Agenda and minutes

Councillor Mullane, Community Safety Partnership (CSP) chair opened the June CSP board and apologies were noted.

ACTION: CSP Board Chairs to jointly write to NELFT to request Information Sharing Agreement to be signed and a deputy representative to be identified.

Members of the Board are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.

No declarations of interest to note.

The March CSP board minutes were reviewed and approved by the board. 

The council have developed a safeguarding protocol to provide consistency across the community, faith, voluntary sector organisations and out of school settings delivering services to children and young people. It provides organisations information on local thresholds, child protection, how to recognise abuse, safe working practices and guidance. The document will be continuing to develop to incorporate updated areas of work e.g., social care reviewing local thresholds. The protocol has been approved by Safeguarding Childrens Partnership (SCP) and will be published on SCP website and shared with schools.

Pip Salvador-Jones noted CVS organisations have lots of safeguarding intelligence and it is helpful to have this document that brings everything together. There needs to be consideration on the rollout to ensure this reach all levels of providers including those delivering training for example LCPF CVS programmes. It would be beneficial to explore this for adults. Councillor Worby noted the importance of networking and sharing safeguarding issues that are prevalent at any one time. Briefing sessions will be held to give community organisations a sense of the local landscape. Andy Opie questioned if this would link to commissioning and whether it could be referenced through contract terms and conditions for commissioned CVS organisations. This could be explored; the document is not mandatory and would not supersedes what policies and procedures organisations have in place but could sit as best practice. Fiona Taylor agreed and advised this could go through internal council government processes.

ACTION: Mike Cullern to take document through Corporate Strategy Group and explore adding to the commissioning framework

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) engagement plan aims to reframe relationships and integrate views and experiences of Londoners. To support the development of the plan and gathering resident insight a pilot is running in 8 London boroughs, Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Brent, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Southwark, Tower hamlets, and Waltham Forest and continues to work with Kensington & Chelsea. The pilot launched in April 2021 and found.

·  LFB surveyed 1039 residents, which found that 84% felt positive about LFB, 78% agreed it is important for LBF to include the public in shaping future plans, 3% had taken part in consultation of 2017 London Safety Plan, 59% agree LFB understand the diverse needs of London and 49% heard about he the LFB within the last year.

·  The engagement highlighted Londoners want to know more on what LFB do outside emergency response, the LFB must work with trusted organisations and be more visible to engage all communities and increase communication.

·  The key themes were authority and advocacy for people in London, LFB need to be standing up for Londoners. collaboration, increasing partnership working with organisations and residents, diversity, Londoners do not feel LFB is fully reflective of communities in London and the need to be proactive and use initiative to be forward thinking.

The CSP can support with linking LFB into local partners to build an engagement platform and creating community champions. Fiona Taylor welcomed the plan and agreed the board can help structure this from an East London perspective. Stephen Clayman also put forward the opportunity to increase joint working with the LFB to support increased in engagement. Sonia Drozd agreed that LFB have positively supported events and Helen Davie advised the LFB relationship with Health has been positive and can support to re-establish connection.

ACTION: Narinder Dial, Jonathan Ako and Stephen Clayman to meet to discuss opportunities for partnership working between MPS and LFB.

·  YARM is working well and delivering a range of workshops in schools. YARM developed a briefing document about their work which has been put forward as good practice through the VRU and are also presenting at the step up stay safe workshop.

·  The Resettlement panel is working well and is well attended and are now monitoring and planning for young people sentenced to custody and remanded to custody.

·  Violence against young people continues to be MET number 1 priority and performance is being measured against 2019 to take out year of covid to give truer comparison data

·  London: 31% reduction in gun discharge and 42% knife Injury for under 25 although London has seen a spike in youth homicide particularly around young black men.

·  LBBD: 2 active gangs G-Block and Academy Way/Harts Lane. Op Wordwell arrested and charged 15 men, 14 remain in custody. Safer Neighbourhood teams continue to engage with communities and Spark2Life have provided mentoring and support with gang exit. There has been a drop in intelligence on GBlock suggesting the gang is less active.

·  Crime numbers from 01 April 2021 – 31^st May 2021: 1 lethal barrel discharge, 1 knife injury under 25 years, offenders charged and remanded. In comparison to this time two years ago LBBD had 7 knife victims under 25, reducing of 6 and 51 knife crimes, reduced to 20.

·  Across the BCU, we are recording the best detection rate (charging 1 in 3) which is the highest in MET and stop and search sits at 19% positive outcome rate (on MET ave)

·  There is a reinvigorate focus on weapons to meet MET priorities, the focus of drugs supply targeting cannabis factories continues and yielding good results

·  The Violence suppression unit continue to focus on Barking Town Centre, Barking Station and Gascoigne and other hotspots tasked through TTCG. External central assets such as Violent Crime Task Force and VIPER have been in borough alongside a preventative response from the firearms response unit.

Stephen Thompson noted reduction in knife crime could be linked to the closure of the night-time economy and the reopening could impact crime data. Stop & search is predominately drug related and questioned the impact of the commissioner advising stop and search cannot be driven by suspicions on drugs alone. MPS leads advised the primary focus is to remove weapons from the streets and noted the link between drugs supply and violence. Stop and search focus is on drug supply and weapons. Councillor Worby noted the data is positive however we need to maintain crime trends when lockdown ends. Child exploitation continues to increase and when restrictions are no longer in place, we need to step up intervention programmes quickly. The MET are focusing on CSE and county lines and a clear plan across the BCU is being developed incorporating more officers and increased presence.

·  Community Safety and Enforcement have been leading joint action days at Barking Station using tactics of drugs dogs, weapon sweeps, ASB early waning tickets, supported by outreach  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Safety in public spaces is a key priority in particular for women and young people. In April, the Council ran a survey asking women where they do not feel safe in the borough which will help inform the roll out of the Safe Haven Scheme. The scheme works to provide safe spaces for people who feel vulnerable, in danger or unwell by working with premises such as supermarkets, pharmacies, barbers to create safe spaces in identified areas.

The CSP Team have developed ICE cards which residents can fill in and show to staff who can provide support and also developed information pack for businesses to outline their roles and responsibilities to support residents. A survey was undertaken to understand the types of venues residents would feel comfortable approaching and feedback also highlights that having a sense on anonymity would make people feel safe approaching a business. The next phase of the scheme is to approach businesses in identified unsafe areas, which will focus on larger businesses like Boots, Morrisons, Sainsburys who have developed a commitment to offering safe spaces and linking in with council community hubs and cultural venues. 

Pip Salvador-Jones asked how this will support residents with protected characteristics, the borough previously had safe spaces for residents with disabilities. Chris Lyons noted the scheme should be accessible and is a good opportunity to connect this into the rollout of Safe Havens. Stephen Clayman offered MPS support to promote the scheme through their platforms to ensure that individuals know what the scheme is, how it works and what to look for and also questioned if this links into Lost Hours, it was advised that this would, and consultation has been done with young people to develop the logo and shape the roll out. Stephen Clayman advised the board should write to businesses and thank them for signing up to support the scheme.

ACTION: Chris Lyons to link in with MPS to share comms for Safe Haven rollout.

ACTION: Chris Lyons to link in PSJ to conversations to incorporate disability focus

ACTION: Chris Lyons to engage Councillor Kangethe, Cabinet Member for Disabilities

Safe Streets Round 3 Fund is open with £25m for UK as a whole focusing on projects that make the public space safer. The CSP Team are proposing to run a project incorporating community based reporting via Tootoot, increasing messaging, and signposting and delivering recommendations from Street Space Station Activation Pilot to add entertainment into town centre, commission artwork and improving the natural environment to increase guardianship and humanise the area. The proposal will link in Safe Haven through a part time coordinator. The proposal will see delivery until March 2022, submission deadline is 05 July 2021.

Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) were introduced into law in 2014 to give local authorities and Police more powers to enforce against negative behaviours in a public space. The behaviours include, public urination, begging, alcohol consumption, spitting and groups causing alarm or distress. At the March CSP board and update was provided on Barking Town Centre and Broad Street orders which went live in March 2021.

The Heathway PSPO is out for consultation, the current order is due to expire on 03 September 2021. At this stage, a consultation has been launched which is live until 19^th July 2021 to determine the future of the order and whether this should be extended for a further 3 years. We are collating an evidence pack and have received letters of support from partners agencies. Jade Hodgson informed the board a resident Q&A session is scheduled for 03^rd August 2021.

Another order is being explored to look at wider ASB and dog issues across the borough. The same processes will be carried out, including consultation and partner engagement to collect and review data and resident insight.

Police Encounter Panel (PEPs) aim to support MPS to engage with communities in more detail around use of force to improve trust, confidence, and engagement. The launch has been delayed due to GDPR, but panels are due to launch in the autumn and has recruitment as started. PEPs are seeking to recruit members, there will be a core membership and revolving individuals to give diversity to who attends and hear new voices. An independent panel will choose who sits on PEP from ages from 18 years with an emphasis on 18-25 year olds. PEPs will be BCU wide and will be co-chaired with the BCU Commander or deputy and a member of the community. PEP will be looking at police incidents, body worn footage videos, looking at documents, policies, and statements of officers, how they apply use of force beyond stop and search to include things like tasers etc. could even be reviewing aspects of policies. Anyone involved in PEP will need to undergo Police checks.

Nathan Singleton questioned the possibility of under 18 years being involved, MPS advised they could explore advocates (over 18) who can speak for them if the right individuals are identified. Pip Salvador-Jones questioned what police checks entail and what barriers for sitting on the panel, MPS responded noted that PNC will be the basic police check and intelligence data bases. Need to consider accountability across cross section of community who can feed back well. Those who may be able to valuable feedback may not necessarily pass police checks, MPS agreed this needs to be considered.

Stephen Thompson raised that the review of body worn footage from Stop and Search was stopped under GDPR and have only just restarted but can only be viewed at a Police Station so not easily accessible. The co-chair for PEPs needs to be considered carefully, there will be concerns on MPS chairing a meeting that they are being reviewed on therefore the co-chair needs to be confident of communities across the BCU. Stephen Clayman noted this is being considered and want PEPs to be accessible to ensure residents can review and relay what and how this impacts communities.

ACTION: Jade Hodgson to circulate information leaflet to CSP board (COMPLETED)

ACTION: Partners to circulate leaflet through organisations.

Information is restricted due to content

Carried forward for a substantial item for September board.

Stephen Clayman advised the board that he will be completing a senior command course so will be stepping away from the partnership for a period of time. Paul Trevers supported by Mark Long will continue to engage and co-chair the CSP. Councillor Mullane thanked Mr Clayman for the support provided in driving forward the CSP.

MPS are reviewing data and insight over 5 year trends to help provide a wider perspective on crime and disorder, the Council need to explore how these feeds into council data sets.

ACTION: Andy Opie to link in with Dan James on how to build in MPS 5 years trends in council data sets.

·  Reducing Reoffending continues to meet on a quarterly basis, work is being done to review the structure and functions of the board to ensure it is effective. There will be a change of chair following the reunification of probation services. 

·  Hate Crime and Tension Monitoring have identified the risk moving forward around both London and National issues that can have a local impact. The subgroup is reviewing the connection and processes within the communities on how we deal with national and international incidents. Israel and Palestine conflicts have had local impacts and tensions have arose in the community which have led to develop a plan on how we engage and communicate better with communities.

ACTION: Jade Hodgson to link in with VAWG subgroup meetings to find update/progress on tri borough meeting

Information is restricted due to content

No further update provided

The board agreed for the Crime and Disorder Strategic Assessment, the reunification of NPS and CRC and Stephen Port Inquest to be the main agenda items for September CSP board.

Jade Hodgson noted that board members will be contacted to provide information to support the development of the Crime and Disorder Strategic Assessment.

Community Safety Partnership Board

Wednesday 29 September 2021, 10:00am-13:00pm

MS Teams

CHAIR: Stephen Clayman

Community Safety Partnership Board

Wednesday 29 September 2021, 10:00am-13:00pm

MS Teams

Chair: Paul Trevers or Mark Long