Agenda item

The Board received a presentation from Adrian Usher, Barnet Borough Commander giving an update on crime performance across Barnet.

The board were told that Residential Burglaries were down year-on-year (-7.7%). However the data historically evidenced a tendency for burglaries to spike at this time of year. This was believed to be due to the darker evenings making empty houses easier for criminals to profile.

Police were focusing on raising awareness of deterrent measures that residents could take such as using timed lights, rear security lights and anti-climb paint.

The number of Non-Residential Burglaries were also going down, however the target for this area had not been achieved (-1.2% against a target of -6.5%). The Borough Commander highlighted that whilst this included commercial property a high-proportion of non-residential properties targeted were sheds and building sites.

Board noted that Robberies had reduced by 21.8% since last year. Following a question from Dr Simon Harding, the Borough Commander advised that, whilst current profiling data was unable to give a clear picture of who the most at-risk student would be, many robberies related to theft of mobile phones from young people. It was suggested that students were more likely to be a victim of robbery in the first two months of joining University than at any other time. Board supported a proposal from Kiran Vagarwal, Head of Community Safety for LBB, to consider ways in which the Strategic Crime Needs Assessment could include analysis of this data under the priority of ‘Keeping Young People Safe’.

ACTION: The Strategic Crime Needs Assessment, under keeping young people safe, to consider including further analysis of victim profile data to aid efforts in reducing crime and victims of crime in the borough with a particular focus on young people (Kiran Vagarwal, Head of Community Safety for LBB)

Knife and Gun crime was noted as being very low for the borough, though difficult to completely eradicate.

Domestic Violence was noted as having the second lowest rate of repeat victims in the borough at 7%. The Borough Commander attributed some success in this area to increased convictions supported by evidence recorded by body-worn cameras.

Nicola Francis, Director of Family Services at LBB requested that there be more detail given on the Marac level of repeat victims.

ACTION: Peter Clifton to provide additional analysis of Marac data.

Anti-Social Behaviour was reported as reducing - an indicator that the new neighbourhood policing team were having a positive impact. The Borough Commander expressed a need to promote this message to the wider public to address their concerns in this area.

Offender Management data showed that the three key measures for reoffending rates in the Borough had improved; total reoffending was down from 8% to 6%, there had been a drop in expected reoffending levels, and Barnet now ranked 5^th best of all London boroughs (from a position of 15^th around 18 months previously).

Assistant Director for Early Intervention & Prevention (LBB), Duncan Tessier, reported that Youth Offending rates had fallen. The number of first time entrants to youth crime was also dropping. Trends were being identified and would be picked up through the Strategic Crime Needs Assessment.

Responding to a question on whether the cost to the public of the top 100 Troubled Families should be captured, the Assistant Director for Early Intervention & Prevention stated that the value of such a measure would be limited. Successful interventions often increased costs in other areas as services may be accessed for the first time.

The Head of Community Safety, Kiran Vagarwal, highlighted that successful outcomes in this area were measured through associated indicators such as reductions in Anti-Social Behaviour and increased school attendance.

Adrian Usher, Borough Commander for Barnet, Metropolitan Police queried the sustainability of the programme. Duncan Tessier confirming the DCLG had committed a further £200m for 2015-16, it was expected that the Troubled Families Programme would continue for received support.

ACTION: For clarity and context, future reports to contain a glossary of common terms and benchmarking data given explanatory information (i.e. volume reported per household measures) – Peter Clifton