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Citizens Assembly calls on Waltham Forest cops to be ‘more visible’

The Metropolitan Police has been handed ten suggestions for how it can improve following a series of ‘citizens’ assemblies’ held in the borough between February and March, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

A table of assembly members. Credit: Waltham Forest Council

Local residents have called on police officers in Waltham Forest to be more visible and build better relations with various communities in order to improve their local standing.

The call comes following a following a series of ‘citizens’ assemblies’ held in the borough between February and March, with the Metropolitan Police having been handed ten suggestions for how it can improve.

Alongside calls for officers to “greatly improve” their visibility on the streets, residents recommended that officers undergo better training to deal with the borough’s diverse communities, and implement a more rigorous screening process.

The Met has pledged to “listen and respond” to the recommendations, but there is no requirement that it implements them.

The assemblies were organised after Baroness Casey’s 2023 report on the “failures” of the Met, commissioned in the wake of the 2021 rape and murder of Sarah Everard by then serving officer Wayne Couzens.

She wrote that “Londoners’ voices were missing from how London is policed,” adding that “communities of colour” were “over-policed and under-protected”.

Baroness Casey said she could not rule out there being other officers like Couzens in the force, with its culture of bullying and discrimination, as many branded it “rotten to the core”.

When the assemblies were announced in late 2022, Waltham Forest residents had the lowest level of trust in the police out of all 32 boroughs, according to the local council.

Data from Ipsos showed that just under half (48%) of Britons would describe their local police as ‘trustworthy’ – a drop from 56% in 2022.

The amount of people who think officers do a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ job has also fallen, from 62% in 2017/18 to 52% in 2021/22, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Over three weekends, a randomly selected crop of 44 residents heard from criminologists, victims, charities and police officers and took part in a structured debate.

They drafted a long series of recommendations – from increasing the number of officers on patrol to recruiting from a more diverse pool – which the council then used to draft the ten suggestions.

Cllr Grace Williams, leader of Waltham Forest Council, said the 2023 review “laid bare some difficult truths” about community policing and that the council was “committed” to the recommendations.

She said: “Some of the key takeaways we got from the citizens’ assembly include the need for improved community engagement, strengthened relationships with the borough’s young people and a clear standard to be set for what residents can expect from their police force.”

She added: “I want our residents to know you have been heard, and we are committed to these recommendations. We will work together with you to rebuild community policing from the ground up and make real, practical improvements to how policing is done in our borough.”

On top of improving trust and relationships with all residents, the assembly recommended the Met improves its communication and follow-ups with victims in order to provide “targeted support and transparent policing”.

Additionally, the force should change how it identifies and deals with internal wrongdoing, and encourage residents to report serious incidents. This would “achieve accountability and transparency while protecting anonymity,” the group said.

Superintendent Lora John said: “I recognise that trust is built through actions, not just words.  It is in this spirit of collaboration that I pledge our commitment to listen and respond to the community-driven recommendations put forward by the Citizens Assembly.

“We aim to enhance transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in our operations. Our goal is to ensure that every community member feels heard, valued, and protected.”

She added the force would work alongside the council to “achieve these shared goals” and wanted to see policing “rooted in trust and community safety”.

The assemblies were the first of their kind in the UK, and were organised by Involve, a ‘public participation’ charity with offices in London and Belfast.

Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest’s cabinet member for community safety, said he hoped other councils and police forces could use the recommendations.

He added: “What our residents and Londoners want is a police force that is responsive and understands the communities that they serve and has their trust and confidence.”

The Met is expected to publish its response to the recommendations in the autumn.

A full list of the recommendations can be read here


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