Congratulations to Cllr Afzal Akram, Waltham Forest council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Member for Lea Bridge ward, for hosting an excellent “networking evening”, on Tuesday, for the borough’s local councillors and Sergeants, Police Constables and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from our Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
Councillor Akram (pictured above left, next to Borough Commander Mark Benbow) is doing a fantastic job in this extremely important portfolio.
It has been widely acknowledged that Cllr Akram’s contacts and in-depth knowledge of the borough’s Muslim community, played a central role in assisting Waltham Forest council, to successfully handle the serious security and community cohesion challenges, brought about by last month’s terror raids.
At the event, which was attended by councillors and police from wards all over the borough, Cllr Akram gave us an insight into the many achievements being made by Waltham Forest borough in the area of Community Safety.
I was to delighted to hear that Waltham Forest’s Youth Offending Team has now moved up from 139 to 65 in the national performance league table; that our Drug Action Team has been rated the third best in London – and 8th out of 149th nationally – for its success in increasing the number of drug users in treatment; and that our recent “Respect Action Month” reduced crime by a whopping 19.4 per cent!
As well as me having the chance to mingle with all those men in uniform :-), I had a good catch up chat with Sergeant Jonathan Clack (pictured with me above), the head honcho of Leyton ward’s Safer Neighbourhood Team. Jonathan and I discussed the various issues we know are currently bothering Leyton’s residents, and we also talked through some new ideas for neighbourhood watches and youth events.
If you wish to speak to Jonathan or any of the guys from Leyton’s Safer Neighbourhood Team just call them on 020 8345 2301 or their mobile number on 07843 291 117.
They will be delighted to hear from you.