Residents' meeting on drug and knife crime, Brent Civic Centre, Monday 27th January 6.30pm - 9pm

 

 

From Brent Council

Local residents are invited to a public meeting on Monday 27 January to discuss ongoing efforts to reduce drug and knife crime in Brent. 

 

Chief Superintendent Sara Leach will speak about the steps the police in Brent are taking to cut crime and build trust within the community. She will outline how the police are working alongside the council, local partners, and the community to make Brent a safer place for everyone. 

 

Brent’s commissioned support services will also explain how they help adults and young people who are worried about their own or someone else’s drug use.

The meeting will provide community members with the chance to share their views, voice their concerns and discuss ways everyone can work together to improve safety in the borough. 

 

Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet and ask questions of local police sergeants, police officers, council officers, addiction recovery advocates, and support workers. These representatives will share their ongoing efforts to tackle drug and knife crime and invite feedback on how they can better connect with local communities.

 

Councillor Harbi Farah, Cabinet Member for Public Safety and Partnerships, said:

 

This is an opportunity to hear what has already been done in Brent on these community safety priorities, find out how organisations and individuals can help reduce drug use and knife carrying, and suggest ways forward.

 

The public meeting is organised by the Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) which is made up of community members and partners, including the council. Its role is to scrutinise the police and enable the community to engage with the police. 

 

Following the meeting, the SNB will work with the police to ensure action is taken on the issues raised by residents. 

 

The meeting will take place on Monday 27 January, from 6.30-9pm at the Grand Hall in Brent Civic Centre. Refreshments will be provided, and there is no need to register in advance. The event will also be webcast online.

 

Reminder Safeguarding Conference om knife crime - tomorrow 6pm Newman College

Cllr Tom Miller reacts to Tuesday's Wembley stabbings

Brent Council Press Release

Two men were stabbed in Wembley on Tuesday night. Our thoughts are with the victims, who are recovering in hospital, and we are assisting the police to understand what happened.

Like most of us, I am appalled by the violent crime epidemic sweeping the country.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 people have been murdered on the streets of the UK - with nearly half of those being stabbings.

Each death is a huge waste of a life. It's a brother or sister who won't come home, a parent who won't be able to raise their kids, a bright future taken away. Each life taken leaves huge gaps, ripples of grief that spread as the family and loved ones try to pick up the pieces.

Two of the murders this year, the death of Jodie Chesney in east London and Yousef Makki in Greater Manchester, sparked a national debate on knife crime. While some say the reduction in police numbers has no bearing on the level of knife crime on the streets, I'm not convinced.

As the money central Government gives councils continues to be cut, the safety net gets even more stretched. Young people are more vulnerable to getting caught up in the 'county lines' drug trade. Every time a recreational drug user smokes a spliff or does a line of coke they should seriously consider that their pleasure could be threatening the life of a young person from a much less privileged background.

In Brent, we are not immune to this national situation. On Tuesday night, passers-by witnessed a double stabbing on Empire Way, while two men were recently charged with the murder of Florin Pitic's who was attacked at Queensbury Tube Station in early March. But I'd like to reassure everyone that we are working extremely hard to minimise incidents like this.

We are working in partnership with the Police to divert criminals from re-offending. We are out and about on the streets coordinating interventions and activities to support not just known offenders, but also those at risk of being exploited or drawn into a life of crime.

We recently compared monthly knife crime offences in Brent between August and December 2018 with the same months in 2017. The drop is around 29%. Brent has also seen a large fall in knife injuries in young people - the second biggest in London. This is down to some great preventative work and shows good progress, but we must continue on this trajectory.

That is why we work closely with families like the Serunkuma-Barnes' and the Hansons' - who both tragically lost their sons in unprovoked violent attacks - to explore more ways we can tackle violent crime together as a community.

While I welcome the recent police funding announcement, I know that enforcement alone isn't going to solve this problem. We need to look at the whole package and that means more prevention - not less. We need the resources to enable us to work more closely with teachers, social workers, parents and young people themselves to prevent the bloodshed on our streets before it happens rather than just locking people up afterwards.

Violent crime affects us all, be it directly or indirectly. The sooner we realise this and see it as a problem that we all need to try and prevent together - rather than just an enforcement issue - the better it will be for the people who are dying on our streets.

Cllr Tom Miller

Lead Member for Community Safety, Brent Council

Brent to set up Knife Crime Task Group - where's the youth representation?

The Resources and Public Realm Committee of Brent Council is to set up a Knife Crime in Brent Task Group. Members will be councillors Kabir (Chair), Gbajumo, Johnson, Chappell & Stephens plus Richard Harrington, Senior Policy and Scrutiny Officer.

A Public Health approach to the issue is advocated:

Give that Brent Council has closed most youth provision in the borough, including infamously the Stonebridge Adventure Playground, I am surprised that an assessment of impact of closures is not in  the terms of reference and that youth organisations (or even the Youth Parliament) are not listed as consultees. It would have been useful to have representatives of the YP on the Committee itself.

KNIFE CRIME IN BRENT TASK FORCE

A.         CONTEXT

KNIFE CRIME IN BRENT MEMBERS TASK GROUP TERMS OF REFERENCE

In London, the total number of offences involving knife crime has increased by 4%, and in the last year in Brent, it increased by 18% to 755 knife crime offences. This was the 3^rd highest level of knife crime of the 32 London boroughs.

Knife crime is not only an offence; it impacts on the health of victims, and their families and peers. The cost to the NHS of each stabbing is upwards of £7,200.

Violence acts like an epidemic disease, and can be tackled using a multi-agency public health approach. This involves treating violence as a preventable public health issue, using data and analysis to identify causes and focusing on prevention through multi-agency systemic approaches.

In Brent there are a number of interventions already in place for older children and teenagers, while early intervention programmes for younger children are currently being developed.

B.         OBJECTIVES

The aim of the task group is gain a better understanding of knife crime in Brent and how interventions can reduce knife crime, and which ones will work locally. With this knowledge the task group can make recommendations that will help in reducing rates and mitigate negative impacts on Brent residents.

According to the constitution and the 2006 Police and Justice Act the group can make recommendations to the Community Safety Partnership through Full Council when discharging their duties as the Crime and Disorder Committee.

The task group will:

Review the links between knife crime and gangs in Brent

Review partnership working arrangements

Review what can be done locally to complement the wider London public health approach, including:

The use of Red Thread and other violence interrupter schemes

Street based interventions
Education and employment opportunities for ex-offenders
Using education for nurturing children to prevent crime

Early intervention scheme for different ages, including younger children

RED THREAD