A police officer who won a top award for his work tackling gang crime in central London has joined the force in Hounslow.

Inspector Andrew Morrow has replaced Richard Smith as the neighbourhood inspector for Hounslow Central, and will oversee policing in Hounslow, Heston and Cranford.

He and his team in Westminster won a London-wide award in December 2012 for reducing gang crime and achieving a 59 per cent year-on-year reduction in serious youth violence.

Inspector Morrow arrives amidst a spate of stabbings across the borough, including two in central Hounslow during the last month.

He said he would use his experience of tackling knife crime in the West End to help address the issue in Hounslow.

"I'm keen to work to make Hounslow a safer place, especially in the light of recent events," he said.

"Hounslow doesn't have a gang problem but the symptoms are there, like drugs, antisocial behaviour and people carrying knives.

"Lower level crime like antisocial behaviour and drug dealing are all symptoms of a bigger problem, and a lot of young people get involved in violence in that kind of arena.

"We need the public to act as our eyes and ears and give us the intelligence to deploy resources where needed."

One of the problems facing detectives investigating the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Jamil Palmer in Hanworth earlier this month has been the reluctance of witnesses to come forward, prompting a plea from Mr Palmer's mother for them to forget their 'street code'.

Inspector Morrow, who grew up in Belfast and has worked in Ealing, Kingston, Richmond and Slough, said: "Engagement is a very important part of police work and that is something I will be impressing upon all officers to make us more approachable so people are happy to approach us with any concerns."

Inspector Smith, whose team was crowned Safer Neighbourhood Team of the Year at the London-wide Excellence in Total Policing Awards in January , has swapped places with Inspector Morrow and the latter was keen to pay his respects to his predecessor.

"It's not going to be an easy job because Richard has set the bar pretty hard, but I'm looking forward to working with the community," he said.