Chief Superintendent Kate Halpin has become the first ever female borough commander for Lewisham, bringing a wealth of experience into the role.

Ms Halpin was first posted in Walworth and Camberwell in 1990 before serving in a number of investigative role across south-east London.

In being appointed as borough commander, Ms Halpin revealed she is honoured to work in the borough her parents and grandparents lived and where her grandfather worked as a police officer in Deptford in 1950.

She said: "I am honoured I have joined Lewisham in the same year we celebrate women like Edith Smith who died in 1924, the first woman police officer in the United Kingdom with full power of arrest.

"The number of warrant card would have been one and mine is now up to 9293 so it shows you how far things have moved on."

As part of a police fellowship, Ms Halpin was sent to Los Angeles in 1999 to examine how youth crime and gangs are policed.

Ms Halpin is now hoping to bring aspects from this into Lewisham.

She said: "Every secondary school had an officer full time on campus. I came back and suggested this and it was seen as quite radical at the time.

"People were reluctant to engage with us at first but once they saw we were human they all started asking questions.

"It meant their first experience with the police was not necessarily a hostile or confrontational one."

Ms Halpin is also eager to improve after school activities after her fellowship revealed the majority of crime committed by young people happens in a three hour period after school finishes.

She added: "They tackled this and found there was an increase in school performance as well as a drop in crime."

Ms Halpin also spent time in Baghdad in 2008 as the UK Chief Police Advisor where she trained the first ever female police officers in Iraq.

She commended the bravery of the women involved who risked their lives by just being involved with the police.

She added: "They've done exactly the same training as all the men and they can completely strip an AK-47 in the dark."

When addressing crime in Lewisham, superintendent Halpin stated lowering violent crime and domestic abuse across the borough as some of her goals for the future, as well as identifying neighbourhood concerns.

She said: "Over the next few months I will attend each of the safer ward panels to hear what local residents and businesses want from the police.

"We can tackle a lot of things but one thing we can't fix is that roundabout."