Agenda item

The Committee is asked to comment on the content of the statutory Strategic Assessment of crime and anti social behaviour which will be used to help inform the priorities of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. Representatives of the Metropolitan Police will be in attendance to introduce the document and respond to questions from Members.

The Committee was asked to comment on the Hammersmith and Fulham Strategic Assessment 2011/12. The document formed a statutory assessment of the situation with respect to crime and anti-social behaviour which would be used to help form the priorities of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. It was the first occasion that the Police, as the authors of the report, had shared its content in the public domain. Detective Superintendent Bob Lyle and Inspector Bob Glynn of the Metropolitan Police attended the meeting to introduce the report and respond to questions from Members. Inspector Glynn apologised to the Committee for the short notice at which the report had been circulated.

Members noted that following a series of year on year reductions there had been a 5% increase in crime rates over the past 12 months. Acquisitive crime, such as burglary and car theft, had risen at the start of the financial year before subsequent improvement while incidents of violent crime had fallen by 17.2% onalready low numbers. Knife crime had, however, increased by 1.6% to 309 offences with the numbers of occasions when knives were used to cause injury falling by 1.9% to 106. In total violence, including criminal damage, accounted for over 40% of the crime figures

Anti-social behaviour remained one of the main issues affecting communities in respect of quality of life with rowdy nuisance behaviour of youths giving the greatest cause for concern. Youth gangs were an emerging issue which, although not new, had taken on a greater importance following media coverage in relation to stabbings and shootings in the borough.

The report noted that policing methods for tackling violence and anti-social behaviour were resource and labour intensive and unlikely to deal with the causative issues behind them. Key drivers of crime included alcohol, in respect of which problems of underage and binge drinking were reported, and issues around deprivation, health and the specific socio demographics of an area. Education of young people was seen as vital to help improve understanding of the criminal justice system and the consequences of certain behaviours as well as the provision of information on topics such as health, alcohol and drugs.  The report therefore acknowledged that a multi agency approach was required. It concluded that increased pressure on public service resources, combined with the Olympics and the potential for industrial unrest were risk factors in the borough’s attempts to reduce crime.

Members were informed that the recommended priorities had been reduced from previous years in order to help maintain focus. Anti-terrorism had been removed from the list since it was not managed from within the borough whilst local issues such as Status Dogs and theft from shops (largely at Westfield) had been deleted as the former was of diminishing concern and the latter relatively stable. The top priorities were to reduce crime in line with Metropolitan Police targets, reduce the fear of crime, reduce all aspects of anti social behaviour, reduce harm done by alcohol and drugs and to reduce the number of young people being victimised or involved with criminal behaviour.

Councillor Robert Iggulden enquired how families at risk of domestic violence were identified. Inspector Glynn informed the Committee that early possible indicators such as harassment were closely monitored and whenever any incident which might possibly be related to domestic violence was brought to light appropriate interventions were triggered in respect of children within the family.

In response to a question from Councillor Lisa Homan regarding the success of the Fulham Broadway saturation zone, Inspector Glynn replied that the Police was working closely with Licensing officers and publicans in order to manage problem drinking. Initiatives being examined included the issuing of a stamp to customers served with alcohol after 11pm in order that any subsequent crime could be tracked to patrons of particular licensed premises, and work to increase the proportion of customers sitting down in pubs. Research suggested that standing customers were more likely to generate violence. The Police were also keen to encourage more pubs to sell food as this would stop customers congregating outside around burger vans.

Councillor Homan also asked about levels of football related crime. The Police emphasised that while football crime figures were collated separately, matches did not generate serious violence with problems generally restricted to low level aggression. There were just 6-8 pubs in the borough which tended to experience problems on football matchdays.

Responding to a question from Councillor Gavin Donovan, Detective Superintendent Lyle informed the Committee that there was little organised crime within the borough. In the case of vehicle crime there were approximately 10-12 habitual offenders. Since 1 April there had been 41 serious offences with an average of less than 1 robbery per day across the borough. Knives were rarely used in robberies and knife crime figures were relatively low.

Councillor Nick Botterill, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment and Asset Management, asked whether recent changes in sentencing policy designed to reduce the number of custodial sentences had impacted upon crime rates. Detective Superintendent Lyle commented that some people were habitual offenders and as soon as they were released from prison there was a spike in crime figures. Surveillance was very expensive but the Police were prepared to use it where it would have an impact on crime figures. Drugs and alcohol were big drivers of crime and some users had to steal daily to feed their habit.

A member of the public enquired whether there was a problem with young people coming in to the borough to cause trouble. Inspector Glynn informed the Committee by way of reply that there was no specific attempt to target the borough but as it possessed several transport hubs a lot of the incidents related to children in transit to school, particularly where rival schools met. Many of the young people were either not aware of, or did not care about, the consequences of their actions. Teachers were often effective in controlling violence and were sometimes deployed at the transport hubs if there were was advance intelligence of disorder but could not always be available to police their pupils en route to school. Overall it was emphasised that Hammersmith & Fulham was one of the safer London boroughs and where serious crime did occur there was a 90% detection rate.

In view of the limited time the Committee had to digest the report ahead of the meeting the Chairman asked Members to inform either her or Gary Marson, the Committee Coordinator, if they required more information on any aspect from the Police. It was agreed that it would helpful if the Strategic Assessment was presented to the Committee on an annual basis in future.

RESOLVED that;

the Strategic Assessment be presented to the Committee annually for comment,