Agenda item

To receive a report from Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety

Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety presented the report.

NOTED:

1.    The report shows crime figures for the whole of 2020. Overall crime is down by 6%; Residential burglary has reduced by 28% and Serious Youth Violence by 33%. However, Domestic Abuse Violence with injury has increased by 1.7% and ASB calls have increased significantly by 81%. Hate Crime although smaller number has increased in some categories by 44%.

2.    Table 1 compares Enfield to London.

3.    Under keeping young people safe and reducing their risks from crime all categories have reduced except Gun Crime Lethal Barrelled Discharged Offences which went up by one more offence. Attention was also drawn to the fact that Enfield has the 4^th largest population of 0-19 in London with lots of young people coming in and out of the borough for school. Enfield currently has the highest level of serious youth violence in London. During lockdown Enfield has had significantly higher reductions.

4.    There is a huge reduction in Robbery of Personal Property Offences this links heavily with serious youth violence. These offences are often young people on young people.

5.    Domestic Abuse Incidents have increased by 11% this is slightly above London. This crime has been exasperated by lockdown.

6.    There is a large increase in Racist and Religious Hate Crime offences, the lockdown has had a significant impact here.

7.    There has been a huge increase in ASB, for April and May 2020 alone there were over 5200 calls received by the Police. This has been largely driven by noncompliance with Covid restrictions and regulations.

8.    There will be communications campaign on Vehicle crime reaching out to vehicle owners and how to avoid becoming a victim of vehicle crime. There have been reductions in vehicle crime during the year with the exception of theft from a motor vehicle.

Comments, queries and questions raised:

·         Regarding Domestic Abuse how have we been dealing with extra cases during lockdown? The significant piece of work on this has been the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Hub that has been running since May. There have also been communications campaigns to encourage people to access help as soon as they can.

·         Whilst there has been a reduction in Serious Youth Violence, Enfield is the highest in London do we know why this is? Enfield has a large youth population. If it was viewed at the rate per population Enfield would be 5^th or 6^th in London. It should be noted that Enfield’s reduction one of the largest in London, a lot of work has been undertaken on schools and open spaces and the work undertaken to pre-empt the release of Covid restrictions. It is hoped that the reduction can be sustained.

·         Looking at the summary on page 1 of the report whilst there are a lot of decreases. There are also some areas that have gone up and Enfield is not performing as well as London. Officers advised that ASB has gone up everywhere, Child Sexual Exploitation whilst it is a huge increase this relates to seven offences. There are links between deprivation and violent crime, and this is a factor alongside others. The strategies for dealing with this are detailed within the Partnership Plan.

·         Race and Religious Hate Crime does Brexit have an impact on this crime and can hotspots be identified. It would be helpful if future performance reports contained more information on Child Sexual Exploitation such as what is driving this, and can hotspots be identified for. Officers advised that the Brexit element is not seen as a huge factor in hate crime. There is a Hate Crime Management Panel that looks at cases, further details being looked at to see what areas successfully intervened in. It was confirmed that both areas will be covered in more detail in future performance updates.

·         How does the performance monitoring report relate to the actions in the Partnership Plan? Officers advised that statistics inform the Partnership Plan, using up to 5 years of data. If an investment is made it is monitored to see what impact this has had.

·         It was suggested that in future performance reports it might be helpful to highlight an example from the Partnership Plan and show what has happened as a result of these actions.