7 September (Part 1) - Crime and Disorder on public display in the council chamber
Yesterday evening saw a meeting of the Crime and Disorder Overview and
Scrutiny Committee, a special one called following the fourth fatal stabbing of a
young person in the borough in the last five years. Representatives of outside
bodies had been invited; the Fire Brigade, Youth Council, Neighbourhood Watch,
the Church, the Probation Service, someone from Charlton FC, Bexley’s director
of Youth Inclusion and Colin Knox, father of Rob Knox killed with a knife in Sidcup in 2008.
Among the regular attendees was the councillor who
went on national TV a month ago to announce her view on crime and disorder
“Councils must find a way around the law” and police Commander Stringer who will
have to do a lot to persuade me he is not guilty of perverting the course of
justice by putting a stop on my Freedom of Information request within hours of
becoming aware of it. The meeting was well attended by councillors, most of whom
have never before merited a mention on this website, however neither the council leader
nor her deputy saw fit to attend.
I can see the need for such a meeting to try to convince residents that the
council is doing something about knife crime but I fail to see what it achieves other than a
mention in next week’s News Shopper. Residents don’t seem to be very interested.
Faces that didn’t belong to councillors, invitees and council staff were fewer
than a dozen and seven of those belonged to people I had suggested attend myself
plus a couple from the local press. The reason I believe the meeting will have
achieved nothing practical is that reasonable questions were asked, mainly of
Commander Stringer, and the answers, when one was given at all, revealed little.
The recent murder is sub-judice. At the end of it no one was going to
charge off and implement any new and worthwhile initiative.
Not all questions were reasonable, some weren’t questions at all. Councillor
Craske (Blackfen & Lamorbey) spent five minutes honing his waffling skills,
praising every aspect of the council’s response to the recent murder in Welling
along with the police and voluntary bodies, but no ideas on what could be done
to prevent further loss of life. Not even a simple question to the Commander.
Councillor Val Clark (Falconwood & Welling) did a lot better, she reminded the
Commander that the Prime Minister had said every knife carrier should expect to go
to jail and wondered why they did not and some only got a caution. Commander Stringer
replied that that was incorrect and said that everyone carrying a knife gets charged.
I can feel a Freedom of Information Request coming on to see what the statistics reveal.
Councillor Steven Hall (East Wickham) asked several intelligent questions, among the subjects was
school bus patrolling and what action is taken to control parents who have no
interest in their children. We learned that Commander Stringer was very active
in seeking the withdrawal of Oyster cards from travelling miscreants and the director of
Youth Inclusion said that parents could ultimately be made to sign parenting
contracts, be subject to parenting orders, or have their children put in care.
Councillor James Hunt was also interested in buses, referring to the considerable
number of children who came to Bexley’s schools from Bromley and Greenwich and
asked how the police bus patrols were tackling that. Commander Stringer said
that the way the patrols were tackling it was “pretty good” which was both
illuminating and reassuring.
Councillor Katie Perrior (Blackfen & Lamorbey) told us that for crime and disorder
Bexley was “the envy of the rest of London” and for evidence of how important that was
to Bexley people pointed to the public gallery saying “look at the turnout”. All ten
of us were duly flattered. Katie then launched into an impassioned speech about how
thoroughly awful some parents are. They are “a disgrace” and she is “staggered
by what she is told”. Some are “scared of their own sons” and “parenting classes
are costing millions”. I’m sure she is right; I’m sick of hearing young mums
around the shops near where I live pushing buggies effing and blinding at two year olds while dropping
cigarette ash on their heads. Ms. Perrior went on to say our “social services are
fantastic”. So fantastic that a mother of my acquaintance faced with a misbehaving
seven year old snapped and slapped him on the calf and for her attempt to control a
possible future rioter Bexley council sent in not only the social services but
the police too and then temporarily placed her child with a carer. The child now
knows exactly how to get his own way in future. But full marks to councillor
Perrior for injecting a bit of life into the meeting, her Sky TV skills served her well.
The Fire Brigade Commander, Cyril O’Brien, asked what standards of behaviour
were expected at schools these days. Was there anything written down? No one
seemed to know, so councillor Chris Ball (Erith), a teacher by professions, chipped in with
the answer. Every parent of every child signed a behavioural contract with the
school. That’s OK, then. No school will ever burn down.
It was said about school heads that some felt they had nothing to learn from
outside bodies because their own schools had no gang or knife problems. Since
the recent Welling murder a bit more realism had been noted.
Councillor Maxine Fothergill (Colyers) thought some youngsters lacked respect
for authority or indeed anyone. Commander Stringer disagreed. Councillor John Fuller
(Lesnes Abbey), who I believe referees youth football teams in his
spare time, mentioned the abuse heard at football games by both sent off
youngsters and their parents. He clearly had concerns about the lack of respect too.
Councillor Hall came back with another interesting question, he wanted to know,
with obvious allusions to the recent riots, what Commander Stringer was doing to
combat the “rumour mill”. The Commander admitted that rumours about impending
doom and destruction for Bexleyheath after the night of rioting had circulated via Twitter and admitted
that there was no mechanism in place to circulate accurate information. But there
is now. Councillor Philip Read (Northumberland Heath) had a question about rumours too. This one was about the
claim that there had been a stabbing at the Danson Festival. He said it had
spread following a comment by Richard Barnbrook, the Greater London Assembly
member, at a GLA meeting and was entirely without foundation. It was said that
Mr. Barnbrook had apologised to our local member, James Cleverly but there had
been no public apology. Mr. Richard Barnbrook was elected on a British National
Party ticket but resigned the whip due to alleged financial irregularities in
the party as a result of which he was expelled by its leader Nick Griffin. Councillor Read’s introduction of
the subject was probably politically motivated but it was a fair enough point
that needed to be cleared up nevertheless.
Councillor Clark got in on the act again by mentioning the plight of elderly
people who are in fear of crime; they won’t go shopping at school turning out
time for example, and lock their doors at six o’clock. Commander Stringer agreed
that elderly people could get anxious when confronted by half a dozen noisy
teenagers on a street corner but no one suggested what might be done about it - so
maybe I should do my bit to help.
As a grey haired old fart who vaguely remembers clamping his hands over his ears
in an air-raid shelter, may I say that travelling on a bus at school out time is
perfectly OK so long as you are wearing ear-defenders, that teenagers on street
corners are not interested in old people wandering by beyond asking them if they
can let them have a fag but not opening the front door after dark is probably a
good idea unless you wish to talk to someone trying to flog cheaper energy.
Commander Stringer while bragging that reported crime was down 12% spoke up in
favour of ‘knife arches’ and implied, if not said, that he was going to stick
some up in Bexleyheath Broadway. Councillor Ball thought this would do wonders
for Bluewater as local shoppers ran in fear of their lives. A young man from the
Youth Council, Robert Smith, said that knife arches at school entrances would
increase the fear of knives among pupils.
Councillor Malik (Thamesmead East) asked if the budgetary reductions were going to affect Crime
and Safety. Commander Stringer said it was hard to say. Increased poverty could
conceivably increase domestic violence but it could equally well reduce alcohol
induced crime. As for his own police force, he was going to lose five sergeants
and gain five constables so there was no change to police numbers.
Colin Knox, the
founder of a charity devoted to fighting knife crime spoke at length. He
tried to explain what the impact of losing a child on family life is,
devastating and something that will never leave you for the rest of one’s life.
Let me quote from his website…
We feel that stiffer sentences need to be put in place to halt the senseless
carrying of knives. There is no need to carry a knife about you when walking the
streets of the UK. A knife is a weapon, and weapons should not be allowed to be
carried, and ultimately used. What we are seeking is a minimum six months
mandatory custodial sentence for anyone carrying a knife in public.
Mr. Knox went on to say he had met many politicians, he had spoken at
many of their meetings but “although they were present, they were not there”. I
think I know exactly what he means. When my family met Hazel Blears (Home
Secretary in 2004) because of the murder of the private eye, Daniel Morgan, she
clearly did not absorb anything at all. She said afterwards that the police
investigation of the late 1980s was “up to the standards of the time”. An
investigation which has more recently been acknowledged by the Met as “One of the most
deplorable episodes in the entire history of the Metropolitan Police Service"
and “a disgrace”. Maybe given the way our local police investigates certain
crimes, Hazel Blears had a point.
One of the councillors present mentioned in passing that he had experience of
being apprehended by the police and subjected to a stop and search. In the absence
of evidence to the contrary I shall assume he was entirely innocent and I have
no intention of starting unjustifiable rumours, hence no name, but he said, to considerable
amusement around the chamber, that when he identified himself as a councillor,
the police changed their tune and offered him a lift home. That is exactly how I
would expect Bexley police to behave in any investigation involving Bexley council.
The Youth Council has been busy conducting a survey of young people’s attitude
to crime in Bexley and had published their findings based on 45 of them who
attended a conference in Bexley. A further 55 were allowed to comment
on-line. I doubt that self-selecting
sample would be approved by any polling organisation but the results were interesting
none-the-less. Graffitti was reckoned to be the
most “problematic” crime in the borough with drugs being rated not a problem at
all. The conclusion was that there is no drugs problem in Bexley - on the other
hand it may mean that young people do not see drugs as a problem - which is not
quite the same thing. Nearly 20% (the graph does not show a precise number) of
the young people surveyed had been arrested which seems a staggeringly high
total to me. But then I grew up at a time when the police were looked upon as
allies and commanded respect. Now our Commander can’t be bothered to investigate
a crime properly, not even interviewing the prime suspects because they are his
friends. Respect is a distant memory.
Notes : Mr. Richard Barnbrook of the GLA is not related to
and should not be confused with Mr. Michael Barnbrook who sometimes makes
contributions for this blog, although it may be fair to say that like most
people he has no time for Richard Barnbrook’s (ex) party leader.
The questions and answers presented above are not in the original sequence and I
had to leave the meeting as it was winding down. I doubt very much that I missed
anything significant, the question session had finished.