Earlier this month I co-ordinated a high-level meeting with the Police, the Council’s community safety officers, the Head of the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, and my Haringey colleague David Lammy MP to specifically discuss preventing youth violence and keeping our streets safe over the summer. I discussed the area around Alexandra Park and Muswell Hill, where concerns have been raised by a number of parents and young people, and I asked that they be prioritised for visible patrols and activity.

Following a spate of incidents in the area at the start of the year, I am aware that extensive work has been taking place locally to strengthen Safer School Teams, increase high visibility reassurance patrols and work with schools and the Met’s youth engagement team to offer personal and street safety advice for young people.  We’ve since seen a drop in reported robberies in the area, but I am concerned that the problem has not gone away, and I remain in close contact with local schools and Haringey Police.

This week I’ve received an update from Haringey’s Neighbourhood Policing team lead about plans over the summer period and, importantly, how you can report any concerns to the Police.  They have told me:

• Haringey Police’s Safer Schools Team has created an end of term plan and will be in several areas, not just outside schools, but also at places where young people gather.
• Patrols have increased and an operation is running in the area across the wards of Muswell Hill, Fortis Green and Alexandra Park over the end of term week and repeating across the summer.
• Part of this operation includes unmarked robbery cars, officers on covert bikes in plain clothes and uniformed officers to assist. This will have a robbery and violence approach. They will be able to respond to calls but also be proactive in stops, using intelligence from previous robberies looking for suspects and repeat locations. There will also be PCSO’s offering crime prevention advice.
• If young people are in fear or if the crime has just happened and the suspects are nearby they should always call 999. Haringey Police have a dedicated robbery unit who operate in unmarked cars.
• For non-urgent crimes, or to report an incident that hasn’t just happened, please use the 101 service. Haringey Police have told me they’ve spoken to the service delivery manager and calls are currently being answered in under 1 minute, with call wait time at the busiest times usually no longer than 10 minutes.  Any crimes reported through 101 will be passed to the borough for investigation, and robberies especially involving young people would expect to be followed up with a physical police response.
• You can also find the local Police contacts for your neighbourhood here.

It’s really important that everyone can feel safe on our streets and in our community, but I am concerned that 13 years of Conservative failure has hollowed out our neighbourhood policing with thousands fewer officers and PCSOs.  I have repeatedly raised my concerns about this in Parliament, and earlier this year wrote once again to the Home Secretary about the cuts that have seen individual school patrol officers replaced by officers covering a much wider area.

I welcome the Met Police’s focus on community policing in their ”A New Met for London” report and have contacted the Deputy Mayor of London, Sophie Linden, to support the Mayor’s efforts to ensure our local police teams have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.

I will be holding an advice surgery in Alexandra Park Library in September and will be inviting the Safer Neighbourhood Team officers to join me.  I welcome the opportunity to chat to residents with any safety concerns.  Please get in touch with my office if you would like to book an appointment.