Agenda item

• ASB
• Hate Crime
• VAWG
• Serious Violence

Mr Adam Browne and Mr Mark Wolski introduced the section on antisocial behaviour.

The meeting agreed for the work relating to mental health to be endorsed and reported upon at a future meeting. Members would also receive a document on the project overview in relation to the mental health work.

Ms Elvan Austay introduced the section on Hate Crime. 

The meeting heard:

·         The Hate Crime team encouraged all residents and communities to report hate crime to the Police via 101 or the online reporting form. Council services would direct them to various support services, but the report being made to the Police directly would always be more impactful for Victim Support or data purposes and ensure the investigation process was being carried out.

·         Hate Crime Awareness Week provided an awareness of communities and faith groups had really helped the borough discuss third party reporting and having hubs around the borough where trusted organisations played an important role for members of the community that may struggle with English as their first language or had bad experience or they felt that they will be judged by community members if they were to report hate crimes. It helped to be able to go to a church or mosques or another similar institution where they could report their experiences. 

·         Certain locations may be targeted due to the frequency of interaction they had from certain community members.

·         Anti-Israeli sentiment was captured as a hate crime. There was a clear distinction between anti-Israeli government sentiment and antisemitism. It was notable that anti-Israeli government sentiment was contributing towards some of the reporting.

·         Assessing repeat victim prevalence was important. It was not clear how many repeat victims were contributing as a victim to crime trends and it was important for them to be supported as required. Mitigation measures would be reported back to a future meeting.

Mr Will Maimaris introduced the section on VAWG.  

The meeting heard:

·         In relation to MARAC, there was an area of risk for the partnership to be aware of and progression regarding the area would be explored at a future meeting. Around 500 survivors were subject to harm per year and were at risk of homicide. The situation also required systems and processes to be in place and operating well.

·         At a recent pilot meeting of a SWASE (Sex workers and at risk of sexual exploitation), approximately 10 cases had been examined and there appeared to be significant opportunities for joint working - they were not all subject to oversight from statutory agencies. This had been picked up as a theme for practitioners. There was an emerging opportunity regarding this cohort to examine their circumstances via the lens of domestic abuse as some of the women were controlled by their partners.. There appeared to be a need for a MARAC type of approach for the cohort in these situations.

·         There were 30 professionals that attended the meeting and all contributed to the different interventions. There were also some key stakeholders which always included the Police.

Mr Mark Wolski and Mr Sandeep Broca introduced the section Serious Violence.

The meeting heard:

·         The Violence, Vulnerability and Reduction Action Plan (VVRAP) template will be circulated and each agency would be asked to nominate a lead officer to coordinate their contribution. A follow?up workshop with nominated leads would take place in April 2026 to progress and finalise the submission.

·         The VVRAP offered a good opportunity to assess how the borough was progressing in its current situation and that would help the strategic assessment what the Council had to do to continue the progress regarding Serious Violence.

RESOLVED:

To note the content of the accompanying reports and presentations at the Community Safety Partnership, having due regard to observations around barriers/risks and the intended plans for the following 3 months.