Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Superintendent Chris Jones.

Superintendent Chris Jones and temporary Superintendent Dayle Speed introduced this report.

NOTED:

·         The burglary performance is detailed in full on the first page of the presentation. It was highlighted that Enfield has seen a month on month reduction since April 2020. October has seen the highest level of detections in the past 12 months and that 14 wards are showing a reduction and 7 are showing an increase in burglary with Turkey Street the most challenging ward.

·         Early on this year a review of the approach to burglary in North Area, The NA burglary strategy is detailed on page 25 of the agenda, the first 2 points are corporate targets. To achieve these targets, it is necessary fo upskill staff to deliver improved performance and improve public confidence through promoting good work of police and partners

·         From a response end and leading on burglary have looked to identify key people that it was felt could deliver around the challenges of burglary in a dedicated team. It took around 3 months to identify the team of a detective sergeant, and 10 uniformed Police constables from a poole of approximately 450 response officers for people aspiring to be future detectives. By the end of June this year the dedicated burglary focus unit was up and running.

·         Burglary is tackled through reducing victimisation, targeting offenders and making the location hostile to offending. All three must be targeted together. Challenges for North Area is to bring together roughly 1200 police staff, two local authorities and all the various supporting partners. It can be challenging to ensure that everyone is working as one team particularly during lockdown.

·         All key stakeholders come together every 6 weeks, the police have other performance meetings where burglary is discussed. This is very important.

·         Page 26 provides details of Enfield Burglary Offence levels, residential burglary dropped significantly during lockdown, when more people were at home, lots of shops and businesses closed and less people were in the streets so could be more easily recognised by the police. Between 10am to 3pm is the most vulnerable period for residential burglary. During lockdown business and community offences went up as shops and business closed which made them vulnerable. Some quick time analysis has been done on where vulnerable locations ahead of the second lockdown so that patrol patterns can be adjusted accordingly.

·         Page 27 of the agenda pack details Enfield Burglary Detection rate. These relates to the people that are arrested and in the majority of cases charged. The months of April and May 20 were highlighted, these must be seen in the context of low levels of offending. These are actually normal levels of arrests and charging of offenders. There  were low detection rates for September but these are reversed for October as Enfield is expected to have the highest recorded detections in the past 12 months.

·         Burglary is a crime where the majority of offences are committed by a minority of people. One of the challenges in Enfield is the large borough, with major routes going in and out and across Enfield. There are different demographics with expensive properties with lots of valuables through to drugs and properties where cannabis might be growing. Understanding the problems is key to finding solutions, investment has been made in understanding intelligence and allows the opportunity for sustained success if there is an understanding of why there is a problem.

·         There will be another 6 officers in the Dedicated burglary Focus unit from the middle of November. These have been upskilled and are all future aspiring detectives.

·         Central North (Camden and Islington) Basic Command Unit have undertaken a peer review on burglary and provided some learning on this.

·         Challenges highlighted include; the reality that low sentences are given for business and community offence and Covid has created challenges to the criminal justice system with delays to trials and court

·         Turkey Street and Enfield Lock wards remain challenging. There will be a deep drive as part of a problem profile into why this is the case.

·         October has been an exceptionally good month in Enfield with high levels of detections. This has included significant arrests. October is the most vulnerable period and the impact of October’s activity should be seen over the next couple of months.

Comments, queries and questions raised:

1.    Burglary has been a historic problem and genuine worry for residents. Pleased to see that potentials detectives have been identified for the future, aware that previously this had been a role that it was challenging to recruit to.

2.    Members expressed concern over potentially lack of courts due to Covid. In relation to burglary will the police be doing social distanced days where smart water, alarms etc are provided. Councillors receive tip off from residents on what is happening in their wards. Residents have advised that keep telling the police, but nothing seems to happen. Is there a more effective communication that could be used.

The police advised that can charge offenders and remand for court the next day. Their experience is that only the most serious and at-risk offenders for the most serious offences and considered to be remanded to prison. This is to do with space and backlog. The preventative measures are targeted. A crime prevention visit is undertaken after a burglary has occurred, officers will also visit officer opposite, adjacent and behind the address to provide advice. How to capture community intelligence is key for the police, must ensure that the police are accessible. All neighbourhood teams have surgeries and forums, lots of people know their local officers who are proactive in their wards is one form of communication. Crime stoppers can always be used. Aware one of the concerns is delays in picking up CCTV, which dents confidence in the police. This is a work in progress and concerns are acknowledged. However, this has to be judged against what is going on in Enfield, Haringey and London at that time. This means that sometimes resources are diverted due to other priorities. Could you use Love your doorstep for example could people post in this site. Will look at further. Working in partnership with the local authority there is the OWL online community messaging system. This links people in and shares live crime intelligence and data. The police also have an Enfield Facebook and Twitter site which is monitored up to 10pm. There are also other mechanisms the police do work with Emma Rigby from Love your doorstep around school robberies and preventing serious youth violence.

3.    Members raised that the public perception can be that the police do not take burglary seriously. There appears to be a disconnect with the perception from the public and the work of the police. What can be done to convince/ persuade the public that there is value in them sharing intelligence and reporting crimes and that burglary is a priority for the police. Police advised the communication could be better, the OWL messaging system will assist, Councillor Ward Forums assist. It is important that good news messages get out to the public. An example was provided of an article for Enfield Over 50’s forum of proactive policing operation helps to demonstrate that the police take this seriously. Sometimes volume and risk is a balancing act. Good news for neighbourhood policing is a proposal for a huge uplift in neighbourhood officers. The next tranche of increased policing will be focused on Safer Neighbourhood, meaning increased ward officers and dedicated town centre teams. Hopefully this will contribute in confidence to report crimes. It is very important that all crimes are reported. This feeds into intelligence and overlay of where crime is happening requests for resources directed into areas where intelligence is held. Without reporting resources will go to areas where crime has been reported.

Officers were thanked for their presentation.