To receive a verbal update from Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety.
Minutes:
Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety presented this report and highlighted the following:
1. Andrea Clemons would be talking about the strategic priorities for Enfield and for Enfield as part of London moving forward.
2. Under the last administration (Mayor’s Office), seven crime types were measured. With the new administration, there are a new suite of priorities. The strategy is presented with a more outcome focussed plan.
3. The Mayor of London’s web site details the plan, sets out the intention and the areas the new Mayor of London would like to work in.
4. The new plan includes the following areas:
· Tackling violence against women and girls.
· Standing together against hatred and intolerance.
· A better Police service for London.
· A better criminal justice service for London.
· Keeping children and young people safe.
5. MOPAC had asked the unit to choose 3 local priorities and these were:
· Anti-social behaviour
· Burglary
· Violence with injuries
Also 3 main priorities to contribute to London:
· Tackling violence against women and girls.
· Working to keep children and young people safe.
· Standing together against hatred intolerance and extremism.
6. The unit has put a bid in for funding from MOPAC and the application is for just over £500K per year totalling £1,029M. The funding will enable the unit to purchase services to tackle drugs, to improve the lives of young people, to tackle prostitution via work to deter kerb crawlers to cut off demand for street based prostitution and tackling violence against women and girls.
The following questions were taken:
Q: You spoke about your aims, but how will you achieve your aims i.e. tackling prostitution, youth violence?
A: Locally we have focussed in placing police officers into particular areas such as the Fore Street corridor who are making arrests of working girls. Who have recently tended to be young eastern European women driven by the economics of the crime rather than another motivation although this is based on known cases.
There have been 59 arrests of prostitutes in the last 3 months and the unit now want to focus on kerb crawlers. Kerb crawlers will be offered the opportunity to reduce their penalty by learning about the negative side about people working as prostitutes’ i.e. sexual health, violence, in order to deter men from going to buy that service. This was about behavioural change.
Q: You mainly focussed on the working girls. Do you ever investigate if there are any causes i.e. any other person involved in their exploitation?
A: Yes, the police do investigate when those girls are arrested. The unit works with immigration and anti-social behaviour officers. The girls are questioned and assessed to see if there are other person’s involved i.e. pimp. This was hard to determine as the girls, when questioned, said that they were making a lot of money which would support them for a long time back home. This was an economic fact.
Q: Does prostitution occur because the girls haven’t got a job? Is there any way of finding jobs for them because if its money they are looking for would it stop them?
A: Women enter the country and within a day have been seen in that area engaging in prostitution. It appears that they are deliberately coming to that area, planning this from their home countries and is therefore difficult to deter. Even if job offers were available it is not clear whether a job offer would be something that is attractive to them.
Q: These women need to be educated, after their arrest, to show them how much damage they do.
A: It is difficult to gauge when to provide that education and so may be better delivered in their home town or country before they set out to come to Enfield. As mentioned, offenders are invited to Impact Awareness sessions to examine the impact of their actions.
Q: Who brings the girls into prostitution? There are people who are engineering this service, dropping women off and returning to collect monies.
A: All car registration plates caught on CCTV are sent to the Police to be investigated and reported.
Q: What is the success rate in convictions, using registration numbers’, of the perpetrators’ trafficking these women?
A: Not aware of prosecutions for trafficking or evidence for trafficking, but have sent letters to registered keepers of those vehicles seen in those areas. Depends on the level of evidence and to dis-courage drivers.
Q: Is the advice to residents, if they see prostitution going on, to call the police?
A: Yes definitely. There are increased patrols around Council housing estates in those areas and agreed extra police numbers. The estates team work closely with ward officers and safer neighbourhood areas to deter and discourage prostitution and to make arrests.