Agenda item

Genny Renard (Head of Community Safety Partnership Unit, Policy and Regeneration) began by updating Members on ‘Operation Diamond’, a scheme offering community support to offenders who had served less than two years in prison.  Brent was one of the five London boroughs chosen to run the project and involved offenders receiving support from the police, probation staff and Council officers.  Genny Renard advised that there had been a notable reduction in offending since the scheme had started six months ago and Members would receive a further update at a meeting of the Committee in the summer of 2010.  Genny Renard then advised of another scheme involving working with six high level offenders to see the impact their crimes have had on their victims.  The exercise was designed to build confidence for both the victim and the offender and is concluded by a certificate awarding ceremony.  Members noted that the Council had made a bid for Government funding to continue this scheme for a further two years with the existing group and an additional group of six offenders.

Turning to Section 60 authorisations, Genny Renard advised that Section 60 is a search power provided by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 that allows senior police officers to authorise constables to stop and search people in a specific area, either because a serious public order problem is expected to arise in the area or because of concerns of offensive weapons or dangerous instruments carrying.  Members heard that complaints in respect of how this power is used had gone down by 48 per cent this year and this could be attributed to improvements in the way the police approached and spoke to the public.  The police would seek to speak to community leaders prior to issuing a Section 60 authorisation and Superintendent Simon Corkhill would provide key community representatives with a short explanation as to why the authorisation was given.  Members heard that 96 authorisations had been issued in the last 12 months in Brent, much lower than Newham, Southwark and Hackney boroughs, which like Brent were trident boroughs, but higher than the non-trident neighbouring boroughs of Ealing, Camden and Harrow.  A total of 4,431 people had been stopped through Section 60 during 2009 in Brent, of which 130 resulted in arrests and 63 of these resulted in cannabis warnings, with no further police action taking place with the remainder.  Some 4,355 of those stopped were male, with 2,210 of Afro-Caribbean appearance, 1,925 aged between 18 and 25 years and 1,607 between the ages of 10 to 17 years.

Members noted the information in the report in respect of the Brent Community Payback scheme.

During discussion, Councillor Mistry, in noting that a significant number of those stopped under Section 60 authorisations were of Afro-Caribbean appearance, asked if such figures were widely publicised in view of the implications this may have.  She also commented on the success of the Community Payback scheme in Queensbury ward.  Councillor John commented that some newly graduated police officers had started work in Harlesden and stated that they had come from a variety of backgrounds, with many having good communication skills which would help improve relations with the community.

The Chair requested information on the number of people stopped under Section 60 authorisations in other London boroughs and an area breakdown of those who were stopped in Brent.  With regard to bidding for funding for working with high level offenders, the Chair sought comments concerning the time taken up by police and Council officers on the scheme in view of their busy workload.

In reply to the issues raised, Genny Renard agreed to provide the additional information on Section 60 authorisations requested by the Chair.  She stated that it was important to be open about the ethnic origin and age group of those stopped under Section 60 authorisations in order to help address the issue more effectively and in a more targeted way, adding police officers were doing a lot of work in improving communication skills.  Members noted that those working with high offenders had specialist knowledge and were supported by the voluntary sector.  Genny Renard commented that a good proportion of police officers were on their second career and this helped broaden the experience of the police.

The Chair thanked Genny Renard for her presentation and expressed satisfaction in the effectiveness of the Brent Community Payback scheme.

RESOLVED:-

that the ongoing and future actions for the Community Payback Scheme and information on Section 60 authorisations in Brent be noted.