former East Dulwich councillor - how can I help?

[Chillaxed]

Thanks James, appreciate the update.

[James Barber]

Hi JDR,

Apologies for the delay. My first line oif enquiry didnt work out so had to try and different tack.

GP performance is now managed through the NHS Commissioning Board. I've the contact name for complants and issues.

If anyone with Dulwich Medical Centre complaints or comments emails me I'd propose I collate them and then persue the matter.

[James Barber]

The cabinet councillor for the environment cllr Barrie Hargrove has said that dog poo on pavements is reducing (21/1 scrutiny sub committee).

Superficially dog poo reports were 3,732 in 2010 and reduced to 1,642 in 2011. More than halving.

Do you think this is how it feels?

[TheRealLarryDavid]

James - lets put the dog poo to one side. Burglary is out of control in ED. The flat down from me has been broken into 3 times now over the last few years.

I think you need to concentrate on helping with this however you can and make it a priority.

Thanks,

[LPrince]

Hi James

I agree with markeddie. We seem to be in the midst of a burglary spree in East Dulwich, and it would be good to hear what is being done by the council in response. Burglary is a problem in any area of London, of course; however, we do seem to have had a sharp rise in last month - as many posts on this forum demonstrate.

A gang of three men attempted to break into our properly a few weeks ago (4 flats in one building), and they were successful in coming through the front door. I had seen them approach and so opened by flat door to try to scare them off - only to fine myself face to face with them. As a woman, home alone at the time, you can understand I'm sure how unnerving the experience was. Even worse though was that they were so confident and care free in their crime, they simply sauntered our, got in a car, drove round to The Gardens and tried another house (confirmed to me by police). Since then, again confirmed by police, the same group have targeted the area over and over and have been successful in gaining access to properties.

These guys didn't seem concerned about being caught - didn't even try to mask who they were. That to me says that they just don't see the police as being a presence in ED. I'm not saying the police don't do a great job - the response to my report on the day was fantastic, but are they resourced sufficiently to deal with the peak in burglary occurring now in ED?

Thanks

[uncleglen]

Any chance of a description?

[LPrince]

Hi - there's another string on the forum called 'Attempted break in The Gardens' that has details, description etc

[Townleygreen]

Hi James

I think you should read/check out the thread started by Lee Scroresby titled:

Fusion still presiding over shabby shambles at EDLC

[PeckhamRose]

If you all go to your local police safer neighbourhood team forum meetings you can say what you think needs to be the top three areas of focus for them. It's pretty much always "burglary" in the Peckham Rye and Nunhead area. Please look up the relevant pages and areas so you can see when they meet.

I always used to say in the What's On page when our meetings are; no-one from here came. Can't think why. The councillors can't do much about burglary, can they.

[James Barber]

Hi Towbleygreen,

Many thanks will look later in the week - I'm just back from a weeks holiday so lots of catching up.

Hi LPrince, Markeddie,

Burglary isn't out of control in the East Dulwich ward area. Weirdly The Gardens are in Peckham Rye ward.

For East Dulwich ward and Village wards the Police team pinged over the attached stats. For East Dulwich ward during the last 12 months we've had 12 burglaries from 5,200 homes. So on average we should all expect ot be burgled every 41.6 years. But burglars are smarter than this suggests. They tend to repeat either of a home they've burgled or of a neighbouring home that is lilkely to have the same internal layout and goods. Henve why in East Dulwich we've purchased 2,500 property marking kits to be given out free by our local Police. The idea is to inncolate homes around those burgled as well as part of the support package of those who've sadly been burgled.

Other neighoburing ward councillors have not chosen to support free crime prevention kit.

The main trend is for burglars to gain access via ground floor sash windows from the rear of properties. So please do install really good sash window locks. The best are bolts that go through the two middle cross beams - one lock at each end. Even I've installed these types of window locks and all our local DIY shops stock them. They're also no expensive.

Hope this helps put a little context on this.

[Penguin68]

Once again we come up against the problem of East Dulwich as a philosphical (and indeed estate agent) concept and as a description of a local political entitity.

I would guess most of those living in The Gardens, and in Underhill south of Langton Rise (in College), think of themselves as being in east Dulwich (both of these are areas where burglaries are currently being reported) - but both are outside the ED ward.

Of course James will talk of ED as his ward, but for most participants in this forum those strict boundaries do not describe what they (and I) mean as 'East Dulwich'. So the ward crime figures and their changes do not equate to our own perceptions of ED crimes and their fluctuation in incidence.

Bits, certainly, of College crimes, and of Peckham Rye (as well as ED and Village) fall into a more general view of the 'ED' crime statistics.

[mynamehere]

Hi James, there's a Safer Neighbourhood Team meeting at the cafe in Peckham Rye Park today from 16:00 to 16:30. I'm going to ask if there's a link between recent burglaries and what I've recently heard alleged is a group of about 5 houses to the west of Lordship Lane used for buying and selling property, possibly stolen, very occasionally prostitution and allegedly drugs. It is my understanding that these 5 houses have been discussed in police circles but no firm procedure has ever been put in place to nail down what if anything is going on.

[edhistory]

I second Peguin68.

It's the East Dulwich community that matters.

The East Dulwich Ward police statistic does not "feel" plausible to me after reading the EDF.

Does anyone have the time to total the EDF reports?

John K

[Penguin68]

I attach, drawn from the figures supplied by James, the stats for the 4 wards I think 'contribute' to East Dulwich as a non-political ward concept.

I have drawn 2 graphs - one which shows the comparative figures together, one which disagregates by showing the monthly 'contribution' to the total for the 4 wards. ED Ward is at the bottom because it is the first set of figures calculated. The graphs do show some (slight) seasonality. As they are not weighted by ward numbers they should not be directly compared.

These are in Excel and as a .pdf

Edited to include graphs which exclude the 'monthly average' figure

[Pugwash]

We had the ED police attending a BARA meeting recently and they advised that there had been 21 burglaries over the past few months in the area. Most had been at rented properties where the landlord had failed to install preventative measures i.e. window locks, mortice locks etc. Shared entries where tenants are not automatically double locking the main door and flat doors not having sufficient security locks. Also properties with side entrances.

[LPrince]

Thanks for sharing this info, Pug wash. It doesn't surprise me about the rented properties being targeted - we were a victim of poor quality door and locks installed by our landlord (most of us hadn't even been provided with a key for the second lock when moving in), and we really had to force his hand to spend some money on fixing the issue after this latest break in.

On that note, surely it would be a good idea for a representative of the police force to speak with landlords of properties that have been broken in to as a result of poor security, with the ability to force the landlord to address the issues? I admit that I have no idea about the law/legislation in place with regard to landlord responsibility to secure properties, so this may not be possible currently...

James - thank you for your reply, and for providing information in an attempt to reassure... However, 12 burglaries in 12 months just doesn't make sense given the number of people reporting burglaries or attempted burglaries on the EDF within the past few months. Does the figure include attempted burglaries?

As I said in my first post, burglary is a problem anywhere in London, and I'm certainly not suggesting that it is rife in ED all of the time - but we do seem to be going through a peak now (as many posts on the EDF support), and my question was what is being done in response to this peak? The measures suggested are mainly reactive and in the hands of property owners - what is being done proactively by the council/police other than offering property marking kits and security advice? There may be many initiatives, and I'm simply unaware (very possible!), but it would be great to hear about them.

[James Barber]

Hi P68, edhistory,

Thanks Penguin68 for collating those states for the four wards. I have tried to get just SE22 crime stats which I agree is how most people think of East Dulwich.

I think people were interested in residential burglary rather than the total of all crimes. East Dulwich ward has a lot of crimes associated with having a high street.

Hi Pugwash, LPrince,

We're investigating how we can help fight this issue. Providing free window locks is one idea but getting people to install them is a real issue.

Hi mynameanywhere,

I'd be amazed if the police respond to your queries with anything the'd wish to be made public.

Local Police have said that the most that can be publicly statesd- other than sash windows on ground floors - is they have several lines of enquiry.

[mynamehere]

I can understand that and I hope the lines of enquiry are being actively pursued.

[Calsug]

Quick question, what happened to the amazing new lights that were fitted to replace the first lot of failed floor lights outside the train station? The new ones don't seem to be working either...

[James Barber]

Hi Calsug,

Long saga. Applied for funding which we approved against Council lighting department quote.

New lights slightly bigger than existing non maintianable up lighters. So diamond drilling to increase their size. Pulling new cables and new electric connection to the mains. Lights don't switch on. Back to the manufacturers who state a new software download is required. Download, donwloaded and still dont work. New uplighters to be provided by suppliers and installed and then they should work. I've been told by end of this month ie. this week.

NB. this is only for the semi circle of up lighters. The two uplighters either end of the two bridge supports (so that's 8) are not included in this scheme. I'm sure we'll come back to these at a later date.

[Freddy1929]

New software download required to make some lights work...............I have heard everything now...................sounds expensive also how are these new/expensive light going to be maintained????????

[James Barber]

Hi Freddy1929,

Yes I was nonplussed when I was told they needed a different software version.

I've been assured they'll be fab when working.

As for maintenance, as they've been approved and project managed by the councils lighting department they'll maintain them. Unlike the up lighters arranged by the previous local councillors.

[susiq]

is there any chance we can limit the number of licensed premises in Lordship Lane, it seems every other shop has a license to sell alcohol, I live off Northcross road and have to listen to pissed/drugged up people - either getting a cab from panther cabs or getting into their cars. A majority of the people holding a license in Lordship Lane - yes I have enquired - do not even live in the vicinity, as for bringing business into Dulwich, mostly all of premises buy their produce/alcohol/food from outside SE22 (just look at the delivery vans outside these places) and take their earnings out of SE22, the customers who are supposed not to drink/smoke/re-enter the premises (by law) AFTER 11,are always outside LIQUERISH, PALMERSTON, BISHOP, EAST DULWICH TAVERN, BOHO BAR, ETC., loud, abusive and in the road. for those of us who have lived and worked here for a long time, its a sad place to be, when the newies and just acquired a license to create "eating rooms" etc, where old and old local people have no place to fit in, move on, what will we have left.

[Calsug]

thanks for the update James, sure they will look good in the end. Know that when other areas have had similar lighting schemes fitted it does improve the look and the feel of an area.

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Calsug,

> Long saga. Applied for funding which we approved

> against Council lighting department quote.

> New lights slightly bigger than existing non

> maintianable up lighters. So diamond drilling to

> increase their size. Pulling new cables and new

> electric connection to the mains. Lights don't

> switch on. Back to the manufacturers who state a

> new software download is required. Download,

> donwloaded and still dont work. New uplighters to

> be provided by suppliers and installed and then

> they should work. I've been told by end of this

> month ie. this week.

>

> NB. this is only for the semi circle of up

> lighters. The two uplighters either end of the two

> bridge supports (so that's 8) are not included in

> this scheme. I'm sure we'll come back to these at

> a later date.

[James Barber]

Hi Freddy1929,

I've been assured the new replacement maintainable East Dulwich station up lighters will be switch on later today.

I was given a little demo this morning.

The other issues is the ticket office which is having a new low level counter added making it accessible to more people. This will open on Tuesday.

And lastly the new screen by the ticket machines is working a treat now.