I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the late summer we seem to have been blessed with this last week.

The nights are starting to draw in, but let’s enjoy the last of the lighter evening safely and peacefully.

This week has been a challenging week, with some major incidents and more protracted operations being dealt with. Some positive results have come back from court hearings, one of which shows the determination of my officers when it comes to tackling those who try to make our borough less safe.

Detective Constable Cormack completed a trial where a Fenan Michael, 27, of no fixed address, was sentenced to four years in prison for supplying drugs. Here is the message to anyone who thinks they can harm our community through drug dealing – we will find you, gather evidence against you and put you in prison, whatever it takes.

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a key part of the work conducted by our Neighbourhood Teams on each ward. On September 12 and 13, Kilburn Neighbourhood Policing Team did just that.

Sergeant Bryan Wappat and his team joined up with our partners at Brent Council, the Home Office and Ashford Place homeless organisation to tackle issues in three open spaces on the borough – Welsh Harp, Gladstone Park and Fryent Country Park.

Reports of anti-social behaviour and breaching of local bylaws had been reported over several months, and this combined team engaged with more than 25 people and removed over 15 tents/structures.

A successful operation and well done to those involved. Please tell us about any local issues affecting you, we will tackle them with our partner agencies to try and make your lives better.

The final area or our work that I want to raise with you is that on Child Sexual Exploitation, or CSE as it is known across all agencies who try to combat it. CSE is where our most vulnerable children are taking advantage of by individuals or groups for their own benefit. Often this benefit is through using the children for sexual gratification, and this can mean serious sexual offences. Police are working with all partner agencies, like children’s social care, for example, to identify those children at risk and arrest those who are exploiting them.

Brent is about to start an Operation called ‘MakeSafe’ to help increase awareness of CSE and perhaps intercept the most vulnerable before they become victims of crime.

Operation MakeSafe will involve asking local businesses, large and small, to be on the look out for children who display signs of being subject to CSE. We will train the staff in these businesses of those signs, and then give them a way of contacting police without alerting any offenders involved. Police will then respond and make arrests where offences have been committed. I will let you know when it is fully up and running, but don’t forget you can also tell police or the local child safeguarding teams at Brent Council if you have any concerns about a child you know being at risk of CSE.