Agenda item
Community Safety in the Borough
- Meeting of Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Monday, 28th January, 2019 6.30 p.m. (Item 3.2)
- View the background to item 3.2
The Committee will receive a presentation from the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Equalities Cllr Asma Begum; the Borough Commander, Sue Williams; and the Corporate Director, Health, Adults & Community, Denise Radley
Minutes:
The Committee will receive a presentation from the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Equalities Cllr Asma Begum; the Borough Commander, Sue Williams; and the Corporate Director, Health, Adults & Community, Denise Radley.
The discussions on this presentation may be summarised as follows:
The Committee:
– Condemned the recent incident outside a school in Bow as Tower Hamlets is home to people from all over the world with a proud history which has been enriched by migration;
– Noted that through the use of Council CCTV and Council Funded Police Officers a man in his 60s had been taken into custody by police on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence;
– Noted that the Council and its partners are working with communities to develop a positive change in community safety and engagement;
– Noted that the Borough Commander and her officers had invested considerable energy in supporting the priorities within the partnership and addressing incidence of Anti-Social Behaviour; Knife Enabled Crime; Robbery; Theft; and Moped Offences;
– Noted that Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association (HARCA) has funded a dedicated 5-strong Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Team to work with their ASB and Safeguarding Teams;
– Noted that there are also more MPS officers on Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) housing estates. There will be 14 extra MPS officers funded by Tower Hamlets Council who will focus on tackling crime and ASB, working alongside THH’s own ASB team;
– Noted that the MPS London borough model has been condensed from 32 to 12 Basic Command Units (BCU) made up of two or three boroughs (e.g. Hackney and Newham) the BCU structure will allow the MPS to put first victims of crime and those people in greatest need. It will also give the MPS the resilience and consistency it needs across the whole of London, so that the MPS can continue to respond to large scale incidents and meet the current financial and operational challenges;
– Noted that property crime can be prevented through manipulating the design of individual dwellings, and their relationship to one another and to the surrounding neighbourhood;
– Noted that the 101 service has gone to a digital platform as the public now expect the MPS to have a significant online presence, with a similar level of functionality and ease of use to other services they access on a daily basis;
– Noted with regard to hate crime a lot of work has been done on reporting e.g. disability reporting and it was noted in the BCU there are Faith/Hate Crime Officers based both in Hackney and LBTH who are there to help and support communities and victims;
– Noted that in terms of data there is a need to include people’s experiences as data (e.g. the young voice) and to look at data at from a strategic perspective and how the available data is shared across the various partners/stakeholder groups;
– Noted that whilst the Home Office has reclassified many incidences of burglary non-residential to residential the Partnership looks at such crimes as burglary as a whole;
– Noted that the Council is working closely with One Housing Group on the Isle of Dogs to prevent and deal with ASB. All reports of ASB are taken seriously by One Housing and they deal with them as efficiently and effectively as possible;
– Noted that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has praised the steps the MPS has taken to improve legitimacy. The MPS has a good understanding of the diverse communities of London and is working hard to improve engagement. The (HMICFRS) also recognised the MPS’ efforts to improve the ethical and inclusive culture of the organisation;
– Noted that the reduction in public spending has made it more important than ever to maximise resources by the relevant partners working closely to deliver the best services possible for residents;
– Noted that the Boroughs BCU is seen as the lead in London in addressing a robust partnership community safety need;
– Noted that the MPS are open to ideas and look at different ways of working with their partner colleagues (e.g. Tower HamletsEnforcement Officers);
– Commented that it would support the development of a single number where all landlords could report incidences of ASB; and
– Commented that ‘Safer Neighbourhood Board’ which MOPaC introduced so as to formally consider local policing and crime priorities offered a less inclusive environment than the old Community Police Engagement Groups (CPEGs) that used to undertake community engagement around policing and crime issues in the Borough.
In conclusion, Councillor Ullah thanked Cllr Asma Begum; Sue Williams; and Denise Radley for their presentation.
Supporting documents: