It’s not my first time I’ve seen officers at work, but driving down Kilburn High Road, it really dawned on me just how much they do.
Brent Inspector Yu Zhang met me at Kilburn Police Station, where he is working as part of Operation Terminos – a scheme to reduce violence, robbery and burglary across Brent, Barnet, Harrow, Camden and Westminster.
In just one day I saw two arrests, officers dealing with multiple incidents and even sat in on a call for a suspected gun sighting.
What I saw
The day started off with a briefing about Operation Terminos.
Insp Zhang explained that its primary areas of focus are Burnt Oak, Cricklewood and Kilburn.
Officers were then refreshed with a list of wanted people who they were on the lookout for.
While the inspector mentioned how live facial recognition technology is a revolutionary tool to help track suspects, I was amazed how many details officers could themselves remember about the people listed.
After only a matter of minutes in the back of the police car, officers burst out to catch and arrest a wanted man.
From what we could tell, it appeared he had been sleeping rough at a camp outside the former Santander in Kilburn High Road.
Within a few minutes, we were already called to our next incident – which conveniently happened to be right across the road.
Complaints were made about a woman who had locked herself in the McDonald’s toilet and was allegedly bathing herself at the sink.
Insp Zhang said that with the situation under control, an arrest could be considered a waste of police resources.
Next we attended a known drug dealing hotspot, to deter any activity there.
Later in the day, I saw officers stop and search a man suspected of attempted theft who was then found carrying items that were not believed to be his.
My takeaway from the experience is that in Kilburn alone, dozens of people fall under the watchful eyes of officers every day.
How effective is the operation?
Even with those who were not arrested, I could tell that the force was building intelligence on troublespots and trying to deter criminal activity.
While many of the people dealt with were not carrying weapons, the efforts made to discourage crime reduces the likelihood of violence in the future.
One officer stated that Kilburn is highly patrolled, even when it might not always seem to be the case.
Operation Terminos only began in March last year – but general crime has steadily dropped since.
In Cricklewood, reports of violence with injury dropped by 13.60% from 2023 to 2024.
Robbery – theft with violence or the threat of violence – likewise decreased by 37%, while burglary dropped by 29.03%
Violence with injury in Kilburn decreased by 31.63% and burglary went down by 9.41%.
However robbery in Kilburn did increase by 1% in 2024.
Then in Burnt Oak, violence with injury went down by 26.74%, robbery by 7% and burglary by 6.35%.
But Insp Zhang was most proud about an “unprecedented” reduction of burglary particularly in the four wards across Kilburn, which decreased by 45%.
He stated that it was clear the hard work from his team was reducing crime.
Chief Inspector Craig Hands, of the Northwest Borough Command Unit, emphasised to me that Terminos was a key operation in dismantling general crime and decreasing the likelihood of violent crimes such as knife attacks.
