Every week Chief Superintendent Matt Gardner, Brent Police borough commander writes a column for the Times. This week he speaks about the future of the borough’s front counters.

First of all I’d like to update you on a subject that I know many of you will be interested in - the future of our front counters and contact points across the borough. Following a long period of consultation conducted by the Mayors Office for Policing I can now confirm what will come into effect on 16th September including five new contact points:

A twenty four hours a day, seven days a week front counter service will be retained at Wembley Police Station.

A Standard Front Counter service will be implemented at Kilburn Police Station, with opening hours of Monday to Friday, (excluding Bank Holidays) from 9am to 5pm.

Brent Police will also be opening five new Contact Points, staffed by members of your local Safer Neighbourhood teams.

Contact Points are locations for non-urgent face-to-face contact, where the public meet their local police at regular, known times.

Contact Points will be community, victim and witness focused and will not offer offender based transactions.

Brent Contact Points will be in existing police buildings, such as safer neighbourhood bases or police stations the details of which are outlined below;

Harlesden Police Station.

Dollis Hill Safer Neighbourhood base, Strata House, 34A Waterloo Road, NW2 7UH.

Willesden Safer Neighbourhood base, 78 Walm Lane, Willesden Green, NW2 4RA.

Kensal Green Safer Neighbourhood base, 25 Station Road, Harlesden, NW10 4UP.

Kenton Safer Neighbourhood base, Kingsbury Trading Estate, Unit 19 Kingsbury Trading Estate, Barningham Way, NW9 8AU.

They will be open at regular, advertised times, with a minimum commitment of three hours a week between 7:00pm and 8:00pm on a Wednesday and Thursday evening and between 2:00pm and 3:00pm on a Saturday afternoon.

On a completely separate note I’d like to mention two significant recent events on the borough that my officers were involved in. Firstly, the celebrations of Eid amongst our Islamic Communities. Officers from Tokyngton Safer Neighbourhoods Team received a letter of appreciation this week from the Imam at the Islamic Cultural Centre, thanking them for all the support they have given the mosque and the Muslim community during Eid.

At the end of July the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Willesden celebrated its Silver Jubilee. This was a huge event that had been in the planning for over two years, and involved nine days of celebrations, including a music show, Street Festival and Procession. This was a huge local event, with over 10,000 people attending at times, and both of these events demonstrate the strength and breadth of our diverse communities within Brent.

Finally for now I’d like to congratulate Tony Hayes, who this week has been successful in his application to become a Special Inspector. We await confirmation that Tony will be retained on the borough when he receives his posting, but none the less I’d like to thank him for the hard work he’s put in to promote the work of the Special Constables within Brent.

As ever, if you have any information on crime matters, tell us and we will act. You can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, dial 101 to speak to police, or contact your local SNT via the MPS website www.met.police.co.uk. In an emergency, always call 999. For daily updates and information about what is happening in Brent, you can follow us on Twitter at @MPSBrent. Any suspicious activity can be reported anonymously and confidentially to the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321. No piece of information is too small, no genuine call is a waste of time. Don’t rely on others: if you suspect it, report it.

Thank you for your continued support.