Agenda item

Mr Joe Benmore, PC Daniela Casali, Mr Rick Geer, Ms Adeola Bello, Ealenor Girling and Heather Hutchings introduced the item.

The meeting heard that:

·       If a young person was arrested, an investigation would be conducted as normal, but the individual would also be subject to be safeguarding. The individual would be checked upon and assurances would be taken that the correct processes were in place. When a young person was interviewed, they would be given an opportunity to raise a section 45 defence and if it was raised, it would be taken into consideration.  

·       Haringey did not have specific areas where young people may be exploited. Many referrals came from social workers and were encouraged to do so.

·       Children were statistically being identified more in relation to the national referral mechanism. This was because there were more opportunities to do so when cases were encountered. Training was being offered to staff, especially within Adult Social Care to identify potential cases. Work could be done with the Voluntary and Community Sector and having better promotion on the transport network.

·       It would be useful to coordinate efforts relating to modern slavery and involve community groups to identify victims across communities. This would also coordinate with Weeks of Action and efforts involving publicising awareness.

·       Adults who were undocumented migrants and had no recourse to public funds had a fear of their situation being revealed to authorities and this could result in people being kept as modern slaves. 

·       Regarding the younger population, more work could be done with schools and positive news stories could be shared with young people to increase trust and confidence Police, Councils and the referral mechanism.

·       Most young people referred into the social work team were so significantly at risk of exploitation, it was difficult to manage the situation. Considerable intensive service was provided. Social workers worked overtime and saw young people weekly and social work staff had an attitude to ensure that maximum attention and resources were provided where possible.

·       Social media could be used to help young people to get information on key areas of crime. It was possible to obtain an algorithm to ensure that certain areas of interest were displayed first when performing a search.

·       CCTV could be used to determine where young people were congregating or if they were subjecting themselves to risk.

·       If a young person had an exploitation marker on the PNC record, they were more likely to be classed as high risk. 

·       Raising awareness regarding Cuckooing (a practice where people take over a person's home and use the property to facilitate exploitation) was actively worked on by generating leaflets which had been co-designed with the Police and was easy to read. It was delivered to areas which had the highest number of reports. The leaflet was also available in a poster format which was displayed at the relevant locations. Officers attended coffee mornings with some of the schemes and spoke to residents to raise awareness and to listen to their comments and queries. Training for various professionals would be useful.

·       Some work needed to be done with the lettings process. It may be useful to have an operative link with the Police or the Antisocial Behaviour team prior to making an offer. However, there were only limited number of places where vulnerable residents could be placed. Victim Support could help with vulnerable residents.

·       Vulnerable residents have had their houses targeted in relation to Cuckooing because of their vulnerability and not due to their disability and it was easier to get into their property.

·       Once a vulnerable resident had been identified they should be supported adequately, however some examination could be done with relation to if certain vulnerable adults were targeted due to hate.

·       In relation to far right ideology, information and training was delivered within workshops to raise awareness of Prevent and to make sure that everyone had up-to-date information on what to consider Work was done with the Violence Against Women team which delivered “incel” training alongside misogyny so that both sides were covered. The team also participated in the 16 days of action in November. Anyone who was a member of the Haringey Children Safeguarding Partnership, there were Prevent trainings that were offered through there as well. However, it was something that needed increased awareness. A Community Champions event was held last year which was around the far right and things to look out for and this was with community leaders. The feedback was positive.

·       There was a quarterly held Community Tensions monitoring group. There were also hate crime delivery groups. Partners were always encouraged to send in anything that they would like to discuss in terms of the agenda. This was a good opportunity for the Council to showcase its activities as part of the partnership and to mitigate community tension.

·       When looking at antisocial behaviour and crime it may be useful to examine all potential angles in order to take appropriate measures.  There appeared to be a growing concern in relation to hate in other areas such as transphobia. It may be useful to keep such items on the agenda. For example, maintaining updates at various meetings and to do so continuously. The Antisocial Behaviour team could consider hate when looking at Cuckooing cases. It would also be useful to include the Police in these conversations.

·       Bringing in the victim's voice and having discussions with the victims of the incidents had helped shape perspective and how things were managed or how communication to the community is formatted.

·       In relation to hate crime in schools, especially regarding current affairs, work was done closely with schools and the Learning team. There was regular contact with all schools and DSLs. Key guidance was put out from the Department for Education around current affairs and ensuring that any concerns regarding radicalisation would be captured early. There were resources to which professionals could signpost their observations. There were community members who were supporting schools as well with conversations and making sure that that was a reduction in any tension to be replaced with increasing tolerance and acceptance towards each other.

·       Projects have been happening through a variety of schools funded by the Mayor of London around understanding different forms of hate, understanding how to respect each other, tolerance and holding assemblies. There was always more support that could be put within schools, but when concerns were highlighted, support was given to make the right safeguarding choice.

·       Nothing had escalated beyond control, but it was important to monitor safeguarding situations so that support could be in place.

·       Cameras were being put on some bus stops in London, but where there was a concern regarding hate crime, teams had been put in place for this.

RESOLVED:

That the item be noted.