Agenda item

To consider performance statistics and priorities for the borough’s Community Safety Partnership, including MOPAC priority areas, hate crime, and emerging issues.

Helen Millichap, the new Police Borough Commander for Haringey, introduced herself to the Panel and outlined her priorities.  In developing these, she had collected the views of a range of people and their views had closely reflected her own.  There were four main areas that needed prioritising;

·         Putting victims first.  The care provided to them needed to be excellent and that was especially true of vulnerable people and children, including those affected by domestic violence;

·         Building strong communities.  This involved engaging and responding effectively to community concerns.  An example of this was that the issues in respect of Ducketts Common.  However, it was acknowledged that there were some legacy issues, not all of which were the responsibility of the borough;

·         Dealing with offenders promptly and bringing them to justice; and

·         Building strong partnerships.  This was aimed at helping to stop crime starting in the first place.  If crime was reduced, it would be possible for the Police to do more in the community.  In addition, she wanted to develop better coordination of work across community safety and to also include safeguarding and the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB).

She felt that the Police currently provided a good offer in schools but she wanted to work more closely with primary schools so that Police officers become a normal presence. She wished to ensure that there was a standardised service for all schools, with a named officer for each.

The Panel received an overview of current performance issues in respect of crime and community safety;

·         There had been an increase in hate crime and this reflected the experience elsewhere in London, although the increase in Haringey had been higher than the percentage increase for London.  It was possible that this was due to increased levels of confidence leading to higher levels of reporting;

·         Violence Against Women and Girls had gone up by 18% compared with a London level of 4%.  75% of incidents took place in the east of the borough.  Non domestic violence with injury had gone up by 7.2%, which was broadly similar to the rate across London.  There was a link to the night time economy, including retail;

·         Knife enabled crime had gone up by 15.2% compared to 4.3% across London. The figures included instances where victims thought the perpetrator might have a knife as well as instances where one was actually seen.  The majority of knife injury victims were young but some adults had also been affected.  There had been an increase of 15% in the number of victims, compared to 4.2% percent for London.  The increase equated to an additional 12 victims.  The hot spots for knife crime had shifted following targeted action in key locations;

·         There had been an increase of 5% in victims of serious youth violence.  83 of these were gang related.  There had been cross border gang issues but these now appeared to be diminishing in number following targeted partnership work.  Statistics for gun related incidents included instances where firearms might not be seen.  Haringey’s figures were the second highest in London, with only Newham being higher.  In terms of drug offences, the majority of them took place in the Turnpike Lane/Ducketts Common area.  92% were for possession, which was mainly for cannabis; and  

·         Burglary figures had shown a reduction of 8.5%.  It was possible that this was at least partly due to the use of Metrace across the borough, which enabled items to be traced.  In respect of confidence, Haringey had some of the lowest figures in London.  There tended to be a time lag between improvements in crime figures being reflected in better confidence statistics. 

In answer to a question, Ms Millichap stated that there was normally a correlation between crime and levels of confidence.  However, confidence figures could be influenced by national issues.  Recent figures had shown an increase of 4% in confidence levels.  Effective communication and visible policing had been shown to have a positive effective on figures. 

She stated that it was not clear yet what would replace the MOPAC 7 pan London priorities for the Police.  Although a draft new framework had been circulated, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner had recently announced his departure and it was therefore possible that this would just be interim.  It involved a focus on neighbourhood policing, Violence Against Women and Girls, gangs and knife crime.  It was unlikely that the issues covered in the MOPAC 7 would be included in the new priorities.  It was important that there was more reporting of domestic violence and abuse.  New measures of good outcomes were needed however as charging was not necessarily the only issue.

The Panel noted that the increase in hate crime was higher in Haringey than the average for London.  Ms Millichap reported that reporting levels for hate crime had been low so an increase was not necessarily all bad.  It was possible that some of the increase had been a part of the post Brexit fallout.  There had, however, been a longer and slower increase in reporting levels.  It was possible that there were emerging vulnerable communities.  Action was required to ensure that and all was being done to address the issue ensure and that, in particular, appropriate referrals were taking place.  It could be difficult to differentiate between crime motivated and crime aggravated by hate.  Detective Chief Inspector Paul Trevers reported that he hoped that there would be an increase in reporting in the forthcoming weeks as it would shortly be Hate Crime Awareness Week, which aimed to raise the profile of the issue. 

Charlotte Pomery, Assistant Director for Commissioning, reported that increasing reporting of hate crime was very important and third party reporting was being encouraged.   An on line tool was being developed to assist with reporting.  Whilst the increase was of concern, at least part of it was likely to be due to an increase in reporting. 

In answer to a question, Ms Millichap reported that the membership of the Confidence and Engagement Board had yet to be finalised but meeting would probably be theme based, with a range of partners invited to contribute.  One particular issue was likely to be the effective use of digital media. 

In respect of firearms, she reported that the borough was able to bring in resources from outside.  For example, Operation Viper was undertaking specific work in relation to firearms and was operating on areas near to the borough.  Proactive and preventative work was undertaken locally in respect of more day-to-day knife and firearms issues.  However, this stopped short of armed foot patrols.

Mr Trevers reported that the borough’s gangs unit worked alongside the Integrated Offender Management team.  The aim was to prevent and intervene.  There were currently a number of young men who had been involved with gangs and were engaging positively.  It was important to try to prevent young people becoming involved in the first place though and the engagement work that was done with schools was therefore very important.  Enforcement action was undertaken and often arose from intelligence. 

The Panel thanked Ms Millichap, Mr Trevers and officers for their contribution.