Agenda item

Nick Davies, Islington Police, Curtis Ashton, Head of Targeted Support and Youth Offending Service and Keith Stanger, Service Manager Community Safety and Crime Reduction were present for discussion of this item.

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety and Councillor Joe Calouri, Executive Member Children, Young People and Families were also present.

A presentation was made to the Committee, during which the following main points were made –

·         It was noted that there had been some improvement in the reduction of moped crime, (a 60% plus reduction in moped enabled crime since January 2018), and there had been a reduction of 100 crimes, there was no room for complacency, and the borough still had unacceptably high levels of moped enabled crime

·         There had been an increase in moped crime generally across the London area

·         Violent crime has also shown increases

·         Serious youth violence has also increased, and knife crime amongst the under 25’s is concerning

·         However, some progress has been made and there has been a continued reduction in knife crime injury victims under 25, by 13.3%, compared to the MPS increase of 1.7%

·         There has been a 20% reduction in first time entrants to the criminal justice system and a reduction in young people receiving custodial sentences

·         There has also been a very positive OFSTED focused visit on work with vulnerable adolescents

·         Challenges/Future work include – a reduction in the increase in robbery offences, reducing the level of youth violence and serious youth violence, knife possession is likely to lead to an increase in stop and search, and the reduction in Police resources

·         Future work/opportunities – Youth Offending Service inspection June onwards, and improving interventions to ensure that these meet the needs of the dynamic cohort offenders and offending trends, and the Spark Project on prolific offending supporting partnership ownership of understanding factors that can lead to prolific offending and making earlier interventions

·         A number of initiatives have taken place with regard to violence against women and girls, however there were challenges

·         ASB – There has been a decrease in repeat callers and new Police ASB warnings will now also include Camden. Emerging problems included large groups of moped delivery drivers causing ASB at a variety of sites, and utilising extra resources to tackle increasing street population issues. The Safe Havens project has been relaunched and all suitable Council buildings will be registered, with others to follow soon after

·         The view was expressed that the Committee would not wish to see homeless people targeted specifically in relation to ASB

·         With regard to hate crime over 300 organisations had now signed the Islington Hate Crime Pledge and a relationship with TfL has been developed to share Hate Crime Intelligence. A number of events had taken place on the anniversary of the Finsbury Park terrorist attack. Other initiatives in relation to Hate Crime are also taking place

·         In response to a question it was stated that there was a better relationship and information sharing with Pentonville Prison, than previously

·         In response to a question, it was stated that most drug related offences are as a result of detective searches, and that most serious drug offences are linked to social background and violent behaviour

·         A Member enquired as to the rise in hate crime, and that increases seem to be worse than in many other areas of London. Councillor Hull responded that the rise in faith crime could be in respect of the Finsbury Park terror attack, but there is a need to look at other types of hate crime, such as homophobic and transgender hate crime

·         It was noted that Police resources had fallen by over 300 officers and this impacted on the ability to fight crime

·         In response to a statement from a Member, that he felt that the lack of youth provision often contributed to youth crime, it was stated that the Council had maintained a lot of youth provision, whereas this has been greatly reduced elsewhere in London. However, the Council could not provide youth provision on every estate, as the necessary funding was not available

·         Most young people who commit serious offences come from troubled backgrounds and have witnessed domestic violence, or had difficult family environments. It is essential to engage with this relatively small group of young people

·         Violence against Women and Girls – Work is taking place on this and a new service is due to start in September to trial a new approach to working with families affected by DVA

·         Reference was made to the difficulty in getting through to emergency numbers on occasions, and that this was unsatisfactory. Nick Davies stated that he was aware that there had been some problems, but he would look into this

·         Members expressed the view that more publicity should be given to areas of success in crime reduction, in order that residents were aware that crimes were being tackled and criminals arrested. In addition, a Member stated that he felt that more should be done in schools to warn children of the dangers of knives

·         Members were informed that work is going on in schools and the Safer Schools Team and Integrated Gangs Team had visited schools, and discussions are taking place with the Safeguarding lead at schools on this issue. The view was expressed that this work should also take place at primary level

·         With regard to ASB, the new repeat callers process is now in place and calls from these cases have decreased significantly

·         New Police warning notices on ASB will now include Camden Council

·         Challenges include an emerging problem with large groups of moped delivery drivers which cause ASB at a variety of sites. Members requested that examples and an update on progress of dealing with this problem be brought back to the Committee at a future date

·         The Safe Havens project has been relaunched and all suitable Council buildings will be registered as a Safe Haven, with others to follow soon after

·         Reference was made to the fact that the Police were making more use of social media to advertise successes on crime and that the use of electronic noticeboards could be utilised more in this regard

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

The Chair thanked Councillors Hull and Calouri, Nick Davies, Curtis Ashton and Keith Stanger for attending