Croydon Police
Meet Simon ellingham - Town Centre Unit Inspector
 I have 23 years service, virtually all of it as an operational frontline officer, and have now been in post as Croydon Town Centre Unit Inspector for 12 months. It has taken me this long to finally find the best job I have ever performed. It gives me an opportunity to serve the community of the local area, doing what I enjoy most: protecting the good from the activities of the bad.
I became a Christian at 16, Christ finally breaking through my inadequate defences and convincing me of His love. Never one to simply occupy a seat on Sunday mornings, I have served in various capacities over the years, youth group leadership, diaconate within the leadership of my Baptist Church, playing in the band each service, leading worship to name but a few. I joined the Metropolitan Police in 1985, aged 19, and very quickly grew up patrolling the streets of Chelsea on my own. I have been a Home Beat Officer, a Recruit Instructor at the Hendon Training School, a Response Team Officer at South Norwood, a Uniformed Sergeant at Kingston, then back to Croydon as a Duty Inspector 4 years ago, finally being moved to the Town centre July of 2007.
The Town Centre Unit has responsibility for policing the area between Wellesley Road and Old Town, from St James’s Road in the north to the Swan and Sugarloaf pub in the south. There are 18 constables divided between 3 teams, each headed by a sergeant, with myself in overall charge. Every officer shares my determination to provide a safe environment for residents and visitors to the area, and all of them believe in being seen and engaging with people. It is my privilege to work with them, and I have been extremely impressed with the work ethic and enthusiasm each one demonstrates.
The Town Centre provides unique challenges to the police, with the obvious retail theft and night time economies, but in addition we have to regularly deal with street drinkers, homeless street sleepers, drug and alcohol addicts, gang violence, anti-social behaviour, pickpockets and robberies to name but a small selection. Croydon suffers historically from a poor image in relation to violence, and I’m especially proud of the good work that has been put in to reduce these incidents. I served as a constable on this borough 10 years ago and can clearly recall how bad things were outside the nightclubs. Today it is a completely different story and much credit must go to the nightclub owners and staff, and to the police officers who consistently police these difficult periods as the number of violent incidents outside and inside these venues is dramatically lower than previous times.
In addition to all this we have worked closely with the security industry to reduce retail theft and have seen remarkable success. Overall, I strongly believe that we make a significant impact in our area, and I praise God for the strength that He has given me to perform my role, and for providing me with so many good people that I can work with to achieve these goals.
We still face issues on a daily basis though, and recently God has moved me to pray far more for our young people who live or pass through our area. Many of you will be all too aware of the problems of a perceived increase in knife crime, and the incidents the press attribute to all kinds of gangs and associated groups. Our young people are desperately in need of clear guidance, leadership, inspiration and, most of all, love. I believe that there are many good people in our communities who can provide all of those things, and I believe God is calling me to develop this side of my service even more. I was especially delighted to hear of the work of ICTIAC (In Croydon there is a church) and I look forward to meeting fellow workers in the fight to bring love and healing to our area. I am convinced that there IS hope, and it can be found in Jesus. I am but a small part of a great family of believers who, together, can achieve great things for God in the communities He has placed us within.
Simon Ellingham. 13/06/08.
|
