The famous Hendon Police Academy in Hendon, hosted a Hydra session for IAG members. The tech-driven teaching strategy provides a events simulator, which involves various agencies for problem solving. These tech suites are used to train police officers.
I met members of the Hackney IAG last Sunday.
Johanna Secretary/MSA of the borough association with Chief Inspector Scammell
IAG members can also be Neighbourhood Watch members. IAG consult on specific aspects of communal issues.
At this moment in time I am having problems location any details about the Tower Hamlets Independent Advisory Groups. I could find a query on the MOPAC website from 2006.
IAG groups give special advise on
Race
LGBT
Gypsy and Traveller
Youth
Disability
Trident
Gun crime in the Black Community
Sapphire (rape and sexual offending)
Safeguarding of children
Operation Blunt (knife crime)
I am awaiting actual details and shall up-date ASAP
As widely published today in the British media, Boris Johnson, has pledged to stop to break up 2,000 “county lines” drugs gangs in a £300 million drive to rid the country’s streets of illegal narcotics.
Among the measures in the strategy is an expansion of drug testing on arrest, with police encouraged to direct individuals who test positive towards treatment or other relevant interventions. See ITV report.
We started our ‘Stop taking drugs, stop supporting the drug dealers’ campaign three months ago. Definitely drugs trade will exist as long as it is profitable for drug dealers to make money from it.
Unfortunately drug users support this terrible trade by supporting exploitation of children for County Lines, which is a very violent gang driven crime syndicate. 90% of prison inmates are convicted in drug related crimes.
It is more than welcome that plans are made to also simultaneously interrupt social drugs use, which seems harmless and fun but fundamentally supports the drug gangs.
The promised £300 Million investment, to help addicts recover reports Sky News. The prime minister said: “Drugs are a scourge on our society, fuelling violence on our streets which communities across the country are forced to endure.”
The Independent reports that Drug users could loose passports. The Guardian also says driving licenses could also be lost if drug use continues.
Apparently testing has found drug deposits in the House of Commons and police may use sniffer dogs to search the meeting places for our MPs.
The previously published 10 year strategy under Tony Blair, see here, was not as effective or radical as the new one published by the Boris Johnson government.
BBC article promises there will be nowhere to hide.
It would help our communities a lot if our registered members and others could provide evidence of incidences captured on domestic recording devices.
There are many areas in Tower Hamlets, which are not covered by Council CCTV and are abused by criminals.
Many domestic recording devices can help provide footage of incidences of
criminal damage
theft
drug dealing
other crime
ASB
this list is endless.
It can make the clear up rate of police investigations quicker if you supply any footage you have recorded may that me on
ring-door bells with camera
dash cam footage
other private security with camera installed in any property.
As long as you do not share footage with others but only with police or report to us anonymously, it is legal to share this footage, pictures.
We would like to compile a register of privately held recording devices in properties around Tower Hamlets to be able to help police solve crime in areas, which have no regular CCTV installed. We do understand that most commercial properties’ CCTV is already registered with police.
If you recognised crime on your device but do not want to supply to police directly you are welcome to upload to our anonymous reporting page, which also allows you to give your contact details if you wish, so that police can get in touch with you, otherwise it’s completely anonymous, we do not even check for your IP.
Tower Hamlets Police have sent us an up-date on the result of operation sceptre, an initiative designed to ramp up activity to suppress knife crime and wider violence
Met Communication
A vast range of activity was carried out by officers across the Met, including targeted patrols in violence hotspots; warrants to target high harm offenders; and weapons sweeps in areas known for stashed weapons. Officers also worked closely with British Transport Police during knife arch deployments at transport hubs, aimed at deterring people from carrying weapons and drugs on the train and tube network. Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology was also used by Met and City of London officers, targeting those carrying and supplying drugs on the roads in and out of London. Crucially, there was also a focus on education, diversion and prevention, with officers engaging with 10,563 young people; community members and business owners. While conducting community weapons sweeps, local officers worked side-by-side with community members, listening to their concerns and searching for hidden or discarded weapons. Officers, Met Special Constables and Volunteer Police Cadets also carried out 290 retailer visits to educate businesses and ensure they were not – and do not in the future – selling knives irresponsibly. In total, the operation, which ran from Monday, 15 November to Sunday, 21 November 2021, resulted in (Met-Wide): • 290 knives recovered; • 937 arrests; • 82 warrants executed; • 186 community meetings and educational events, engaging with 1,206 individuals; • 264 school presentations and engagements, involving 8,063 young people; • 2,745 weapon sweeps. We wanted to let you know our local results for this week of intensification, for Tower Hamlets and Hackney, which are as follows: 137 weapon sweeps. 13 knives found. 51 arrests with 11 for weapon offences. 18 test purchases We visited all of our Habitual Knife Carriers who were engaged with by our integrated gangs unit or Violence Suppression Unit.
Over 1200 children engaged with through schools presentations or the Junior Citizenship Programme. Our local plan was led by our Violence Suppression Unit and supported by partners at both Tower Hamlets and Hackney local authorities. We send our gratitude to all of our partners who supported the initiatives across the week.
We all have a part to play in tackling violent crime, and we encourage you to share the following information amongst your organisation/teams: Taking a stand can be as simple as giving information about crime or those who carry a weapon. Any information you give to Crimestoppers can make a difference in reducing knife crime and the harm it causes to families. Crimestoppers never ask your name and they cannot trace your call, your IP address or the device you use. Fill in their quick online form or call 0800 555 111. It could save a life
Please also note you are welcome to report anonymously to the Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association directly using our online form.
The Tower Hamlets Interface Forum brought people from different religions and communities together with speakers from various organisations.
It’s really important that all stand together and repel attempts to attack communities or groups of another faith. Nothing should stop anybody to report suspicious behaviour to the police.
Our stall at the #Interfaithweek
Bridge over Troubled Water
event was well stocked with information about worldly danger and solutions.
Speakers: Mayor John Biggs, Neighbours in Poplar, East London Mosque, Quaker Social Action, Tower Hamlets Public Health & Faith ActionOne attendee loved this ‘Power of Hello’ poster because they recognised their language.
This workshop described the astonishing facts and figures about this criminal network.
At least 3 Million people or 9% of the population used drugs last year
45% of acquisitive crime is linked to drugs
Around 50% of all homicides in 2018/19 were known to be drug related
More than a 1/3 of people in prison are there because of drug related crime
Drug dealers use the county lines system, which in turn uses children and/or vulnerable adults to move and store drugs. Criminals will often use coercion, violence (including sexual violence) weapons.
Police found
1105 drug dealing lines
581 line names or ‘brands’ (gangs)
7.6 % of lines linked to firearms
6.3 % of lines linked to serious violence
24 % of lines linked to cuckooing
The biggest drug exporters are
Metropolitan Police area
West Midlands Police area
Greater Manchester Police area
West Yorkshire
2529 individuals were linked to known deal lines of which
81.8 % were male
14.6 % female
16.3 % below 18
Criminals use various methods to get hold of accommodation but if you find that you are suddenly having neighbours which
get a lot of cars, bikes, coming and going
short-term visitors at all times
noise and ASB
curtains always drawn
many young people without parents
You should report this to your local police. You may use the Twitter account @MetCC, which also accepts pictures or use our own anonymous reporting tool, which also accepts pictures.
Our best advice is to stop using drugs at the earliest opportunity.
Webinar
Whether you attended the webinar or couldn’t make it, the slides have been made available to you here, and the recording can be watched here.
If you have watched the webinar please complete a survey about it here
With Commander Marcus Barnett and Chief Inspector Christopher Scammell, was held simultaneously at Whitechapel Library and Microsoft Teams.
Commander Barnett and Chief Inspector Scammell
We heard that people sometimes think their crime reports do not get actioned.
Another questioned asked whether Crimestoppers reports get priority. This was answered with: “
” In regards to reports Crimestoppers; All information we receive is risk assessed and graded so we can provide a suitable response. All sources are treated equally.”
Hence anonymous reports received via our localreporting page, get fed into the system alongside all other reports.
The Ward panels were mentioned as important community tool when ascertaining 2 out of 3 police priorities. It cannot be said often enough that systematic engagement with Neighbourhood Watch groups, enables strong continued and consistent community relationships with the police and other partners, who work together with the Tower Hamlets Partnership.
Violence against Women and Girls has four sections:
Protecting women and girls in public spaces
working with our partners and with women to improve prevention
Bringing offenders to justice
Improving Met culture and professional standards
Commander Barnett apologised profusely for the conduct of a former police officer who was sentenced for the brutal murder of a woman. By enlarge, he said the police is a superb organisation, which can be relied upon. Whilst Commander Barnett assured us that a culture change in the police is necessary, we saw a whole male line-up, the Neighbourhood Watch representative, which was female, was not allowed to speak.
Community Partnership policing
Antisocial behaviour / problem solving
Night time economy action plans
Bike thefts
School & youth engagement team
local enforcement teams
housing
environment
DWO’s and Ward Panels
Independent Advisory groups
Accessibility to police
The closure of the Isle of Dogs police station was remarked upon by a member of the public. It is presumed that many older people do not have access or knowledge of new technology to report crime online. However, we do not feel that it is a viable alternative for older people to visit a police station in person to report crime.
The Police do not agree that LTN schemes stop them from attending duty.
We feel that local Neighbourhood Watch groups can provide the necessary support to support locals who need it about reporting and working together with police.
Neighbourhood Watch embraces all new technologies and face to face methods. Neighbourhood Watch groups also enable local people to meet on demand and more often than the ward panels who often only meet every 3-4 months. Peer to peer meetings with neighbours are important.
Free Webinar “Say no to ASB” on 15. November 2021, click through to ourevent calendar.
Don’t forgot to register with Ourwatch Neighbourhood Watch membership.
Please click through to read further details about our aim to tackle ASB in all areas of Britain, which saw an increase with the relaxing of Covid restrictions.
We have a new, comprehensive ASB diary for download, which lasts for 14 days. It contains comprehensive examples and instructions for you to follow.
Visit the Tower Hamlets specific web pages of the local Association here.
Inner London attracts a fair amount of runaway young persons.
We ask you to look out for young runaways who may sit in the street. There is an obvious danger that these runaways get exploited by
People inviting them to stay in their homes for sexual favours
people using them for slave labour
gangs and criminals
begging gangs
If you come across young people sitting in the street, who look out of place, lost or homeless, please invite them to call the
Runaway helpline 116 000
If that young person does not have a mobile phone and you cannot afford to buy them a cheap one with a sim, then please ask local shops to accept young people calling from their premises to call or text. Runaway helpline website.
I am writing to inform you that the London Fire Brigade has launched a new Home Fire Safety Checker aimed at offering residents an online fire risk assessment in their individual homes to complement our free Home Fire Safety Visit programme.
This innovative online tool allows residents to receive tailored fire safety advice based on the type of property they live in, as well as behaviours commonly associated with fire risk. The Checker guides them around their home to help them identify any potential fire risks and hazards, then provides advice as to how they can take steps to reduce those risks. The assessment could be carried out on their behalf by a carer or family member, if appropriate.
Though we continue to offer free in-person Home Fire Safety Visits (london-fire.gov.uk/safety/the-home/home-fire-safety), we want to focus these visits on the most vulnerable in our communities; the Online Checker is an easy-to-use tool for everyone that will signpost them towards booking an in-person visit if any significant risks are raised.
Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association 