• West Hill is - by far - the least crime-afflicted ward in the constituency - and indeed anywhere in London: it's crime rate is almost half that of the Capital as a whole. East Putney and West Putney are also comparatively crime free, though East Putney suffers from the highest number of burglaries.
  
• Roehampton does have a relatively high crime rate - though not massively above the London average - but essentially this is due to three types of more serious crime that are worryingly prevalent there: criminal damage, drugs offences and violence against the person.
  
• Southfields also has a relatively high crime rate - like Thamesfield it's also got a high proportion of thefts.

It's always worth emphasising that Wandsworth is one of the safest boroughs in London so as they say on CrimeWatch: don't have nightmares. There's always more that can be done locally and I meet regularly with the Police to talk about local problems and how they're responding to them. Last week I met with Guy Ferguson, acting Borough Police Commander to discuss local policing issues in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields. It was the first of a number of local meetings I’ll be holding with the police.

I'm also keen to get more Neighbourhood Watches set up around the constituency: if you're interested in helping to get one going in your patch do get in touch - I'd love to hear from you.

The police do a great job in Putney and with police numbers up massively in London, we should recognise that we live in a pretty safe part of London.

July 19, 2007