Many thanks to those attended the Business Against Crime.
Minutes and Actions from the last meeting
· Load crime prevention advice booklet to DISC – complete.
· BID to spread the communications on reporting crime – complete and ongoing.
BID Crime and Safety Updates
· March – April Stats (% change to same period last year):
-436 visitor enquiries (+67.0%)
-229 business crime assists (+86.2%)
-186 ASB incidents (+75.5%)
-65.7%% / £1,564.89 recovery of stolen goods (61.7% / £5,918.97)
· Pleased to have collaborated with partners to get one female to get the support they needed and it has also freed up resources that were needed due to the anti-social behaviour.
· End of April we collaborated with Essex Police Business Crime team, Town Centre Police team and Community Safety team to help launch the Open for Business, Closed for Crime campaign.
· Team are due to be taking on some more courses in the upcoming months including more extensive Mental Health Awareness and First Aid training courses.
· Team also now join a weekly outreach meeting involving rough sleepers to make sure services are aware and help get individuals the support they require.
· We have budgeted for additional cover for a Street Ranger every Saturday in July and August to help cover for a possible rise in staycations.
· Night time economy group meet every month and is applicable for all businesses that open between the hours of 6pm and 6am. Looking to collaborate on safety campaigns and promoting events going forward. To attend email hello@southendbid.com
Community Safety Team (CST) Update
· Training a new group of contracted officers – have a team of 6 officers and supplement these with contracted staff for additional support. Training up new staff as some have moved on.
· Summer shift times kick in: 2pm – 10pm working later to support hot spots.
· COVID impacted ASB with a rise of 253% mainly due to neighbour complaints.
· Town centre breaches of the PSPOs will now be moving forward again.
· One individual has been banned from the town centre. Hoping the impact will be positive as less ASB will be seen. Couple of high profile, prolific ASB individuals have also been banned and another is banned from any form of alcoholic activity in the zone.
· Cycling enforcement process – hopefully be live very soon currently with council’s legal team. Offenders will now be able to receive a fine which should have a positive impact as receiving lots of complaints and issues.
· Whole of June/July/August and Sept – particularly at weekend
· Beach Welfare Officers (BWOs)are reallocated to the pier and foreshore team but not met the Community Safety Officer (CSO) team yet.
Street Pastors Update
· Starting night time patrols this coming weekend (Fri 28) from 8pm-10pm and depending on feedback this would continue.
· Continuing to put a team out on Saturday afternoons in parks and also include Hamlet Court Road once a month.
· Started day time pastor activity isiting local parks, Southend and Leigh and patrolling Hamlet Court Road. Will keep an eye on this.
· Less Street Pastors at the moment - so will be slightly stretched.
· Once restrictions are eased it is hoped to re-start their training programme in first aid and general street information. Beginning from the end of June. and also get new recruits interested.
Town Centre Police Team (TCPT) Update
Unable to attend but provided an update in their absence:
· Launch of Project Servator at the end of April and deployments have occurred across the high street and seafront.
· It is a national project, in which officers receive specialist training to identify tell-tale signs that someone may be feeling anxious or under pressure. We look for these signs being displayed as a reaction to a uniformed Police presence, which is usually an indicator that someone may have committed an offence or may have such criminal intent. Those identified are stopped and questioned in a specific way, which is designed to illicit information.
· The other key part of Project Servator is around the engagement and comms. On each deployment we will work with and engage with as many partners and businesses as possible, to spread awareness and ensure we are all working together to look out for anything suspicious. We also spread the message by engaging with as many members of the public as possible to spread the key messages and get them looking out for and reporting suspicious behaviour. All designed to make the area impossible for hostiles to work in, and drive them out of the area. We are very much at the start of our journey with this, but we will continue to grow Project Servator locally, and spread knowledge of it.
· Joined the Open for Business, Closed for Crime launch and felt it was well re, so I won’t go too much into that, but hopefully it has been well received.
· Increase in car cruises over recent weeks and plans are being made as to how this can be tackled. A request has already been made for ongoing support from our Operational Support Group and Traffic, and we have already seen an increased presence from them. Update at the next meeting (ACTION).
BCU Update
· New stats will be available to make everything much more accurate.
· Open for Business, Closed for Crime campaign real success and launching in other towns. · Focusing on business crime and the abuse towards staff – which has gone up 100%. Taking action and applying Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) to help stop this.
· 30 individuals now have CBOs for the most prolific offenders will be up to 40 by the ender of June. Equating to up to200 years of prohibitions. Has resulted in an 82% decrease in crime for those offenders.
· Working on an aide memoir in relation to reporting crime. Main issue that their hearing is when reporting crime they expect to see an officer but only likely to receive an officer if it’s a current incident or major crime. All detail does go onto a system and will be further investigated. This needs to be better communicated better to increase reporting crime (ACTION).
· Organised crime being targeted for retail.
· What do people want from the business crime team – impressed with the knowledge and experience of the Street Ranger team.
· Looking at meetings for training security staff.
Attendee questions or concerns
· Support mechanisms around the town are really good.
· One business suggested that they have a lack of time and resources to review crime outside their business so not always as focused on what’s happening – allocating a staff member to be responsible for this.
· Increasing patrols in the area is doing a great job – seeing a lot more unwanted characters.
· Suggestion that Veolia need to change their times – businesses are often to go outside their perimeters to clean up rubbish.
· Attendees told about access to MySouthend to report any immediate litter or public realm concerns.
· Street pastors look for glass bottles in the night patrols and place these in the bins and sweeping up broken glass.
COVID
· Phase three of reopening occurred from the 17th May and plans are in place for phase four to take place from the 21st June.
· Welcome Back Fund provided to Local Authorities from the Government will be used to encourage people back to the town – events, aesthetics, etc.
A.O.B
· One of the bigger events planned coming up is the Southend Pride parade and events in mid July. To get your business involved email hello@southendbid.com
We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email hello@southendbid.com to attend the next meeting on Tuesday 27th July or provide feedback.