East Area new police chief’s dedication already starts to re-build trust amongst his community.

Several months ago a new police chief arrived to preside over Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge-known as East Area. Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell has 26 years of policing experience and has spent his time since arriving getting to know everything thoroughly about his new patch.

Mr Bell is extremely dedicated to his job as a police officer and as a vital member of our community here. Policing is probably one of the toughest professions in our society, especially across London and being a police chief in the Met is certainly guaranteed to provide endless challenges with the way our society is currently.

East Area has many, many amazing officers that really do a fantastic job across our streets everyday. However, it does also have the legacy of the horrific Stephen Port murders, where the Met was rightly criticised.

Today, the Havering Daily had the opportunity to talk to Chief Superintendent Bell about the impact these murders had on the community and how the Met is now going forward.

“Since I came here to lead this area I became aware of the huge legacy the Port murders have and the vast impact they have had on our community. I know it is a tragedy that will never go away and it is up to us now to rebuild trust and confidence that was sadly eroded.”

Stephen Port was sentenced in November 2016 for murder and rape, after murdering four men and committing multiple rapes in Barking. He targeted and sourced his victims from a gay dating app. The failed police investigation has since been heavily criticised and is now an ongoing matter for the IOPC.

Mr Bell has really made it one of his many missions to build the trust and confidence of the local community.

“What we need to show the community now is how we have learnt from our mistakes and how we are going forward so that we can rebuild their trust.

“Since the Port murders, we have completely changed the way we deal with unexplained deaths. We investigate these in an entirely new way from how we investigate-monitor and record them. This all comes from the coroner’s recommendations following the Port Enquiry.

“The whole investigation is manged differently now as we have acknowledged that they weren’t handled as they should have been.

“This new style is taking place right across the Met and every death has a very close supervision from senior officers to analyse it fully. Here my team has a detective Superintendent that leads to make sure we do not miss anything.

“We also have a full time LGBTQ advisory officer that starts his role on Monday (15 August) and will be helping to connect with the local community.

“I also chair an LGBTQ Independent Advisory Group that helps us as a force to bespoke our work as we should be, to also guide us where we need to be guided and to hold us to account if we do not do what we should be doing.”

Mr Bell is very motivated and clearly gives everything to his job and making sure our community is at the heart of everything he and his officers do.

“We are working with the community every way we can and really want to show them that we are doing our very best.

“I know the families involved in the Port murders are in huge pain and my focus has been to rebuild trust right across the board.

“We have trained our officers to even higher standards and are putting in place as many measures as we can.”

The Met has some amazing LGBTQ officers right across the capital including here in East Area that have done a fantastic job uniting communities together and helping to rebuild trust and confidence.

Mr Bell really is determined to make sure East Area are as inclusive as possible and open to everyone in the community hence the arrival of a new full time LGBTQ advisory officer.

“We are as an organisation very inclusive and well represented to make sure we give the best possible service to all our communities. Hopefully by working so closely with all the independent groups and our community we can rebuild trust.”

Officers across East Area and the Met do a fantastic job on our streets everyday working hand in hand with communities right across the capital. Mr Bell definitely leads from the front and gives his all to make sure he and his officers serve the community to the best of their ability. He is much respected by his staff and his dedication to them and our community is already starting to make big steps forward.