Safer Neighbourhoods

Problem Oriented Partnership awards shortlisted

The 5th annual Problem Oriented Partnerships (POP) awards will be taking place on 22 February 2010. The awards, previously known as the Problem Solving Awards, were created to promote the excellent work being done by the police, local authorities, fire service and other agencies whose job it is to make communities safer and feel safer.

Judges will be looking for evidence of strong collaborative problem solving between the MPS and other agencies. That means identifying problems, what factors cause that problem to persist and designing innovative ways to reduce the problem's impact on people's lives.

The annual awards is a collaboration between the MPS, the MPA (Metropolitan Police Authority) and the SLF (Safer London Foundation), the independent charity that aims to reduce crime, promote community cohesion and develop safer neighbourhoods.

Inspector Neil Hutchinson, MPS Problem Solving Unit said: "This year has seen over 30 entries for the POP awards in the categories of Safer Communities and Safer Transport, the most entries received since its inception. As the benefits of problem oriented policing continue to rise, more boroughs are reaping the benefit of greater partnership involvement in problem solving. Comments were made by the judges as to the increased professionalism and wide variety of the entries and the improving standard of the entries year on year."

Kit Malthouse, vice chair of the MPA, said: "Someone once said that all politics is local. Well, all policing is local too. For Londoners to have confidence in the Met, they must feel and see that police officers are concerned about the local problems that worry us all and, more to the point, are doing something to solve those problems.

"But the Met cannot do this alone and that is why the Problem Oriented Partnerships are so important. By pulling everyone together they help the police help Londoners. This approach is a key part of our new strategic plan Met Forward, which is designed to focus everyone involved on fighting and preventing crime, and that is why we strongly support the Problem Oriented Partnerships."

The short-listed projects are:

  • Improving the lives of residents in Strathan Close - Wandsworth Borough
  • Burglary reduction in Erith ward - Bexley Borough
  • "Talking the hardest"-taking on Peckham gang culture - Southwark Borough
  • Reduction in burglary in the Haringey "Ladder" - Haringey Borough
  • "Bus stop showdown"; school children vs women's group - Haringey Borough
  • Burglary reduction in Erith ward - Bexley Borough
  • Rotherhithe pedal cycle thefts - Southwark Borough
  • West Croydon Bus Station - Croydon Borough
  • Reducing the crime on the transport system in Bexley - Bexley Borough

The awards will be taking place in London on 22nd February.

Future of Policing