Labour won a landslide election victory under my leadership in May 2006.  I immediately appointed one of our councillors as  Cabinet Member for Community Safety – a role that didn't even exist when the Tories and Lib Dems were in charge. I wanted to signal to local people that the newly elected Labour Council was serious about our promise to make Lambeth safer.  My colleague, Cllr Mark Bennett, took on  the new role with enthusiasm.

• Worked with the Police to introduce a six-strong Safer Neighbourhood Police Team led by a sergeant in every ward in Lambeth.
• Introduced Lambeth’s first-ever Anti-Social Behaviour Team who work with the Police to target persistent offenders
• Appointed a serving police officer as part of the Council’s internal anti-fraud team – resulting in arrests and the recovery of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
• Invested a record amount into tackling domestic violence – a crime that happens more in Lambeth than in most other areas and affects women and children in particular.
• Announced the biggest-ever increase in funding for youth services aimed at reducing youth crime and steering young offenders away from a life of crime
• Bought in a new team of 22 Police Community Safety Officers under direct police command to replace a variety of uncoordinated and powerless council warden schemes.
• Introduced the country’s first Hate Crime Strategy targeting crimes against minority groups

When the Lib Dems and Tories were running the Council, Lambeth’s Police Commander wrote a letter criticising their councillors for not taking the Safer Neighbourhood Team seriously.  With Labour, that’s all changed.  We’re looking at how we can further support the local police teams.  When Labour introduced the new squad of Police Community Safety Officers, the Borough Commander wrote to say it was the right thing to do to tackle crime.  True to form the Lib Dems, who are soft on crime, opposed the policy and even set up petitions to try and block the new PCSOs.