I realised recently that I spend a lot of time recommending that residents contact our local community police team, so I thought it would be helpful to write a quick blog post about them and to collect the information I share in emails / in person in one place.

The Metropolitan Police has a structure of community policing, which means that every ward or every couple of wards has a local team called the ‘Safer Neighbourhood Team’. These are officers who are assigned to the local area, getting to know it and its residents, getting to know the hotspots and the issues.

They don’t replace an emergency response, or the necessity of reporting a crime. If a crime is happening, or if someone is in danger, always call 999. To contact the police in a non-emergency, call 101. To report a crime you also can use the form provided by the police online.

But, for example, if there is an ongoing issue with something that keeps recurring, with something that might appear to be ‘lower level’ but which is nonetheless making people feel unhappy or unsafe, it can also be useful to contact the local team to see if they can help.

A good example of this is an issue that Liz and I were talking to residents about recently when we were door knocking: concerns about anti-social behaviour and drug taking on a road in the ward. We advised them to report noise and litter to the Council, to report any crimes that they witnessed to the police, but also to drop the Safer Neighbourhood Team a line, to let them know that this road seemed to be emerging as a bit of a hotspot. (And of course we have also alerted them) The local team can make sure they visit the location when they are out on patrol, they might have links with support services, they can do some problem solving and try to help resolve the problem.

The local SNT also run our busy ward panel. Liz has been the main point of councillor contact on this panel for a few months now and has been doing great work representing residents, making links with Council services and the work the police are doing, and more. This group meets once every few months, and is a way of local people feeding back to the police about the issues they are experiencing. Often people will also attend from other interested organisations, like the Council or Housing Associations, to talk about how to find solutions. When local residents contact Liz and I about issues that include crime, we will often raise these at the next ward panel on their behalf.

Contact the Forest Gate North team:
See their website: https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/met/newham/forest-gate-north/about-us/top-reported-crimes-in-this-area
This site includes information on crimes, on local officers, on any events coming up (two ‘cuppa with a copper’ events are scheduled for 2026)
Email: forestgatenorth@met.police.uk

Please remember that this team work on shifts, and will therefore get back to you when they have a chance. Local officers are also often called away to help other teams to deal with urgent situations. If you need to speak to someone in the police urgently, as above, dial 999 or 101.

MetEngage
The Met has also recently launched a new way of keeping in touch with local residents. (I have signed up to it, and it seems promising, but also seems like something that is still being tried out and not quite up to speed yet.) Sign up to MetEngage here: https://www.metengage.co.uk/ to receive information by email or by text about the police.