Agenda item

Examination of crime statistics received:

·         Current and planned police operations

·         Confidence and satisfaction

·         Target establishment on CAPE’s (including staff changes, vacant posts, anticipated timelines for replacement, etc)

·         Response Times, both I & S calls in Enfield and Haringey

Acting Superintendent Alex Kay provided an update and highlighted the following:

Current and planned Operations

·         There are a number of challenges to be faced; there has been an increase in the main crime types across London but more so in Enfield of some crimes.

·         Their number one priority is Serious Youth Violence and keeping people safe.

·         There is a North Area Violence Reduction Group used by Enfield and Haringey to problem solve and look at youth education and diversion.

·         Gang Activity; there is a specialised team focussing only on robbery with specialised officers that can be deployed rapidly and undertake covet policing

·         There has been funding received from the Violent Crime task force to support operations on robberies and violent crime in hotspots, this has resulted in improvements beeing seen.

·         There will be a Specialised Central Crime team in November focusing on gang activity

·         There have been changes to police shift patterns allowing police to be visible and in the right place at the right time. The late shift now ends at 11pm.

·         There are 5 unmarked Neighbourhood vehicles which will be marked police cars increasing visible presence when out and about.

·         They is a need for the police to advertise more the good work they undertake with the community, had been a whole community event in Edmonton Green which was well attended.

·         Transport Police have continued operations on the A10 with specialised traffic vehicles. On the 5^th October there were 79 offences of speeding, the highest speed being 80-mph in a 40mph zone. Local people have commented that they have noticed the difference this has made.

·         Prostitution and sex workers on Fore Street is a big challenge. This involves 2 types of worker; British daytime workers often with drug addiction and eastern Europeans from late afternoon onwards. These workers are not trafficked, motivated by economic reasons often earning £4-5k per month which they send home to their families

·         The police have little capacity for outreach work on this issue. They hope to hold a community meeting in November.

·         Support is needed from the Crown Prosecution Service and the local authority to achieve a  long term solution.

·         The scheme designed for kerb crawlers instead of prosecution has the problem in Enfield that many offenders do not speak English well enough to attend the course.

Further comments were raised

• This is a huge issue in the area.

·         Condoms are left by the kerb which is a public health hazard as well as distressing for residents.

·         There is an outreach worker from the Terrance Higgins Trust who is employed to work with many different groups, sex workers being one of them. However, the emphasis of their work is on sexual health

Confidence & Satisfaction

·         Alex was disappointed by the figures which were included as part of the agenda pack and there is clearly more work for the police to do. Police visibility is key and the changes to the shift patterns the neighbourhood cars and the community events held should have an impact.

·         The police need to look at their use of social media and how this could be improved

·         The police are keen to hold more events to promote community cohesion. Engagement is important, but resourcing is a challenge.

·         Currently the future of neighbourhood bases is being looked at

Target Establishment on CAPE’s

·         Currently Winchmore Hill is short 1 PC and Ponders End 1 PCSO.

·         There is a monthly meeting looking at all vacancies, so these should be filled shortly.

I & S Calls

·         Overall these figures are good although not the 90% target. Alex advised that these figures do not specify how much outside the time frame these are, they could be 1 second over. The I calls are ones that require an immediate response (15 minutes) it could be suspect is still onsite, crime in motion or a threat to life.

·         The 15 minutes start from when call is received, often the caller will be distressed so may take longer to specify location. Once the call is completed the dispatch team assess the risk and send the response, this could be 5-6 minutes after the call.

·         It is also important that the police get there safely, as quickly as possible and the quality of service the victim receives.

Following queries raised over heavily delayed response times to several recent crimes in Cockfosters. The police clarified that the response base is in Lincoln Road, they have vehicles constantly moving about the borough. This means that the response is not necessarily coming from the far end of the borough.

There had been concerns around the only Custody suite being in Wood Green and that the location would cause delays; even more so if this was full and an alternative custody suite had to be used. So far, the turnaround times have been good, and this concern has not been realised.

Alex was thanked for his presentation.

Thanks, were given for the response of the police and other emergency services on a recent murder in the borough. There had been a large attendance, in a very calm manner, an arrest had been made and the communication on this from the police had been excellent.