Willesden Public Meeting with Police and Councillors - February 13th in person

 

Ask local Police Commander Roy Smith questions & make suggestions on-line next week

With concerns being voiced in the Kilburn Times over the impact of Section 60 orders on the black community in Brent it may be a good time to ask questions of the local police.

This event is scheduled for next week:

Ask police commander Roy Smith questions online

Do you have any questions about policing or crime in Brent? 

Do you have any suggestions about how we can have a safer Brent?

At Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board online public meeting from 5pm to 6pm on Wednesday 19 August, police commander Roy Smith will answer questions. Anyone can join online atJoin Microsoft Teams Meeting or telephone 020 8142 4393 and use ID: 629 035 521#. No need to pre-register.

Send your questions or suggestions before 12 noon Monday 17 August to NWMailbox.BCUCommander@met.police.uk

Fryent murders, Mina Smallman speaks out: 'Those police officers dehumanised our children'

The PM news programme on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon stopped me in my tracks when Mina Smallman, the mother of sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibba Henry, spoke powerfully to Martin Bashir about the allegation that two police officers took selfies with the women's bodies when they were supposed to be protecting the crime scene in Fryent Country Park.  She also questioned the 36 hour delay in the police launching a hunt for the two women when they were reported missing.

She said:

Those police officers dehumanised our children. They were nothing to them and what's worse they sent [the photographs] on to members of the public.

This has taken our grief to another level.  If ever we needed to understand that institutional racism within the police force, and other institutions, the Church of England, education..If ever we need an example of how toxic it has become: the police officers felt so safe, so untouchable, that they felt they could take photographs of dead black girls and send them on.

The full 8 minute interview is on BBC Sounds here: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08j49rb

Channel 4 Report  including Dawn Butler MP (Labour, Brent Central) Interview

End drug-related crime - Public Meeting: How drugs affect us and our community - Brent Civic Centre May 21st

End drug-related crime - Public Meeting Drugs affect us and our community

7pm-9pm Tuesday 21 May 2019 Brent Civic Centre Grand Hall Tea and coffee from 6.45pm

How can we stop the violence and exploitation caused by drugs? Have your say – make a difference 

Find out:

• whose lives are affected by drugs

 • how drugs fuel exploitation, crime and violence 

 • what the police are doing 

 • how mentors with first-hand experience can help 

What can we all do now and in the longer term?

How can parents help?

How can young people help? 

How can schools help?

How can policy and legislation help?

 Hear what the panel say. Ask them questions. Make suggestions.

 PANEL

•  Louis Smith, Police Superintendent, North West London
• Tom Sackville and Mary Payne, Brent substance misuse service
•  Danny Coyle, Headteacher of Newman Catholic College 
•  David MacKintosh, drugs policy adviser
•  Brent Youth Parliament member 
• St Giles Trust mentor for schools

 Organised by Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board

Vigil in Harlesden over police 'over-reaction' during arrest of young black man

The West London Stand up to Racism and Brent Trades Council have called a vigil on Tuesday 9th October 6.00pm in Craven Park Road NW10 8Sh near the New Atlas Cafe following the arrest of a young man which involved six officers restraining him and the use of pepper spray to the outrage of passers by. Bystanders tried to intervene to stop the police from over reacting and there is a feeling of outrage that this could happen in Harlesden.

Police called to Brent Civic Centre as Village School strikers protest

From the Brent National Education Union

The NEU members of The Village school in Brent took their protest to the steps inside Brent Civic Centre again today. As about forty staff, on strike for the second day this week against the proposed academy trust, moved onto the steps with their banners, frantic security staff rushed over. One tried to prevent a banner proclaiming NEU staff say no academy at Village school being unrolled. The campaigners calmly continued, holding up placards and flags, and singing their protest songs. 

Yesterday, after their morning picket, they were seen writing letters on the very same steps without complaint. When the police finally arrived today, the Civic Centre having been regaled with a variety of songs and chants and becoming the centre of attention, the protest was packing away. The security staff called the protesters ‘disruptive’. However, the police saw no breach of the peace and were very sympathetic to the strikers, understanding that privatisation was affecting all public services. 

We have been reliably informed that the responses to the consultation were OVERWHELMINGLY against the proposal (including more than 95% of TVS staff). This further crushing blow to those backing the scheme comes after Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council declared public opposition of both himself and the Labour Cabinet to handing over this valuable Council asset (the new school cost £29 million) lock, stock and barrel to the privateers. 

The Governors meet next Wednesday 28^th to make the decision, but papers sent to Governors clearly recommend agreement to become a Multi Academy Trust. Such is the assumption this will go ahead, the next item on the agenda is a discussion of the Articles of Association and even the suggested name for the MAT. NEU staff are determined to keep up the fight to save their school from being privatised. They will be on strike tomorrow (22^nd) and next week on 27^th and 28^th as well as turning up at the Governors meeting.

Public denied access to brook side walk after police advice

Impression of new development

It emerged last night at Brent Planning Committee that the public will be denied access to a walk beside the Wealdstone Brook which forms part of the redevelopment of the Amex House site in North End Road, Wembley.

There has been a long-time aim of naturalising the brook and increasing public access but the police have advised that because it does not provide a 'natural thoroughfare' (ie leaves North End Road and moves in a loop around the development and then rejoins North End Road) it could be liable to anti-social behaviour.

This would seem to put other potential access as a result of redevelopment at risk as the same argument coud be used as brooks and rivers meander and don't provide straight A to B thoroughfares. The police seem to have ignored walking for pleasure as something that nearby residents may want to pursue in an area with sparse greenery.

The Wealdstone Brook eventually joins the River Brent where there is a riverside path down to Monks Park and the North Circular and this is a recognised local amenity.  There is also a walk along the Brent and the canal feeder between St David's Open Space and Neasden Lane/Blackbird Hill. It is hard to know why these are fine but Amex House is not.

Councillors were concerned about potential flooding of the site and the level of pollution in the brook. The Environment Agency has opposed the development wanting it further away from the brook and this means that despite it being passed last night it will have to be referred to the Secretary of State.

The Committee also passed development applications for the Powerleague site next to Wemblety Stadium and Wembley Arena, Cottrell House, Warranty House (Dudden Hill Lane) and extensions to Ealing Road Library.

There were no public representations against any of these schemes - just speeches in favour from Brent Planning Officers and the developers' agents.

Note: I suspected there was an issue regarding public access to the brook side walk when the officer's report was vague about it. I received no answer when I contacted the Planning Department by email  and phone asking for clarification. The police advice is not included in the report to the Planning Committee.

Cllr Miller meets with Borough Commander on alleged Islamophobic attack

Cllr Tom Miller, Brent's lead cabinet member for Stronger Communities has released the following statement on the alleged Islamophobic attack reported in the Kilburn Times:

I recently received an allegation about some racially/religiously aggravated criminal damage to a car. There was a further complaint that police were not taking the initial complaint about this matter with seriousness. I can't give full details of the complainant or the investigation taking place, but I would point out that victims of crime deserve to be listened to and this is no exception.

I take these matters very seriously indeed. As well as making clear that we will not tolerate criminal damage, I also want to emphasise that we take racist elements to crimes very seriously and it is important that action is taken. My immediate response has been to raise the incident with the Borough Commander, who assures me that an investigation into the incident is ongoing, and that the victim will be informed of how it progresses. I will continue to monitor this situation with the police as this goes forward.

Brent Police appeal for help to trace missing woman

[Missing: Neima Ahmed]

Police in Brent are appealing for assistance to trace a missing woman from Wembley.

Neima Ahmed, 32, was last seen at about 08:30hrs on 25 October. Neima is a Somali woman, approximately 5ft 3inches tall of medium build - she has a stigmatism in her left eye and wears a scarf covering her hair.

Neima is known to frequent Hayes, Hillingdon and has links to Hackney.
Officers are increasingly concerned for Neima's wellbeing given the length of time that she has been missing.

Anyone with information on Neima's whereabouts is asked to call police on 101 or the charity Missing People on 116000

Over-confident police have more misconceptions about legal policing issues than the public

The general public know more about issues critical to policing then than the police themselves, according to new research conducted by an academic at London South Bank University (LSBU).

Researchers examined misconceptions of legal issues by law enforcement officers compared to the general public’s knowledge on these topics. The research is the very first study to look at these misconceptions in the UK.

Dr Julia Shaw, Senior Lecturer at LSBU, and Parole Officer Chloe Chaplin provided 44 police officers and 56 members of the general public questions on several topics relevant to modern policing.

The study – published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology – asked participants to complete an online questionnaire comprised of 50 true and false items. The questions covered a range of legal topics including police procedures, dealing with mentally ill people, and eyewitness memory. Participants were asked to rate their confidence in each of their answers on a 5-point scale from one being the most confident to five being the least confident.

Despite direct involvement and relevant experience with the subject matter, the study found that police got more of their answers incorrect than the general public. Police got 39% of their answers wrong, whilst members of the public made only 37% of errors. However, police were found to be 4% more confident in their responses than the public even when wrong.

Dr Julia Shaw said: “Overconfidence is a common characteristic in professional industries, as there is an assumption by professionals that they must know more about their own topics than outsiders. However, when applied to policing, this can have severe consequences for our justice system.

“This research shows that British police do not know enough about things like how eyewitness memory works, how to effectively question suspects, and what kinds of services offenders have access to.

“While public beliefs about issues relevant to the legal system have been demonstrated to often be wrong, this was the first study to look at these misconceptions in policing. It is expected that the research will be used to inform police training in the future.”

Greens condemn disproportionate use of tasers on black people

Green Party deputy leader Shahrar Ali has called on Home Secretary Theresa May to review the use of tasers and investigate why they are being used so often, after Home Office data showed black people were three times more likely than white people to have the weapons used against them.

Ali said:

These figures show that institutional racism is alive and well in our police force. The disproportionate use of stop and search powers against black people is worrying enough. Tasers are dangerous weapons, and their continued use, even in extreme circumstances, must be subject to review.

The public have a right to a wider debate on the deployment of tasers on UK streets and the Home Secretary must urgently look into why tasers are being used so often

Shahrar Ali, Green Deputy Leader calls for greater scrutiny of police on de Menezes anniversary

 

Shahrar Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party attended the event to mark the tenth anniversary of Jean Charles de Menezes' death at Stockwell station this morning. Speaking before the event he said

“I shall be paying my deepest respects to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes on the tenth anniversary of his fatal shooting. Their grief has been compounded by the failure of the IPCC and of our judiciary to hold any operational commander or firearms officer to account, despite the admission that mistakes had occurred.”

Baroness Jenny Jones, London Assembly member, said:

“The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes was not just a tragic error by the Met Police, but also an example of their trying to hide evidence, cover their tracks, and avoid justifiable scrutiny. I'd like to think that it couldn't happen again, but quite honestly, I think it could.”

Ali continued:

“Whilst the family seeks justice in the European Court, we also insist upon greater scrutiny of the police rules of engagement and racial profiling that allowed this to happen. We cannot abide by a scenario where a man or woman gets shot dead, out of misidentification and tactical error, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Shahrar Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party who will attend the event to mark the tenth anniversary of Jean Charles de Menezes' death at Stockwell station tomorrow morning (1), said:
“I shall be paying my deepest respects to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes on the tenth anniversary of his fatal shooting. Their grief has been compounded by the failure of the IPCC and of our judiciary to hold any operational commander or firearms officer to account, despite the admission that mistakes had occurred.”
Baroness Jenny Jones, London Assembly member, said:
“The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes was not just a tragic error by the Met Police, but also an example of their trying to hide evidence, cover their tracks, and avoid justifiable scrutiny. I'd like to think that it couldn't happen again, but quite honestly, I think it could.”
Ali continued:
“Whilst the family seeks justice in the European Court, we also insist upon greater scrutiny of the police rules of engagement and racial profiling that allowed this to happen. We cannot abide by a scenario where a man or woman gets shot dead, out of misidentification and tactical error, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
- See more at: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/07/21/de-menezes-shooting-greens-call-for-police-accountability-and-warn-of-risk-of-repeat-fatality-ten-years-on/#sthash.Q27r2hry.dpuf

More details emerge on Brent Council's investigation into Kensal Rise Library emails

Guest blog by Meg Howarth

New information has come to light about the data Brent Council handed to the police in the case of the Kensal Rise Library alleged fraudulent email affair. In a response to a query about the five ISP addresses used to post the fake comments in support of Andrew Gillick's original planning application, a senior council officer has revealed that 'the Council did provide the Police with all the IP addresses and details of how Council officers had linked these to Mr Gillick or his company via open source research'.

This is the full text of the response:

Dear Ms Howarth

I write further to your previous emails resting with your email dated 16 January 2015 and I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

In response to your query,  Council officers did not obtain the ISP subscriber details. The Council does not have the power to force the ISP Providers to disclose the subscriber details. However, the Council did provide the Police with all the IP addresses and details of how Council officers had linked these to Mr Gillick or his company via open source research.

As for the Police and the CPS, you will need to raise those queries with them.

As I stated previously in my e-mail dated 23 December 2014, if you have any queries regarding the decision of the CPS not to pursue this matter, they should be addressed to the partnership Brent Borough Chief Inspector, Andy Jones.

Yours sincerely

As stated on a previous blog (No prosecution in the Kensal Rise Library case - December  23rd 2014) 'it seems that the key to ultimately tracking back an IP address to a user is to engage with the ISP and get it (or force it via a judge) to release the data showing which client was issued with what IP address at a particular time of day'.  The question is, therefore: did Brent police seek the ISP subscriber details before handing over its dossier to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)? If not, why not? 

It was on 19 December 2014, in the run-up to the Xmas holidays, that the CPS advised Brent's Audit and Investigation Unit that 'there is insufficient evidence to proceed against Andrew Gillick'. In a New Year's Day interview with the Brent and Kilburn Times, a CPS spokesman elaborated: 'Having carefully considered all the material supplied we have decided there was insufficient evidence to support a realistic prospect of conviction in this case. The evidence did not prove this to the required standard and we therefore advised the police that no further action should be taken'.

So if Brent police didn't seek the ISP subscriber details, did the CPS do so instead? If it didn't, how could it conclude that the 'required standard' of evidence for a prosecution in the fraudulent email affair was unproven? A reply from Brent's partnership borough chief inspector and the CPS is awaited. 

Warning: Robbers posing as builders in Wembley Park

I tweeted about this yesterday evening and my neighbour who was the victim popped in this morning to give me more details.

Yesterday evening around 7pm a white English man, 30-35 years old with no discernible regional accent knocked on my neighbour's maisonette door to say he was doing some work in the flat below and to apologise for any noise nuisance.

He returned 30 to 45 minutes later to say the work had been completed and my neighbour assured him that he had heard nothing. The 'workman' turned to go and then, Colombo style, stopped and asked if he could just check the water pressure which might have been affected by the work he had done.

He went into the kitchen to the stop-cock under the sink and then asked my neighbour to hold something while he checked elsewhere. My neighbour's suspicions were aroused when the man then closed the kitchen door on him.

Coming out of the kitchen he discovered all the cupboard doors open and the man investigating a tin box. Simultaneously another man, black baseball pulled down, came through the front door which must have been left ajar by his accomplice.

My neighbour, no Spring chicken, managed to kick them both out.

Be warned.

Cricklewood sees off pitiable South East Alliance fantasists

Happy in our diversity

Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, other councillors and residents

The Brent community today came out once again in all its diversity to tell the extreme right South East Alliance that their attempts to spread division and discord in our streets was not welcome. Much to the irritation and annoyance of residents and shopkeepers the Alliance had come to Cricklewood for the fourth time to protest against what they are determined to call Muslim Brotherhood offices above a shop in Cricklewood Broadway. It isn't, and never was, such offices and the HQ is in Austria. Never mind, the SEA meandered their way to Cricklewood, fuelled by pub stops, huddled outside an undertakers and at great public expense, in the form of police overtime, shouted a few inaudible slogans.

In their delusion they will represent this as an enormous victory, complete with Star Wars style soundtrack, on a YouTube video.  It wasn't - it was just a tad pathetic.

20 or so South East Alliance outside the undertakers

They are a tiresome group and North West London  United hope they won't come again - but if they do they will be opposed.

A local resident speaks to the SEA

Kensal Rise Fake Email Investigation: Brent Council knows about progress but haven't told the public

Regular readers will remember that the Mystery of the Fake E-mails has not been solved. Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council,  having avidly pursued the matter early on seems to have lost his appetite for an answer to the question of who wrote the fake emails and to whose benefit? 

The emails were written in support of an earlier planning application for the redevelopment of Kensal Rise Library. Despite the investigation not being completed Brent Planning Committee approved the  recent planning application by the developer Andrew Gillick.

Now a Freedom of Information request has established that Simon Lane, Head of Audit and Investigations Team at Brent Council was last updated by Brent Police on the investigation on July 16th 2014.

Brent Council had no information on when the investigation was likely to be completed.

Surely it is of the utmost public interest for Brent Council  and Brent police to pursue this matter. An attempt was made to subvert the Council's planning process and in the course of this the identities of Brent citizens were stolen.

Rather than a Miss Marple mystery we now seem to have a rerun of the Hancock classic,The Last Page:

New anti-racist group launched in Brent

A new broad-based group was set up last night to challenge racism in Brent. The group, Brent Anti-Racist Campaign (BARC) will take up issues in policing, housing, immigration, employment, education and any other areas where racism becomes an issue. BARC will also get involved in running 'Know your Rights' workshops for young people.

Chalkhill kids get on their bikes as school invests in cycling

With safe cycling in Brent under scrutiny at the Brent Cyclists hustings tomorrow I though it  might be worthwhile to look at some positive things happening on the Chalkhill Estate.

Chalkhill Primary School has used 'Healthy Schools' money to buy bike and scooter storage:

There are two of these covered bike racks with helmet storage

Scooter rack

Sustrans have used their police connection to get some unclaimed stolen or abandoned bikes for the school and the school has spent a grant of £2,000 to buy 10-12 bikes for use by children without bikes.

The teacher in charge has trained in Cycling Profiency and there train chldren and others. He works with Sustrans on bike safety and there is a Dr Bike safety and repair service.

 Cycling Club runs before school every Wednesday. Children can use the large playground to improve their skills and control before other children arrive, The children who attend have named themselves the 'Bike-it Crew',

The school runs a special Bikers' Breakfast with a free breakfast, film and other events.

Cycling is also integrated into the sports and PE curriculun with children taking the bikes out for on and off road training.

Meanwhile 5 minutes up the road from the school additional cycling facilities are taking shape. The children were consulted by the designers of the facility which consists of a BMX track, family cycling track and a scooter course.

BMX track under construction in St David's Close

Part of the circular Family Bike Track

Police ask Green blogger to remove UKIP tweet

From the Guardian LINK

Police have asked a blogger to remove a tweet that fact-checked Ukip policies but did not break any laws after receiving a complaint from a Ukip councillor, prompting concern over attempts to stifle debate.
Michael Abberton was visited by two Cambridgeshire police officers on Saturday. He was told he had not committed any crimes and no action was taken against him, but he was asked to delete some of his tweets, particularly a tongue-in-cheek one on 10 reasons to vote for Ukip, such as scrapping paid maternity leave and raising income tax for the poorest 88% of Britons.

Abberton, a Green party member who writes a blog on science and green politics, described the incident on his Axe of Reason blog.

"The police explained that I hadn't broken any law – there was no charge to answer and it really wasn't a police matter.

"They asked me to 'take it down' but I said I couldn't do that as it had already been retweeted and appropriated, copied, many times and I no longer had any control of it (I had to explain to one of the officers what Twitter was and how it worked). They said that they couldn't force me to take it down anyway."
However, to show goodwill Abberton removed all instances of the offending tweet.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: "A Ukip councillor came across a tweet which he took exception to. The name of the person on the tweet was identified and that individual was spoken to. We looked at this for offences and there was nothing we could actually identify that required police intervention. Clearly, the councillor was unhappy about the tweets. If every political person was unhappy about what somebody else said about their views, we would have no politics."

As for being told not to tweet about the visit, the spokesman added: "I don't know if he'd have been told that. It's certainly not the advice I would have given him. A gentleman has a right to free speech – absolute total right to free speech – we can't tell people what they can and can't say on the internet, as long as it's within the law. We certainly don't go to people's houses and say: 'You can't tweet about this'. This is not 1930s Germany."

On his blog, Abberton made it clear that the two police officers were extremely professional and polite, but he did wonder why they had visited him at all.

"It wasn't until after they left that I questioned why they had visited me in the first place. A complaint had been made but with no legal basis. Not a police matter. So why did they come to my home in the middle of a Saturday afternoon? Also, seeing as my profile doesn't have my location – how did they know my address, or even the town I live in? … Why would a political party, so close to an election, seek to stop people finding out what their policies are or their past voting record? And is it not a matter for concern that a political party would seek to silence dissent and debate in such a manner?"

Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, who was contacted by Abberton, said he was awaiting a detailed response from the police.

"It seems astonishing for the police to get involved, there was nothing abusive or threatening in the tweets so I do want to know why they acted, and I want to know why the police told Abberton not to tweet about the visit."

Huppert said he was pleased that Ukip's policies were coming under scrutiny.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party, said: "This police action is both disturbing and surprising. That an apparently general complaint from a political party about not liking what was said about them could have led to a police visit that many would find intimidating is an extremely serious incident that demands immediate investigation. Free speech is a precious right that we must defend."

Bennett said the party's only member in the House of Lords, Jenny Jones, would write to Theresa May, the home secretary, to ask her to investigate.

"What a waste of police time, energy and resources," Jones said. "Their job is to investigate crime and catch criminals, not restrict free speech."

Alert after fatal dog poisoning in Fryent Country Park

Police are alerting the public, and particularly pet owners, of a poisoning danger in Fryent Country Park, Kingsbury.  Three dogs have died after ingesting organophosphates in what appears to be intentional poisoning.

Pet owners and parents should be aware of any foodstuffs which contain blue colouring or any tablets or pellets left on the roadside, paths or in undergrowth.

If you suspect your dog of eating the poison immediately seek veterinary assistance.

Contacts: Peter Rowntree at Harlesden police Station 0208 733 3804
Brent Council Animal Welfare Officer 0208 937 1234