returning to response policing
in Hammersmith and Fulham. Most recently,
I’ve been working with police forces nationally
on how we can improve the vetting of new
officers and enhance the checks we do on
serving officers to ensure our officers and staff
are fit for purpose.
This takes me on to the Baroness Casey
Review, which I’m sure most of you have
heard of and has probably affected your
opinion of us here within the Met. We invited
the Baroness into our organisation and
asked for a candid review of our culture and
standards to identify how we can improve.
The Commissioner then introduced the New
Met for London plan in response to the review,
which is a multifaceted approach to delivering
more trust, less crime and high standards.
The full report and a summarised version
are available on the Met website. The key
bit that will impact on the people of South
Woodford is the plan to put more resources
in to local policing and building the strongest
neighbourhood policing ever. Work has
already begun on this with the introduction of
a dedicated neighbourhood superintendent
for the Redbridge borough alone (compared
to one for Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham
and Havering previously) and three inspectors
split across the north and south of Redbridge,
along with Ilford town centre.
But what does this mean for you? We aim to
prioritise the community’s needs in everything
we do. We are listening to you and working
with our partners to deliver better policing
for London. Every ward will have at least two
dedicated ward officers (police constables)
and one police community support officer
responsible for that area. It also means that,
as an inspector, I cover less area and can
fully focus on my wards to drive specific
improvements. I’m more available to you, the
community, and will have a better oversight
on what is going on. I specifically requested
this role and look forward to making
Redbridge, and specifically South Woodford,
a safer place to live, work and spend time in
for us all.
For more information and to contact local
police teams, visit swvg.co.uk/police
To advertise, call 020 8819 0595 or visit swvg.co.uk