Minutes:
It was noted that over 90% of gang nominals in Bromley were aged 25 or younger. The majority of offences which gang members were suspects for were personal robbery and possession of an offensive weapon. Between September 2016 and August 2018, 411 crimes in the borough had been flagged by the police as ‘serious youth violence’, but it had to be borne in mind that this was less than 1% of all the number of total notifiable offences. It was reported that 20% of serious youth violence resulted in victims sustaining a knife injury.
The Partnership discussed ‘County Lines’ and the ‘Rescue and Response’ pan London response programme. The data from April to October 2019 indicated that 28 young people were believed to be involved in County Lines; 15 of these were 18 plus and 13 were 17 or under.
In terms of response, note was made of the work of the Children’s MEGA Panel and the work of the local police gang tasking group which had been working to disrupt gang activities.
The Partnership was briefed that ‘Operation Divan’ was underway. The aim of this early knife and weapons intervention programme was to identify young people at risk of becoming involved in knife crime and provided awareness arising around the risk and consequences of carrying weapons. Some young people had been identified. The project was being evaluated by the Police College with a further programme being run simultaneously by the North Yorkshire Constabulary.
It was asked if ‘Operation Divan’ would involve working with parents and it was reported that a home or school visit would be undertaken. It was also asked if parenting courses could be offered to the parents of young people that had been identified in the trial of the Operation, and the answer to this was no, as the trial was operating to strict academic rigour between two police authorities and the elements of the trial had to be the same for both police forces.
Mention was made of providing youth worker support in local hospitals. It was felt that in many cases, young people injured in gang related activity may be more likely to speak to a youth worker rather than a police officer. Mention was made of the hospital-based Youth Violence Intervention Programme run by the charity ‘Red Thread’. It was noted that this service operated at the Kings Hospital at Denmark Hill as this was the local major trauma centre. The Chairman pondered if a similar service should operate from the PRUH.
It was reported that good progress had been made with the development of the Knife Crime and Serious Violence Action Plan, and the LBB Gangs and Serious Youth Violence Officer expressed her thanks to all of the partners that had engaged in the continued development of the Plan. MOPAC would be arranging visits to assess how the Action Plans would be developed.
The Partnership was informed that 22 projects were being funded by a ‘Youth Endowment Fund’ and that two of these would see some aspect of delivery in Bromley.
RESOLVED that the update from the LBB Gangs and Youth Violence Officer is noted and that MOPAC be contacted regarding the ‘Red Thread’ project in Kings at Denmark Road, to see if additional funding for similar work could be undertaken at the PRUH.