Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Adrian Bishop-Laggett welcomed everyone to this public meeting of the Safer Neighbourhood Board.

Apologies for absence were received from Pat Jackson (Jubilee, Ponders End), Glenn Breslin (Bush Hill Park, Winchmore Hill CAPE), Carol Shuttle (Southbury, Turkey Street), Jane Richards (MPS Disability Steering Group), Rasheed Sadegh-Zadeh (Independent Advisory Group (IAG), Sheila Stacey (Enfield Lock CAPE),Bradley Few (MOPAC), David Cockle (Highlands CAPE), Gillian Yeung (Bowes CAPE), Irene Wilson (Willow Road residents).

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on the 11 November 2014

AGREED that the minutes of the 11 November 2014 be confirmed as a correct record.

Matters Arising – At the last meeting concerns were raised about the possible closure of the Edmonton custody suite, Chief Inspector Kibblewhite said that there are no plans at present to close this suite now or in the future.

SNB/IAG Relationship – MOPAC agreed that the use of the word ‘oversee’ in the SNB Guidance (‘Oversee the borough Independent Advisory Groups’) was misleading and they confirmed that the intention was that the two bodies co-operate to avoid duplication. Accordingly the IAG representative is now accorded voting rights.

A brief verbal report will be provided by Andrew Francalanza on the organisation and work of Victim Support.

Examination of crime statistics received from MOPAC

to include:

a.    Recorded Crime

b.    Anti Social Behaviour (ASB)

c.    Public Confidence & Victim Satisfaction

d.    Complaints Against Borough Officers/ Staff

e.    Stop and Search

f.     Independent Custody Visitor (ICV) Scheme

Before looking at Crime Statistics, Andrew Francalanza gave a presentation on the work of Victim Support Services. He highlighted the following

·         Victim Support has been delivering services to victims of crime for more than 40 years and providing support for witnesses when attending court for more than 25 years.  Until last year this had been supported by the Ministry of Justice but was now funded by MOPAC

·         Grants had been given to the Victim Support service for the 12 month period from October 2014. This is for a revised service. There is now a new process for enhanced priority referrals, and for standard referrals with a focus on vulnerable and repeat victims.  New services have been introduced for children and young people and also for international visitors.  All victims of crime are referred to the victim support service, which now also includes victims of business crime and motor vehicle theft. There is a strong focus on partnership working with the use of specialist services.

·         There are two strands of referral - either ‘enhanced priority’ or ‘standard’ referrals. For standard referrals an option is given to victims that they can contact the team. A needs assessment is undertaken for victims who are then supported by volunteers who have specialised training.

·         A new enhanced service is now provided to young people. Also support and advocacy is provided to international visitors who become victims of crime in London. The support provided for young people is shaped by the risk level, where a victim is under 18 years, work is also undertaken with their parents/ carers.

·         The main office for the service is based in Old Street but a number of outreach sites are also used across Enfield and they work in partnership with other services. They provide emotional and practical support such as help with the completion of forms, accompanying the person to Court and cover safeguarding issues. They do not, however, provide a counselling service. The team raise awareness and promotes their work at events particularly at schools.

The following issues were raised

·         Each borough has a victim support team. In Enfield there is a service delivery manager and assistant together with approximately 12 volunteers covering the borough.  They have a support line which is open 24 hours a day all year excepting Christmas and New Year’s day.  The office is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and volunteers are available all week until 8pm.

·         Victims of domestic violence are supported by ‘Solace’ however work is undertaken in partnership with them and with Enfield’s Women’s Centre.

·         Under the Ministry of Justice reforms there is the potential to have more than one service provider in future. Andrea Clemons reminded the meeting that there was also a victim support worker currently working in LBE’s Community Safety team.

·         It was confirmed that money donated for the Enfield area could be ringfenced solely for victims in Enfield.

·         The support provision for small local business victims of crime was welcomed.

Andrew Francalanza was thanked for his  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive an update from Chief Inspector Ian Kibblewhite

The current target strength for police officers is 566, the actual number is 557.  The numbers have been reduced since the last meeting and this is largely as a result of officers working on centralised issues such as Counter Terrorism.  However it was pointed out that the emphasis on this work was still for the borough.  New probationary officers are working in the borough and we are up to target on police officers although, currently under strength on higher graded posts.  Three inspector and eleven sergeant posts have transferred from the boroughs’ target strength.  It was confirmed that every borough has to provide additional resources and that there is a proportional formula for supplying central aid. It was requested that additional information be supplied regarding where additional police officers were coming from to Enfield.

It was confirmed that the Council-funded parks police team will continue to be funded from April. A concern was raised that there was not a sufficient police presence in the town and it was hoped that the amalgamation of wards would provide more officers in this area, which should help to deter crime. It was mentioned that it also provides a useful means for the community to raise local issues with police officers especially in light of police station closures.

To receive an update on current Police operations from Chief Inspector Ian Kibblewhite

An update was given on Police Operations as follows:

• Operation Equinox targeting ‘violence with injury’ in open spaces with Edmonton Green as one of the top 30 wards in London. There have been 341 arrests under this operation since October, with 76 arrests for assaults in Edmonton Green ward, 48 weapons sweeps and 11 weapons recovered. This applies to fights in streets and other locations such as hospitals and near licensed premises, although there appear to be fewer incidents in clubs/pubs.  This often happens where groups of friends meet and then lead on to fighting. Officers concentrate on hotspots in the area.
• Operation Spyder targeting those involved in theft from motor vehicles.
• Safe as houses. This targets areas affected by burglary and motor vehicle crime offering crime prevention advice.
• Operation Bumble Bee, targeting burglars and target hardening properties.
• Operation Endeavour - targets keyless car crime such as the cloning of keys
• Operation Neptune – looking for stolen property involves visits to places such as ‘Cash Converters’

If you wish to raise a matter of urgent business, please send full details to Elaine.huckell@enfield.gov.uk to arrive no later than Monday 2 February 2015.

MPS Disability Steering Group At the last meeting Jane Richards raised the fact that this group had not been operational. It had been dormant for 18 months, as a result of police officers moving on to other areas.  Inspector Carl Silcock will now be overseeing this group and Councillor Lappage would contact Jane Richards to discuss this issue further.

CAPES – Partnership working  An issue had been raised about Ward targets/ promises by one of the CAPE chairs and Chief Inspector Ian Kibblewhite would speak to Councillor Lappage about this further.

Projects accepted for SNB funding from MOPAC  The Chairman referred to the three bids that had been accepted for SNB funding which total £10,100 as follows:

·         St Giles Trust SOS Knife Project and Leaflet. This is for sessions in secondary schools aimed at Year 7 children to look at young peoples’ attitudes to gangs and knife crime and to link this with the fear of crime, territoriality and gangs.

·         Parenting Workshops – to commission two workshops for the purpose of promoting better parental understanding of gangs and serious youth violence.

·         Visits to Ben Kinsella Exhibition. – this is an opportunity for 500 people to attend the Ben Kinsella exhibition in Islington to understand about the consequences of knife crime and how they can stay safe.

Community Payback scheme Tim Fellows had received information from the Chairman on the scheme and he would look into this issue further and may have discussions about it before the next meeting.

CCTV Monitoring  -It was asked which body is now charged with inspections.  It was thought this should be done by the IAG (Independent Advisory Group) however, members were concerned that this was not taking place. 

Post Meeting note Andrea Clemons has received a reply from Community Safety & Environment to say that “the IAG are used to do ad-hoc inspections although they do not do many of these. However an annual DPA audit by an external contractor is carried out who gives assurances of compliance to DPA processes and advice on changes required to improve procedures etc.”

A future meeting has been arranged for Thursday 21 May 2015 at 7:00pm at Enfield Civic Centre.

If you wish to raise a matter for consideration at a subsequent meeting, please send full details to elaine.huckell@enfield.gov.uk to arrive no later than two weeks before the meeting date.

Members are requested to be mindful of the decision to operate a guillotine at 9:00pm for meetings of the SNB.

The date of the next Safer Neighbourhood Board meeting is:

Thursday 21 May 2015 at 7:00pm

(Please note the change of date; the original date was 7 May but this clashes with the date of the general election.)