Petition details
Urgently Install ANPR Cameras on Durward St to Tackle ASB
Large groups of men gather on Durward Street most evenings (9pm into early hours, up to 3am) every week, engaging in ASB, drug use and crime.
ASB experienced by residents of Kempton Court include (but not limited to): dangerous excessive speeding beyond legal limits, excessive revving of engines, car races, loud engines when stationary, loud music from cars, ball games at antisocial hours, loud shouting, intimidating and watching residents, parking on double yellow lines and on pavements and using the residential street as a gathering spot. This causes residents insomnia, anxiety and distress every week.
Drug use: Open use of Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas), including leaving cannisters on the street.
Crimes: The conduct has on numerous occasions surpassed ASB, and can be considered as a violation of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Part XII, Harassment, Alarm or Distress, S.154, 4A(1)(a).
Tower Hamlets Council have curbed their responsibilities to properly address and mitigate this continuous unsocial and dangerous behaviour. Residents have not witnessed TH Council ASB Patrol cars on Durward St patrolling at the anti social hours stated to be of concern, i.e. 9pm onwards. There is currently no CCTV on Durward St. All responsibility therefore falls on already exhausted residents to continue reporting, which has so far yielded no results.
An ANPR camera is the solution.
This Petition ran from 30/07/2024 to 09/10/2024 and has now finished.
63 people signed this Petition.
Council response
Thank you for submitting your petition to the Council. Firstly,
I am very sorry to hear about the incidents that you are
experiencing. We acknowledge and understand the negative impacts
that crime and ASB can have on your well-being, and the overall
quality of your
neighbourhood. I want to assure you that the Council and our
partners take these matters very seriously.
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and improving the quality of
life for residents is a key strategic priority for the Council, and
the wider Community Safety Partnership. ASB is tackled robustly
throughout the borough. All reported incidents of ASB to the
Council are reviewed by our ASB & Community Safety Service.
This is to ensure that appropriate
and proportionate responses are put in place and victims are
supported. We also work closely with the Metropolitan Police as a
number of these incidents are often criminal offences and as such
require a policing response.
In response to your petition - all the information reported has
been recorded on our Anti Social Behaviour database. As you know,
an investigation is ongoing with Hassan Elhrouz appointed as the
lead ASB and Community Safety Officer, and your dedicated point of
contact in the Service. Hassan is supported by John Fortune, our
Community
Safety Manager, who has been liaising with you. They have been
helping to co-ordinate additional resources and get partners to
support action in your neighbourhood.
Based on our initial review of your petition and the concerns you raised, we have taken the following action:
• We have increased our patrols to Durward Street, paying particular attention to the area outside Kempton court. Our Council funded Police Officers have seized a car and warned other drivers about their behavior.
• You are now aware of the range of CCTV coverage in Durward Street. CCTV have been proactively monitoring in conjunction with officers deployed in the area. You have been supplied the direct CCTV number to assist that response.
• Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers have patrolled the area and have taken action against the driver of a car who was causing obstruction.
• Nitrous Oxide is now classified as a class C drug, and only the police can enforce the law in this area. To that end, we have been tasking our funded Officers and liaising with the Safer Neighbourhood Team concerning this.
• Drug outreach teams have been patrolling the area with a view to getting drug users into treatment.
• Parking have increased their enforcement patrols.
• The area remains a tasking location for the Council and the Spitalfields and Banglatown Safer Neighbourhood Team.
Crime and ASB can often be displaced by the actions that we
take. In this case, the culmination of our partnership work may
have moved some of the ASB to Vallance Gardens where we are
addressing similar issues. You suggest that ANPR may solve the
problem and stop some vehicles
entering Durward Street therefore reducing ASB. Whilst this is a
tool that can be deployed, it is possible this could indeed
displace the problem as opposed to solve it which is the
objective.
We would ask that you continue to report Crime and ASB to the Council and Police. Our own teams will continue to work with partners to deal with offenders and reduce the impact on residents.
Your Local Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) are carrying out patrols in and around Durward Street. You can contact them via their email address which is CEMailbox.Spitalfields_Banglatown@met.police.uk.
If you require an immediate response, please call 101 or 999 in an emergency. Crime and ASB can be reported also online in non-emergency situations at http://www.met.police.uk/report.
I hope this offers some reassurance that the Council remains committed to addressing the issues raised in your petition in and around Durward Street.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further clarification.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Baxter
Corporate Director, Communities