Late last year Cllr Morrison (Chair of the Safer Stronger Communities Committee, received a request to scrutinise the Lewisham’s response to the recent riots.. Cllr Morrison felt it was too early to learn lessons from the response and referred the matter to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to enable a wider member involvement. On 6 February a well-attended meeting took place, chaired by Cllr Alan hall and in the presence of the Mayor, Steve Bullock. It was clear that Lewisham police were reduced at the start of the riots in Lewisham because they had been used elsewhere. When reinforcements arrived, the police, the Council and the community pulled together to deal with a very frightening situation.