Dealing with violent crime, burglaries and domestic abuse are the biggest aims for the new commander of the soon-to-be-merged Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham police units.

Met Police announced in February that the three boroughs’ commands would be merged into one as part of their “significant financial challenge” to cut £325 million by 2021/22.

The merger is likely to be finalised in November this year but for Simon Dobinson, his aim is to make it so the people in each borough do not notice any change in the level of policing as a result of the merger.

Chief Superintendent Dobinson stepped into the role as the new commander ahead of the merger and said the public “should not see any difference in what we do beyond the things we are already changing”.

Speaking to News Shopper in an exclusive interview, he explained that some of the changes, such as the closure of Eltham Police Station, was not only a matter of keeping police numbers, but a change that probably would have happened anyway

He said: “We did a lot of consultation in relation to the closure of the public counter at Eltham police station. If you look at the data, it was approximately one crime a day being reported at the Eltham counter.

“Obviously front counters are not there exclusively there for people to report crime, but the footfall was low.

“There was a point we said do we want to keep front counters open or do we want to keep police numbers. It comes down to as stark a choice as that.”

When asked about what one of his main areas of focus will be, Ch Supt Dobinson pointed to the high level of domestic abuse in south east London, as well as the rise in violent crime and high number of burglaries.

“Domestic abuse remains a primary concern of mine”, he said. “In Greenwich we have per head of population the highest level of domestic abuse.

“We have the highest level of repeat victimisation in Greenwich. And by volume we had roughly the fifth or sixth highest level of domestic abuse and that continues to grow.

“We are working tirelessly and we are making some real inroads and we are using the maximum amount of legislation where we can in order to take an approach around prevention rather than just enforcement.

“We are looking at how to standardise that across the south east because domestic abuse is also a problem in Lewisham as well.”

“The other area is about violent crime, knife crime is only part that. A large part of that is also harassment, common assault, and there isn’t just one cause of it.”

There have now been 50 killings in London this year, including a man dead after being stabbed in the neck in Plumstead on March 29, and a man killed after a reported burglary in Hither Green a few days later.

“It’s not just around the night-time economy”, said Ch Supt Dobinson. “It’s not just alcohol related. It’s not just gang related. It’s quite a complex area.”

Police in the three boroughs are working hard to increase trust in the police, both in ensuring more people report crime to them and assuring the public that the police are doing work in their community.

This includes making sure minority communities are on the police’s side and trust officers enough to report

Ch Supt Dobinson spoke about a specific situation, after the London Bridge terror attack, when tensions were frayed within the community.

He said: “When we had the experience a year ago with the attacks at London Bridge we put a huge amount of additional time spent with our partners and communities from those areas where they may feel a little more threatened.

“I spent a lot more time visiting the mosque just to provide a little more reassurance that we know that certain people will feel more vulnerable after what happened in other parts of London or other parts of the country.

“Those are the times we can demonstrate that we are here to listen and we are here to work with you and what we can do to work with you.”