Minutes:
The police update was provided by Chief Inspector Craig Knight and Superintendent Colin Carswell. It was noted that there had been an increase in the reporting of acts of violence and that officers had been tasked to deal with this. There had been a drive to increase stop and search activities which had resulted in an increased detection of both knives and drugs. The feedback from the public regarding these activities had been positive.
The police reported an increase in the number of residential burglaries, and that more of these offences were taking place early in the morning. The police were planning to target resources to deal with this, and three months of dedicated activity was planned. Drug warrants had been actioned in Penge—class A drugs had been found, along with a taser linked to gang activity. The wider supply of drugs had been disrupted.
The Partnership heard that Bromley was significantly impacted by ‘Auto Crime’. A team was being drafted to deal with theft from motor vehicles; it was believed that much of this activity was being carried out by organised crime gangs from Kent.
There had been a small decrease in customer satisfaction, but Bromley Police were still in a good place and were still in the top three overall in London for customer satisfaction. The Partnership was appraised that Mr Knight was periodically using an online Facebook Forum page to engage with the public. A trial of this had been undertaken in Sutton where 2,500 members of the public had been engaging. Once this had been established in Bromley, the project would be handed over to Inspector Gary Byfield to continue. It was hoped that this would augment the work of ward panels. The next Bromley Feedback Forum was scheduled for July 2nd.
The Chairman asked how the Partnership could help to promote the Facebook Forum. Mr Knight responded that the best way to help would be to attract the public to the Forum. He suggested that details of the Facebook Forum be circulated to councillors and ward panel chairs so that they could engage themselves and encourage others to do so.
It was noted that Inspector Gary Byfield was one of seven officers who had been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. This was for his work supporting the families of fallen police officers.
Superintendent Carswell said that since the inception of the BCU, general crime trends and figures had remained stable. He referred to the police target of hitting a response time to emergency calls in 15 minutes. The target was that the response time should be hit in 83% of cases. In December it had dropped to 80%, but over the last two months the response time had gone back up to 88% which was significantly above the MPS average rate. This was because an effort had been made in front loading the Response Team.
The Chairman of the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board (and VSSN) highlighted that about a month ago, a rough sleeper was found dead in Bromley. She stated that this was shocking and serious and asked if this was a police matter. It was noted that this individual had various issues, including health problems. The police assured that where such cases had been linked to organised crime, they had been taking action and arrests had been made. The police were also considering how they should respond to begging and vagrancy. Begging was classed as a police matter. The police commented that they would take a pragmatic view if the person concerned was a genuine homeless person that had fallen on hard times, as they would not wish to criminalise genuine people that were in distress. In cases of genuine homelessness, this would be a matter for the attention of the local authority and relevant charities.
The Chairman of the SNB commented that begging and homelessness was an issue of concern in Orpington. A ‘Diverted Giving’ scheme had been developed to try and educate the public in these matters, so that they would not give cash. Some of the individuals concerned could be intimidating and could in some cases be drug takers and violent. Posters were going up to educate the public, but a co-ordinated effort was required to support the individuals concerned.
The LBB Head of Street Enforcement explained that officers from his team, together with the police and officers from the Housing Department, had been working together to provide advice and support to homeless people on Bromley’s streets.
The Chairman of the Bromley Safeguarding Adults Board referred back to the person that was found dead in the street and asked if there had been any foul play involved. She felt that there was a danger that this sort of occurence could rise and so the relevant services should be in place to prevent the situation escalating in the future. The police reassured that in this case there was no suspicion of foul play.
The Head Nurse, Safeguarding Adults (Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group) queried if it would be appropriate (in the light of the death of the homeless person and associated homelessness issues) for a Safeguarding Adults Review to be convened. The Chairman felt that this was a matter that should be considered at the Safeguarding Adults Board.
The Director of Children’s Social Care highlighted a case of a young girl that had recently been arrested for possessing class A drugs. This was not in relation to the police within Bromley, but it highlighted the issues around exploitation within the Bromley area and in inner London. The child was the victim of grooming and enforced criminal activity. The Director was concerned that because the young girl had been arrested, she would be flagged as a criminal which would be unfair given the circumstances. She encouraged the police to be mindful of these things and to be more creative in the way that they handled such situations and how they protected victims. She encouraged the police to make better use of modern slavery legislation.
Superintendent Carswell responded that the young person had likely been arrested but had not been charged. This was just the start of a process. The important matter going forward was how the case would now be managed. The arrest would open the door for safeguarding procedures to be adopted. The matter of County Lines was discussed.
The Adult Safeguarding Manager (Bromley CCG) asked the police about the 4.5% domestic burglary figure that had been quoted previously, and he asked over what period the percentage applied to. It was clarified that the percentage increase was related to the previous rolling 12 months. He asked for additional data with respect to knife crime, and was informed that 201 incidences had been reported in May this year; this compared with 195 reported offences in June the previous year.
The Adult Safeguarding Manager (Bromley CCG) notified the Partnership that a new web site and mobile app was available called ‘Street Link’. ‘Street Link’ could be used by the public to notify the authorities when they became aware of an individual whom they thought may be homeless.
Post meeting note:
The web link to the Street Link website was disseminated to the Partnership subsequent to the meeting.
RESOLVED that the Police update be noted.