Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Auber Delgado (Chair, Grange Park CAPE), Jillie Sutton (Chair, Winchmore Hill CAPE) and Laraine Hodgson (Chair, Enfield Lock CAPE) and Jonathon Toy (LBE-Community Safety Strategic Lead).

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2024.

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2024 subject to the following amendments:

(i)            Members in attendance included Karl Brown (Chair, Palmers Green CAPE), Hannah Newton (Co-Chair, Southgate CAPE) and Robert Malleson (Vice-Chair, Ridgeway CAPE)

(ii)          Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Gina Needs (Cabinet Member, Community Cohesion & Enforcement).

To receive a presentation from Chief Inspector Rob Gibbs, Enfield Safer Neighbourhoods.

Chief Inspector Rob Gibbs went through the presentation in the agenda pack. The following was highlighted:

·       An update was provided on the key crime types and data, comparisons and trends were provided for each category. Discussions took place and clarification was sought on some of the information shown on the Enfield Scorecard, to which CI Gibbs provided detailed responses. The increases and decreases in the various crime types were explained and noted.

·       An overview was provided on the hotspots in the borough as well as the expected seasonal changes, and it was noted that there is an overlap of burglary, serious violence, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and robbery between the hours of 19:00-21:00 in Edmonton Green.

·       Seven years of crime data suggests that there are only marginal changes in offending throughout the seasons, but in July and August increases are expected in the following: knife crime with injury ex DA/Violence with injury, personal theft, serious violence, and robbery (for the month of July).

·       Looking at the crime statistics in total, Upper Edmonton and Edmonton Green wards account for 20% of all crime in Enfield; so, two wards out of twenty-five account for one fifth of crime in the borough.

·       Theft of person is particularly challenging and as such is a priority, therefore a piece of work has been commissioned to address this issue.

·       Information was provided on Ward Teams and resourcing, and it was advised that five of five Inspectors were now in post, fourteen of fifteen Sergeants were also in post and the DWO posts had been filled. There were also plans to move to two PCSO’s per ward with high harm wards increasing over the next three years. Future plans also included an Inspector attending a CAPE meeting at least once a year.

·       An in-depth update was provided on two recent incidents in the borough, namely the GBH incident in Cockfosters on 8^th July 2024 and the Cross Bow incident in Bushey on 9 July 2024 which had overlapped with Enfield. Members were advised that, as these investigations were ongoing all details relating to this were strictly confidential and therefore not for the public domain. SNB members acknowledged this and thanked CI Gibbs for his informative update.

·       Following on from this update questions were raised regarding the sharing of information on social media in particular around videos that had been posted relating to the GBH incident in Cockfosters. CI Gibbs advised that the Police had no control over private individuals posting on social media, as long as the content was not in breach of any criminal laws, therefore those individuals who had posted to social media in relation to the Cockfosters incident had not committed a criminal offence.

·       Information was provided on Community Crime Fighting and Cluster and Ward plans which included Operation Pisces in Edmonton. This was a sustained policing approach which involved multiple layers of policing to address serious neighbourhood and organised crime in the area. It is a long-term partnership approach which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To review and agree the Enfield Safer Neighbourhood Board Constitution and Terms of Reference.

RECEIVED a copy of the Enfield Safer Neighbourhood Board’s current Constitution and Terms of Reference.

The Chair suggested that a Working Group be formed to review these and revise if necessary. Volunteers were sought and the following SNB members put their names forward for this Working Group:

·       Tom Mautner JP (Chair, Arnos CAPE)

·       Karl Brown (Chair, Palmers Green CAPE)

·       Hannah Newton (Co-Chair Southgate CAPE).

AGREED that this Working Group would feedback to a future SNB meeting once the Constitution and Terms of Reference had been reviewed.

It was also agreed that this Working Group would produce a on page introduction on ‘what it means to be a CAPE Chair’ as it was felt this would prove very useful for those new to the role.

ACTION: Working Group

Further to the above discussions the Chair also raised a suggestion of changing the name of Ward CAPEs to Ward Panels as it was felt that this would simplify matters and would also align with the majority of other London Boroughs.

Following a vote, SNB members voted in favour (11 for, 1 against) of this suggestion.

AGREED that this name change would be implemented with immediate effect.

To discuss any other business.

The Chair went round the table and invited each CAPE Chair to provide an update on their Wards, what was working well and what were any issues of concerns.

Each Chair provided an overview of their Ward and shared some good news stories as well as some issues of concern which CI Gibbs and Inspector Matthews noted and agreed to investigate and feedback accordingly.

Concerns were raised regarding the abstraction of Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Officers as this has a detrimental effect on Wards. CI Gibbs responded by saying that, although not ideal, abstractions were unfortunately inevitable as Officers are moved into emergency response teams or abstracted to cover large events and/or demonstrations/protests. He added however that if the SNT Officer had made a commitment to attend a CAPE (Ward Panel) meeting then they very much should be attending unless there are extreme circumstances where this is not possible.

To discuss and agree agenda items for future meetings.

Members requested that the Borough Commander attend a meeting of the Safer Neighbourhood Board at least once a year.

AGREED that the Chair/Vice-Chair would have further discussions with CI Rob Gibbs regarding this request.

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

·         Wednesday 9 October 2024

·         Monday 16 December 2024

·         Monday 17 February 2025

NOTED the dates of future meetings as follows:

·         Wednesday 9 October 2024

·         Monday 16 December 2024

·         Monday 17 February 2025