Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed new members Sara Leach, Luke Kwamya and Amlan Kumar Ghoshal.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2017 were agreed as a correct record.

Apologies were received from Simon Rose, Peter Clifton and Kiran Vagarwal.

None.

·         2017/18 refresh of the 2015/2020 Community Safety Strategy

No report – there would be an update at the next meeting on Friday 27^th April.

Update from Barnet Police on:

·         Performance

·         Crime trends

·         Impact on the Partnership of implementation of the new policing plan and changes to organisational structure

Ms Leach from the Metropolitan Police provided an update:

·         Theft from motor vehicles had increased during the last few weeks, particularly in Golders Green and Friern Barnet in the afternoon and evenings, so police presence had been strengthened.

·         Five individuals had been arrested following a spate of related robberies and three others had been arrested further to the murder of a shopkeeper in Mill Hill.

·         Details were awaited on a new organisational structure which would involve a merger between Barnet, Harrow and Brent police forces. Response times should not be affected and it should enable services to become more specialised. Simon Rose would lead services for the three boroughs.

·         Ms Leach would feed back to the Board on burglary figures in relation to the use of SmartWater technology.

Action

·         Public Space Community Safety CCTV

·         Community Safety Automatic Number Plate

·         Recognition (ANPR) Cameras

Mr Leng gave a presentation on CCTV and ANPR – slides were circulated.

·         There were 20 Automatic Number Plat Recognition (ANPR) cameras which were linked to the Met Control Room.

·         Ms Leach noted that CCTV had been pivotal in the identification of perpetrators of crime; 30% of perpetrators admitted guilt when CCTV evidence was available. She would try to get details of the number of convictions where cameras had been part of the evidence. Mr Leng would ask the CCTV Team whether they could also provide some information on incident locations and numbers and whether more detailed work on this would be feasible.

Action

The Chairman asked whether Mill Hill was being targeted or whether these were isolated incidents and instead there was a heightened sensitivity to crime in the area. Mr Leng would look at the statistics and would feed back to the Board.

Action

Youth Matters - Update

Ms McElligot provided an update from Family Services - slides had been circulated.

·         Troubled Families Programme – good progress had been made and discussions were ongoing about how to develop the service with the remaining time available.

·         Youth offending numbers had stabilised in the Borough. A larger proportion of youths were being diverted from crime due to liaison activities that had been introduced and police custody triage supporting this. A range of services had been introduced for this vulnerable group in line with the national agenda for youth offending; including forensic psychologists, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists. Two new managers had also been appointed together with a permanent staff team alongside strong partnership arrangements.

·         Youth Justice Board data was discussed. Barnet sat below London and the national average for reoffending. Gang activity was a problem. There had been a recent slight drop in knife-enabled offences.

·         The supply and use of Xanax was a problem in the Borough; young girls in particular were being targeted, making them vulnerable to sexual exploitation including video shaming, and to criminal networks. Some work needed to be done to tackle the supply and use of Xanax. The service was aware of 40-50 school children (from as young as 12) who were taking Xanax daily.

Update on:

·         How the Safer Communities Partnership will make sure of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs)

·         Evidence base for PSPOs

·         Timelines for implementation of PSPOs

Mr Leng spoke to his presentation on PSPOs – slides had been circulated.

Barnet did not have any PSPOs in place but planned to use them to tackle street drinking and other problems in a few areas. Councillors had been asked to submit details of areas that should be considered.

The Chairman enquired about publicity via the Communications team at Barnet, adding that that team should also be represented on the Board and had previously been invited. Mr Jamie Blake offered to speak to the Communications team about this.

Action

Ms Leach noted that part of the problem could be that some individuals were priced out of pubs. Also some, especially migrant workers on low wages, lived in ‘bedshares’ and so had no place to drink at home. It might be worth considering providing a place for this group.

Mr Leng noted that papers had been submitted to the Community Leadership Committee over a year ago on this issue but part of the engagement needed to be face-to-face. He would explore this issue with the Communications team - including how people could complain via the website - and a possible Communications campaign.

Action

The Chairman noted that the new legislation had been introduced in October 2017 so it was time to act.

·         Progress report on the Partnership response to anti-social behaviour

·         Financial resources updates on the delivery of the Community Safety Strategy (including Prevent, MOPAC and VAWG funding)

·         Partnership update on the delivery of the VAWG Strategy

·         Update on the Partnership approach to delivering an evidence base for the Community Safety Strategy

·         Youth Justice Board Update

·         Community Safety Strategy

·         Ms Clare Ansdell would report back following the latest NPS inspection

·         The Chairman asked Ms Ansdell to contact Ms Vagarwal about recommendations made in the Community Rehabilitation Company report which was due out soon.

Bridget O’Dwyer advised that the joint Barnet & Harrow Public Health Service will cease on 31^st March 2018 and Public Health commissioning will be delivered by each borough respectively.

Luke Kwamya will be taking up post as Senior Commissioning Manager for Barnet Substance Misuse Service and Barnet Sexual & Reproductive Health Service. Bridget O’Dwyer will be taking up a similar post in Harrow and would like to thank the Board for their support and joint working during her time at Barnet.

Friday 27^th April 2018