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 Erica Crawshaw and Acting Inspector Scott Mason. The following was highlighted:

·         In the last 12 months there has been a radical review of Schools Officers, all bar one vacancy is now filled in Enfield Schools, every secondary school has a named police officer and there is a dedicated primary schools’ officer. There has been good feedback from the headteachers.

·         The role of School’s officers has changed due to Covid restrictions with only key worker children attending schools. There are still high visibility patrols with the rest of the Schools officers diverted to do safeguarding checks. This involves attending pupils’ houses with safeguarding leads for secondary schools where it is known there are vulnerabilities. An online program has also been put together to teach about safety online and a radicalisation awareness session. During lockdown young people have been spending more time online.

·         Youth Engagement officers are working well, there is a dedicated officer for Enfield and an acting sergeant who overseas cadets and youth engagement.

·         Youth Independent Advisory Group (YIAG) is very well attended and has gone from strength to strength with young people from the police cadets, the care system, the youth offending service and from colleges to express their views.

·         Police Cadets activities are detailed in page 14 of the agenda reports pack. The current membership is Juniors 50, Seniors 84 overall 134. Due to Covid have been unable to undertake outward bound camps in 2020. There is a dedicated officer for the cadets who has been doing weekly online sessions including keeping fit, good citizenship and law for example. The highest BAME representation in the Met police is through the cadets and it is hoped will be used as a career into the police.

·         Safer Schools activities undertaken are detailed on pages 12-14 in the agenda pack and youth engagement on pages 15-16 in the agenda pack.

·         The monthly crime count shows a fairly steady picture with a drop in April 2020 in line with the first national lockdown.

·         The I and S calls figures for North Area showed that there had not been much change year on year. I calls are emergency calls and S calls are soon calls to be reached within one hour. It was requested that in future if possible, these figures are provided for Enfield & Haringey separately.

·         There are a number of operations around drugs activity, this has now become a Safer and Stronger Board priority. The results from Operation Taipan are detailed on slide 23 of the agenda pack. This targets low to mid-level drug dealing.

·         Each ward has a member of Taipan attached as a drugs advisor.

·         The impact of Covid has reduced the supply of drugs which has led to drug dealers stealing from other criminals producing a lot more violence.

·         Further to a query on how the CAPE’s can assist with the detection of cannabis farms, it was advised that an indication is things like curtains closed, smell, whirring of fans, no one going in and out, windows closed and something that does not feel right. If this is reported the police will investigate further. This may also occur on disused industrial estates.

·         The Safer Estates team is funded by Enfield Council this is made up of 1 Sergeant and 15 police constables and has produced very good results. For example, this team has a positive stop and search outcome is 31% for Enfield it is 21%. The problem-solving ethos is to look at removing an issue at the root cause the benefit should be a knock-on effect. Further details are on page 24 of agenda pack. The updated figures for 2020 were arrests 191, community Resolution/ PND 201, warrants 18 and driver and vehicle process 36.

·         Three examples were provided of successful recent outcomes. The results of Operation Sirene undertaken by the Safer Estates team are detailed on page 25 of the agenda pack.

·         Details pf weapon seizures from stop and search across London are detailed on page 26 of the agenda pack.

·         A number of leadership changes in police have been made; Erica Crawshaw will now be Chief Inspector for Neighbourhoods for Enfield, Scott Mason will replace Erica and will continue to oversea the Estates and Neighbourhood Teams.

·         The latest public attitude survey, this was lower than expected. A further report is due soon. It is vital that there is a well-functioning CAPE in every ward. A request was made to reach out to colleagues, friends and neighbours to increase representation on CAPE’s. The figure is lower in Enfield than it is in Haringey so there is work to be done on confidence levels.

·         A public attitude survey has been commissioned, over a thousand responses have been received, Erica will send the link out again. By the end of February they hope to have several thousand responses around police activity and priorities for local policing from the local community.

·         Target Establishment, there had been a huge reduction in police numbers leading to a number of specialists posts not being filled across the Met. There are probationers and people joining the police coming in numbers and have had an increase in officers. This comes with challenges; they will need to be paired up with experienced officers and the specialist posts now need to be filled by experienced officers. Enfield has the numbers established for Safer Neighbourhood Teams however this includes lots of inexperienced officers unsuitable to be Dedicated Ward Officers straight away due to lack of experience. The probationers will be split across portfolios.

·         A brief overview of robbery since the 23 December provided. There have been a number of knife enabled robberies on the east side of the borough, involving a vehicle and a moped. The methodology used is possibly linking crimes. This is a priority for the police, since Christmas there have no knife enabled robberies reported in Enfield. There have been incidents of phones snatched out of people’s hands.

·         Serious Youth violence has reduced by around 35% but these still need to come down further. Enfield is still very high as compared across London.

·         Enfield Town has seen a dramatic decrease in terms of robbery, it is believed that this has been driven by a number of factors. Every two weeks there is a tactical meeting looking at hotspots across the borough. Enfield Town has always been a hotspot due to the transport link and a high footfall area. There has been a concentration of staff in this area and the work of Love Your Doorstep in this area was recognised. Covid has also played a part in this.

·         The Chair confirmed the Safer Neighbourhood Board has provided some funding to Love Your Doorstep around purchasing of equipment to enable them to fulfil their role.

·         Discussions were held around OWL lots of people have signed up for this so has been successful in that aspect. Whilst there is still work to be done it has come a long way in four months and Enfield is more ahead than some other London boroughs. Ways of promoting OWL were discussed the council newsletter was suggested. OWL is run by Neil Rodgers in Enfield. It was suggested that Neil could attend CAPE’s virtual meetings to attend and the Safer Neighbourhood Board could also receive a presentation in future. It will be agreed for Neil to present at the CAPE Chair meeting.

·         It was confirmed that it is not known at present whether the SNB will receive MOPAC funding for 2021/22.