Minutes:
Question from Councillor Bramley
“Can the Leader confirm that he has received a letter from Colonels Casstles and Morgan of the Essex Yeomanry and Essex Regiment Associations seeking donations toward the re-provision of the Essex Regiment Museum and for a gallery to be added to enable the Essex Yeomanry collection to be displayed publicly for the first time and will he be making a recommendation to the Council that we should respond positively to this appeal?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass
Councillor Fairbrass confirmed that he had received the letter referred to by Councillor Bramley and was recommending that the Council make a donation of £1,000 towards this worthy cause, to which the Assembly agreed.
Question from Councillor Barnbrook
“The Council has publicised its use of £25,000 of Government funding to introduce talking CCTV as the local paper The Post says ‘telling you not to drop litter’.
On the 3rd February a 26 year old woman was brutally assaulted and raped in Curzon Crescent, Barking.
When will this Council learn that crime is not deterred or prevented by CCTV, whether silent or talking? When will this Council accept that what local people need and want is real policemen on the street, freed of the handcuffs of political correctness and supported by respect for the law and deterrent penalties for crime?
If the Leader cannot answer this, would he ask his friend Mr Livingstone, and Lee Jasper. Could he please let the people of Barking have a return to traditional policing methods and law enforcement by bobbies on the beat without kid gloves?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass
“I am glad that Councillor Barnbrook recognizes the need for a visible policing presence on our streets. He, like me, will be happy to note that in 2002 there were 301 police officers in the borough. In 2005, police officer strength in this borough was 413 officers and Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) strength was 0. By January of this year police officer strength had grown to 437, a total increase of 37.3%, and in addition we have 88 PCSOs in the Borough. The Borough now benefits from a Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team in each of its wards with a focus on traditional policing methods, where the teams get to know their local communities and work with them to tackle the issues that matter locally. I am pleased that the Council is working through its Neighbourhood Management and Community Safety Teams with these teams and know that local people are benefiting from seeing a more visible policing presence on our streets. Clearly the falling crime figures for our Borough are proof of this Council’s commitment to addressing crime and of the progress we have made on this important agenda in the past two years.
CCTV was never designed to replace policing; it is yet another tool to assist them. It does give us eyes across the borough 24/7, 365 days a year. Between 5 November 2007 and 14 February 2008, a period of just 3 months, the Council’s CCTV Section identified and notified police of 137 incidents, many of which will lead to charging and will help police in court in terms of incontrovertible evidence. I thought Members would like the opportunity to see the evidential quality of our CCTV coverage and so would take the opportunity to show the following video (a video clip of PCSOs in Barking Town Centre was shown to Members).
The recent implementation of Talking CCTV was funded by a £25,000 Home Office grant allocated for this specific purpose. Although some of the publicity focussed on environmental crime, such as dropping litter, there are many more uses for Talking CCTV and the principal aim is to deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour.
CCTV is known to have more effect on some crimes than on others, for example CCTV in a car park will reduce vehicle crime as the offender will assess the risk of being caught and is unlikely to offend, but it has a lesser effect on alcohol induced crime where the offender’s ability to assess risk is impaired. This can be partly tackled by Talking CCTV which will enable the operators to alert possible offenders to the risk of being caught offending in the area. It is not the Council’s view that CCTV should replace Police Officers; however, CCTV has clear benefits to the community and the police.
Talking CCTV was installed to existing CCTV cameras in the borough. No new cameras were installed specifically for this reason. The borough has 80 permanent CCTV cameras plus access to 7 deployable cameras which are installed at sites temporarily at the request of the Anti Social Behaviour Team. We currently have the talking equipment installed on 14 of the permanent cameras, with another 2 due to be installed shortly. The system enables CCTV operators to assess a situation and transmit appropriate interactive messages or transmit one of four generic pre-recorded messages.
One message is:
Your behaviour is being monitored by Barking Dagenham Council CCTV Control Room, and Police have been informed.
Talking CCTV is supported by the Council Street Wardens and the Police.
Talking CCTV has enabled the Council to remind people that we are monitoring the cameras to improve their safety. It also has the effect of reminding would be offenders that they are likely to be caught and convicted of crimes committed in the area.
There are strong partnership links between the CCTV Control Room and the Police. The CCTV Control Room has the facility to pass images directly from the camera to both the Police and the MetCall Centre. This enables the police to assess a situation and respond as they think appropriate. For example the Police may receive a call saying there is a fight. However, viewing the scene through the CCTV camera the Police can see the situation themselves and deploy the necessary resources to deal with it. In the event of a major incident/emergency this can be invaluable to the police.
CCTV cameras are a visible presence on the streets 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and monitoring staff are present throughout that time. Between 5 November 2007 and 14 February 2008 the CCTV Section identified and notified police of 137 incidents.
On occasions when CCTV has captured footage of an incident this can be instrumental in the successful prosecution of the offender. Anecdotal information has shown that on a number of occasions offenders have pleaded guilt at interview stage once seeing CCTV footage of an incident and this obviously reduced the cost of taking that person through the criminal justice process.
The Borough Commander has informed me that CCTV has different values for different crimes; 1 divert; 2 detect; 3 deter; 4 divert; displace; 5 disrupt. He also added that had it not been for CCTV the recent conviction of the Norfolk serial murderer and Levi Bellfield for two murders would not have been possible. CCTV may not prevent crime but two vicious killers would still be on the loose without CCTV and able to commit more murders.
In conclusion, I can tell the Assembly that the alleged rapist mentioned in the question has been arrested and charged with that offence.”
Question from Councillor Bailey
“The Leader makes a big deal of his party’s links with Dagenham and Redbridge football club. We give that club plenty of taxpayers’ money. What do we get in return? I am asking the Leader to get us the taxpayers some value for money. The British National Party wants 1000 free tickets for the elderly of this Borough a year and we want the club to put on free transport for them. Will the Leader agree to pursue this?”
Response from Councillor Fairbrass
“My political party has no links with the Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club (D&R FC) and we do get value for the grant we have given to D&R FC.
I don’t suppose that this question has anything to do with the fact that the BNP tried to book a meeting at D&R FC and were refused. Or that Councillor Bailey said the Managing Director of the club was a bigot and that when they, the BNP, were in control of the Town Hall they would review how their money was spent and that he would report the Managing Director to our Chief Executive.”
Councillor Bailey denied that he had said this to the Managing Director. Councillor Fairbrass pressed Councillor Bailey on whether he was calling the Managing Director of the Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club a liar and eventually Councillor Bailey said yes. Councillor Fairbrass asked that this be recorded in the minutes. Councillor Bailey expressed his unhappiness with the situation and left the meeting.
Councillor Fairbrass then continued with his response to the question as follows:
“The football club have supported a number of community projects which have benefited local people and many of them have been focussed on our youngsters.
These are the:
· Urban Arts Project at Parsloes Park. This is a collaborative project with an artist and local youths. The work included the design and creation of a large mural depicting local football heroes which now is a focus at the parks football dressing rooms;
· Kicks Project (participation in sport) – free match tickets given to those taking part. This is a football coaching programme and other activity sessions that the club has held in Old Dagenham Park and Dagenham Park School. It is aimed at 13-18 year olds.
· Kick it Out (anti racism) at CEME – 300 free match day tickets given out. Kick it Out is part of a national campaign led by the FA committed to anti racism in football.
The Council, in partnership with the PCT, are organising a healthy eating campaign in five schools in March. Each of the five schools will receive 20 tickets to the match on 29 March, which can be won in a competition. Players from the club will be visiting the schools to promote the competition. On the day of the match the Council and PCT will be running activity and healthy eating sessions.
As part of our work to identify the new community priorities, spectators on a match day in November were asked what they thought was important for the borough.
Publicity
The sponsorship arrangements enabled us to have the following advertisements carried in the club’s match day programmes.
· More Active More Often – encouraging people to take regular physical exercise
· Molten Festival – including artists performing at the stadium
· Residents Unity Week – players also attended the Unity Open Day in Barking
· Reminding residents to pay their Council tax and rent in the run up to Christmas
· Renewal of Freedom Pass
Our decision to sponsor the club’s ground achieved the following national coverage:
· Article in the Municipal Journal – July
· Article in the Daily Telegraph – August
· Article in 442 magazine – August
· Article in Time Out - August
Signage
We have a large sign at the entrance to the ground which publicises our sponsorship of the stadium. We also have signage on perimeter fencing and on the floodlight stands which promote our work to support the 2012 Olympic Games.
Tickets
In order to encourage families to attend matches, the club designated two matches where accompanied children got admission for £1.00. On any match day older people can purchase a day ticket for £9.00, which is the cheapest in the football league.
I have contacted the club and I can tell the Assembly that so far they have distributed about 750 free tickets in this season.
I believe the £30,000 grant we gave Dagenham and Redbridge this year is a good investment for this borough, more so than the £121,740 that will be paid in allowances to the BNP Councillors. At least the football team turn up for all their fixtures.
I will not be asking the club for tickets as the Freedom Pass is already available to all over 60’s, which gives them free travel to the stadium.”
Question from Councillor Rustem
“Could the Leader please tell me how many council employees are earning over £100,000 pounds per year and how many of those employees live in Barking and Dagenham?’
Response from Councillor Fairbrass
“10, and where they live is none of my business or yours.”