Silencing the Sirens - update

Previous posts have talked about the problems of the police using their sirens unneccesarily after dark and in particular, between the hours of 11pm and 6am.

Often, with no traffic or pedestrians on the road, police cars will drive along with lights and sirens, disturbing people's sleep and enjoyment of their homes - without good reason.

With thanks to Jennette Arnold, our very hard working London Assembly member, we arranged a meeting with the borough commander, Chief Superintendent Steve Bending (pictured).

At the meeting, the use of sirens was raised and contrasted with Kennington in Lambeth where the police agreed to restrict the use and in Barnet where at 2am polic and ambulances don't use sirens.

The borough commander has promised ot work with Jennette to raise this issue at a London-wide Met level, as well as regularly mentioning it to officers as they turn up for evening shifts. He also agreed that senior officers, when out on patrols, would remind officers that they are travelling through areas where residents live and should be mindful of that fact.

Hackney's own statistics and surveys show that emergency vehicles are the main reason for noise at night breaching limits set by the World Health Organisation for allowing people to sleep. We know that this doesn't need to continue. People being disturbed by police sirens are encouraged to contact them and complain - it shouldn't happen in Hackney.

We'll be following this up with the borough commander and thank him for his understanding of the problem.