
Agenda item
Serious, Violent and Organised Crime in Maidstone
- Meeting of Acting as Crime and Disorder Committee, Communities, Housing and Environment Committee, Tuesday 24th September, 2019 6.30 pm (Item 11.)
- View the background to item 11.
Councillor Call for Action from Councillor Purle
Minutes:
The Chairman informed the Committee that the agenda item would start with a presentation from the Police and the Community Protection Manager which would include a couple of videos to provide context to the subject matter. He requested that the Committee took a strategic look in terms of the content of the presentation, but also take into account the local perspective.
The witnesses contributing to the meeting were asked to introduce themselves to the Committee:-
Kent Police - Chief Inspector Ray Quiller and Inspector Mark Hedges
Ilsa Butler Manager from One Maidstone
which heads the Business Improvement District for the town
centre
Dan Bride, Assistant Director for North and West Kent Adolescent
Services and Head of Youth Justice Services in Kent
The
Community Protection Manager, in introducing the report, stated
that the presentation would provide some context and real life
experiences surrounding the issues highlighted in the report which
included an introduction to the new Kent Police Violence Reduction
Unit funded by the Home Office. It would also give an update on the
state of serious, violent and organised crime within the Maidstone
area.
Members were also informed that the role of the Serious Organised
Crime Panel (SOCP) would be explained, together with context around
the 4 P approach which was adopted by the SOCP and what is meant by
disruption activities. The presentation
would culminate in providing evidence on how knife crime was being
tackled, including reporting and intelligence sharing to provide a
solution to this problem and would look at how the Police are
working with partners to tackle domestic abuse.
Chief Inspector Quiller gave a brief history of his 20 years career in the Police and advised that Kent Police had recently been graded as outstanding and that illustrated how hard the Force worked to maintain and constantly improve the service they provided to the public and had a long and proud tradition of bringing offenders to justice.
He
thanked Councillors and Officers for their support in keeping the
district safe and outlined various initiatives that had been
introduced, particularly in regard to intelligence gathering and
CCTV deployment.
Crime in Maidstone
Inspector Hedges presented the crime data comprising of 2018/19 and 2019/20 (financial years).
The Committee noted that the Police had been recording their data differently since 2018 and therefore it would not be possible to provide comparisons with previous years as they would not be like for like. Therefore the current data can only be prepared to last year.
Highlights included that overall Crime in Maidstone was down by
6.1% which equated to 400 less victims.
Serious Violent Crime was down to 8.3%, with violent crime down by
8.1% and Public Order offences were down by 36.5% and Robbery
incidences down by 31.4%
However, the number of possessions of a weapon were up by 13.5%,
Drug Offences were up by 83.7%
Maidstone’s Community Safety Plan 2019-2022
The Committee were reminded of the priorities set within the Community Safety Plan 2019-2022 which were:-
·
Protecting our communities against serious and
organised crime (including modern-day slavery)
·
Reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse
(including stalking)
·
Keeping children and young people safe
·
Safeguard people whose mental health makes them
vulnerable
·
Reduce the impact of substance misuse on our
community
Perception
The Committee heard that perception is key to making us feel unsafe or vulnerable. This was illustrated by the type of language used and how we use it and the impact it has on young people.
Social
media has its part to play in keeping to the facts, not retweeting
unsubstantiated information or opinions which become the reality in
people’s minds. Using words like ‘knife crime’
would make a young person fearful and they would carry a knife
themselves to feel ‘safe’.
Just because a few young people congregate and wear hoodies, does that make them a gang? The perception is that this is gang but it’s their behaviour and activities that define them, not what they look like.
Definitions of Groups
It was felt important that there was a clear definition in the way that the Police and others refer to gangs, for example:-
Peer
Group - A small unorganised, transient grouping but are not
motivated by crime.
Street Gang – A predominantly street based group of young
people who see themselves and are seen by others as a discernible
group for whom crime and violence is integral to the group’s
identity.
An Organised Criminal Network – A group of individuals for whom involvement in crime is for personal gain. The gain is mostly measured in financial terms so crime is their occupation.
The Role of the Serious and Organised Crime Panel
Inspector Hedges explained to the Committee the role of the Serious and Organised Crime Panel who meet every 4 weeks with multi-agency partners. Their work involved tackling crime trends and clusters, county lines, human trafficking and modern day slavery offences, prison releases, top threat risk and harming people in the district and finally high risk offenders being managed in the community.
The Committee heard that the Panel tackle Organised Criminal Gangs through a partnership intervention (the four P’s) which was:
Pursue – Relentless disruption and prosecution
Prevent – people becoming involved in SOC
Protect – reduction of the vulnerability amongst our communities from the threat of SOC
Prepare – ensure the
necessary capabilities exist to tackle SOC
These principles were applied when dealing with organised crime
groups. Currently Maidstone had two active serious organised and
violent gangs in Maidstone.
The Community Protection Manager advised that knife crime nationally had increased, in an effort to decrease this, measures had been put in place in Maidstone which included 623 stop and search searches since April 2019 (an increase of 239%), over 300 of those were in the town centre and surrounding area. Numerous arrests for drug and possession of weapons had been carried out and 3 Section 60 Stop and Search Orders used in Maidstone since April 2019.
The Committee were advised that a lot of work had been done with the KCC Youth and Community Services around the narrative of knife crime, essentially about youths carrying knives for protection.
Other initiatives included the seizure of knives from secondhand stores, visits from Trading Standards to stores where knives are sold, visits to Schools to talk to pupils, staff and parents about the dangers of carrying knives, carrying out surveys with young people about why they carry knives and increased Stop and Search.
Chief Inspector Quiller added that
there had been a lot of positive and exceptional work being carried
out by his Officers and partners following the tragic events
surrounding the serious, violent incident in Jubilee Square
recently.
A knife bar was being ultilised in the town centre (particularly in areas such as Brenchley Gardens) and Officers were working with Nightclubs to see if a similar initiative could be incorporated in those establishments as well.
Domestic Abuse Awareness
The Committee was informed that domestic abuse was the silent killer as its not talked about as it’s a personal thing and domestic abuse exists in silence. Initiatives had been introduced whereby professionals such as GPs, nurses and hairdressers are trained to be aware to the signs of domestic abuse when they come into contact with their patients or clients.
The Community Protection Manager explained that domestic abuse took on many guises such as controlling behaviour, physical and psychological abuse. It was noted that there was an increase of 20% in recorded crimes involving domestic abuse.
Work of
multi-agencies was to ensure that victims had the facilities and
ability to report incidents and the confidence to come
forward. Although the number of
incidents had risen this could be because victims were more
confident about reporting it.
The Committee also heard about the role of the Domestic Abuse Forum
which aimed to protect victims by ensuring they have access to the
services they need and helped to prevent future incidents by
improving understanding and ensuring young people enjoy healthy
relationships.
An invitation to a Briefing on the work being carried out on Domestic Violence would be sent out to Members to make them aware of the one stop shop service, refuges and outreach services.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
The term Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) could be used to describe a wide range of stressful or traumatic experiences that children can be exposed to whilst growing up.
The experiences could be linked to adverse mental health conditions and low life survival.
The Committee heard about the work being undertaken by multi-agencies.
One Maidstone
Ilsa Butler from One Maidstone detailed the ‘easy peas’ trauma pack which was a first aid provision for the night-time economy. There would be a media campaign to illustrate where these first aid packs would be in the town centre.
The Committee commented that:-
·
Section 106 contributions did not appear to be going
towards youth services in the villages.
·
The presentation was excellent and showcased the
work of the multi-agencies.
·
The statistics produced for the report differed from
those set out in the Home Office report.
·
Maidstone Mediation should be invited along to speak
to the Committee about the work they do.
·
Waiting times for mental health referral was
appalling.
In response to questions from Members, Officers advised that:-
·
There was a lot of Police presence in rural areas
and to illustrate this, the Chief Inspector advised that around
£370,000 worth of stolen property had been recovered this
year alone and work had been carried out with farmers in relation
to live stock worrying, fly tipping, burglaries, criminal damage,
illegal caravans etc.
The Chairman suggested a section on rural crime for the next
meeting of this Committee.
·
The Met Police do liaise with the Transport Police
regularly.
·
The Police data has the highest accuracy rate in the
country. They are recording more crime
and are 96.6% accurate.
·
That the figures collated and used by the Police
were based on a financial year and the methodology used to collect
the figures had been changed since 2018 following a problem
identified with the accuracy of the figures. Therefore the comparison against this year’s
figures could only be compared with last year.
·
The Police would be looking at other ways of
sourcing data to illustrate performance including data around A and
E Admissions etc
·
A paper would be circulated to the Committee on
population against crime figures.
·
The Police were there very quickly when the serious
crime incident happened in Jubilee Square and were able to make a
lot of arrests very quickly.
·
Work around dispersal orders had been undertaken in
Shepway on youths congregating outside the shops. The parents of
the youths had been spoken to in an attempt to tackle the
issue. Youth Services Teams had also
been deployed in the area. In addition,
community protection warnings could be given to the parents in
regard to the behaviour of their children.
·
When the next Strategic Assessment is produced, a
more in depth conversation could be had on the crime statistics and
trends.
RESOLVED: That
1)
The report be noted and the work of the Safer
Maidstone Partnership be endorsed to provide reassurance to
Members, constituents and the public at
large that Maidstone remains a place where they can feel safe and
be safe.
2)
A letter of thanks and support be sent from the
Committee to the Urban Blue staff, the Ambassadors (Business
Improvement District), the Street Pastors and the Gallery door
staff in recognition of their efforts and bravery during and after
the incident on 25 August 2019.
3)
A Domestic Abuse awareness event is held; open to
all Members, to help raise awareness of the services available to
support victims, preventative and early intervention activities
being delivered by the Safer Maidstone Partnership.
4)
The Committee declares Appendix 1 to the report of
the Head of Housing and Community Services incomplete on account
that it presents a partial and incomplete analysis of crime and
disorder in the Borough that fails to recognise a) substantial
increase in crime and disorder afflicting the Borough in recent
years, b) where increases are impacting, or c) the deteriorating
position of Maidstone wards relative to the wider Kent Police
Area.
5)
The Council continues to work with other responsible
authorities in the reduction of knife crime and domestic violence
ensuring that the Police have every support.
6)
The Committee Recommends to the
Licensing Committee that it be asked to consider a review of
its policy following the recent serious incident of concern which
may include means for better security.
7)
The Committee Recommends to the
Communities, Housing and Environment Committee that a review is
undertaken into the Council’s use of its anti-social
behaviour powers, including taking into consideration a) tightening
the public space protection order (PSPO) to include a comprehensive
ban or street drinking in the town and b) preventing known
offenders from returning to known crime and anti-social hotspots,
for example Brenchley Gardens, Week
Street, High Street etc.
8)
That a Working Group be established, led by relevant
Ward Members to examine the causes of crime and disorder in the
rural wards to the south and east of the Borough, and to report to
the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee on measures the
Council might take and to the Crime and Disorder Committee on
measures other responsible authorities might take, to address
matters.
Supporting documents:
-
Serious, Violent and Organised Crime in Maidstone, item 11.
PDF 107 KB View as HTML (11./1) 121 KB
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Appendix 1: Police Crime Data, item 11.
PDF 65 KB View as HTML (11./2) 400 KB
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Appendix 2 Offence Classification Index, item 11.
PDF 121 KB
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Appendix 3: Serious and Organised Crime Strategy Framework Definitions, item 11.
PDF 24 KB View as HTML (11./4) 4 KB
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Appendix 4 KCC’s Early Help and Preventative Services- Youth Justice data, item 11.
PDF 2 MB View as HTML (11./5) 85 KB
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Appendix 5: PCC Safer Communities Grant 2019/20- Commissioned Projects, item 11.
PDF 68 KB View as HTML (11./6) 18 KB
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Appendix 6: Domestic Abuse Project Briefing Note, item 11.
PDF 55 KB View as HTML (11./7) 8 KB
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2019-08-27_CandD_Redacted, item 11.
PDF 1 MB