Meeting at a glance
The meeting covered the Panel's local community-safety priorities and other matters raised by residents, police and partners.
Panel leadershipRobberyVehicle crimeAnti-social behaviourVAWG priority
Opening and panel business
- Niall announced his formal resignation as chair of the panel. Stacey Smith was nominated by Niall and seconded by Sue Clarke, who also accepted the position of vice-chair. Marc Richeux offered to be secretary and this was accepted.
- There was a discussion about priorities and the number that could be pursued. JG queried why violence against women and girls was not a priority, given some worrying trends. The police team said that this was a Met wide priority, but that it could be made a 4th priority for the team, in terms of street violence, not domestic, since that was tackled elsewhere. There were concerns raised later in the meeting about the adequacy of lighting around the athletics track and how best to alert women and girls about particular issues of safety. It was advocated to use the Furzedown Network (groups.io/g/furzedown) as an effective means of reaching local people.
Action: KP to see if data can be extracted regarding street violence, to see if there are particular streets where there is a persistent issue. This could then be put on social media, especially the Furzedown Network.
- KP to email JG with details of how to contact the inspector re raising this issue.
- JG to check on lighting and camera issues with the council.
- TH reported on the work of the Cassandra Centre which is seeking to tackle domestic abuse in particular.
Robbery
- There had been a general improvement:
- 5 incidents in the last 3 months (downward trend)
- High visibility patrols
- Good liaison with other agencies (eg council, schools)
- CCTV improvements and can be viewed by officers 24/7.
Vehicle crime
- 20 incidents in the last 3 months (downward trend).
- Team were being most proactive around this (leaflet dropping etc)
- ANPR operations targeting stolen vehicles (AS said that this can only be used for ‘live’ thefts – it can’t be used to check back after the event.
- TfL doesn’t automatically share its data from cameras (due mostly to data protection issues?)
- The advice was to call 999 if you hear something (breaking glass etc) in the night. DC said that people weren’t encouraged to do that because of the lack of response from the police on a number of occasions (including poor response from the call handlers). KP urged people to persevere with using 999, as officers wanted the opportunity to catch offenders in the act. She said the response time should be 15 minutes at night.
- NB asked If social media could help get the positive messages out to local residents. KP said that there were plans along those lines which she could report on at the next meeting, after it had launched. Furzedown Net was again mentioned as an appropriate forum for our community.
Anti-social behaviour
- 13 incidents in last 3 months (downward trend).
- Team trying to be proactive in speaking with the public to establish where ASB is happening and approaching groups when they see them on patrol to deter and give warnings.
- Question re people smoking illegal drugs on private property (but affecting others): AS advised that if reported, they could make enquiries, as being in possession of such drugs anywhere was an offence.
- Ongoing problems over drug-dealing on Faylands estate: keep reporting any suspicions or incidents, as the police need up-to-date evidence on which to base action, particularly times and specific locations.
- Flytipping – report to council. Police can assist with ANPR evidence where available and will arrest with enough evidence.
- Blegborough/Leverson/Eardley Triangle: DB reported new cameras are poorly positioned.
Action: JG will follow up with council.
Burglary
- Burglary – 3 incidents in last 3 months (downward trend).
Any Other Business
- Warrants had been producing good results and there would be more in the coming months.
- Facial recognition had been used effectively in Tooting town centre to arrest wanted suspects.
- Shoplifting initiative was being conducted along with Tooting Broadway SNT and Colliers Wood SNT. Some police officers had been seconded for this task.
- Select DNA (new property marking solution) trial had begun – the police would be evaluating the response and hopefully rolling it out.
Priorities agreed
- The Furzedown Team would continue with the current priorities, but include violence against women and girls.
Source: the meeting-minutes document supplied to the Furzedown Safer Neighbourhood Panel website. The source document does not state a separate draft/approved status, so this page labels it simply as published meeting minutes.