This report is not attached to the agenda and will be circulated ‘to follow’.

A presentation was received from Detective Superintendent David Kennett and Superintendent Chris Jones.

NOTED:

1.    There have been significant reductions across Serious Youth Violence, Knife injury victims under 25, Total Knife Crime, Gun Crime and Personal Robbery when comparing 2019 to 2020. Covid 19 has had an impact on these figures. If Enfield’s performance is compared to its peers in similar areas good progress has been made.

2.    North Area Violence Reduction Group (NAVRG) is a strategic panel chaired by DS Kennett that seeks to combat serious youth violence, and coordinates activity. A sub committee steering group supports the NAVRG. There is a funded crime analyst to provide data as to where crime is happening and an administrator to support the actions and the comprehensive action plan. This project is funded by £40k of Home Office (HO) funding on a yearly basis and a monthly report is provided to the HO. This unit is governed by the Violence Suppression Unit at MOPAC.

3.    The aims and objectives of NAVRG are to tackle Serious Youth Violence across Enfield and Haringey; co-ordinate activity across Police, Local authority, criminal justice and charity sectors; and to focus activity on the most vulnerable parts of the community.

4.    NAVRG meets every 6 weeks and reviews key information on crime hotspots, this group dictates what analysis is needed for each meeting. There is a tactical plan, which has various strands and actions, each active participant takes ownership of parts. This is complemented by a media and communications section which looks to actively publicise good work.

5.    Some examples of success were highlighted such as; School Robbery Plan, research and creation of safe spaces for young people (Operation Sharda); support for vulnerable young people whilst in police custody (Operation Alliance) and the victim support focus on vulnerable young people.

6.    The approach to young people is one of engagement, encouragement and education and where necessary prevention and enforcement. Engagement is critical with young people and it is important that the first experience with policing be a positive one.

7.    There is a Youth Independent Advisory group (YIAG) which is co-chaired by Superintendent Jones and a youth worker from Bruce Grove Community Centre. This is very well attended and has gone from strength to strength with young people ranging from 13-18 years old from the police cadets, Enfield Youth Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the care system, the youth offending service and from colleges to express their views.

8.    In Enfield, there is a fulltime police cadet coordinator, one dedicated youth engagement officer and 2 sergeants and 16 PC’s in the Safer Schools team covering secondary schools, colleges and primary schools’ single point of contact.

9.    During lockdown engagement has moved to online lessons and 134 cadets have been retained.

10.Examples were given of activities undertaken prior to December demonstrating engagement and successful partnership working.

11.Whilst Covid has helped to reduce street activity, it has also reduced the supply of drugs which has led to drug dealers stealing from other drug dealers and drug disputes turning to violence. There is a vicious circle of drugs, gangs, cash, weapons and violence

12. Examples of proactive enforcement were given including the work of the successful Safer Estates team and examples of weapons that have been recovered.

Comments, queries and questions raised:

·         It was observed that schemes often have short term immediate successes, is there a long-term picture that demonstrates long term success? It was confirmed that Operation Alliance targets vulnerable young people being arrested with a long-term view, actively looking to get them into long term youth provision and away from crime. There are also a number of other schemes that are long term programmes including DIVERT scheme and Spurs Foundation scheme. Andrea Clemons. Head of Community Safety drew attention to the Oasis Trust work at A & E that has been in place for 6 years and long-term results can be seen from this and the work of the Youth Offending Service. There is work being undertaken on youth reoffending, this is an agenda item at the next meeting.

·         In a response to a query as to whether crime has reduced in Upper Edmonton area it is confirmed that this are has seen a reduction although this remains a key area of focus for the police.

·         Following concerns on prostitution and update was given there is a lot of work in this area. It was confirmed that an update on this item is due to come to the next meeting.

·         What engagement is there with families and religious groups? The police confirmed that there is a dedicated faith officer and recently all faith leader contacts have been refreshed. Faith Leader meetings are attended by at least one member of the police senior management team. There are also faith leaders amongst the police Independent Advisory Group. The Schools Officers link in with parents, there are links with the Eastern European Forum as part of outreach work.

·         It was confirmed that during Lockdown, schools’ officers have continued to engage with young people. Key worker children and some vulnerable young people are still attending schools so there are still patrols around schools. Some vulnerable young people are not attending school, officers are working with the school safeguarding leads and will be going on joint visits to ensure the young person is ok. There are also online lessons on online safety and radicalisation that officers are delivering.

Officers were thanked for their presentation.