To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020 were agreed as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman at a later date.

Matters arising from the last minutes

Details of the Coivid-19 breaches reporting details still needed to be provided to Members

Officers undertook to do this as soon as possible following the meeting.

Regarding good new stories Officers confirmed that visits were still being undertaken 7 days a week and compliance levels were very high.

For persistent offenders enforcement had picked up since September and financial penalties were now being issued.

Other good news was that the Council was now doing the local contact tracing and that compliance had risen from 70% to 90%.

The police advised that extra asset  had been put in place to assist with the pandemic.

The BCU had received over 300 Covid related calls the previous weekend of which approximately 100 were Havering related.

The BCU was upping its resource in to enforcement but had to balance this against the crime demand which had not dropped.

The police were updating the Chief Executives of all councils on a weekly basis of activity taking place.

Report attached.

The report before Members provided information on performance against the indicators previously requested by the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee during Quarter 2 (July to September 2020).

Response time to Immediate (I) and Significant (S) Grade Incidents

The MPS had a target to reach 90% of “Immediate” (I) graded calls within 15 minutes of the call being made. The MPS target for “Significant” (S) grade calls was to reach 90% within one hour of the call being made.

The table contained within the report showed the weekly response times for Q2 of 2020-21 compared to the same period in 2019.

The average % of calls responded to within the target in Havering in Q2 was 76.83%, a reduction of 7.62% compared to the same period in 2019.  This was also below the BCU average of 77.42%.

The table shown in the report showed the weekly response times in Q2 of 2020-21 compared to the same period in 2019.

The average % of calls responded to within the target in Havering in Q2 was 65.05%, a reduction of 9.31% compared to the same period in 2019.  This was also above the BCU average of 62.44%.

Violence

Havering had seen an 18% reduction in Non DA VWI during Q2 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, a reduction of 89 crimes.

The table in the report compared level of non-domestic abuse violence with injury (Non DA VWI) experienced within Havering in Q2 of 2020-21 compared to the same period in 2019-20.

Many London Boroughs had seen an increase in Domestic Abuse during the period of Lockdown. To address this, Havering moved its DV Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) to a weekly virtual meeting to ensure that risk was adequately managed. This had been well attended and effective.

Burglary

Residential burglary had reduced during lockdown, as the majority of homes remained occupied as many people continued to work from home. Officers had seen a month on month rise as more people returned to the workplace.

The table in the report compared the level of burglary experienced within Havering in quarter 2 of 2020-21 compared to the same period in 2019-20, which showed a reduction of 141 burglaries, 37%.

The Council continued to support the police in providing crime prevention advice to residents and businesses in Havering through the use of e-newsletters, twitter, Facebook and Living in Havering.

ASB Calls

The introduction of Covid19 restrictions had seen a dramatic increase in reported ASB to the police .This was mainly due to complaints of non-compliance with government guidance.

There had been  an increase of 547 ASB, 32%. Over the same peiod last year.

During discussions Members agreed to the following changes to the performance reporting information.

The following indicators would be reported at future meetings:

I grade call response times

Violence with Injury

Robbery of Personal Property

Burglary - Residential

Burglary - Business and Community

Artifice Burglary

Domestic Abuse

Domestic Abuse VWI

Gun Crime Lethal Barrelled Discharged

Knife Crime

Knife crime with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Presentations attached.

The presentation before Members summarised the work of the East Area Violence Suppression Unit (VSU) and the work of the Drugs Focus Desk.

Members were advised that all new police officers, following their street walking duties, were assigned to the VSU for a 4 week period to gain confidence in policing skills around this area.

Key activities were patrols of violence hotspots across the BCU, weapons sweeps in response to intelligence, and pursuing the arrest of suspects for violence related offences.

Performance to date had meant 478arrests (including arrests for murder, kidnap and firearms possession) 2245stop & searches.

The key operations for the team had been:

Operation Alamosawhich had been a joint week of action with NE VSU. 6 x search warrants executed, 159 stop & searches, 13 arrests, with large quantities of class A drugs seized. 7 knives and offensive weapons seized.

Operation  Brancaster was an operation to target cannabis factories in the BCU. 5 x search warrants executed, 300 cannabis plants and £10,000 in cash seized.

Members were also advised of the latest work of the Drugs Focus Desk (DFD).

Members noted that there was a well-established link between drugs supply and drug trafficking and street-based violence and a two pronged approach was needed.

The enforcement approach targeting drug dealers across the BCU was leading to prosecutions

The DFD was a specialist team to ensure drugs supply offences were dealt with robustly. This involved leading, advising and supporting drugs supply investigations.

The DFD was formed in June 2020 and comprised of 5 dedicated investigators, led by a Detective Sergeant.

The DFD also conducted fast-track forensic drugs submissions, expert witness statements to the Criminal Prosecutions Service (CPS) and analysis of drugs offence trends in the BCU.

Performance since the DFD’s inception included 57drugs supply investigations where suspects had been charged to court.

This represented a 158%increase in prosecutions in comparison to the same period in 2019.

Key operations included operation renewal, a Pan-BCU operation in late June 2020. With 26  search warrants, 25 arrests, 3 firearms recovered, £60,000 of Class A and B drugs seized and £40,000 in cash seized.

The Sub-Committee noted the contents of the presentation.