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)

·         Ward-based stats

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

The update was provided by Superintendent Chris Jones, Acting Chief Inspector Chris Byrne and Inspector Erica Crawshaw. The following was highlighted:

·         Performance is being assessed against the financial year to date (FYTD) other time periods have also been included to provide a balance against the effect of Covid 19 restrictions on both offences and sanction detection (SD) rates.

·         Homicides are a concern and an increase has been seen for the Basic Command Unit (BCU) as a whole when compared to the same period last year.

·         Lethal barrelled discharge offences are below the levels of last year for the FYTD for the BCU as a whole. Offences on Haringey, although, are at a higher level over this period.

·         Sanction detection rates for the FYTD for knife, robbery and Total Notifiable Offences (positive outcomes) have improved other rates remain of concern (domestic abuse, burglary, hate crime and rape).

·         The summary table shows the position of each BCU on what matters to Londoners most and covers the FYTD. This shows the position for North Area BCU (NA) on the tables and covers both Enfield and Haringey. Data will be affected by Covid-19.

·         The knife crime injury victims under 25 excluding domestic abuse, this is comparable with the rest of London. Homicides are measured as a reduction from baseline April19 to March 20, there has been an increase particularly in Haringey.

·         SD rates for domestic abuse for NA this is 15% which is line with London. Number of detections for Hate Crime, there has been an increase and a lot of this is down to neighbourhood disputes. Although, fortunately people are confident to report this.

·         Number of detections for knife crime offences is above the figure for the MPS as a whole. He drew attention to the work of the funded safer estates team on knife crime offences and have been involved in a specific operation around violence which has resulted in them seizing a large number of weapons, made arrests and in some cases charged people and remanded them in custody.

·         Rape offences this is similar to other parts of London.

·         Number of burglary offences, there is a reduction which is linked to Covid. There is also a burglary focused unit now set up covering both Enfield and Haringey. This has helped link together key information. It was raised that whilst there is a large drop in the number of burglary offences, the SD rate is amongst the lowest rate across London. Previously burglary offences sat with the officers on the response team and it was identified that joined up working was missing if two separate offices were investigating similar burglary offence. This new focus unit will be able to pick this up across the borough and it is expected that this figure will improve.

·         Number of robbery offences has made good progress. There is robbery focus unit in place supported by neighbourhood policing. He highlighted work that has been supported by colleagues from total support group around when the schools went back. Officers were able to prepare for the seasonal spike and undertake some resilience work. The Safer Schools team in Enfield is undertaking a robbery operation to put safeguarding in place around your people which is working well.

·         SD for burglary is at 6% and this is being addressed through the burglary focus unit.

·         SD for robbery offences is comparable across London. The robbery focus unit is helpful in bringing in all the work on this together.

·         Personal Robbery offences, good progress has been made around robberies generally. Some very targeted work has been undertaken that has made a difference. These figures have also been provided at ward level. In the FYTD only Enfield Highway has seen an increase, although the numbers are small (only 4 offences). There is a tasking process set up monthly, where they can bid for additional resources and money and then can move some of the proactive asset around Enfield. They have also been successful in bidding for some central money which has helped strengthen some of those areas where there are issues. Following a query on the ward data showing good reductions the reason for this was queried. There could be better publicity of the successful work undertaken. Examples were provided of school’s officers stopping people with machetes and knives who are targeting children leaving schools on their routes home. These reductions are a result of lockdown and focused effort around violence. There have been central assets, BCU assets and operations such as Taipan looking at drugs and violence and Boxster concentrated on sex workers. This has allowed some of the other neighbourhood teams and the estate teams to pick up on robbery work and the schools officers to be close to the schools between 3-6pm.

·         Following a query on plans to reduce crime levels in Southgate. There were a series of robberies at Southgate, an arrest leading to a conviction of an individual linked to 8-9 robbery offences A police officer was attacked in Southgate whilst waiting for a bus after his shift ended by a group of youths. The police are aware of issues that have occurred, and these are looked at by the local safer neighbourhood team. The victim demographic in Southgate is quite young especially around robbery. The silo effect of schools policing has changed meaning that all officers are visible between 3-6pm on school days. This also ties in with transport team who police transport hubs. Fortnightly a crime analysis takes place on wards and where the police bid for additional resources or additional money to target those areas showing an increase in robbery, burglary or other offences. Southgate has seen a reduction since the schools returned (the figures in the pack go up to August). An intelligence report has been undertaken by an analyst and this showed a number of wards where there are young victims and this information will be circulated in future. Superintendent Jones has been filming today in Hendon a number of pieces to release on Twitter and Facebook to talk about young people reporting crimes anonymously if they need to and to encourage community members to join ward panels.

·         Burglary offences there has been a 19% reduction year to date reduction and a 39% reduction FYTD. Since we have come out of lockdown there has been a slight increase. Operation Autumn nights which will then become Winter nights is around the visibility of both neighbourhood and local officers, will also be linking in with the local authority around locks and bolts, alongside the Burglary focus unit. The one ward to highlight is Edmonton Green, there were 20 burglaries last month, 16 of these were residential burglaries. Extra resources will be used here.

·         SD for Burglary, there are very slight increases in these rates. Officers are deployed in high visibility patrols around the schools between 3-6pm, these are however similar to burglary areas. More police presence reduces crime.

·         Violence with injury offences, the estates team are doing work around operation Siren which was a youth violence focused operation. This has resulted in a significant number of knives being taken off the streets.

·         Positive outcomes rates from Total Notifiable Offences are showing increases. An example was provided of arrests for catalytic converter theft, two people were stopped with cutting equipment and catalytic converters.

·         Knife crime with injury victims under 25 (non domestic abuse) during lockdown there has been lots of work in open spaces and parks resulting in weapons being seized.

·         Knife crime with injury offences have shown good reductions.

·         Lethal barrelled discharges, Enfield is doing better than Haringey. This work is supported by armed response officers. There have been regular deployments. An example was provided of a recent joint operation, which was a proactive led Automatic Number Plate Recognition overt operation picking up vehicles to stop based on intelligence reports. This deters crime as well as detecting it. SO19 the armed response unit have been asked for figures for Enfield, these can be shared when received. Examples were provided of figures from Haringey.

·         Hate Crime this is linked to the impact of Covid 19, work undertaken has helped to come forward to report this. A piece of analysis for the North Area BCU on hate crime has been undertaken. This will be shared with the board after it has been shared with the IAG for Enfield. This shows that you are most likely to be a suspect if you are the victims neighbour. There have also been disputes over face masks, looking at the actual crime reports there were quite a few where people wanted to report but did not want any further action taken. Following a request from the Chair this will also be shared with the Hate Crime Executive.

·         SD for knife crime offences have improved on the BCU as a whole and knife crime offences have decreased by 50% when the FYTD periods were compared.

·         The SD rate for rape remains a concern, although there has been a slight improvement when compared to the same period last year.

·         The Public Attitude Survey is an independent survey that people fill in and return. Enfield has seen an improvement in all sections. The Board was interested to know how people were selected for the survey and felt it was important to ensure that an across the board demographic is asked to get an accurate picture. It was agreed that information on this be provided to the Chair.

·         The police have been linking in with a group of young influencers from Enfield to hear their concerns on Stop and Search from their lived experiences and their perceptions. The Youth Engagement sergeant is also doing work with other youth groups around this issue. The police see engagement with young people as key, they have retained their youth cadets. There is a young Independent advisory group which the Young Mayor and Deputy Mayor are involved with. There is a new youth project called ‘One stupid decision’ designed by the Young Mayor. This goes out and role plays different decisions they make or may not make in their lives when it comes to stop and search and taking or carrying drugs. In Haringey at the height of Covid there were a number of police volunteers who were members of the public who conducted a street survey in Haringey. These involved nearly 900 surveys looking at police interaction with young people. The police would like to launch a similar programme in Enfield.

·         Clarification was requested on what a positive outcome means for a stop and search. This could be recovery of an item does not necessarily mean arrest. London at present is approximately 18% for positive outcomes the North Area BCU is at 20%. An example was given of Operation Siren on serious youth violence on some estates, they have a 53% positive outcome rate for stop and search.

·         Members of the stop and search community monitoring group have been working with young offenders at the youth Offending service on their views to stop and search and this has been shared with the police.

·         Following a question what happens to the ward when officers test positive for Covid and teams have to self-isolate. The Board was advised that cover will be provided during this period. There is a protocol in place so that if a tipping point is reached of 80-100 officers self-isolating then the BCU will receive back fill from the Met and officers will be seconded to cover.

·         Communication - ward councillors need to be kept up to date especially with Covid related issues. Could communication come out centrally. Designing a partners letter to come out bi-monthly which will go to Ward Chairs and others to be circulated with their groups. The police are looking to arrange regular Ward Chair meetings outside of the Safer Neighbourhood Board meetings and regular meetings with Councillors. The expectation is that there is regular email or contact with ward chairs and ward councillors on what is happening in their areas.

·         Autumn Nights and Winter Nights will see a number of different units supplementing borough resources and neighbourhood resources to provide a greater visible presence within Enfield. This starts in the morning with burglary prevention visits to the afternoon with additional patrols around anti-social behaviour in parks and around fireworks. The overarching plan is Operation Sceptre which is a plan to continue to bear down on violence across London.

·         The Board queried how much time is spent policing Covid restrictions. There is one Covid car in Enfield and one Covid car in Haringey. These are staffed by response team officers, they respond to antisocial behaviour or calls around facemasks or gatherings of more than 6 people. Centralised units will be used for large groups such as unlicensed music events and these will be directed by the operations room in Enfield. There is a twice weekly meeting between the police and the council to talk about the local response to Covid.

·         Target establishment particularly in relation to CAPE’s, Enfield is over the establishment for Enfield for safer neighbourhood officers. There is a number of police recruitment programmes which causes some uncertainty such as Police Now, a huge uplift in recruitment and a rotation scheme. This creates a lack of experience as officers will need to be dispensed over all strands to gain experience. Response teams have 70- 75% probationers this is at tipping point and now means some new recruits will come to neighbourhoods first instead of the normal route of response team first.  The plan for neighbourhood policing in 2021 is that there will be more dedicated officers in wards. The Chair requested that once staffing has settled it would be helpful to have an up to date chart of the named contacts would be helpful.

·         There is a sergeant process at present, 200 sergeants across the met have gone through their promotion boards. The Met as a whole are looking to recruit 600 sergeants in January. Cape chairs will be advised when these posts have been allocated.

·         The Chair asked that in future information is provided as part of the pack on I & S response times.