News - NSL

NSL, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and the Metropolitan Police have signed up to a new co-operation agreement aimed at reducing crime and antisocial behaviour in the Royal Borough.

The new scheme, called Partnership Plus, was officially launched when representatives from the three organisations signed a new agreement to work more closely together.

The agreement details how Civil Enforcement Officers will assist police with their operations, including:
* receiving training by police to make them more skilled at reporting street crime swiftly and effectively.
* receiving briefings on particular incidents where police are looking for more information.
* assisting police with special operations, such as clampdowns on Blue Badge fraud, or vulnerable vehicle schemes, where motorists are reminded not to leave valuables on display when they leave their cars.

The agreement also means police commit to increased support for Civil Enforcement Officers, to help ensure they feel they can do their jobs on street safely. This means police will:
* commit to ensuring that all assaults or abuse of CEOs are investigated promptly and where appropriate the offenders prosecuted.
* assist with conflict resolution training to ensure CEOs are increasingly well equipped to deal with difficult situations on street.

Tim Cowen of NSL said: “We already have terrific support from the police across the whole force area - but this agreement specifies several useful ways we can help each other.
“It will help us to further reduce the level of assaults and abuse our colleagues receive while carrying out their duties - and we hope that we will be able to give something back to the police by providing more formal support in terms of observing and recording street crime and disorder.”
 
Tim Ahern, Cabinet Member for Civil Society at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said,

“I am delighted with the partnership between the Council, police and NSL to combat crime and antisocial behaviour in the Royal Borough. Our Civil Enforcement Officers do much more than just deal with parking issues and this agreement will allow them to provide even better service to the public.”

Superintendant Simon Rose, said,

“We are very pleased to be working more closely with the Civil Enforcement Officers and provide them with support in doing a difficult job. The enormous benefit this initiative brings to the Borough's residents and visitors is the additional eyes and ears to preventing thefts from parked cars where valuable property has been left on display, the support combating Blue Badge fraud and the ability we acquire for intelligence collection in higher crime areas.  This initiative will significantly contribute to making the Borough safer still.”