A police operation to improve public confidence is underway in Newham.

Operation Eastern Promise aims to increase visability of the force and bolster confidence levels which currently stand at 55 per cent, 10pc below the Met’s target.

Since the operation started on Tuesday last week, officers have held street briefings and community meetings, delivered crime prevention leaflets and conducted high visibility patrols, as well as visiting local businesses and community centres.

Areas targeted during the operation include East Ham Central, Manor Park, Wall End, Little Ilford, East Ham North and East Ham South.

Operations Superintendent Ian Larnder said public confidence is crucial to enable officers to do their jobs as effectively as possible.

“Public confidence is very important because if the public have confidence and trust us, they will report more to us, feel safe in talking to us and trust us to do something about it - which all goes towards driving down crime and anti-social behaviour,” he said.

“We need to consider how we deal with people’s concerns, how we listen to people and actually make them feel safe through acting in a professional way.”

Supt Larnder says improving confidence in the eastern quarter is the borough’s “biggest challenge” and the operation is likely to be rolled out to the other three sectors.

Public confidence is measured on a quarterly basis with 100 people living in the area being randomly contacted and asked questions on their views on policing in the area, including community engagement and fair treatment. Supt Lardner added: “Confidence and trust in the police can also significantly help us far better reflect the communities we serve, as people from all our communities, see how we work, our professionalism and are able to envisage themselves as future officers serving Londoners.”

Follow @MPSNewham on Twitter or search the hashtag #easternpromise for more details.

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