Jargon-busting the police

We are very lucky to live in a time and place where the police force takes pains to be open, transparent and approachable. However, the terminology can be baffling and in practice many of us don’t engage because we don’t really understand how policing works in our own area.

The HWA comes to the rescue with our police jargon buster!

Let’s start with the SNT, or Safer Neighbourhood Team. The SNT is our local police force, comprising two PCs (police constables) and one PCSO (police community support officer). In Hampton Wick, our SNT is made up of PC Nick Cheadle, PC Ian Lishmund and PCSO Dave Auld. They report to Sergeant Gavin McCandless who also supervises several other SNTs.

The Police Liaison Group (PLG) is the way that we the public can most readily engage with our local SNT. In times past we had our own Hampton Wick PLG but it has now merged with Teddington’s. There are PLG meetings every few months, usually at St Mary’s Church Hall in Teddington. The Chair of our local PLG is Martyn Kingsford and the secretary is Christina Gore.

Everyone is welcome to attend the PLG meetings, to meet the local SNT police officers, to find out what’s been happening in the way of crime and crime prevention locally, to ask questions and to help shape priorities.

There is then an organisation within each Borough called the Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB). This body also brings together the police with the community to decide on policing priorities, but at Borough level whereas the PLGs operate at local level. The chairs of three of the Borough’s PLGs are members of the Safer Neighborhood Board.

The SNB in turn forms part of the Borough’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP) which brings the SNB together the Borough Council, the Police and the Fire Brigade. The CSP is really the top of the tree in terms of police direction at Borough level.

For most of us, the best way to get involved is to go along to the local PLG meetings, although you may also be interested in the Borough level SNB. We publish details of these meetings here on the HWA website.