I know we have all been stunned by the events of the last month. The response of our community has been tremendous. From the evening vigils to the volunteers at the Welcome Centre who have been feeding police with food donated by individuals and businesses, the week has truly showed the best of our borough. It was a real team effort. Thanks to the swift action of the police, the council and the voluntary sector we suffered minimal disturbance and reclaimed our streets back.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our hard-working police colleagues for their decisive action in dealing with these incidents and would urge anyone with any information to contact Crimestoppers - anonymously if need be - on 0800 555 111 or online at http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org
One advantage we had over other boroughs during the past month is that we already had an anti gang strategy in place. As you will see from this week's local Guardian we are continuing to lobby very hard for additional finances to fund this strategy. We have received excellent national coverage this week and had a good response from the media locally. I will keep you up to date as this matter progresses.
