Ruth Cadbury, MP for Brentford & Isleworth, raised the issues affecting crime in west London in Parliament on Monday 3 July. Fellow Labour members from neighbouring London constituencies, Andy Slaughter from Hammersmith and Seema Malhotra from Feltham and Heston, supported her with comments about their constituencies.
Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, said in his constituency antisocial crime had increased since the Covid pandemic.
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing the debate. She is describing something familiar to all of us in west London. In the post-covid period, there has been a rapid increase in antisocial behaviour, vehicle crime and drug-related crime.
“I have an active local authority that has more CCTV cameras per head of population than any other in the country and which has employed 70 law enforcement officers of its own. What is missing is the neighbourhood policing that we used to have that reassured local communities and gathered intelligence. That really did make a contribution to both reassurance and keeping crime down, and that is what we need back.”