Contents

Appendix E - Partnership delivery in 2023

Crime figures

Overall crime figures rose slightly over the past twelve months in Bexley compared to the previous year, and this mirrored the pan-London picture as a whole. The last of any COVID-19 restrictions ceased in December 2021, so any data comparisons for the past two years carry no associated caveat. Some increases have been seen around crime types normally associated with the night-time economy, in particular, some rises in violence and alcohol-aggravated offending. We have also seen a rise in acquisitive offences that could be attributed to the cost of living crisis, such as shoplifting, theft and robbery. Overall, however, crime continues to be slightly lower across London when compared to 2019 pre-COVID levels.

Met Police

From the MPS perspective, crime nationally, across London and in Bexley has very much returned to pre-pandemic levels, and local crime levels have reflected national trends, which have been exacerbated by a number of social and economic factors, including the cost of living of crisis. The MPS have sustained a number of proactive operations to deal with organised crime and continue their success in closing county lines, which are frequently the driver for serious violence. This has been supported by a number of local operations led by Operation Trilogy and the Violence Suppression Unit. There has been an impact on local policing with significant and sustained abstractions required to support the policing of protests in Central London, but work in hotspots in Bexley to address violence has been supported by Home Office funding for additional patrols.

Data in the MPS relating to serious violence includes offences of violence with injury, personal robbery, possession of weapons, homicide and knife crime. There was an increase of +6.2% in serious violence offences across London comparing 2022 with 2023, and +8.4% increase in Southeast BCU. Bexley recorded a +1.6% increase. For knife crime offences across London reflected a worrying national trend, with an increase of +17% for London, +21.4% for the BCU and +22.9% for Bexley, albeit the relative numbers of offences was low compared to neighbouring Boroughs.

Knife crime offences includes the possession of knives and blades detected by police as a result of stop and search, and so a proportion of the knife crime offences can be attributed to the deployment of proactive policing units across the BCU and Bexley including the BCU Violence Suppression Unit, the Violent Crime Task Force and TSG. The picture regarding knife crime victims is relatively better, perhaps reflecting this proactivity, with a +3.7% increase recorded for London but a -2.2% reduction for the BCU and -3.8% reduction for Bexley. During 2022, there were four homicides in Bexley. Personal robbery increased by +32.7% from 226 to 300 offences, 36% of which were knife-enabled and 30% involving the theft of a phone.

Serious Violence Duty

The Serious Violence Duty (see Serious Violence Duty and Appendix B) was introduced in January 2023 and placed a duty on CSPs to formally tackle serious violence and hold the governance for the response to the duty. Part of the duty was to produce a Serious Violence Joint Strategic Assessment (JSA) and a Serious Violence Strategy for the borough.

Both the JSA and this refreshed Strategy will be submitted to the Violence Reduction Unit at the end of January 2024. The Executive Summary from the JSA is included as an appendix, and wider gaps and recommendations will, in turn, feed into the Violence and Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan (VVRAP). Oversight and implementation of the plan come from the BCSP Executive Group and the BCSP Serious Violence Working Group, respectively. 

Victims

In 2023, there was a continued focus on community and victim engagement thanks to the funded Violence and Community Risk Co-ordinator, Hate Crime and Modern Slavery Officer and the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Co-ordinator being in post. This increased capacity within Community Safety Services increases the community offer for victims of, as well as a focus upon perpetrators of, serious violence.

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)

Whilst not one of the four main themed areas of consideration within this strategy, the clear and evident need to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) has been included locally within the BCSP priority of Violent Crime. This recognition has also meant that a new theme area of VAWG has been included in the latest VVRAP template. VAWG now has its own working group, strategy and action plan. A number of public awareness sessions and training opportunities have helped to raise its profile and rightly given it the consideration it deserves. Environmental impact assessments have taken place in geographical hot spot areas where VAWG offences have occurred, prompting a VAWG pilot to improve the physical landscape within a designated ward area and promotion of reporting services for offences and/or feelings of safety and support.

Community

The involvement of the community in the response to serious violence and the disruption of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), particularly in Local Super Output Areas (LSOA) of violent crime, has led to more joined-up work between statutory services and the third sector, as well as an increased intelligence flow allowing for earlier intervention. A local Parent/Carer Network better supports families dealing with the complexities of young people at risk of contextual harm, and this has been well received.

Ongoing work with commissioned third-sector providers has allowed a widening of the scope of offer for victims of CCE. A commissioned, deployable outreach bus has allowed for increased and focused youth work in areas of greater risk as well as providing flexibility to respond to community incidents. In addition, primary and secondary school workshops have been funded to deliver exploitation and peer pressure awareness sessions, which help young people to make more informed life choices.

Community engagement was the final but one of the most important aspects of the strategy to be realised. This had been hampered by a reduction in resources as well as complications brought about due to COVID-19. However, since 2021, improved links have been made, and conversations had, that resulted in a greater understanding of the ‘local picture’ working more collaboratively with communities and groups in Bexley to help tackle serious violence.

National Referral Mechanism (NRM) Devolved Decision Pilot for Children

In December 2022, the London Borough of Bexley was chosen to be one of 20 local authorities (including 10 existing sites) in a bid to the Home Office to deliver a pilot devolving responsibility to make local National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decisions for children. The NRM is a framework for referring and identifying potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring that they receive appropriate support.

The vast majority of reasons for referral were due to forced criminality, including County Lines. Within the monthly child exploitation training workshop, awareness to refer and best practice of quality assurance is delivered to professionals. Having the local panel has meant that the overall decision time on an NRM referral has reduced from as much as 500 days down to an average of just 53 days.

Case Management Panels

The Borough’s Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) protocol includes the Children at Risk of Exploitation Safeguarding Task Group (CREST) Panel. This provides scrutiny and advice for high-risk cases for victims of exploitation and focuses on adolescent vulnerability and risk, and includes all aspects of contextual safeguarding.

The Violence Intervention Panel (VIP) offers interventions to victims and perpetrators of violence and is not restricted by age. It also looks at enforcement, home visits with partner agencies can take place if required, and the panel also considers the bigger picture in regard to themes, locations and if needed, looks at a cohort rather than just individuals.

The amount of offences committed by those referred into the ASB Case Management Panel continued to increase this year, as has their seriousness. With more individuals being worked with by the ASB team in Community Safety, more referrals have been escalated to both the CREST and VIP panels as appropriate.

Violence and Vulnerability Reduction Action Plan (VVRAP)

The quarter 3 VVRAP update will be submitted to MOPACs Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) for review in February and continues to be promoted as best practice as an example of a collaborative approach with realistic and deliverable outcomes. The latest template now incorporates VAWG as an additional themed area.

Funding

Projects funded by MOPAC for the 2022 to 2025 funding round of the London Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF) strongly reflected the risks posed to individuals and the community around serious violence. This remained a broad whole system approach by funding projects that spanned education, prevention, early intervention, as well as enforcement and support.

There are a number of funded services through the VRU and the Home Office, and their performance has made a difference to victims, their families and the wider community. These include:

  • £50,000 for the continuation of the Violence and Community Risk Co-ordinator role
  • £86,000 for a Community Capacity Building project to support incident response
  • £40,000 for Serious Violence Duty delivery – data analysis and additional school workshops
  • £50,000 for an NRM Panel Co-ordinator to service the Children’s NRM Decision making pilot

Drug Strategy

The BCSP Delivery Group works closely with Public Health to formulate a coordinated response to the government's recently published 10-year drug strategy. The drugs market is widely recognised as one of the main drivers for serious violence and organised criminality and cuts across all four themed areas of the strategy.

Further implementation

With regards to further implementation of this strategy, the priority for 2023 was firmly linked to the continuation of the excellent work commenced by the Violence and Community Risk Co-ordinator and wider community engagement and delivery from commissioned services. This focussed on referring via the most appropriate case management panels for engagement, support and, where necessary, enforcement. It also ensured that community engagement was continued with the intention to engage with local community groups, gathering evidence on the local issues around violent crime and promoting multi-agency working and access to support services for families, victims, and perpetrators of serious violence.