Issue - meetings
Community Safety Verbal Update
Meeting: 09/12/2019 - Tower Hamlets Transformation and Improvement Board (Item 5)
5 Community Safety Transformation PDF 330 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Board received and noted a report presented by Ann Corbett(Divisional Director, Community Safety), that focused on the progress of seven areas of priority set out in the letter from the Mayor to the Chief Executive on 6th June, 2018 under the heading ‘Safer communities and ASB’. These being (i) Rise in youth violence; (ii) Reassuring the community about wider crime and ASB; (iii) Close working with police; (iv) Violent Crime Summit; (v) Council funded police officers; (vi) Neighbourhood Management Pilot; and (vii) Chairing of a Crime and ASB Board. The main points of the discussion regarding the ongoing work of the community safety priority areas may be summarised as follows:
The Board:
- Was advised that the ASB Blueprint had been produced in March 2017 following a 6 month independent review of how the Borough dealt with ASB. The Blueprint had identified a new, victim centred approach for the Council and partners to adopt in order to better respond to anti-social behaviour and the impact on residents’ quality of life and set out an ambitious programme of change in terms of how the Council would tackle ASB;
- Noted that the report covered the transformation journey that the Council has undergone since then (i) within the community safety service; and (ii) the achievements and the challenges the Council faces in responding to community safety concerns;
- Observed that in response to the rise in knife violence in the Borough, the Knife crime action plan had been produced which reflected a shift from a criminal justice to a public health approach, looking at the long term solutions;
- Noted that the Plan committed the Council and its partners to delivering 65 actions;
- Was informed that since commencement of the knife crime action plan, police crime data has shown a downward trend of offences compared on a rolling year and between 2018-2019 Tower Hamlets experienced the biggest decrease in knife crime injury victims of all London Boroughs;
- Noted that Operation Continuum was launched in December 2017 to promote closer working with the police and in response to ongoing reports of drug dealing, drug use and associated criminality. It involves coordinating Council teams and partners including the Partnership Task Force (PTF) the team of police officers funded by the Council and are tasked to a number of key priorities agreed with the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime, Tower Hamlets Homes, CCTV team, clean and green, Police Safer neighbourhood Teams, Trading Standards and Licencing and the ASB team;
- Was informed about the Rapid Response Team (RRT) that works with young people (both as victims and perpetrators) to reduce knife crime and group violence. This was innovative project funded by the Council had set up in January 2019 with the Royal London Hospital;
- Noted that as part of the RRT a Violent Crime Reduction (VCR) Officer is now based at Royal London Hospital to work with people aged 10-26 who have been victims of weapon enabled violence including knife crime to support them through ... view the full minutes text for item 5