Hammersmith & Fulham Council is asking for your help to track down this filthy yob who has a nasty habit of urinating in lifts at Bush Court.
The time is shortly after 1.15am on Wednesday February 22 and this hooligan can clearly be seen relieving himself in the lift of the Shepherds Bush block.
Do you know who this person is, or were you the man who unfortunately had to share a lift with him? If so, contact the council now so that we can track down the culprit.
This disgusting act was captured by Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s state-of-the-art CCTV surveillance system which is linked in to numerous estates across the borough.
All images are relayed back to the council's main CCTV control room at Hammersmith Town Hall where trained operatives scour the footage looking for incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour.
Councillor Andrew Johnson, cabinet member for housing said:
Gun offences have halved and overall crime is down in Hammersmith & Fulham for the sixth year out of seven, according to the latest Met Police figures.
There were 38 gun related crimes in the borough in the 12 months up to March 31, 2012 – a 55% fall compared to the previous year’s 85 crimes.
The report reveals that there were 37 business robberies in 2011/12 compared to 72 in 2010/11 – a fall of 49%.
Overall the official statistics show there were 23,426 crimes committed in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) in the twelve months to March 31, 2012 – which is 3.1 per cent down on the previous year. The decrease follows a ‘blip year’ when there was a modest increase in crime locally following successive years of hefty falls.
This year’s impressive decrease, which was achieved despite the August 2011 riots that affected large parts of the capital, means that in total there have been 13,198 fewer crimes since 2006.
Chief Superintendent Lucy D'Orsi, who has been H&F Police Borough Commander for just over a year, praised the work of her officers and highlighted H&F Council’s funding of 44 extra beat bobbies.
“I am committed to ensuring that my officers provide a visible presence on the streets of Hammersmith and Fulham and am pleased to note the recent fall in crime in the last year. We are working together with the council to tackle crime in innovative ways and since my arrival last year my team having been making the borough a safer place.”
The Met’s stats show that residential burglary is down 13 per cent – from 1,880 offences in 2010/11 to 1,630 in 2011/12. The number of rapes and other sexual offences fell by 28% and 14% respectively and there were 184 fewer domestic crimes – a 16% fall.
H&F Council has a strong track record of working with closely with the police and is spending £1.6 million a year to pay for three enhanced town centre squads of beat bobbies – meaning the borough has 44 more police officers than it would do otherwise.
Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Cabinet Member for residents’ services, says: “The fact that gun crime is down 55% is a major vote of confidence in our zero-tolerance stance.
“More burglars, thieves and violent criminals are now behind bars thanks to our close joint working with the police and the extra officers that we provide. The blip year of 2010/11 where the police recorded a modest increase in crime is now a thing of the past and the long term trend of hefty year-on-year falls is back. We are giving the local police the extra tools to do the job – in the form of 44 extra warranted officers – and we expect them to continue delivering exceptional results.”
H&F has recently been in the news for a number of high-profile crime-fighting initiatives including a council-funded mobile ad van targeting the borough’s ‘most wanted’ criminals and sting houses which ensnare burglars with covert cameras. The enhanced Shepherds Bush Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) also won the prestigious ‘SNT of the Year’ accolade, as awarded by Met Police chief Bernard Hogan-Howe last month.
Footage from Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s state-of-the-art CCTV surveillance cameras has led to more than 100 arrests in the last month alone.
The council has a huge network of 700 CCTV cameras that covers nearly all of the borough.
All images are relayed back to the council's main CCTV control room at Hammersmith Town Hall where trained operatives scour the footage to look for incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour.
These specialists even have the ability to hook into police radio frequencies so that they can assist the police in tracking down and apprehending potential crooks. They can also manoeuvre the position of the cameras using joysticks to gain greater coverage of a particular area.
It has been a prolific year for Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s fraud team, with 24 benefits scroungers brought to justice.
The council’s corporate anti fraud team investigate all forms of fraud and ensure that benefits are only distributed to those who are legally entitled to them.
The most recent fraudster in the dock was John Noel. Noel swindled the council out of nearly £3,000 of housing and council tax benefit by claiming that he was not working. However, the council’s fraud service uncovered that he was actually employed as a security guard at three separate companies. Noel was conditionally discharged for three years and ordered to pay the money back.
Rounding up the latest list of benefits cheats is Imanwel Smith, of Roseford Court, Shepherds Bush.
We have all seen news reports about metal thefts of railway signal cables and sheet lead from church roofs. But very few people realise that council homes in Hammersmith & Fulham have not been immune from the problem.
Dramatic increases in raw material prices have also brought increases in the scrap value of not only lead and copper, but also in iron and aluminium too.
As a result, the thieves have turned their attention to smaller items and the council has suffered from a number of incidents recently. Lead flashings and gutter linings have been stolen from the roofs of blocks in White City resulting in costly repairs to consequent leaks. Copper condense pipes from boilers have been stolen in a number of areas, too.
A DJ has been jailed for two years and four months after facing the music for a string of offences including benefit fraud.
Disk jockey Adrian Prince, 37, cheated Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council out of more than £15,000 by claiming housing and council tax benefit that he was not entitled to.
Prince, of Stebbing House, Shepherds Bush failed to tell the council that he had started working as an DJ, spinning records for cash at various gigs, and was therefore no longer entitled to Job Seekers Allowance.
Because he did not declare this change in his circumstances or his real income, the council was unaware that he was no longer entitled to the maximum entitlement for housing and council tax benefit. Prince was sentenced to four months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, March 12. At court he was also given a two year sentence for handling a stolen Rolex watch and possessing cocaine, diamorphine and cannabis.
Homes and vehicles in Hammersmith & Fulham have been equipped with recording equipment to capture thieves who commit these invasive crimes.
The roll out of Operation Glatton in June 2011 has been part funded by the local authority and has been responsible for the conviction of 49 people.
This zero-tolerance approach is a first for London and as you can see, would be thieves' movements are captured in detail, a fact which has led to the 100% conviction rate at Court.
Since Operation Glatton started nine months ago over £5,000 of stolen property has been returned to Hammersmith & Fulham residents or visitors, and those convicted have received a combined total of over 8 and a half years in prison.
Hammersmith & Fulham is the first Borough to run a successful sting house operation which follows on from the previous success with its decoy vehicles.
“We are committed to catching burglars and car thieves on this Borough and will use all methods and technology available to us to bring them to justice. I would encourage those people who think they can get away with burglary and theft to study the quality of the video clips and reflect on the potential custodial sentence and criminal record. The next car or home you break into may be one of ours and we will do everything we can to get you before the courts.
"A large proportion of burglaries happen in properties which are insecure. The Police and local authority are working hard to reduce burglary but it is also important for residents to lock their doors and windows and never leave anything valuable in view.”
Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services said:
“Every crook that eyes up someone else’s property in our borough now needs to question whether it is a sting house rigged with Police cameras. Criminals who do chose to steal other people’s property will find a huge array of evidence against them when we take them to court. So far we have 100% conviction rate so the odds are heavily stacked in our favour."
Council funded beat officers in Shepherds Bush have been named the best local police team in the whole of London.
The Shepherds Bush Green Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT)has won the prestigious ‘SNT of the Year’ accolade, awarded by new Met Police chief, Bernard Hogan-Howe.
Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council is one of the only local authorities in the country that directly funds town centre police, ploughing £1.3million a year into the Met’s coffers.
This money is spent on additional SNT officers in Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith & Fulham.
In Shepherds Bush the enhanced SNT comprises two Sergeants, 17 PCs and five PCSOs. This compares to a normal SNT of only one Sergeant, two PCs and three PCSOs. All these additional officers are funded by the council, apart from the PCSOs.
The more information we get from residents – the more we can disrupt and catch criminals.
This was the message that the Police Borough Commander delivered to 80 of the borough’s Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators who packed into the Lyric Theatre last Tuesday.
Chief Superintendent Lucy D’Orsi praised community spirited residents and Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) co-ordinators in particular saying:
“Neighbourhood Watch helps us make the borough safer as they help prevent crime by getting sensible advice out to the community and they also help by passing us intelligence on the ground. Residents can be our eyes and ears and my plea is that no bit of intelligence is too small to tell us about.”
The panel – which included the Borough Commander as well as Ch Insp Nigel Crane, who is in charge of the borough’s Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNT) and Cllr Greg Smith, the council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Leisure and Residents’ Services – fielded questions on a range of topics from alcohol related disorder and burglaries to the handovers when SNT staff are promoted or moved out of a particular ward.
A west London jewellery thief has handed himself in to Police after being targeted by a council advertising van.
Sean Patterson, 22, handed himself in to Hammersmith Police station early this morning after seeing his own image on a range of publicity materials issued in a joint initiative between Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council and the Met Police.
Patterson, 22, was arrested at 1:15am this morning for his part in a £2,000 jewellery heist in W12. He went on the run after failing to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on November 3, 2011. He has now been remanded in custody awaiting his trial for burglary later in the month.
But Patterson gave himself up after the council and local police produced a range of publicity materials targeting offenders – including an advan with three foot high mugshots of the borough’s seven most wanted criminals on it.
