Minutes:
The Community Safety Team Leader provided an overview of the Annual Strategic Assessment which would go to the Havering Community Safety Partnership for approval. The overview looked at the performance and recent trends; Crime Harm Index; Community Safety Problems and suggested priorities and recommendations.
It was noted that there had always been a gap between the level of crime and the perception of crime. Trends showed that there had been an increased reporting level of victim based crime, including Violence with Injury, Domestic Abuse, Hate Crime, Serious Youth Violence, Weapon Enable Crime, Robbery, Sexual Offences and Child Sex Exploitation (CSE).
Decreasing levels of serious acquisitive crimes had been noted. These included burglary, motor vehicle crime and theft person. Levels of anti-social behaviour had also decreased.
The Sub-Committee noted the Cambridge Crime Harm Index, which showed the links between crimes and harm. The Sub-Committee noted that 15% of crimes committed (including Serious Violence, Robbery, Domestic Abuse, Sexual Offences/ CSE and Burglary) attributed to 73% of harm to the health and wellbeing of the victims. Whilst the larger percentage of crimes at 85% (thefts, motor vehicle crime, criminal damage and business crime) was attributed to only 27% of harm to the health and wellbeing of the victims.
The top categories which impacted across Havering were:
Domestic Abuse – this affected 1 in 20 adults in Havering and 27% of cases received by the local authority MASH involved domestic abuse, with 13% being where domestic violence was the main category. More than 1 in 10 crimes recorded in Havering during the assessment period were categorised as domestic abuse. The CCG and Hospitals reported that 35% of women patients treated for injuries, consistent with violence, had been assaulted in their own homes, with only 17% reporting the incident to the Police.
Violent Crime – Overall this was the largest volume contributor to crime in Havering, accounting for 29% of all recorded crimes. Specific problems with this included an increase of gangs and serious youth violence, to 81.5% in the current assessment period. Havering was ranked the 13th highest rate of violent crime in London compared to 19th last year. Gun and knife enabled crimes in Havering increased by 55.9% in the current assessment period whilst street robbery had also risen 53%. It was noted that a significant proportion of physical violence that was not domestic abuse, continued to take place within times and location linked to the night time economy, an area where considerable improvement had been made over the longer time.
Sexual Offences – It was noted that whilst this was significantly underreported and low in volume, the impact and harm caused by sexual offences was significant. This was an area that crossed over with domestic abuse and violent crime linked with gangs for example. There had been a rise of 28% in reporting sexual offences during the current assessment period, and an exponential rise in the volume of cases of child sexual exploitation in Havering. It was noted that Havering had the 2nd highest rate of child sexual exploitation cases per youth population in London during the current reporting period.
For all of the above categories, the service was continuing to identify more victims than ever before due to the significant improvements and scrutiny of recording practices. This ensured that the service was able to understand problems better, however does mean a growing demand for service to protect and safeguard victims and manage offenders. This was especially relevant to domestic abuse as the cases referred to MARAC for multi-agency intervention was rising.
The other categories were Burglary and Anti-Social Behaviour . The Sub-Committee noted that whilst the level of these areas had fallen they still remained key areas in terms of harm and volume. The contributing factors in the commission of crime and repeat victimisation were Alcohol harm; Drug use/ misuse and reoffending. Most of these were influenced by deprivation, social inequality as well as mental health issues.
The Sub-Committee noted the proposed priorities of the Strategic Assessment.