Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admits police have lost relationships with community at Mitcham crime meeting

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said police had "lost some of those relationships" as a result of changes to the policing model.

The question-and-answer session on Monday night in the civic centre was dominated by concerns about police officer numbers and a recent spate of violent assaults in Mitcham - where six men between the ages of 16 and 24 have been stabbed since June.

Only one person has been charged - a 16-year-old  charged with wounding and possession of an offensive weapon after a 16-year-old was stabbed in the belly at the bus stop outside Pollards Hill Library in October.

Abi Kasipillai, who has lived in Mitcham for the past 17 years, said: "I think policing has got worse. It started off with safer neighbourhood teams who’d come and talk to you.

"You’d tell them what’s going on and they would listen to you and take it on further.

"Now we see it’s changed completely. They’re not interested in what I have to say."

L-R: Borough commanders Stuart Mcleod (Merton), Richard Smith (Wandsworth) and David Snelling (Sutton) 

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "I agree that the more officers we can get out meeting people the more likely we are to get community intelligence.

"And I acknowledge that in terms of the model as we changed it there is a feeling that we’ve got too few doing exactly that and too many wandering from place to place to deal with problems that needed dealing with but we have lost some of those relationships."

He also said of the unsolved stabbings: "One of the problems we do have is that if people don't complain, it's a real problem with violent crime."

Crime in Merton has been going down in all areas except for violent assaults, which have risen by almost a fifth in the past year, with an extra 171 offences recorded by police.

Neighbouring boroughs also saw increases in the the number of violent assaults, with an extra 164 offences in Sutton and 364 offences in Wandsworth.

Nzingha Assata, who has lived in Pollards Hill for the past eight years, said: "Certainly in the last year or so, we've hardly seen a police officer in the area.

"There's a lot of gang activity apparently and also recently two stabbings, so we really would like to see more visibility of policing in that area."

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "I acknowledge in some areas the visibility has been difficult, because of the way we've reconstructed the [local policing] model and by December we'll be coming back with some improvements."

"It's not perfect but the thing I can't understand is we've put about 2,600 more police officers across London into neighbourhood policing and yet people are saying they see less of them.

"Well that don't compute, so it must be we've got it wrong somewhere."

Merton's Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) were replaced with Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) as part of reforms to local policing in July 2013.

Four safer neighbourhood bases were slashed, with officers instead based out of Mitcham or Wimbledon stations with once PC and one PCSO attached permanently to each ward.

Each ward is overseen by one sergeant who oversees a maximum of two wards. Previously two PCs, three PCSOs and one sergeant were dedicated to each SNT team.

David Chung, also a Pollards Hill resident, said: "I think many people in their communities are worried when you start, because of finance, to get rid of your police stations.

"People may not actually come into your police stations but when you have a sense there is a police station you feel secure."

Pollards Hill police station in South Lodge Avenue was closed as part of the cuts - on the road where three of the recent stabbings have taken place. 

Sir Hogan-Howe said: "It's not our preferred option to close police stations. But sadly we have limited options.

"We've got to find more than half a million pounds of savings and if we don't save on buildings we'll have to save on people."

He said there were no plans to close either Wimbledon or Mitcham police stations.

Councillor Jeff Hanna, who represents Pollards Hill, asked why, given about 42 per cent of all crime in Merton takes places in Mitcham, only one third of resources were allocated to the area.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said resource distribution was down to the borough commander but had to be balanced between where crime was committed and the types of crimes being committed.

He said: "One of the things we know is that where are licensed premises you will get a certain type or crime but the people living on the estates will not want us to put all our resources in town centres so it's trying to strike a balance."

What do you think about changes to neighbourhood policing? Comment below, or email Louisa on louisa.clarence@london.newsquest.co.uk