Agenda item - SSCB PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

Agenda item

SSCB PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

To receive an update from Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety.

Minutes:

Andrea Clemons Head of Community Safety presented this report.

 

The Chair, Councillor Anderson began by saying how shocked and dismayed he was by some of what he had seen in the report. The figures are very concerning with the increases in crime significantly more than across the whole of London (the decreases are significantly less too).  He had serious concerns regarding these figures and was most interested to hear what is being done to address this situation.

 

i)             Andrea acknowledged Councillor Anderson’s comments and thanked the Committee for the opportunity to provide the performance update. She reminded Members that it is framed to support Enfield’s Partnership Plan (4 years – 2017-2021).

ii)            The report analyses the five priorities identified in the Borough of Enfield and discusses the performance compared to other London boroughs.

iii)           The measures reflect the priorities in our own Partnership Plan which are:

·         Reducing burglary and keeping people safe at home;

·         Tackling violent crime – in all its forms

·         Keeping young people safe and reducing their risks from crime;

·         Promoting cohesion and tackling hate crime;

·         Dealing with anti-social behaviour.

iv)           The report demonstrates progress in crime figures against the five bulleted priorities above.

v)            In the year ending July 2019, there were 414 Serious Youth Violence (SYV) victims in Enfield compared to 390 the previous year ending July 2018. This equates to a 6.2% increase in the Borough. London experienced a minimal 0.05% decrease in the same period.

vi)           Enfield is currently the 2nd highest borough in London for Serious Youth Violence victims out of all the 32 London boroughs, marginally ahead of our bordering borough Haringey recording 413 victims.

vii)          Enfield has the 4th largest youth population aged 1-19 in London accounting for just over a quarter of the total population. When considering the rate of SYV per 1000 population aged 1-19, Enfield recorded a rate of 5 over the last year.

viii)        Residential burglaries in Enfield have increased by 9.1% in the year ending July 2019.

ix)           Domestic Abuse Violence with Injury has increased in Enfield by 5.4% in the year to July 2019.

x)            ASB calls have increased in Enfield by 4.2% in the year ending July 2019, compared to the same period in the previous year.

xi)           Knife Crime in Enfield has increased by 10.4% in the year ending 2019 compared to the previous year. London has experienced a small decrease in Knife Crime of 0.9%.

xii)          Knife Crime offences have continued to rise month on month since April 2019, with June recording 81 offences the highest number of offences this year, falling to the 2nd highest level of 68 offences in July 2019.

xiii)        Non-Domestic Knife Crime victims under 24 make up 49% (n=78) of all knife crime injury victims in Enfield and overall there has been a reduction of 14.3%, with 78 victims in the last year, compared to 91 the previous year.

xiv)        There were 2,622 Residential Burglaries in Enfield in the year ending July 2019, compared to 2403 in the previous year, an increase of 9.1%. Enfield is significantly above London which recorded an increase of 2.1% in the same period.

xv)         Enfield is a large borough with an estimated 131,707 households (GLA Estimates 2017) which equates to a rate of 20 residential burglaries in the last year per 1000 households in Enfield, compared to 22 residential burglaries in our neighbouring borough Haringey.

xvi)        In the year ending July 2019 there were a total of 7614 Violence Against the Person offences (VAP) recorded in Enfield, compared to 6802 offences the previous year, equating to an increase of 11.9%. In London there was a smaller increase of 4.7% in the same period.

xvii)       There were 5680 Domestic Abuse Incidents recorded in the year ending July 2019 in Enfield, compared to 5,754 incidents in the previous year, equating to a decrease of 1.3% (this is incorrectly detailed in the report as an increase)

xviii)      In the year ending May 2019 there was a total of 9,218 Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) calls compared to 8,850 calls the previous year, an increase of 4.2%. In London there has been an increase of 8.2% in the same period.

xix)        June 2019 recorded the highest number of Prostitution Related Activity calls across the whole year, recording 21 calls in Upper Edmonton ward.

xx)         Andrea then went through each of the further priorities in detail and provided figures, data and the proposed measures for each one.

 

The following questions and comments were raised:

 

·         The number one priority in Enfield is keeping young people safe. Bids are currently being made to fund 22 projects to tackle Serious Youth Violence. Enfield has also recently been granted some money from the Home Office to tackle Serious Crime. The demand and need for Enfield to receive additional resource is high, but unfortunately Enfield is often seen as it was historically, as part of Middlesex by funders as opposed to one of the 32 London boroughs. However, this is now being reconsidered by some funders which hopefully will lead to a
re-evaluation.

            It has been a challenging time since the merger of Enfield and Haringey Police that took place in January 2019 to form the North Area Basic Command Unit. There have also been ongoing Police demands around public order events in Central London, where some of our Enfield officers have been abstracted to attend these events. This is less than helpful when there is a lack of resource in the Borough to deal with the ongoing issues.

 

·         Data was not readily available for this meeting on the establishment of the new structure set up at the North Area Basic Unit or the actual officer vacancies in Enfield. However, this information would be provided for a future meeting.

            Action: Police/Susan O’Connell

·         With regards to Serious Youth Crime, members also requested a ward by ward breakdown of this data. Again, this would be provided for the next meeting.

Action: Andrea Clemons/Susan O’Connell.

·         Some excellent work has taken place between the Police, local schools and the Love Your Doorstep Community Patrol initiative in Enfield Town to address the number of incidents in which school children had been attacked during their lunchbreaks and after school. The Chair had himself attended one of the patrols to see it in action.  The new CCTV in Holly Walk (which had been a hotspot for these crimes) should be up and running in approximately two weeks. Problematic areas where robberies had taken place have been targeted and arrests made.

·         Members discussed the perception that crime is far worse in the Eastern as opposed to the Western sides of the Borough in that there were clearly various hotspots across the whole of Enfield. It was agreed that Police resources should best be targeted in addressing the hotspots regardless of which wards they fall in the Borough. The proper question needs to be what level of policing is needed to get crime in Enfield under control.

·         Residents raised concerns regarding the continued levels of prostitution, particularly along the Fore Street corridor. Although an increase in police presence had been noted the problem was still ongoing. Andrea advised that considerable targeted work is taking place to address this situation. The Council’s Estate’s Team are carrying out work including gating of areas, improved lighting and looking at out buildings (e.g. pram shelters etc.) to ascertain if these are needed. This work is resource intensive, but this was not a reason to give up on it.

·         Questions were raised regarding ‘County Lines’ and explanations were provided by the Police. It was said that a lot of young people being put into County Lines are being exploited therefore it is imperative to address the root cause and this is usually further up the drug line. Reference was made to a production being shown in schools called Chelsea’s Choice. This play was created to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation and the devastating impact it can have on a young person’s life, while educating young people about how they can keep themselves safe. Members and residents in attendance agreed that it would be most useful to invite parents into schools to see this play. Andrea agreed that this was something that could be re-visited in an attempt to engage further with parents.

Action: Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety in conjunction with the Head of Education.

·         A resident felt that it was important to educate parents in spotting the signs of their children becoming involved in criminal activity. Children and young people are often being offered a more attractive way of life through crime than what their parents can offer them. She felt that different ways of parenting should be looked at and it was therefore important for the Police, Council, schools and other partnerships to engage with parents at the earliest opportunity.

·         A huge amount of analysis has taken place around SYV. We know when, where and who but the problem is knowing why young people become involved in youth violence. Further work is taking place with Public Health consultants by treating violence in the same way as a contagious disease. The focus of this work is with people involved in or affected by youth violence in an attempt to drill down and address this situation.

·         Further concerns were raised by residents regarding ongoing issues on Green Lanes (at the boundary between the A406 and Haringey) whereby young school girls are continually harassed by individuals sitting outside the local cafes. This issue has been reported on numerous occasions to the CAPE meetings, Police and the Safer Neighbourhood Team but to no avail. Acting Chief Inspector Chris Byrne agreed to follow up on this matter outside of the meeting.

·         Discussions took place regarding the Beryl Dockless Bike Hire scheme in Enfield and the problems surrounding this. It was reported that a high proportion of the bikes have been vandalised or stolen and questions were raised as to what is being done to address this. Andrea advised that the reporting of vandalised/stolen bikes should be directed to the Police. In terms of crime prevention there is CCTV in place at points where the bikes are stored. The Chair, Councillor Anderson, said this is a huge problem that needs to be resolved as it is putting at risk the viability of the scheme and that it seems to an organised approach that needs to be dealt with swiftly.

·         With regards to burglaries in the Borough Andrea advised that the next round of the MetTrace Project would soon be implemented. The Community Safety Unit would also be commissioning a service for vulnerable victims of burglary which will include lock changes. A camera scheme was soon to be installed in Grange Ward.

·         In response to a question regarding conviction rates, it was advised that this was very specific data which could be circulated.

·         In reference to the report the Chair, Councillor Anderson made reference to the way that the figures were presented i.e. via number of crimes committed in each Borough rather than the percentage of crimes per head of population and felt that presenting the figures in isolation did not always allow for proper interpretation and suggested that future reports to the Panel should include this sort of comparative data.

 

The Chair thanked Andrea for her informative report and looked forward to receiving future updates.

 

Supporting documents: