Agenda item

Chief Inspection Lynch updated the Board and noted the increase in crime represented across all of London. A continued focus remains on violence, robbery, violent hotspots and violence against women and girls and a number of measures were put in place for the summer period which will continue as further initiatives are developed.

The implications of being in special measures has hit the workforce quite hard and has been difficult however the implications of this locally have not yet been made clear but will be understood once the police know where the extra focus will be. There is also a continued focus of engagement with partners from the senior leadership team

CI Lynch informed that the focus going forward will be local policing and a more enhanced visibility throughout London with the new police commander and are looking at more staff development also. It was also noted that we are seeing a younger workforce in Barnet, Brent and Harrow with service levels of under 8 years. The policing brand has taken a huge hit, however there is a strong focus on professional standards and challenging their own standards and values as an organisation and a piece of work called ‘Not in my Met’ has been launched internally to help tackle these issues.

He continued that currently, the Met are changing the way they are implementing some of the technology and systems going forward with a number of major change programmes ongoing in the police, one of note called Connect which changes the way crime and ASB are reported with a number of the core systems feeding into this. It will impact staffing resilience over the course of months with a large amount of training to be delivered for officers.

Fiona Bateman noted the challenges to the Met Police brand and commented that the Safeguarding Board and Inclusion Barnet have a good, solid brand and offered assistance to help the police to achieve some of this work and to deliver good partnership working.

The Chair asked in relation to community days as part of police training and if any further information could be given to the Board on these. CI Lynch informed that colleagues in the learning and development team of the Met Police want to pilot community based training initiatives which involves community  based volunteers and practitioners to support police training and once this work is in progress an update will be given to the Board for their oversight and any opportunities that can come from this.

Declan Khan asked if there would be an opportunity for Community Safety officers to use the new systems that the Police are proposing once it is implemented.  CI Lynch commented that he has not yet seen sight of the new system therefore could not feedback on the way it operates however he agreed to check this and feedback as necessary.

ACTION – CHIEF INSPECTOR LYNCH

Inspector Zitver provided an update to the Board on the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign and noted that it was initially rolled out in 2017 with training offered to all venues in the North West BCU including 33 in Barnet. 20 venues have taken it up with a number of sessions carried out and will continue with officers leading on the training. He informed that there have been two instances where the scheme has been reported to have been used on crime reports.

Inspector Zitver updated on the local VAWG street safe data and highlighted that there had been 87 reports since the start of the of year with 63 of them reporting they were female and have all been reviewed and passed on to the local VAWG team to look at the trends and concerns. He advised that the team will continue to push this important initiative.

Inspector Zitver also updated on the Positive Activity initiatives that have been taking place around the borough, in particular in Woodhouse where there was a series of engagement activities which are non-enforcement and included community surveys asking how people feel about trust and confidence in the police and ward panel members attended to be involved in the initiative. Further initiatives will be rolled out in key areas of focus within the borough, one of which is being carried out in Burnt Oak over the summer. Another area of focus will be Childs Hill in relation to the high rates of burglary.

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He noted that there is a 17.8% detection rate in relation to robberies which is the highest in the Met by 6% with an aspirational target of 10%. In relation to burglaries there is a 5.5% detection rate with Barnet being the biggest hit borough. A significant number of shed burglaries have taken place in Burnt oak and Edgware over recent months and officers have been deployed to help tackle this going forward. Catalytic convertor theft remains a community concern and as of 14^th July there have been 811 offences year to date with 308 offences taking place in Barnet, however, there continues to be a reduction in this number. It remains notoriously difficult to target, the team will continue to monitor and provide updates at the next meeting. The Chair asked for ward members to be made aware of the helping to prevent catalytic converter information initiatives in the borough, so they are able to assist residents in their wards.

Koreen Logie asked about the Ask for Angela campaign and if this could be pushed forward in the local shopping centres. CI Lynch noted that the campaign mainly targets licensed premises however in a neighbouring borough they are targeting gyms so this could be something that is looked at in the future. He did also note that the teams have begun to visit hotels in the borough to ensure staff are briefed on child sex offences and what signs they need to look out for, along with how to report any suspicious activity.

The Chair asked for better communication and information sharing in relation to arrests made to help people feel safer and also to ensure the public are much more aware of the initiatives and safe spaces available.