Violence in West Putney has roughly halved since January (from 36 incidents to 18) and the ward is now among the lowest in Putney for violent crime. Tonight residents can ask questions of the officers responsible, when the ward’s police team holds its first panel meeting since March.
The fall is real and it is good news. But it sits alongside a more complicated picture on two of the ward’s other priorities, and a shift in police thinking that is worth asking about tonight.
The latest figures
West Putney’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team operates three formal priorities: violence, anti-social behaviour, and vehicle theft. The most recent complete figures are for April 2026.
Violence has fallen substantially. It peaked at 36 incidents in January, a 63% rise reported by this title in March; by April it was 18. The ward is now among the lowest in Putney, joint with Thamesfield, and well below East Putney and Roehampton. The question is what drove the fall. At the March panel, officers could not explain the rise: they couldn’t see sub-categories, including whether domestic abuse was a factor. Tonight is the first opportunity to ask whether that has changed.
Anti-social behaviour nearly doubled in March before easing. Street drinking on Ashburton Road is the stated concern, and the monthly figure, though lower than its March peak, remains above where it was in February.
Vehicle theft has risen steadily across all three months. No single step is large enough to be conclusive on its own, but the consistent direction in a stated priority is a trend worth asking about. Granard Avenue is the hotspot.
The enforcement picture
The shift in the violence priority is the most significant change since March. When it was first set, it centred on drug supply around the Cortis Road area. Updated in April, it now focuses on ‘gang-related violence’, with officers tasked to target individuals involved in gang activity, disrupt drug dealing, and work with partner agencies to hold the ground.
That updated framing is consistent with what has happened in the ward over recent months: two arrests and convictions for drug supply, and a sustained focus by the local team on preventing new dealers moving in to fill the gap. Recorded drug offences in the ward have risen over the same period, which in this context may reflect active enforcement rather than a worsening problem.
The picture the data suggests is of a team that has been working hard and may be seeing results. The questions below are an opportunity to test that reading.
Six questions for tonight
The ward panel meets tonight, Tuesday 30 June, at 18:30 at Granard Primary School, Cortis Road SW15 6XA. Officers will take questions from residents. These are the questions the data raises:
- Violence has roughly halved since January. Is this the priority working, or a reporting and attention effect, and can officers separate the two?
- In March, officers couldn’t explain the surge because they couldn’t see sub-categories. Three months on, do they now know whether domestic abuse was a factor? Has the system changed?
- Anti-social behaviour spiked in March before easing. What happened on Ashburton Road, and is street drinking still a concern?
- Vehicle theft has risen steadily. What enforcement has happened on Granard Avenue since it became a priority?
- The violence priority now focuses on gang-related violence and disrupting drug supply. After recent arrests in the ward, is the team confident new dealers have not moved in, and is the rise in recorded drug offences a sign of enforcement working or of a worsening problem?
- All three priorities are marked for review on 3 July. Are they being reviewed at tonight’s meeting, and if so, what replaces them?
Residents who cannot attend can contact the West Putney Safer Neighbourhoods Team by email at WestPutney@contact.metengage.co.uk or by phone on 0208 785 8857. Suspicious activity can be reported on 101, or 999 in an emergency. To receive police updates for the area, sign up at metengage.co.uk.
