by Tijs Broeke

The City of London is the world’s safest business district and a leading destination for workers, residents, and visitors alike.

While it is a small geographical area, we are home to 615,000 workers and over 8,000 people who live here.

In recent years, the City has also developed into a major tourist destination with a busy night time economy with nearly 1,000 licensed premises, attracting millions of visitors a year.

Unique
Having a first-class, dedicated police force that serves one of the most densely populated areas in London is a unique selling point for our City.

As the newly elected chair of the City of London Police Authority Board, I am committed to working hard with colleagues from the City of London Police to ensure crime victims are at the heart of everything we do. Together we will accelerate our work to support business and make the force the most inclusive police service in the country.

Value for money
The Police Authority Board plays an important role in keeping the City safe. We are responsible for holding the Commissioner of the City of London Police to account in running an effective and efficient service: ensuring value for money in the way the force is run; and setting policing priorities considering the views of the local community.

Together we organise regular events to support our businesses and residents and listen to their views on what our policing priorities should be.

Through this process, we produce a Policing Plan that details our clear focus on public trust and community policing, finances, counter-terrorism and the fight against fraud, economic and cyber-crime.

These are vital components in keeping our City workers, residents, visitors and the country safe, and despite the national challenges policing faces, I believe that the City Police is well placed to meet them.

Connections
Over the past year, the City Police has focused on strengthening connections with business and our wider communities, which is vital to effective policing. We are tackling violence against women and girls, keeping the City’s night time economy safe and combatting anti-social behaviour.

As the National Lead Force for fraud, economic, cyber and business crime, the City of London Police works hard to strengthen the UK’s economic security. It investigates some of the country’s most complex cases of fraud, sets the national strategy and co-ordinates the operational response. However, we know that policing has its challenges and that is why the government, and the private and public sectors, must work together to support the UK’s overall response.

Cyber-crime
One of the ways in which the City of London Police works with businesses is through its Cyber Griffin programme which supports business and individuals in the Square Mile to protect themselves from cyber-crime.

The service also hosts Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber-crime. This year will see its replacement with a new £150 million platform. The enhanced system will streamline victim reporting and empower swift police intervention for law enforcement to catch more fraudsters.

With 38 per cent of all UK crime being fraud-related, the City of London Police serves a crucial role in the co-ordination of the policing response: identifying, disrupting and prosecuting fraud and economic crime across the country.

The City of London Corporation itself is investing £596 million to construct a new civic hub on Fleet Street. The Salisbury Square Development will house a flagship legal facility for His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and a new state-of-the-art headquarters for the City of London Police, which will equip officers with the latest technology and facilities, supporting them in their role as lead force combatting economic crime and fraud across the UK.

Tijs Broeke is chair of the City of London Police Authority Board
www.cityoflondon.police.uk