Agenda item

To receive the North Area and Enfield Residential Burglary Report.

RECEIVED an update from Superintendent Chris Jones.

NOTED:

i)             Chris began by acknowledging that the report being presented could be better in that some of the information provided was somewhat vague or lacking altogether. He apologised for this but gave his assurances that future reports to the committee would include more detail and better data. He had asked for a ‘deep drive’ review to include a 9 to 12-month analysis (rather than a four-week analysis as was included in the current report) and this would be provided moving forward.

ii)            In 2019 there were 2471 burglaries reported in Enfield, am increase of 12% compared with 2018.

iii)           Enfield is the second highest out of 32 boroughs with only Barnet reporting more burglaries.

iv)           Enfield Lock ward had the highest number of burglaries with 210 reported and Bowes ward has the lowest with 81 reported (this was incorrectly detailed in the report as Highlands having the lowest reported).

v)            The majority of suspects remain unidentified, but of those seen or identified 91% are reported as male, 55% as IC1 and 26% between the ages of 20-29.

vi)           The peak times were shown as early evening (1600 to 2000 hours) though late morning and afternoon are close in volume, and the peak day was Friday although there was little difference between the weekdays which as a whole were much higher than the weekends.

vii)          Information was provided on the North Area BCU Burglary Reduction Strategy which included Officer development, Intelligence development and Prevention.

viii)        Prevention tactics include:

·         Cocooning at all burglaries.

·         Temporary cocoon watches- patrols in areas with recent burglaries conducted at peak times.

·         Installation of prevention devices for repeat victims – covert alarms, smart water, ring cameras.

·         Target hardening in hot spot areas/top streets.

·         Target hardening for artifice burglaries: conduct welfare visits to vulnerable residents assessing risk and offering advice and guidance, liaise with Age UK, local support services, carers and utility companies to identify what support/protection can be offered to vulnerable people. Liaise with Social Services to communicate with vulnerable residents they are already in contact with.

·         Awareness campaigns: leaflet drops offering simple advice to avoid becoming a victim.

·         Social media campaigns covering current trends and the use of Crimestoppers.

·         Neighbourhood watch schemes.

·         Offices to attend any burglary committed in a hotspot area.

Following Superintendent Jones’ update the following comments and questions were raised.

·         Councillor Anderson asked for clarification regarding the acronyms used throughout the report and clarification was provided.

·         With reference to the table on Page 3 of the report Members asked that a ‘total’ column for each ward be included in future reports.

Action: Superintendent Chris Jones

·         Following the restructure of the North Area BCU, it was recognised that there was still great deal of work to do to tackle burglaries and this required a holistic, co-ordinated approach from the Police and other partners.

·         Superintendent Jones advised that more traffic operations/days of action would be implemented around high crime hotpspots. A brief plan was coming forward around neighbourhoods and all crime types and it was agreed to bring this plan to a future meeting of the committee.

Action: Superintendent Chris Jones

·         Discussions took place regarding the use of CCTV and Superintendent Jones said that the Claverings CCTV Monitoring Centre was a fantastic site which in his opinion, however, was not being fully utilised. He also acknowledged that there were sometimes missed opportunities when it came to the Police viewing households’ CCTV in relation to reported crimes and he apologised if this has been the case. He said that Enfield is in a prime position around its preventative CCTV and this should be used more. Improvements are however being made but this is a work in progress. 

·         Councillor Dey said that that his ward had a Neighbourhood Awareness What’s App Group that was used to share CTTV footage with the Police where appropriate. This was a real success story to be shared.

·         Superintendent Jones reiterated that burglary remains a priority in Enfield. He said there are still things to be learnt following the North Area BCU restructure and conversations are still ongoing regarding the prospect of introducing a dedicated unit for burglary. There are also a number of other initiatives being considered that unfortunately could not be discussed in an open forum.

·         The Chair asked for some context as to what is being done to address the issues and some flavour of the direction going forward. Superintendent Jones provided information on the various work/initiatives that were currently taking place. Crime prevention work included:

o   Project Fortify – working with the private sector around security locks and bolts. Discussions are taking place with local business Wickes, looking at the possibility of providing locks etc.

o   Conversations taking place with ‘Ring Your Doorbell’ company.

o   MetTrace - campaign in partnership with SmartWater to reduce burglary in London. This will be rolled out to several wards in Enfield in the next phase of the programme. There are currently five dedicated PCO’s trained to roll out this programme, but Superintendent Jones said he has asked for all his staff to be trained to deliver this.

o   Communications work- social media clips put together by SOCOs (Scene of Crime Officers) offer advice and guidance on how to properly secure multi-locking door/window systems.

o   Attending the Over 50s Forum to offer burglary advice and information as well as using this platform to pitch for Metropolitan Police volunteers.

o   Dedicated neighbourhood car, looking for Tag breaches, recalls etc.

o   All the above are part of a multi-pronged approach to reduce burglaries.