The Police update will be provided by Superintendent Colin Carswell.
Minutes:
Superintendent Colin Carswell attended to provide the Police Update. Also in attendance were Inspector Gary Byfield, Superintendent Andy Brittain and DCI Lewis Collins.
The Chairman welcomed the officers and reminded the Committee that a set of questions had already been sent to the police for response, and the said questions with responses had been disseminated to Members beforehand. The rationale was to make the police update more efficient and streamlined, as well as limited to 30 minutes.
Superintendent Carswell stated that the primary objective of the police was to protect the residents that lay under the covering of the BCU (Basic Command Unit). The police were aware of the different demographics that existed, and they were also aware of the various hotspots for violence and crime in the area, especially north of the borough. Resultantly, Chief Inspector Craig Knight had been tasked solely with leading a team to reduce violence in the area covered by the BCU. Mr Knight would be supported by an Acting Chief Inspector. The police were aware that there was a fear that assets would be sucked into Croydon.
Mr Carswell stated that there had been success over the Christmas period in reducing crime in Bromley Town Centre. The police had worked collaboratively with LBB and the use of Dispersal Orders had been successful. He felt that it was helpful if the public understood the nature and purpose of Dispersal Orders, as transparency was important. A Section 60 Order had not been used, but Section 35 Dispersal Orders had been implemented. This was basically a warning to certain individuals to leave the area or get arrested. This had been used on six occasions over the Christmas period.
The use of the Dispersal Orders seemed to have had a calming effect and so no arrests were required, and the number of robberies decreased. The use of the Dispersal Orders had been advertised on Twitter.
The Chairman asked where Chief Inspector Craig Knight would be based. Mr Carswell responded that Mr Knight would still be working as part of the BCU, and would come under the authority of Superintendent Andy Brittain. Mr Knight would be responsible for reducing violence across the BCU. A rumour had been circulating that he would be moving to the Violence Reduction Unit at City Hall, but this was not correct.
The Chairman referred to the minutes of the previous meeting of the SBP (Safer Bromley Partnership) where Mr Carswell had mentioned his concerns regarding robbery and burglary, and the fact that the police ‘were having to go back to the drawing board’. The Chairman expressed concern that if this was the case then something else would ‘fall off the end’.
DCI Collins came to the table to respond to this concern. He said that a dedicated response was required and so burglaries would now be dealt with by a ‘dedicated investigative strand’ with more proactive elements involved in the investigation. There would be an uplift in staffing to facilitate this. The Chairman hoped that it was not a case of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.
DCI Collins explained that burglaries would now be dealt with by a ‘Serious Inquisitive Crime Team’. It was envisaged that the Team would be 60% reactive and 40% proactive. The immediate focus would be on dealing with the current outstanding burglary cases and making arrests.
The Chairman commented that he had received information from the public complaining that they had been burgled, but had not been visited by the police. DCI Collins responded that the police were looking at ways to resolve this, and were seeking to hold more public meetings with Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
Mr Carswell requested that in these circumstances, it would be helpful if this information was fed back to the police. The situation could have changed, or the ball could have been dropped by the police. Either way, he requested that the information be fed back to Inspector Gary Byfield as the lead local Inspector. It was Mr Byfield’s responsibility to deal with after care.
A Member asked DCI Collins if the culprits who had been carrying out burglaries in Orpington had now been caught. Mr Collins responded that there had been some success across the BCU in this regard, but not all of the offenders had been caught; operations were ongoing.
A Member raised the issue of Dedicated Ward Officers, and especially in the Bromley and Keston Ward, where there was currently only one officer allocated instead of the usual two. She said that she had been in contact with Mr Knight, but no guarantees had been forthcoming. She highlighted the need for visible local policing and felt that the situation was worrying.
Mr Carswell responded that it had been the case for some time that the police had been under resourced and had to prioritise blue light responses. He said that new recruitment had been undertaken and that currently there was in the region of 300-400 officers being trained. The new recruits would be split across the BCU, but in the meantime they had to be trained and everyone had to hold their nerve. He expected that by March 16th there would be a significant amount of new recruits allocated to active duty. He was anticipating that by then, 15/17 DWO posts would be filled. He was not able to make any guarantees regarding this, but he was able to say that the position by then in terms of resource would be significantly different. Any decisions made in the way that officers would be allocated would be made on risk.
The Member suggested that blue light responses could be reduced by the use of a visible local police presence. Mr Carswell responded that he agreed that prevention was better than cure, but it was the case that the police had difficult decisions to make.
A Member stated that a pan London issue existed concerning how confidence could be built with local communities. She also expressed the need for effective communication with Ward Panels.
A Member asked why the figures for reported domestic abuse had gone up. Mr Carswell stated that he was glad to see this, as it meant that confidence and trust in the police’s ability to deal with this issue had increased, so that people now felt more confident to report these crimes. It did not mean that there was now a big increase in society’s problems. The important issue was concerning what help victims received, and what the final outcome was. He said that he had seen a similar trend regarding hate crimes--it meant that more people now felt confident to come forward and report the crime.
The Member asked if there was enough non-police provision available (e.g. Refuges) and Mr Carswell answered that this was a question for the local authority. It was also noted that the problem of domestic abuse was not limited to one particular strata of society. It was often the case that domestic abuse took place in families that were generally regarded as being ‘better off’.
A Member asked how the 20,000 new police officers that had been promised by central government would be allocated across the Met and the BCU. Mr Carswell responded that 1300 had been allocated to the Met to date, and these were being split across the 12 BCUs.
A Member asked if officers attended every burglary, and asked for comments on what he perceived to be a fall out from the Direct Entry Scheme. DCI Collins answered that not every burglary was attend by police officers and there was a heavy reliance on Forensic Teams. He disagreed with criticisms of the Direct Entry Scheme and expressed the view that in the main the scheme had been a success. There had been high drop out rates in the past, but now retention rates were 95% and officers were better coached and supported.
The Vice Chairman asked if Members could be informed if a DWO was lost for whatever reason, and this was agreed. The Chairman initiated a discussion regarding the shift pattern for DWOs. The rationale behind the shift pattern was explained by Inspector Gary Byfield.
The Chairman and the Committee expressed their thanks and appreciation to Mr Carswell for his long and dedicated service as he was now retiring from the police force. His role would now be taken up by Superintendent Andy Brittain.
RESOLVED that the police update is noted.