Agenda for Safer Neighbourhood Board on Thursday, 24th January, 2019, 7.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. View directions

Contact: Tariq Soomauroo 

Items
No. Item

910.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

 

911.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Akpinar (Cllr Bond substituted) & Laban (Cllr Vince substituted), Alok Agrawal, Davis South, Tracey Anang, Vicky Dungate, Harry Landsman, Nigel Brookes and Helen Millichap.

912.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

There were no declaration of interests.

913.

CHAIRS FEEDBACK

Tim Fellows (Chair) to present item

Minutes:

The meetings that the Chair has participated in this period are: Safer and Stronger Communities Board, Crime Scrutiny Panel and also chaired the Hate Crime Case Management Panel.

 

On the 8th of November the Chair was invited to attend the Ponders End Cape, where a new Chair was elected. On the 10th December attended the LCP2 organised briefing meeting with the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mark Simmons at New Scotland Yard. This included information on the Basic Command Unit’s (BCU), Knife Crime, Violence and Stop and Search, digital and 101, SNBs and Ward Panels and Met Plus.

 

One of the issues for discussion today is what information the Board requires from the police at their meetings.

 

We now have permission to use the very comprehensive report in the agenda pack (under Agenda item 9) created by the Council’s Community Safety Unit. This not only has all the stats but a very clear narrative to go with it.

 

The Chair invited discussions on the following suggestions:

The Board retain:

·         Current and planned police operations

·         Confidence and satisfaction

·         Target establishment on CAPEs (to include staff changes, vacant posts, anticipated timelines for replacements etc).

·         Complaints overview (this is in MOPAC guidelines for the Board to monitor).

Delete:

·         Ward-based stats. CAPE’s should be getting these figures at their meetings to look at in depth. If this is not happening they need to speak to Erica Crawshaw.

·         Taser deployment-do not feel that we learn much from this

Add:

·         Response Times, both I and S calls in Enfield and Haringey, with the implementation of the BCU the Chair felt that this is something that we should be scrutinising.

 

It was raised that Ward stats allow comparison between other wards and reflection over time and felt that this was very helpful and would like to see this continue. Some wards do receive neighbouring and comparable wards at their CAPE meetings. All CAPE’s can request this information. There must also be the knowledge behind the figures when the police attend meetings. However, it was also raised that in some cases and clusters this does not include relevant neighbouring wards Grange CAPE was given as an example. Erica will discuss with officers what information is taken to CAPEs. It is important that the information is standardised with the same level of detail provided to each CAPE. The information previously provided was very time consuming for the police and would also need to be improved going forward. The Chair and Chief inspector Bilany will liaise on the way forward

 

Stop & Search group have not met since the last SNB meeting but are meeting next week.

 

No inspections have been made at the CCTV Monitoring Station since the last meeting but will commence again very shortly.

914.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 116 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting on the 18th July 2018.

Minutes:

Minutes from the 10 October were AGREED.

 

Matters arising:

·         GDPR Policy – Superintendent Brookes to take up with central data controller. This is still outstanding.

 

915.

CCTV MONITORING CENTRE pdf icon PDF 536 KB

Darren Woods, CCTV Manager to give a presentation on how the CCTV monitoring centre at Edmonton operates.

Minutes:

Darren Woods, CCTV Manager presented this report and highlighting the following:

·         The Enfield Public Safety Centre (EPSC) opened in May 2003 and was funded by the Home Office.

·         It is built for multi-functional 24/7 operational usage with the capacity for further partnership/ client expansion.

·         Since its inception the centre has dealt with over 18,000 incidents in the borough. This is growing as is the camera coverage.

·         The innovations and achievements details in the report were highlighted along with the different services that the centre provides.

·         The EPSC has the capacity and control room space ready for client/partners to move into. Barnet are already on site with their own licence.

·         There is boroughwide resilient radio/fibre network which allows flexibility and cost-effective access to connect to EPSC.

·         A short film was shown on the centre, the film was made with commercialism in mind.

·         The on-site generators can supply power for 1 month and the footage is stored for 31 days.

·         All staff at the centre are fully licenced and independent inspections take place.

·         Enfield is one of the first boroughs to undertake privacy impact assessment on cameras.

 

The following issues were raised:

·         Following a query on the ANPR cameras. It was confirmed that these are Council owned cameras. The Safer Estates team funded by the council have an application on their tablets allowing images to be pushed to them on a day to day basis. The other police officers do not have this application. However, they can request to focus the cameras on an area.

·         The cameras in the market square in Enfield Town were raised. These are owned by the Enfield Charitable Trust and are not of a high specification or monitored in the same way as the centre. It was felt that discussions should take place with the Trust with a view to bringing these into the centre

 

Q:        Does this system have the ability to evolve?

A:        Yes, there is the ability to expand and take on new technologies, such as facial recognition. All new technologies must be tested first; facial recognition in particular is dependent both on the software and the cameras.

 

Q:        Are TfL cameras connect?

A:        No, TfL have changed from analogue to IP. Waltham Forest are currently trialling, now this is digital. The success will be dependent on the IT.

 

Q:        How successful is the centre at selling services?

A:        Darren has been in post since February 2018 and he is doing a lot of work on commercialism and is looking to bring in extra work to the centre. As part of this, he is looking at trunking fibre optics over the whole borough and also improving the radio network using tower blocks.

 

Q:        Does the centre manage the Dome Hawk cameras which can be moved around the borough?

A:        No, these are managed by the Community Safety Unit. Queries on these should be directed through Andrea Clemons, Head of the Community Safety Unit.

 

Q:        Do housing still own their own CCTV network

A:        Most  ...  view the full minutes text for item 915.

916.

OWL PRESENTATION

Simone Strauss Cockfosters Cape and OWL representative to present item.

Minutes:

The Chair advised this item had been requested on the agenda as the Safer Neighbourhood Board receive allocated funding from MOPAC and should the board set its priorities as Serious Youth Violence and Violence Against Women and Girls this scheme may be something the board would like to consider.

 

Mark Glazer from London Community Watch highlighted the following:

·         He is a very experienced user of OWL which is a community alert messaging system.

·         The messaging is by way of email, SMS and telephone. This is an extremely secure system and is GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) accredited. This is the first and only system to be an approved member of Secure by Design; an initiative from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and now MOPAC, to reduce crime.

·         To go through the functionality of the system would require a demonstration and more time than the agenda allows. The Board was advised there is a dedicated website http://www.owl.co.uk/ that provides more information

·         OWL is currently used by the Metropolitan Police and by the London boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Barnet, Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow.

·         OWL is designed to keep communities safe, help reduce crime and keep people informed of what's going on locally. It's a shared, secure platform for the public and local authorities to maximise the potential of Neighbourhood Watch, Rural Watch, Business Watch and dozens of other schemes. OWL sends out the latest local crime alerts and provides management tools for maintaining and expanding watches.

·         The scheme allows you to message 15,000 contacts at once.

·         An example of how it can be used was given as; a burglary victim reporting the crime to the police obtaining a crime reference number. A message could be sent asking if anyone had registered CCTV in the area could they check this and if something has been recorded share this with the police quoting the crime reference number.

·         There is no boroughwide Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in Enfield; an umbrella organisation is needed. This does exist and works very well in other boroughs The OWL system should help draw organisations together in Enfield.

·         The police are fully committed to working with Neighbourhood Watch.

·         OWL is a networking and communications tool and costs £3, 000 per year to run. With a new venture this would be initially time consuming to populate the contacts, but work is underway to further automate this system. At other boroughs this has been done by a Neighbourhood Watch Liaison officer or community coordinator

·         Discussions were held around the funding process for SNB bids. The next opportunity to bid should be from April 2019. Any bid would be for the first year of funding only, for future years the scheme would have to be funded by an alternative means.

917.

UPDATE ON CURRENT POLICE OPERATIONS

To receive an update at the meeting from Erica Crawshaw, NPT Inspector | Enfield Borough

Minutes:

Inspector Erica Crawshaw highlighted the following:

·         The Board are all aware of the recent BCU merger that took place on the 9 January and many members had already attended briefings on this.

·         There are 5 strands within this; Neighbourhoods; Safeguarding; Response; CID and HQ

·         Neighbourhood covers Dedicated Ward Officers (DWO), a focus on schools and a Partnership & Prevention Hub.

·         The Neighbourhood strand is the least affected strand in terms of changes, vacancies have been filled and Edmonton Green has enhanced numbers.

918.

EXAMINATION OF CRIME STATISTICS pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Examination of crime statistics (attached):

 

Minutes:

Further to the information included in the agenda pack the following was highlighted:

·         The burglary figures in the pack go up to the end of November and show an increase of 23.3%, going up to the end of December the increase has reduced to 18.8%. Normally would have expected to see a seasonal rise.

·         The contract for Met Trace ends in April.

·         The police are looking to set up Partnership Problem Solving Group at a neighbourhood level. This is still at a very early stage, looking at who would be part of this other than the police and the council and able to contribute with the relevant skills.

·         Prostitution remains a priority in Upper Edmonton, lots of work is being undertaken, still using vehicle with anti-kerb crawling message. The focus is on kerb crawling and those who mind of control the prostitutes.

·         Work is being undertaken with McDonalds in Fore Street Edmonton; this includes council officers. Sadly, there has been a repeat of a previous incident today.

·         A10 speeding and car park meets at the retail park remain a priority. The police have been working with managers of the retail units, locking the gates has made a difference. Speeding from Southbury to the M25 is a priority for Traffic, better communication would be helpful on actions being undertaken.

·         Robberies in Enfield Town have received lots of social media attention. There were 10 police officers on duty at the end of last week beginning of this week, which has helped create a visible presence.

·         Serious Youth Violence remains the Mets number one priority

·         Members queries with the shift patterns as officers seem to be on and off at the same time. This is an issue that has also previously been raised as a concern. Erica advised that this allows officers to come together and be effective and provide an enhanced presence. Should there be large gatherings more than 2 police officers would be needed. However, the concern was noted.

·         There has been an increase in begging on the street in Enfield Town and other areas. The Public Protection Space Order states the behaviour must be aggressive and intimidating, but the word nuisance is also used. The police must provide a proportionate response, some are genuinely homeless, and some are part of serious organised crime gangs.

·         A member of the public said they were concerned that neither Southgate Green or Bowes was mentioned given there has been a fatal break in, speeding on the A406 and retail parks, prostitution and drug dealing. In response advised burglary is a priority in Bowes, all crimes must be reported so the police are aware and the DWO should be able to deal.

·         A further query was raised on a drop in one-hour event at the Dugdale Centre as part of the police’s enhanced contact centre sessions which was staffed by officers from Enfield Lock and tweeted on their twitter page. It was agreed that the twitter page should not have been used. Officers from Enfield  ...  view the full minutes text for item 918.

919.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Minutes:

It was queried why the term CAPE is used in Enfield and some felt it was not obvious what this meant. This is not the term other boroughs use for example in all other London boroughs it is called Neighbourhood Ward Panel. There is also a new charity in Enfield which has set up with the same name.

 

A background was provided this was originally trialled in Enfield, thus the use of Enfield in the name.

 

The Chair advised he would raise this at the next meeting which is the AGM and there will be a further discussion and the Board can decide on the way forward.

920.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

Date of next SNB Meeting will be on Wednesday 24th April 2019.

 

Minutes:

Noted the date of the next SNB Meeting is Wednesday 24th April 2019.