Police officers are facing a backlash from residents after they suspended neighbourhood crime briefings - leaving communities unable to “protect” themselves form lawbreakers.

In the wake of the controversial decision, residents have begun posting messages online to warn others of criminal activity in their area.

Chairwoman of the West Putney safer neighbourhood ward panel, Janis Humberstone, was the first to speak out after Wandsworth police announced the group would not be kept in the loop about crimes in the community.

Police told her the crime briefings had been temporarily stopped “due to a little difficulty concerning information sharing and data protection issues”.

Since the information blackout, reports have circulated about crimes in Putney, which were allegedly not being disclosed by police. One online posting detailed a stabbing in Gwendolen Avenue on August 20.

In it, Helen Wade said she called the emergency services out to help three men who had been attacked by a “bunch of teenagers”. But, after the Wandsworth Guardian queried the incident with police, officers said they had no record of the assault.

Another message asked why no one had been told about a violent car jacking in Oxford Road, Putney, on August 29. After the incident was put to police, an appeal for witnesses was issued on September 17.

Ms Humberstone said: “If these briefings are indeed to be restricted, this will only add to the difficulties of local policing, which relies on the co operation of local residents like me and all the other people who are proactive in this area.

“Either we should be protected from crime by official resources, or allowed maximum powers to protect ourselves.”

Chief Inspector Peter Turner, who stressed he was “extremely keen to reinstate sharing information”, said: “This briefing has been suspended following complaints that the content breached aspects of the data protection act.

“The local authority has written to the information commissioner seeking his views on the matter and the briefing has been stopped pending the outcome of his findings.

“In the meantime local information can be gleaned from respective safer neighbourhood teams and crime figures via the Metropolitan Police website.”

A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said: “We are looking to resolve this issue as quickly as possible so that we can continue sending out alerts to residents to help them avoid becoming victims of thieves and burglars.”

Ms Humberstone said, if the Data Protection Act was preventing the briefings being reinstated, residents should lobby for a change in the law.

Police appeal

Police are appealing for information about the Oxford Road car jacking which saw robbers make off with a blue Volkswagen Golf.

A police spokeswoman said officers were hunting more than one suspect - all were described as male between 27 and 33 years old.

The incident happened on August 29 at 2.24am.

Detective Inspector Darren Hassard said: “This is an unusual incident for this area but we would like to reassure the public that there are uniformed and plain clothes police patrols in Wandsworth who are specifically tasked to deal with robberies.”

Anyone with information should call Wandsworth robbery squad on 020 8247 8770 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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