St James's

Your Safer Neighbourhoods Team is a group of Met police officers dedicated to serving your community. The team is made up of officers based in your area or 'ward', supported by additional officers from the wider area.

We work closely with local authorities, community leaders and residents to decide our policing priorities for the area. This helps us to find useful, long-term solutions to local problems, while maintaining our wider focus on reducing crime across London.

To speak to your local team about policing issues, and find out how you can get involved, you can email them at AWMailbox.SNTCWStJamesWard@met.police.uk.

In an emergency always call 999.

If it is not an emergency, you can report crime online at www.met.police.uk or dial 101.

We regularly speak to local residents to establish what issues they may be experiencing in the area. The word cloud below represents the issues that residents of St James's have highlighted as priorities for the area recently. Word clouds are graphical representations of word frequency that give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. The larger the word in the visual below the more common the word was in the local survey.

We seek to tackle the issues raised by you and your communities in your local area. To 'Have your say' on local issues, please click on the button below to complete a short survey.

Violence Related Priority

Drug usage and dealing contribute to the violence on St. James, this violence can be a direct result of using drugs in many ways it affects human interaction or as a way of committing other crimes for example Violence Against Women and Girls VAWG in the West End. There are has been reports of drink spiking and sexual assaults mainly linked to the Night Time Economy made possible by illegal drugs. Other forms of violence have been associated with robberies where threat or use of weapon has been a factor.

Home Office funding (OP Nightingale) has Increase high visibility patrols in the evening and nights around night time entertainment venues to curb this kind of violence. Officers will increase engagement and awareness events to engage & educate venue staff members/security to ensure they are aware how to appropriately react if a crime has been committed and appropriately advise their victims. This kind of violence can be tackled by regular engagement with females who work and live on the ward can help broaden our understanding of where the problem areas are through Walk & Talk events and other engagement strategies. Officers will provide awareness training liaising with open venues about ask for Angela and noticing signs of vulnerability. Patrols surrounding our hot spot areas during the peak times for robbery. Review the location of the offences where this is happening and consider Design Out options to prevent this crime from occurring in the first place.

Theft.

St. James is home to some of renowned shopping destinations of Covent Garden, Piccadilly and Strand. With a heavy footfall in pursuit of luxurious shopping experience, so have these areas seen an increase in retail theft. Also the number of thefts from person is on the increase on St. James in areas frequented by tourists from example during Buckingham Palace Guard Change and around Westminster Bridge which attract a lot of tourists.

Increased Patrols of both plain and unformed officers in the areas majorly affected. These patrols have been enhanced with the formation of Town Centre Teams (TCTs) who have boosted the number of officers in the West End. In order to combat the thefts, Officers and PCSO’s deliver Crime prevention advice to retail shops and also to other business. Victims of thefts are encouraged to report and these are investigated thoroughly. Collaborative operations between Lambeth and Westminster Councils are conducted on Westminster Bridge monthly.

ASB

Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) is any action that causes a person to feel alarmed, distressed or harassed. This can constitute both criminal behaviours for example drugs use, thefts etc and Non-criminal behaviours for example, Noisy neighbours, loitering in public etc. ASB is common prevalent mostly amongst Members of the Street Population.

St. James officers have are tackling ASB in many ways through enforcement; they are using Community Protection Warning and Notices to tackle the issue. For the most prolific offenders, officers are building evidence to allow Criminal Behavioural Orders (CBOs) to be issued against them by Court with a viewing of banning them in these areas for a considerable time. Also officers continue to work corroboratively with Council and other partners from the mental health teams to find long lasting solutions.

In an emergency always call 999. If it is not an emergency, you can report crime online at www.met.police.uk or dial 101.