Inspector Dai Rees: I have got around 17 years of policing experience and have been in the post as Neighbourhood Policing Inspector in Harrow for 18 months now. I have worked in nearly every Met Borough and quite coincidentally, until posted here, the only borough I had never worked in was Harrow! My background was primarily Public Order and working on Response Teams; managing the staff and teams of first responders. However, I have worked closely with Neighbourhood Teams before as well as lots of partnership-work with various stakeholders in other roles I’ve previously and currently hold. I really enjoy working in Harrow, it’s vibrant, the people are friendly, the Local Authority are really positive and it has a very cohesive, community feel. It’s a great place to work.

Inspector Dai Rees: As you might’ve read in the news, the Met’s going through a big period of change at the moment,
culminating in the Commissioner’s “A New Met for London” Plan. While this is a vast piece of work
covering many areas of policing and community safety, there are some key enhancements and
reforms that will really benefit all the communities of Harrow. We’re looking to strengthen our
Neighbourhood Programme not just with a set of new ideas and focus, but with extra people.
Plans are already in action to welcome more PCSOs into our local teams and that will be
supported with extra Police Officers both this year and moving forward. Neighbourhood
Superintendents are now in post and we have Supt Matt Cray at Harrow. Having Mr. Cray here
allows Harrow to benefit from a direct, senior officer to embed strategies, work even more closely
with Harrows’ partners and provide key accountability for communities. Moreover, with the Met’s
ambition to drive more precision and a data-focused policing approach on a local level, my
Neighbourhood Teams will now be working more closely with our proactive policing divisions, by
listening to local issues closely so we can best-respond in the most appropriate manner. Knowing
our communities and servicing those particular needs is vital to how we get things right in
Harrow.

Inspector Dai Rees: While many strategies and directions are provided by New Scotland Yard, a key benefit of a
strong, Neighbourhood Policing model is the ability to be ‘hyper-localised’ and really listen to what
our communities want. A priority of mine is to ensure Harrow benefits from a strong local
relationship with my officers. I want to prioritise engagement with all of the communities in
Harrow, Police visibility and having an active, public dialogue to get to the root of local issues.
A good example of this is our ongoing commitment to hold public meetings quarterly, working our
way around the wards in the borough to ensure all voices are heard and we work on a ‘You say, we
did’ basis.
I want Harrow residents to know who their local officers are, have confidence in approaching and
contacting them, and be reassured that on a Ward by Ward and borough basis, we know what our
residents and communities want and expect. We want to have that partnership with not only our
stakeholders, but with the residents of Harrow. Close & collaborative relationships build trust, build
accountability and build action.

Inspector Dai Rees: With London and indeed Harrow becoming busier and more resource-intensive, we want to ensure we have the capacity to offer the best service. Part of that is to have an open dialogue with our residents to say what we can and cannot do, to mobilise our partners in assisting where appropriate, and to be clear around when we can deliver. Community meetings, Ward Panels, Question & Answer Events, daily engagement – all these are vital in ensuring that Harrow meets the challenge of maintaining how cohesive and how progressive we are as a borough. I accept that trust and confidence has dipped in policing not just in London but locally too, however, we must ensure that we now work proactively and diligently to reignite relationships, to grow new partnerships, and ensure that trust and confidence is rebuilt as a priority.

Inspector Dai Rees: As touched upon, how and when we communicate, as a service, is hugely important. We need communities to know we’re listening and to proliferate the great work that officers perform every single day. Having closer community contact, ensuring our communication channels remain as open and consistent as possible, and working with key partners to deliver effective, positive communication is something I want to improve on. We are reviewing our social media strategy, we are reviewing how and to what level we communicate with Harrow and as mentioned, we have already reformed our touch-points for community meetings. Please expect new and improved methods of communication and notification of policing action before the end of this year as we continue to evolve and make further improvements in 2024 and beyond. Since I came to post in March 2022 for example, Harrow Neighbourhood Police have delivered nearly 30 proactive Operations, targeting issues ranging from ASB, through to robbery, violence and knife crime. We have led for the Met on Catalytic Converter Crime, showing an incredible drop of over 80%, we have built new working relationships with the British Transport Police, Hertfordshire Police and the National Crime Agency. We have some of the most progressive and proactive work involving violence against women and girls in London. However, if the community doesn’t know about all this great work, then only half the battle is won. My job is to ensure our local communities are kept informed, and we can begin to inspire trust and confidence once again with results such as these.

Inspector Dai Rees: Harrow has some incredible, community-minded people who work so hard for the benefit of all. Key partners in the Safer Neighbourhood Board, Ward Panel members, Harrow Interfaith, in the Business Improvement District, the Local Authority and indeed, our Independent Advisory Group are just a few of a number of groups and individuals that are tireless and so committed in their pursuit of community service. It’s so important we value these partners and look to help them further by involving new people, ensuring we have a diversity of voice, and that the support and planning is there for the future. Having that trust and confidence locally can only be done in collaboration with all our partners and our residents. I wouldn’t want to change that cohesive attitude Harrow enjoys, its tradition of public service or indeed, how proud Harrow residents are of the borough and the communities within it. My ask would be that we build further, and anyone who would like to be part of these fantastic groups reaches out to me or the SNB and we can make that happen. It’s an exciting times to be in the community safety space and I know there’s plenty of people within Harrow that could really help in a number of different ways.

Inspector Dai Rees: Against the backdrop of a number of economic and societal moves in the last 10+ years, it’s important to recognise that community policing has changed. It’s also important to be open and honest and say that we need this period of reflection, reformation and invigoration to protect possibly the most important area of policing; community policing. Without the trust, engagement, confidence, buy-in and collaboration of our communities and partners, policing by consent cannot function and we cannot deliver on our core objective which is to keep London safe. This is a focus locally, centrally and indeed, nationally. I see this as a great opportunity to put community policing front and centre and to give it the attention and focus it both needs and deserves. I see the influence on local communities to be a positive one, emboldened by a Commissioner who has made key public commitments to this area, who has been honest enough to admit where we haven’t got it right, but most importantly, to build long term structures and plans to ensure that moving forward, the positive benefits with be felt if you’re in Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon or Heathrow. I want to drive that very much for the good people of Harrow, I want to deliver safety, I want to deliver confidence and I want to deliver relationships with our communities. I think Community Policing is well set-up to achieve this.