MPA’s Safer London Panel identifies key themes for 2005/06 policing priorities

58/04
26 July 2004

Initial findings form the Metropolitan Police Authority’s innovative new citizens’ panel, the Safer London Panel, identified clear themes of concern to London’s communities that will contribute to the process of setting policing priorities for 3005/06.

The panel had its first consultation session on 29 June, a workshop in which 55 panel members clearly expressed their thoughts on police visibility, preventative approaches to crime, communication and information, working together with other agencies and strengthening relationships with the community.

Abdal Ullah, Chair of the MPA Community Engagement Committee, said:

“The feedback received from this first workshop of the Safer London Panel has been extremely positive, with participants commenting favourably both on the MPA’s initiative in convening a panel of Londoners to discuss policing priorities, and also on the quality of the discussions.

“The formation of the panel is a positive development in the Authority’s commitment to consult Londoners about how their city is policed and in that way increases community confidence and trust in the police.

“While this initial workshop concentrated entirely on seeking input for annual policing priorities, the potential exists to be far more specific in the areas we explore with participants in the future, which should produce exciting new results for us to focus on.

“The participation of each and every member of the panel will be an invaluable contribution to our ongoing consultation programme and we look forward to the positive results.”

The Safer London Panel is intended to complement and reinforce the MPA’s other methods of consultation with London’s communities. Over the course of the next 11 months there will be two postal surveys sent out to all panellists and more workshops involving 50 - 100 individuals.

The proactive management of the panel’s membership has the advantage of enabling the Authority to be sure it is reaching as broad a cross section of Londoners as possible, especially those groups that are traditionally hard to reach.

Notes to editors

1. The Safer London Panel will eventually number approximately 3000 Londoners and has been designed specifically to reflect the demographic makeup of the capital.

2. The panel provides the MPA with a new mechanism for engaging with certain hard to reach groups and will contribute to the consultation requirement of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

3. The full report outlining the findings of the consultation session can be found on the MPA website

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