Agenda item

The Safer Brent Partnership is the statutory community safety partnership under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.  Under the act the council has a legal responsibility to consider the impact of crime and disorder in relation to council services and to collaborate with local partners to reduce crime, disorder, substance misuse and reoffending. 

Chris Williams, Head of Community Safety, introduced the report.  Councillor James Denselow (Lead Member for Stronger Communities), Carolyn Downs, Chief Executive and chair of Safer Brent Partnership, and Chief Inspector Nick Davies, Metropolitan Police were also present.  Chris Williams drew attention to the six strategic priorities contained in the report and pointed out that performance of the partnership was excellent with it being in the third of the Most Similar Group for overall crime rates. 

The Chair acknowledged the strong position of the partnership but asked how the fear of crime could be tackled.  Chief Inspector Davies replied that it was important to get the message out that crime rates had reduced. He acknowledged that performance of the partnership was below average in improving the confidence of people that crime was being tackled.  Councillor Denselow (Lead Member for Stronger Communities) added that it was important that a true partnership approach was taken to address the perception versus the reality over the level of crime in the borough.  The committee recognised that the perception of crime related to a more general negative view of the borough and that a push needed to be given on promoting the borough as a good place to live and work in.  It was agreed that the figures from the Council’s survey in 2014 on attitudes to crime should be circulated so that a broader perspective could be viewed on how people felt about crime in their area.

The issue of working with schools was raised and it was felt to be important to find out what schools were already doing in the areas such as promoting respectful relationships and dealing with domestic violence.  If it was found that extra work in this area was needed then opportunities could be explored with head teachers for incorporating it into the SRE programmes.

The impact of the Prevent duty was raised. Councillor Denselow stated that there had been a period of introduction to implementing this statutory duty and there were false perceptions of what it was.  It tied in with safeguarding duties.  Members suggested that the influence of gangs and radicalisation might have similar themes and at the Committee’s request Carolyn Downs undertook to take back to the partnership consideration of putting work on Islamophobia and hate crime alongside Prevent.

Following on from concern expressed by members of the committee over the rise in incidents of Islamophobia, the issue of such incidents taking place on public transport was raised.  The question was asked if this was an increasing trend and what instructions bus drivers operated under when such incidents took place on their bus.  Chief Inspector Nick Davies re-assured the committee that the partnership had considered the impact of Islamophobia but he could not say if incidents on buses were increasing or what action the bus drivers were meant to take.  It was agreed that the partnership would further consider the issues around Islamophobia and would request from Transport for London what its instructions to drivers were and to share the response with the Scrutiny Committee.

Reference was made to the MOPAC seven targets for the Mayor’s priority crimes and Carolyn Downs explained that some of these were not necessarily priorities for Brent.  She had discussed this with both the Metropolitan Police and MOPAC and believed they would be reviewed by the new Mayor.  She felt that there should be flexibility to allow local priorities to be set.

The treatment of rough sleepers was raised and it was suggested that they were not always treated fairly.  Chris Williams expressed surprise at this because the Council and the police worked well with St Mungo’s to assist rough sleepers and he asked if any councillor had any concerns that they send him the details and that he would look into the issue seriously.

Members raised the attendance records for meetings of the Safer Brent Partnership meetings.  Carolyn Downs re-assured the meeting that attendance by the CCG had now improved but she expressed her strong concern over the view received from the Community Rehabilitation Company that because of cuts in their funding they would no longer be able to attend the meetings.  She stated that all partners were having to manage with less resources and she had taken the matter up with the Lord Chancellor, Michael Gove.

Arising from discussion about the operation of gangs in the borough, a particular aspect was raised around fixed odds betting machines located within betting shops which might be used to launder money and the fact that the Council’s licensing powers were limited in trying to deal with this.  It was felt that this was not a significant issue as far as dealing with gangs went but the police were alert to it.  Councillor Denselow felt this was an area in which the police and the Council using its licensing powers could work more closely as part of the crime and disorder strategy.  Chris Williams explained that there were 18-20 gangs operating from Brent with about 250 of their members on the Trident matrix and about 1,000 included on a local list.  Committee members asked to be circulated with a map of the borough showing the spread of gangs on a ward basis.

In response to questions around the use of 101, Chief Inspector Nick Davies explained that this number represented a large part of the operation of the Metropolitan Police. He wanted to re-assure the committee that anyone using the number got through to the same people covering 999, it was just dealt with as a different priority.  He stressed that it was very important that people used it in cases where it was not an emergency.

Turning attention to the priority within the strategy around violence against women and girls, the Chair raised the confusion that existed between forced marriages and arranged marriages.  It was acknowledged that a clear distinction was not readily available and it was agreed that the partnership would consider this.

Councillor Denselow, Chief Inspector Davies, Carolyn Downs and Chris Williams were thanked for their attendance.  

Requests for information

·         figures from the Council’s survey in 2014 on attitudes to crime to be circulated.

·         what schools are doing in areas such as promoting respectful relationships and dealing with domestic violence within their current curriculum. 

·         map of the borough showing the spread of gangs on a ward basis.

RESOLVED:

(i)         That the Safer Brent Partnership annual report 2015 be received and         noted;

(ii)        that arising from discussion of the annual report, the partnership be           requested to:

·         consider further the issues around Islamophobia and request from Transport for London what its instructions to drivers are in cases where incidents take place on buses

·         consider the suggestion that the influence of gangs and radicalisation might have similar themes

·         clarify the difference between forced marriages and arranged marriages