Westminster City Council is launching a major clampdown on litterbugs, louts and scruffy streets in the run up to the Olympics with a creation of a new force of 'super inspectors' with tough enforcement powers.
At the heart of the new service will be a specially-trained team of 45 ‘rapid response’ officers who can be called on to deal with issues across the City as and when they arise, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Drunks urinating in the street, visitors dropping litter and firms dumping waste will all be tackled in a campaign to clean-up up the heart of the capital ahead of 2012.
In addition a band of 20 'neighbourhood inspectors' with the same wide range of powers will tackle issues of greatest local concern, including anti-social behaviour, graffiti, and dog fouling. All the inspectors will work closely with existing Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams and have the power to issue litter fines, tackle touts and clampdown on illegal street trading.
Cllr Daniel Astaire, cabinet member for community safety, said: "We spend millions keeping our streets clean and safe, but there is a hardcore element which refuses to abide by the high standards we set and people rightly expect when visiting Westminster. This new service will combine the best that both City Guardians and our existing inspectors have to offer, and be fully trained and equipped to make a real difference on the street.
"The eyes of the world will be upon central London come 2012 and we are determined when visitors come to Westminster they will be impressed by the look and feel of our streets. This will be our final push ahead of the Olympics, and we are determined to be tougher, quicker and more efficient in how we deal with loutish behaviour of all kinds."
It’s nearly a decade since the Council created City Guardians, against a backdrop of rising crime and a reduction in the level of local policing. This pioneering idea was replicated across the country, and helped lead to the move to neighbourhood policing which has seen the police invest nearly £6m per year in Westminster alone.
Westminster is confident its proposed new breed of super inspectors will once again blaze a trail and sets a model for modernising how the streets are managed which other councils will follow.
Each area will have its own 'neighbourhood inspector' who local people will know by name and can contact directly, and will work with the 27 individual Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams, which amounts to more than 300 officers and PCSOs.
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