Those of us following us on Twitter will know that so far despite record crowds, crime is not only down at the Tennis this year but is also down across the Borough.

Robbery is currently down 15%, Burglary is down by 10%, Knife crime by 46% and Serious Youth Violence by 14% across the Borough. However, this is a continuous challenge and we will continue to need your help to do this.

Just this week we have seen overnight residential burglaries in Wimbledon Village/Park. In almost all cases these could have been prevented with simple crime prevention tactics.

Burglars are getting into houses by reaching keys through Catflaps, slipping locks on insecure doors and entering through open windows and doors.

The success that we have had this year so far have been achieved by refocusing our policing model to be more effective and efficient in cutting crime and anti-social behaviour.

This is the message that I gave at a "Face the Public" event I attended with Ged Curran yesterday.

I explained how the close relationship between Merton Council, the Police and other key agencies has been crucial to reducing crime and disorder this year and I hope that this partnership working will continue to be a priority as we move through the challenges of the summer and the on-going need to make savings.

I also spoke about the Local Policing Model we are working on to build on Safer Neighbourhoods teams and move uniformed officers into neighbourhoods to reinforce existing ward-based policing.

It is my intention that every ward will have dedicated PCs and PCSOs and I am in the process of filling neighbourhood PCSO vacancies across this Borough. This is not an immediate fix as 1,500 applications are being processed across London right now but subject to vetting and checks, eleven recruits will be posted to Merton in the near future which is good start.

Some of you have been in to see the Grip & Pace Centre that I have set up on the borough. This is where senior borough officers coordinate police activity to ensure we have the right resources in the right places at the right times.

I believe that this approach provides more up to date intelligence, leads to better deployment of resources & provide a more responsive service to you.

As always I am very interested in your views, I am slowly working my way through the different Wards going out on patrol with Ward Councillors and seeing for myself the issues your have.

Many thanks for your continuing support and I will speak to you again next week.

Darren

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Williams is the borough commander for Merton Police. He joined in January 2012 and wants Wimbledon Guardian readers to contact him with ideas on how to improving policing in our borough.

To put forward a suggestion or a question, email: newsdesk@wimbledonguardian.co.uk and put "Merton police" in the subject line.

Click here for more messages from the borough commander.