12 April - CCTV. Bexley Conservatives’ number 2 weak spot
I keep an eye on the various Bexley Police Twitter accounts
mainly to see if they do anything more useful than monitoring other Twitter
accounts for “unfriendliness”. It was reported recently that the Met
employs 900 officers in the department that looks out for rude words.
I have my own reasons for despising all police officers and probably no one outside the criminal fraternity
has a lower opinion of them than I have. Perhaps I should make an exception for my son-in-law Alastair
whose brother was murdered by the boys in blue 31 years ago. As a successful
private investigator he planned to expose their corruption.
On Tuesday the Blackfen Safer Neighbourhood Team reported that three local
shops had been broken into. It must be awkward having to work with a ward
Councillor they once had to arrest for Misconduct in a Public Office.
Three
shop break ins in one night is not something to be casually brushed aside as happened when a shop window was
broken in Abbey Wood two months ago. (Photo 1.)
Abbey Wood’s Wilton Road has somehow acquired a bad reputation but most of the time nothing happens there especially now that
the new station directs travellers to other exit routes.
What Blackfen Police are doing about three break ins I do not know but I do know what Blackfen residents did about it.
They took to Facebook
and made their position very clear, so much so that the Administrator had to delete
ill-tempered posts and temporarily disallow further comment.
“We want CCTV” was the theme but is there any point while Bexley Council is
determined to save £225,000 a year by not looking at the pictures in real time?
Councillor Craske (Conservative, Blackfen & Lamorbey) says the police monitor
the CCTV but like everything he says it must be taken with a large pinch of
salt. Councillor James Hunt (same ward) shared that view in a Facebook comment.
It is not what I have heard Borough Police Commanders say.
At
the October 2015 People Scrutiny meeting which Councillor Hunt chaired it
was clearly stated (and recorded) that “The council is working very closely with
the borough commander but they are unable to monitor from the police station”.
I will concede that the Borough Commanders have been inconsistent when commenting on this subject. Presumably there is the
truth and the politically expedient.
Three shops vandalised in Blackfen. No CCTV.
The police may have some facilities to monitor CCTV but they don’t unless there is a very
urgent need. The old routine of the Council operator radioing the police
when they spot something untoward and training all available cameras on the
hotspot went more than two years ago.
At best it is all reactive now and the only way of
fixing that is by voting Labour on 3rd May. It and building on parks is the only
thing that currently sets the two parties apart.
Note: Number 1 weak spot must be building over parks.