CronxWatch is back with its latest YouTube report, this time on the trail of Croydon’s low-profile police force.

It’s another recommended, excellent video report – although we would say that, since much of it is based on previous news coverage published by Inside Croydon (you’ll recognise iC’s headlines being rolled across the screen at regular intervals).

But on-screen journalist David Weir goes further than that, highlighting how Tory Mayor Jason Perry, a director of Croydon BID, appears to favour funding Croydon BID’s private security bounty hunters in the town centre, rather than providing cash to have extra police officers on our streets.

Armed with only a cardboard cut-out of a constable and his trusty microphone, Weir crunches the numbers and finds that Croydon is well down on the number of officers for the borough’s population, even according to the recommendations of the Metropolitan Police itself.

And then there’s “abstractions” – the process of the Met pulling officers into the centre of London to police demos, football matches and major events. Croydon, according to Katharine Street sources and Croydon police itself, is often expected to provide more than its fair share of officers for these other necessary duties, leaving the borough itself noticeably under-staffed.

As first reported here, Croydon often has to provide one-quarter of its officers to these other duties.

This has a number of unwelcome consequences for Croydon’s law-abiding residents and businesses.

In Croydon, where Chris Philp, the Tory policing minister, is seeking re-election as an MP, official figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Metropolitan Police is solving just 1-in-5 burglary cases in Croydon.

There is a reason for that.

One business in Waddon recently received a visit from a couple of local councillors. “We love our businesses on Southbridge Road who are tragically suffering break-ins, robberies and shoplifting. We will work with local police to get this sorted!” Rowenna Davis announced from outside pizzeria Raggio di Sole.

There was also the suggestion that Croydon’s police are not taking theft and burglaries “seriously”.

What the Waddon councillor failed to mention in her tweet is that the restaurant has had four break-ins in the course of the past couple of months (hence the metal plate in place of a glass door), all of them with the burglar caught in the act on CCTV, and all of them reported to Croydon’s boys (and girls) in blue.

Yet Croydon’s police have not bothered to visit the crime scene, gather any evidence and never make even the most feeble attempt to bring the criminal(s) to justice.

So not even 1-in-5, but 0-in-4, in what was, until the constituency boundary changes, in policing minister Chris Philp’s own constituency.

CronxWatch also drills down into the success, or otherwise, of the Met’s recent use of Live Facial Recognition cameras on Croydon’s North End. Turns out, this latest version of RoboCops is not as successful at clearing our streets of violent crims as the Met – and Tory Philp – would like to make out.

And they also report Big Brother Watch’s serious findings about the “authoritarian” use, and misuse, of such technology, which is being applied without any consent from the public. Nice touch, this: CronxWatch highlights Philp’s crass hypocrisy in his opposition to ULEZ cameras (to the point of being a member of social media pages that appeared to encourage criminal vandalism) which supporting Live Facial Recognition.

“Sure, they’ve caught some violent criminals and that’s obviously a good thing. But is it worth having PC GPT all up in your grill every time you go to the local shops?” CronxWatch asks.

And they wrap up by saying, “Will the ‘Watchers’ watch this or will they just keep on watching us as the town centre goes downhill on their watch.”

• CronxWatch’s Patreon page is here. It’s well worth a visit and your support

Read more: Met’s £1.6m on ‘community’ groups, and Safer Neighbourhood Board that never meets
Read more: Community groups demand dismissal of convicted Met officer
Read more: Croydon police officer dismissed for using offensive racist slur

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