Knifeman arrested after trying to access Woolwich’s Dial Arch pub
Drinkers in the Dial Arch had to be locked in tonight as a man armed with a knife tried to access the building.
Reports say there was no police response for 15-20 minutes after being called – as a video shows the man pacing outside with a knife.
Another person reported they had possibly the same individual making threats earlier in the day.
The man was eventually arrested by police.
The response time could be a result of changes to police in London as Basic Command Units have been introduced merging certain functions between boroughs. It has been criticised for slowing police response times – which were already under strain due to police cuts.
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I do think the Basic Police Commands need to be reviewed under the new Home Secretary and Borough Commands brought back to every London Borough, With more local Police controls around the Borough,
The Met Police do urgently need more Police officers as soon as possible along with more money to tackle knife related crimes.
However,,I do wonder how much money from Greenwich Council Tax payers promised to the Greenwich Borough Violent Crime Unit has been paid to them so far,
In Pakistan and India its quite common for a group of streets to employ a night watchman to patrol up and down during the night. The chap blows a whistle occasionally so others know he’s alive and wandering about. I imagine that with further police cutbacks G4 or such will happily offer a similar patrol service for a monthly subscription to discerning neighbourhoods. Woolwich will probably settle for a vagrant with a carpet knife, the better to fit in.
Hi Charles,
I hope we do not need to ever employ private security firms. We pay quite handsomely in various taxes and such basic service as safety in the streets are to be provided by the Police. It is a different thing that vast amount of tax payers money is being wasted at every level of government and there is not enough money for basics like policing, education and NHS.
I agree Simon.
We pay already pay for the police through our taxes!
Also, while I’m a free-market libertarian, private companies shouldn’t be doing the job of the police as you can easily end up in a racketeering situation.
Hi agree Simon, HK and Graham.
We pay for the Police through our taxes. We need an increase in Police numbers so more Police Officers can be on our streets.
I think sometimes Politicians (from all political parties) forget they are dealing with public money paid for by the tax payer.