South West Basic Command Policing Unit Launched

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As a result of restructuring within the Met police

The four boroughs of Wandsworth, Richmond, Merton and Kingston have been merged to form one single policing unit. This will be known as the South West Basic Command Unit, or SWBCU.



BCUs are being introduced across the Met, and have already been trialled in East London and North London during 2017 when Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering became East Area, and Camden and Islington became Central North.

The Met is also adapting the ways in which it helps to safeguard vulnerable people by investing more resources in preventing and investigating domestic abuse, sexual offences and child abuse. With the creation of the BCUs the Met are introducing 'multi-agency hubs' where police officers and child safeguarding professionals from other organisations sit side-by-side, sharing information and working jointly on safeguarding referrals and concerns about the most vulnerable children.

The Met have used the trialled boroughs as a means of testing the BCU model to identify and resolve any problems at an early stage, and to see in action the results of combining people, buildings and resources across borough boundaries.

From a resident’s perspective the Met says you should notice very little difference throughout Wandsworth. The officers will still be delivering policing locally across neighbourhoods, emergency response, CID and safeguarding, working closely with local authorities across all four boroughs. A spokesperson said, "At the heart of it all, our core aims and principles remain the same: to prevent crime and disorder, to safeguard the vulnerable and to protect the public."

Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar, the BCU Commander for the South West, added, “We have been working closely with our four local authorities, key partners and community
groups to prepare for this change, and I feel privileged and excited to be leading the South West BCU as we launch our new operating model.”

Another spokesperson for the new unit said, "Remember you can always report crime to us online via our website: www.met.police.uk/report/how-to-report-a-crime. Our website is also the place where you can find your local ward, find the names of your two Dedicated Ward Officers and PCSO, and access the top reported crimes for your area. The ward pages also allow you to voice your concerns in a poll which will help influence the priorities for your ward in the months ahead."

You can find your ward pages by typing your address or postcode into the Find Your Area section here

To report crime in person anywhere in the South-West BCU, the 24 hour police stations are:
Wandsworth
Lavender Hill Police Station
176 Lavender Hill
SW11

Richmond
Twickenham Police Station
41 London Road
Twickenham
TW1 3SY

Kingston
5-7 High Street
Kingston-Upon-Thames
KT1 1LB

June 7, 2018