Superintendent Carswell attended to provide the police update
and to address issues arising from the ‘Bromley ASB and Crime
Performance & Analysis’ document that had been circulated
prior to the meeting.
The
Superintendentgave an introduction highlighting the
following issues:-
- The BCU had been involved with the
response to the recent fire at a block of flats in LB Sutton which
had resulted in the need to rehouse 23 families. The Local Authority Emergency Plan had appeared to
work well and in addition there had been offers of help from
neighbouring boroughs.
- The BCU had now been in place for 6
months and overall its implementation was going well.
- Serious Youth Violence generally referred
to young people carrying knives as weapons. Young people carrying
knives was not new, but the propensity of much younger children to
carry knives, was concerning.
- Offences involving firearms were
immediately actioned as nothing was considered more
serious.
- For the past 4 months there had not been
a known habitual knife or firearms carrier at liberty in the
borough.
- When the BCU was launched earlier in the
year, there had been an apparent rise in levels of
crime. This trend had now been reversed
although there was more work to do to drive it down still
further.
- Motor Vehicle Theft was of particular
concern to residents across the borough and as a result, this was a
focus for the police. Motor Vehicle
Theft was a targeted crime which was actively
investigated.
- Burglary was understandably the biggest
public concern. The Borough of Bromley
had the highest levels of burglary across the three boroughs within
the BCU. As a result, Dedicated Ward Officers across the borough
had been focusing on burglary and this had led to an 11% reduction
in burglaries across the Borough. In
addition, property marking kits and ‘Ring’ video door
bells were being made available to vulnerable victims of
burglary.
- Across the BCU there had been 92 arrests
related to burglary (including 42 known perpetrators). MOPAC had granted each BCU 5 additional PCSOs to
focus on burglary.
Superintendent Carswell then responded to questions making the following
comments:-
- CID
was split between serious and complex crime and
safeguarding. Responsibility for
investigating the majority of burglaries now stayed with the
reporting officer until the completion of the
investigation. There was a national
shortage of detectives and across the BCU there were 300 detectives
within CID (it was not possible to provide a specific number for
Bromley). The Gangs Unit was fully staffed, however safeguarding
carried the majority of vacancies and this was the case across the
Metropolitan Police Service. There were
also vacancies at PC level in proactive units.
- Chilean gangs, which flew into the UK specifically to engage in
burglary, were a real concern in Bromley and work to address this
was ongoing.
- The
aim of Dedicated Ward Officers was threefold: 1. Reduce Risk; 2.
Reduce Demand; and 3. Increase Confidence. In terms of filling vacancies when Ward Officers
moved elsewhere, it was only possible to fill a vacancy when a
vacancy existed. Wards across the
London Borough of Bromley had the full complement of 2 Dedicated
Ward Officers, the exception being when staff were on maternity
leave or sick leave.
- There
were no issues concerning GDPR and where doorbell cameras were
pointed. Doorbell cameras had proved
invaluable in the prevention and prosecution of
burglaries.
- Training for stop and search was undertaken on a number of
levels. Officers were respectful and
should be able to adapt their approach to the individual who was
the subject of the stop and search. The
law was clear about the information that had to be relayed to the
subject of a stop and search. The information had to be relayed in
a way that could be understood by the specific
individual.
- In
terms of the policing priorities for the Mayor of London which
were: Burglary, Violent Crime, and Anti-Social Behaviour, the
Superintendent confirmed that he was happy with the direction of
travel across the borough and the focus of Dedicated Ward Officers
on problem solving. There needed to be
more work to reduce levels of Anti-Social Behaviour as this issue,
by its very nature, affected large numbers of people and public
confidence.
- Statistics relating to “Public Fear, Alarm or
Distress” concerned Public Order Offences. The Chairman asked that more information be
provided on these particular statistics following the
meeting.
- There
had been a specific focus around hotspots in Penge, Bromley Town
Centre and the Crays. A problem solving
plan had been developed to target the top 10 offenders and support
repeat victims. The intention was to
deliver long-term change. The Chairman
requested that the Police Update at the next meeting on
14th November 2019, concentrate on this
work. It was also agreed that
Councillor Bance would circulate a short briefing on the positive
work being undertaken in Penge.
- It was
clear that town centres had suffered as a result of the reduction
in police numbers. It was important for
the police and the local authority to work with shop keepers to
ensure that shops were less attractive to shoplifters. It was noted that in recent years, business
communities had taken responsibility and had been doing more to
actively prevent crime.
The
Chairman thanked Superintendent Carswell for his presentation to
the Committee.
RESOLVED that the police update is noted.