Agenda item

An update from the police is provided at every meeting.

Superintendent Andy Brittan and Inspector Stuart Baker attended on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.

The Vice Chairman asked the following question:

“Can the Police please tell the Committee what proactive steps they are taking to deter and prevent off-road motor bike and quad bike riding in our parks and open spaces that are (a) causing misery for our residents, primarily at weekends, and (b) in clear contravention of the COVID lockdown regulations. By way of example, Pauls Cray Hill Park in my own ward attracts this form of ASB every weekend and the Police appear to be unwilling, or lack a plan for, dealing with this behaviour that is seriously impacting on the quality of life and safety of our residents”.

Inspector Baker responded and said the problems associated with quad bikes were not new. It was often the case that offenders were individuals from outside of the area; in the past they were known to have come from as far afield as Canterbury and the South Coast. One of the tactics that had been employed by the police to deal with this issue was to identify the vans that were used for transporting the quad bikes, and from there, to verify the identity of the companies that owned the vans. In this way, community warnings had been issued to companies and directors had been held to account. In the past this had stopped the problem occurring in Hockenden Lane.

Inspector Baker informed the Committee that recently four quad bikes had been seized because they were not insured. In some cases Section 59 warnings had been issued and the quad bikes seized subsequently.

In cases where local people had been identified, the police would visit their homes with representatives from housing associations and the Council. It was not possible in these cases to search houses, but it was possible to conduct searches of gardens and sheds.

The police did have some off road capability, but this was limited. The police were considering the use of drones and video evidence. It was noted that video evidence had to be of a high quality before it could be accepted as evidence in the courts. Various proactive measures were being considered, along with preventative work.

Superintendent Brittain expressed the view that good work was being undertaken by the police which should be communicated better to provide assurances to the public. He expressed the view that better use should be made of social media to communicate good news stories.

The Vice Chairman thanked the police for their update, but he pointed out that local residents felt abandoned, and that the police should do more. He stated that this problem was the number one issue that was appearing in Councillors’ emails and asked if the matter could be escalated upwards in terms of police priorities.

The Chairman asked if a concerted police effort could be undertaken at the relevant hotspots.

A Member referred to problems in her ward of a similar nature—this was with respect to a location that had been identified as ‘Footpath 136’. She said that previously the LBB Neighbourhood Officer had said that he was going to investigate to see if funding was available, so that obstacles could be placed to prevent the footpath being used by motor bikes and quad bikes. She had not received a response.

The Neighbourhood Officer responded and said that it was the case that funding was not available at the time. He promised to resurrect the matter to see if anything could now be done to secure the footway and he would update the Member accordingly.

The Committee was informed that while a landowner was clearing land in Biggin Hill, some human bones had been discovered. It was believed that the bones were 20-30 years old and were probably the remains of an elderly person. Forensic investigations were underway to try to identify the person concerned.  Members would be updated as the investigation progressed.

A Member commented that the problem of quad bikes in the borough was long standing. She asked if the police still had specially trained officers that were trained in off road operations. Inspector Baker responded that this was something that he was hoping to achieve going forward, but he was not able to guarantee this. This was because specially trained officers were required, along with the appropriate off road bikes. It was hoped that officers could be sourced from the Traffic section. It was noted that the quad bike gatherings would also in many cases be a breach of lockdown regulations.

Members noted that with reference to the police data on crime types, the issue of ‘revenge sexting’ was included.

A Member asked why there had been a big decrease in the number of individuals found to be in possession of weapons in December 2020, compared with November. The cause of this was not clear. Inspector Baker speculated that this could have been a Covid related phenomenon. During December, the police had been badly affected by Covid, and this had reduced the number of officers on active duty. Resultantly, there would have been a knock on effect in terms of the number of people being stopped and searched for weapons. 

The Chairman stated that he was pleased with the document that had been provided by the police for the Committee. He referred to the Crime Map which he said was very helpful. He requested that the police provide some detail going forward on how they would be dealing with crime hotspots—as different areas had different problems.

A discussion took place regarding Community Advisory Panels, and high and low level crime types; it was noted that the crime types were not changing as far as LBB’s priorities were concerned. The Chairman was concerned that local community priorities should match those priorities that had been suggested by MOPAC.

It was agreed that the Chairman should meet outside of the meeting with Superintendent Brittain before the next meeting to agree how the police document should be fine-tuned. 

It was agreed that Members could share data as required from the document submitted by the police as the information was not confidential.

The Chairman and the Committee expressed their thanks for the hard work undertaken by the police during the period of the Covid 19 pandemic. 

RESOLVED that

1 ) The police update be noted.

2)  The Neighbourhood Manager would check if funding was available so that modifications could be made to ‘Footway 136’ to prevent said footway from being used by quad bikes. The Neighbourhood Manager to update the appropriate Member accordingly.

3) Members would be updated in due course concerning the police investigation that was underway after human bones had been discovered in the Biggin Hill area.

4) The police should provide some detail in their updates going forward, to show how they were dealing with crime in identified crime hotspots

5) The Chairman would meet with Superintendent Brittain to discuss how the police update document could be fine-tuned going forward.