I thought I would start this week by highlighting some excellent work by Preston Safer Neighbourhoods team and Detective Sergeant Kevin Harvey.
Operation Brimstone was created to tackle anti-social behaviour and a drugs problem on the Hirst Crescent Estate in Wembley.
The team had tried many tactics, all of which had limited success. Officers in plain clothes were then deployed to the area between mid June and July, and arrested and charged a 19-year-old local man for supplying cocaine and cannabis.
Raheem Bourne, was charged with seven counts of possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs and sent to prison for four years at Harrow Crown Court. For me, one of the most important things is that we have significantly reduced anti-social behaviour in this area for the local people.
I want to commend the work of my schools’ officers PC Gary Weedon and PC Min Patel. They have been working with the Assistant Head Teacher of Newman Catholic College and an organisation called North London Citizens, to develop a scheme called CitySafe Havens.
The scheme has been created and designed by young people to tackle knife crime and to make our streets safer. The young people and schools’ officers have been working together to encourage local businesses and organisations to offer their premises as a CitySafe Haven.
A Safe Haven is a public place where young people can seek refuge in a difficult situation. Importantly for me, it also helps build relationships in our community.
Safe Havens sign a charter committing them to:
- Pledge to report 100% of crime to the Police.
- Offer their premises as a safe haven for any young person in danger.
- Maintain a relationship with neighbours, police and the local community.
- Refuse to sell alcohol, knives or other dangerous items to underage or drunk customers.
- local premises have signed up to the scheme showing a great community spirit.
I have previously spoken about our listening campaign.
We are now entering the final stages. My officers continue to work hard to reach out to communities across the borough.
The borough has completed over 100, community engagement events since July, with more planned for October in the lead up to our Autumn Nights crime and anti-social behaviour operation.
Events have included, Project Griffin - advising over 300 community and business delegates across the borough on security, counter-terrorism and crime prevention issues; street briefings around anti-social behaviour; crime prevention stalls; school briefings and care-home and toddler group coffee mornings.
These events have seen police engagement with an estimated 3,000 local people. The Local Authority has embraced our campaign with assistance from the Partnership Places Team, supporting local events.
On Monday, 20 October, Brent Police’s confidence campaign will go live across the borough. You will we see posters displayed at prominent places across the borough with messages explaining some of the issues and crime concerns that you have asked us to tackle. This provides an opportunity for us using a mix of borough-wide, ward-wide and street level messages, to tell the people of Brent what we are doing to tackle the crime concerns that affect local people and their neighbourhoods.
While crime is falling across Brent year-on-year, I understand there are times that I need to do more to reassure you of what we are doing. People don’t always like to talk about statistics as they feel lower crime rates don’t relate to them personally. Giving people local information about police action in their area helps to increase the confidence you have in us. If you see a crime, please report it and share the information with us. I will always do my best to make the service meet local people’s needs.
