By Foluke Ajayi, Head of Neighbourhood Management (London) at Network Homes

Every day, our neighbourhood team work alongside colleagues, the police, our contractors, and external organisations to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in our communities. It’s important we work together to resolve ASB incidents so that residents feel safe in their home and community.

Firearms offence in Westminster, London

Recently, one of our contractors noticed firearms and evidence of drug use in one of our properties in Westminster where they were completing a repair.  The contractor immediately contacted our repairs team to make us aware of the incident. Our repairs team reached out to our neighbourhood team who were able to report it directly to the police safer neighbourhood team. The police responded on the same day and carried out a police raid on the property. This was a quick response of 48 hours from when the contractor reported it to us.

The police raid was carried out over the weekend and by Monday morning we had received an email from the police informing us of their findings. At the address they found an imitation firearm but no drugs. Based on the information provided, the police were satisfied that the imitation firearm did not pose any danger to the public although it could be used to intimidate others.

Based on the information from the police, our neighbourhood team arranged a joint visit to the property with three local safer neighbourhood police officers to discuss the concerns we had and warn the resident not to keep these types of items in their property. They were a vulnerable resident who was being taken advantage of by others in the community.

The resident was not charged by the police, but they did receive an official ASB warning from us. The resident was very apologetic and realised the seriousness of the situation. So, our neighbourhood team and the local police are jointly monitoring the situation.

The work that was carried out and the speed with which events were dealt with was only made possible by internal teams, in this case the neighbourhood team and the repairs teams, working together and our strong links with our contractors and local safer neighbourhoods police teams.

Our neighbourhood team attend many multi-agency meetings and continue to build links with all our London local authorities and Police teams. Our officers are also highly skilled and trained to deal with all types of incidents and we provide them with regular training to keep up to date with legal processes, our policy and procedures and ASB legislation.