The
Committee received a brief overview of the Cabinet Member Portfolio
for Communities and noted that the key priorities were: reducing
crime in the
Borough, reducing repeat offending, increasing public confidence
& satisfaction with community services and preparation for the
Olympics. This involved continuing with the cross border co
-operation with Enfield Council to tackle crime, reflecting changes
in delivery of services following public consultation exercises,
taking forward the successful strategy on dealing with drugs and
alcohol abuse, holding the Police to their commitment of 3 hours of
visible policing a day and working with them on their new cluster
arrangements for policing in the borough.
In
response to questions and clarifications sought by the Committee
the following was noted:
- In the
coming days Members would notice an increase of 150 Police officers
in Enfield, Haringey and Hackney that would be working closely to
apprehend the perpetrators involved in the recent shooting of a
young Turkish man at Turnpike Lane station. The increased number of
Police officers would also aid the feeling of security in the Green
Lanes area, as there were concerns from the local community about
reprisal incidents. The Cabinet Member for Communities would ensure
that local ward Councillors and local secondary schools were aware
of the increased Police presence.
- The
Kirkin report on the disturbances in
Tottenham would be published in the coming days and it was
anticipated that questions on the decision making processes and
strategies, used to deal with the disturbances, would be answered
in this report.
- Officers were in the process of analysing the results of the
first two rounds of Area Forum meetings. This would include
assessing the key topics that
attracted people to the meetings. Early comments were that
participants liked the workshop style sessions run at the September
meetings to discuss the disturbances in Tottenham. Committee
members had differing expectations about the numbers of people that
should be attending the Area Forum meetings. Some members felt that
a smaller number of people attending the meetings was not a
negative response from the community. Often the people attending
were representative of resident or community groups and would
provide a collective view to the meeting and also give feedback
from the meeting to their respective groups. Whilst other members
felt that there was a need to draw a wider pool of local people to
the meetings to discuss local issues.
- The
Cabinet Member acknowledged that the new Localism Bill could have
an impact on how the Area Forums planned to engage and work with
people in the local communities .The Forums were work in progress
and would strive to engage a wider range of participants at
meetings.
- The
Chair highlighted some discrepancies in the Cabinet Performance
report for the Community Safety Manger to be aware of: the
performance baseline data for anti social behaviour, LSI 1, serious
acquisitive crime reported in Appendix 2 which showed that there
were 19.1 cases per 1000 residents. These areas in the report would
be examined and rectified if required.
- The
Vice Chair communicated the change of venue for the launch of the
citizen’s response to the Tottenham disturbances. This was
not Bruce Grove Youth Centre but
Tottenham Town Hall .
RESOLVED that the following actions be delegated to the
appropriate directorate/ officers:
- The
Police were currently consulting with the community about the
priorities for the Safer Neighbourhood Teams. In this process it had been communicated that
Burglary did not fit the criteria for selection as an SNT priority.
There was concern about this approach as burglary was regularly
highlighted by residents as a key concern. The Cabinet Member agreed to check the
communication regarding the choice of local SNT priorities with the
Police and respond on this to members of the Committee after the
meeting. (Action 92.1) Cllr
Engert
- It was
agreed that data on acquisitive crime (this is crime affecting
personal and home property) be provided to members of the
Committee on a ward by ward
basis. (Action92.2) Cllr
Engert
- Information was sought on the plans for lighting renewal in the
borough and whether there were external funding sources available
as improved street lighting could help deter crime. (Action 92.3) Cllr
Engert
- The
Cabinet Member for Communities agreed to take back comments to the
Borough Commander on the particular good work and engagement with
young people achieved by a Sergeant Hannah who had recently been
moved from his post in the community to the central Police station
at Tottenham. Although it was accepted
that there would be movement of
Police officers around different posts, this sergeant had, over the
last five years, been particularly effective in the local area and
built up vital trust with youngsters in his area. There was a
strong feeling that his work in the ward should continue. (Action 92.4) Yvonne Denny
- Clarification was sought on the responsibility for security
around the Blake Road and Alexandra Road allotments following a
recent spate of break-ins. There was also information sought on
what could be done to secure the area around these allotments. The
Cabinet Member for Communities agreed to report back in this
issue. (Action 92.5) Cllr
Alexander
- The
Chair spoke about the difficulty of ward Councillors accessing
Neighbourhood Watch meetings and therefore participating in them.
This was due to the level of security around data concerning the
meetings. The Head of Community Safety agreed to raise this issue
at the next meeting with the Police Co-ordinator for Neighbourhood
Watch.(Action 92.6) Chair
- The
Cabinet Member for Communities agreed to respond back on the
reductions in funding for signage (Action 92.7)
Cllr Newton
- Information was sought on the number of Stop and Search’s,
completed by Police officers, which resulted in an outcome i.e.
(prosecution, warning, and sentence). It was noted that there were
statistics available on the profile of people that were stopped and
searched and this information would be used to commission
engagement work with young people most likely to be stopped and
searched. Currently outcomes were not
included in the data pool
and the Committee requested that this
information was included in future to provide members with confidence that Stop and Search’s were being carried out with good reason.(Action 92.8) Cllr Newton
- It was
further reported that residents were being asked to help compile
the top three priorities for their local SNT’s based on perception and not data. The
rationale behind this approach was speculated by officers to be
connected to the recent British Crime Survey results which showed
that only 30%of crime was recorded.
Therefore the presumption was that local police teams were trying
to capture what was happening locally that was of concern to
people. Overall it was felt prudent to
shorten the gap between what is recorded as a crime and what the
community feel and see as a crime. The
Cabinet Member for Communities agreed to obtain guidance about how
the both data and perception can be used to compile SNT
priorities. (Action 92.9)Helena
Kania
- The
Cabinet Member for Communities had reported, in her presentation,
that there would be an additional 50 Police Officers allocated to the borough and it was agreed that
she would seek further clarification on
their reporting lines.(Action 92.10) Cllr Diakides