Operation Western Promise aims to improve public confidence in Newham Police

Launch of the Operation Western Promise operation in Stratford. (Image: Archant)

Operation Western Promise was launched at the Stratford Centre today and follows on from Operation Eastern Promise, which focused on the east of the borough.

There will be an opportunity for members of the public to meet with officers everyday of the month-long operation, in a range of settings from coffee mornings to bike marking workshops.

Deputy Borough Commander Ian Larnder, who briefed officers at the launch, said gaining residents’ trust is vital to enable officers to do their jobs.

“In the UK, we practice policing by consent and trust and confidence is central to that,” he said. “We rely on people to tell us what is going on in their community, that is our lifeblood.

“We are very good when we deal with victims of crime but we struggle with community confidence in Newham, which is what this is all about. This operation is about learning what our problems are and taking them away and seeing what we have to do to increase people’s wellbeing and make them feel safer.”

Councillor Unmesh Desai, Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti Social Behaviour, who attended the briefing, thanked officers for their work.

He said the operation was evidence of the police, council and other relevant agencies working together.

Initial feedback from Operation Eastern Promise has been positive, with residents saying they liked seeing more officers on the streets and felt they were more approachable. However it is too soon to find out whether it has altered confidence levels which before the operation stood at 55 per cent, 10pc below the Met’s target.

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