Agenda item

Inspector Deborah Yeates will provide a verbal update on this item.

Deborah Yeates gave a community safety update to the NP as follows:

Neighbourhood Team Restructure

Having reviewed the demand on the local teams and supervisors we have made some changes to the way we work.  We have also aligned our beats to the council ward boundaries following the changes in May.  The team sergeants are as follows:

1)         Neighbourhood Area: St Pauls & Easton: PS Helen Riddell, PS Mark Aston, PS Chris Green

2)         Neighbourhood Area: City & Riverside (includes Lawrence Hill, Barton Hill and Redcliffe): PS Andy Whelpton

Graffiti

PC Stuart King has seen a period of long term sickness, however he has returned to partial duties in the last fortnight.  When he resumes full duties PC King’s first graffiti task will be to tackle tagging in The Bear Pit.

An NP member pointed out that play equipment and play surfaces at Dalrymple Park had been ripped up as they did not comply with appropriate Health and safety measures. However, there were no current plans to replace them.

Prostitution

The work of Operation Boss continues and is headed by PS Emma Slade, and completes around four operations per month.  We are currently working on ways to increase this capacity and training up other staff to become more expert in matters such as modern slavery.  There are a number of operations ongoing at the current time which cannot be disclosed to the group currently but as and when this is possible, we will do so.

A Councillor referred to a recent report in the Evening Post which indicated that three quarters of brothels had links to the criminal fraternity involving human trafficking, drugs and money laundering. Deborah Yeates pointed out that since off street trafficking was currently tackled by only one officer, measures were being put in place to upskill existing officers.

The NP noted that great care was required in tackling this issue since many of the women were extremely vulnerable. The Police did a great deal of work with 125 in this area.

Licensed Premises

The Jolly Roger remains closed as per the Licensing hearing earlier in the year.  One of the conditions for operation was to install a new Designated Premises Supervisor.  As yet this has not taken place.  Further updates will follow as appropriate. 

Not a licensed premise, but police are very much aware of the problems surrounding Decourcy House on Wilder Street.  A number of talks have taken place with the landlord/owner and the council. 

Days of Action  - Enforcement, Engagement and Reassurance

Operation Blueline is still running, which contains the enforcement arm of our work to tackle drugs in East Bristol.  We are seeing increasing numbers of what appear to be ‘cuckooed’ premises housing vulnerable missing persons, some under 18 years.  A number of high level offenders have been arrested of latee.  PS Green is completing a review of the enforcement action in the last twelve months which we will make available to the Partnership. 

PC Darren Weston from the Easton Neighbourhood Team is still running regular drug user engagement days which aim to find drug users and offer them a direct route into services by teaming up with drugs workers from our custody drugs engagement teams.

Street Drinking

The current focus is The Bear Pit/city centre and some areas of Fishponds where we have seen a displacement from the city centre.  We welcome reports of street drinking and any new locations you see so that we can deal with this and/or offer the necessary intervention. 

The Area Co-ordinator confirmed that there were persistent problems on Stapleton Road between the Railway Bridge and Masala Bazaar.

Asian Jewellery Burglaries

The NP briefly discussed the recent large number of cases of these burglaries – 50 cases within the last month. It was noted that awareness of this issue should take place with faith organisations.

Hate Crime

It was noted that, following Brexit, the increase in the number of hate crimes had reached a plateau but was still higher than before. Deborah Yeates indicated that she would provide a full Hate Crime Update for the next NP meeting at 6.30pm on Monday 28th November 2016.

Action: Lindsay Hay/Deborah Yeates