Met Police: Safer Neighbourhoods

January 20th sees the launch of a new Metropolitan Police campaign created by AMV BBDO, which aims to raise public awareness of Safer Neighbourhoods teams as well as help Londoners understand the role they play in tackling problems identified by local communities. Comprising of outdoor, radio and digital ad van animation, the 'Safer Neighbourhoods' campaign will run pan-London for three weeks.

As the local face of the Met, Safer Neighbourhood teams (SNTs) not only provide increased police visibility on the streets, but also work at a local level with the public to prioritise issues that matter most to each of London’s 624 wards.

The new creative work attempts to raise Londoners’ awareness and understanding of SNT’s function in their communities. By turning the idea of walking into a metaphor for effective local policing, the campaign highlights the presence of SNTs on London’s streets and also their success at tackling the issues most important to individual ‘wards’.

In print this idea is executed through graphic images (depicting effective policing through enforcement and engagement such as handcuffs and drugs) composed of footsteps which literally and metaphorically uncover and deal with local neighbourhood issues and crimes. Similarly, the radio ads use the sound of footsteps combined with a voiceover to communicate how patrolling local areas of London is an effective method of policing our communities.