Meeting held at East Sheen Baptist Church, Temple Sheen on Wednesday 5 March 2026 at 7.00 pm

Contact details for local police team and Met

 1     Routine reports

a)     Police

PC Sarbjit Sokhi presented the crime statistics for November 2025 – January 2026. He drew attention to the steps residents should take to minimise the risk of burglary and motor vehicle crime. Most car thefts were of keyless cars and owners should secure keys in a pouch which blocks the signal sent to cars. The targets of house burglary are jewellery, designer clothes and designer bags. Homeowners should ensure that the house itself is securely locked, consider installing an alarm, and ensure items such as bins are away from the wall of the premises.

In discussion residents raised the following points:.

i) Exaggerated burglary reports on social media worry residents unnecessarily – do the police check such reports? Sgt Adgey said they were instructed not to use social media eg Nextdoor unless the reported incident was of a significant nature.

ii) A question was raised about the number and nature of assaults. Sgt Adgey said most assaults in East Sheen were ‘common assaults’ and were often domestic. In most cases the people involved were known to each other.

iii) Cllr Cambridge expressed her concern about the TikTok promotion of ‘School Wars’ and asked what is being done in East Sheen. Sgt Adgey said a Sergeant with a dedicated role has been in touch with schools, and patrolling in the vicinity of schools has been increased. Schools have been encouraged to contact parents with advice. So far no issues have arisen locally.

iv) A resident asked if there had been any further cases of children kicking front doors. PC Sokhi said several children had been caught. Parents and schools were involved.

v) The dangerous and often illegal behaviour of some cyclists was raised again. Sgt Adgey said the police would deal with it if they were in the vicinity and could do so safely but could not be diverted from other, higher priority activities. It was difficult to catch cyclists.

b) Neighbourhood Watch – Andy Lindesay

Andy Lindesay, street coordinator for Stonehill Road, gave an update on recent activities. Efforts to recruit new members by maildrops (residents who do not use tech) had resulted in 20 new members. There were still untapped streets. Efforts are underway to produce a regular bulletin about scams and fraud which will draw on the Which weekly report. Parcel theft remains a concern and residents are encouraged to use the WhatsApp group to draw neighbours’ attention to deliveries.

2   Priorities

These were discussed and agreed as: Shoplifting, Car Crime and Residential Burglary

3   Policing in Richmond Park

No significant events or crimes. The chair said that sports cyclists were the main problem and he was concerned for the safety of park users. One resident had seen a shirt printed ‘Richmond Park Velodrome’. Another resident said the only way to deal with this was to ‘suck it up’. Sgt Adgey agreed.

4  How the police deal with crime

Sgt Adgey gave a short presentation on how a crime report is dealt with. In summary:

• When a report is made the call centre grades its priority
• Target response times are in place – 15 minutes for immediate response; one hour for ‘significant’ events; unspecified – minor events
• The report is passed to the relevant team
• Most reports are low level, day to day events and are passed to a central team
• Reports are allocated to officers who make enquiries and gather evidence
• A decision is made whether a person/s should be charged
• If the case goes to court it must be proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’
• Victim support maintains contact with the individual concerned and keeps them updated on things such as a change in the nominated officer or release of offenders from custody

Points raised in discussion:

i) If a crime is reported and a crime number given, do you immediately have an officer as your contact? Sgt Adgey: No, this will happen later when an officer is nominated

ii) What to do with firearms/weapons? Sgt Adgey: contact the police and they will collect them. Do not take them to a police station.

Date of next meeting 24 June 2026

9    Date of next meeting – 24 June 2026