At a meeting of the Hounslow Borough Community Police Consultative Group held on Monday, 11 July 2005 at 7:00 pm at Ground Floor Hall, Chiswick Catholic Centre, 2 Dukes Avenue, Chiswick W4 4AE. Present: Voting Membership: Abdul Ansary Bangladesh Welfare Association Andy Atkinson Hounslow Residents Group Mr J Bach Secondary Schools Headteacher Dominique Banza-Mwenze Disability Network Hounslow Flavia Beckwith Crime Prevention Panel (Brentford Chiswick and Isleworth) Mohammad Chaudhry Hounslow Town Twinning Association Mr K.L. Chopra Vedic Cultural Society Brian Close Heston Residents' Association Mel Collins Grand Union Developments Lata Dhiri Bereavement Services Hounslow Amar Girdhar Hindu Cultural Trust David Hardman LBH Neighbourhood Watch Association Hassan Isse Somali Consortium Basil Mann Hounslow, Heathrow and District Synagogue Mrs N. Yousef Isleworth Muslim Womens’ Association Non-Voting Membership: Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei Metropolitan Police Hounslow Chief Inspector Gareth Morgan Metropolitan Police Hounslow Inspector Adrian Baxter Metropolitan Police Hounslow Councillors: Councillor Morgan-Watts Councillor McGregor Councillor Lal Apologies for Absence Councillors Carman and Edwards. Tony Arbour, Jo Bacquenois, Brenda Baptiste, Teresa Brown, Ashton Bynoe, Vivienne Cox, Meenu Dhiri, Andy Fielding, Bridget Jemmett, Alan Keen, Ann Keen, Anne Maloney, Javed Mirza, Mahmood Mirza, Brian Robinson, Leslie Robinson and Mohammad Saleem 82. Welcome and Apologies for Absence The Chair welcomed the inclusion of 5 new Council representatives to the Group and expressed his hope for the continued positive involvement of the Council in the consultative process. He also welcomed members of the group and the public to the Chiswick venue 83. Minutes of the meeting held on May 23rd 2005 and Matters Arising The minutes of the meeting held on 23rd May were agreed and signed as a correct record, with the following correction: Minute 75 – London Wide Update: The Chair noted that the good practice guide was being compiled by the London Wide PCCG Chairs Forum in association with the MPA. Matters Arising: On the presentation given by Ossie Stuart, Basil Mann queried whether the role of the Faith Officer could be taken as a more substantial matter in the future. The Chair asked that Ch. Insp. Morgan consider this matter further. Mel Collins also referred to Ossie Stuart’s presentation and noted that a presentation had also been given to the Disability Community Forum in June. Ch. Insp. Morgan informed Mel that a meeting would be held the day after this meeting to look at the issue of moving forward with the recommendations made at the last meeting and that measures would be put in place before the next meeting in September. The Chair also reminded members that the Disability Network Hounslow had been asked at the July meeting to help compile a sheet with BSL signs for local Police use. 84. Neighbourhood Watch Association - presentation Eric Perkins gave members a detailed presentation on recent history of the Neighbourhood Watch Association in Hounslow and the neighbouring boroughs, paying particular note to the fact that the number of registered schemes had fallen dramatically from around 300 active schemes in 1980 to just 73 active schemes in 2004. Since January 2005 the number of active schemes increased to 80, covering only 10% of the borough. The size of schemes could vary from between 12 to 600 households. CPCG members acknowledged the difficulties in promoting new membership and were encouraged by the proposals to increase the number of schemes to 100 by the end of 2005 and to 150 by the end of 2006, which would provide 20% coverage of the borough. Eric Perkins noted that the introduction of PCSOs and Safer Neighbourhoods teams provided a huge opportunity for the NWA to get its message across to the community and to encourage the establishment of further schemes. He suggested that some form of formal agreement should be put in place between the Police, the Council and the NWA in order to set and achieve agreed objectives and to increase the accountability of the NWA, particularly in light of the recently published Community Safety Strategy 2005-08. The Chair thanked Eric for his informative presentation and attendance at tonight’s meeting. 85. Stop & Search - demonstration and talk Insp. Adrian Baxter gave a short PowerPoint presentation (which can be found on the electronic version of this set of minutes) on the operational aspects of the Stop & Search initiative. In response to questions he confirmed that the information taken from a completed Stop & Search questionnaire would be later entered into a number of separate databases at the Police Station (as stipulated in the Macpherson Report). He acknowledged the fact that the questionnaire was a long form but stressed the fact that Police officers were obligated to fill it in if they were requested to do so by the individual who had been stopped. In response to a question on the possibility of providing officers with handheld computers Insp. Baxter acknowledged that Wandsworth borough Police had piloted such a scheme, but highlighted the current difficulties in finding a system that would be robust enough to stand up to heavy use in the field. The Chair thanked Insp. Baxter for his presentation and called for a 15-minute refreshment break in the meeting. 86. Police Progress Update (Including Crime Statistics) Ch. Supt. Dizaei informed members that the events in London on July 7th would have implications for all officers in the MPS including an increase in the fear of crime amongst the population. On a more local level there would be a need for the Borough Commander’s office to provide further reassurance to the community as a priority and in particular the Muslim community, in order to prevent any backlash, as had been the case post September 11th 2001. He expressed his support of D.A.C. Brian Paddock’s comments that the Muslim faith had nothing to do with criminality. Members supported the call to recognise the impeccable work carried out by the emergency services and acknowledged the creation of a group to gauge tension indicators in the community and to stay in touch with a number of hate crime victims around the borough. A number of Hounslow officers had been called to London and other officers in the borough were being deployed to provide visible policing and reassurance. Ch. Supt. Dizaei invited all members of the CPCG to get in touch with their local communities and expressed his support of the statistics taken from the Residents Panel survey showing the high number of people who felt safe in their areas both during the day and at night (Page 14 of the submitted agenda pack), something that pointed to an overwhelming perception that Hounslow was a safe borough to live in. Basil Mann thanked the Borough Commander for his attendance at a recent meeting of the Hounslow Jewish Community and Councillor Chopra congratulated the Borough Commander and the Brentford Sector Inspector, Lindsey Hannigan, for the successful arrests, which had resulted from an anonymous complaint passed to the Police. Councillor Morgan-Watts wished to congratulate the author of the very informative submitted Police reports. Jonathan Bach, who was attending his last meeting as the representative for Secondary School Head Teachers, noted that he had conducted a lot of work with the Police and highlighted the fact that the relationship between the local Police and borough schools had developed greatly over the years. He offered his continued support to build on this relationship in order to combat crime. 87. Sector Inspector's Policing Plan - Chiswick Sector Report Agenda Items 6 and 7 were taken as one item at the meeting 88. Local Policing Matters The Chair asked for questions from the members and the attending public. Barley Mow Public House, Chiswick: A local resident highlighted the anti-social behaviour issues associated with a large number of young revellers leaving the establishment at the end of the night and asked what could be done to remedy this. Insp. Tim Smith responded by confirming that a high number of complaints had not been received on this issue. He encouraged members of the public to contact the Police with their concerns so that the matter could be investigated. Temporary retail structures encroaching on the pavements: Lata Dhiri asked who might be responsible for the encroachment onto public footpaths by local traders in the Hounslow West area. She raised concern that elderly residents and those with poor mobility were hampered by temporary structures, such as vegetable display boxes, etc. Members agreed that this was a Council issue and Councillor Lal offered to look into the matter, as the representative for Heston & Cranford. Ch. Insp. Morgan also stated that he would pass the matter to the Hounslow West team Abstractions to London: Andy Atkinson asked whether Safer Neighbourhood team members would also be called up to London when necessary, despite the promise that they would be ring-fenced to their ward. He also raised concern at the impact these abstractions would have on the protection of religious venues, in light of recent events. In response, Ch. Supt. Dizaei confirmed that the ring fencing of officers had always been subject to the so called “9/11” clause, which came into effect when the security of the country was at stake. He confirmed, however, that Hounslow had released less than other boroughs on the day and that he himself, together with Ch. Insp. Morgan, had personally visited the Mosque and Gurdwara and moved CCTV cameras to protect them. Ch. Supt. Dizaei confirmed that aid would be forthcoming from across London if a major incident were to occur within the Hounslow borough borders. Is there a gulf between the Police and the community? One local resident raised concern at the length of time taken to respond to complaints, particularly with regard to criminal and anti-social behaviour in the community.