The Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss policing in the borough, and the strategic planning and management of Greenwich's parks. The committee noted the upcoming executive decisions set out in the Forward Plan, and agreed to pick up with Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, the need for more publicity about policing in the Greenwich comms and social media channels.

Metropolitan Police Update

Superintendent Nick Jowett of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Neighbourhood Policing Team presented an overview of local policing priorities, performance metrics, and key community safety issues.

Key points from the presentation and discussion:

• Crime Statistics: Across the South East BCU¹, eight out of 11 major crime types are decreasing, including significant reductions in vehicle offences, motor vehicle crime, personal robbery, and shoplifting. Business robbery was up, but Superintendent Nick Jowett attributed this to increased confidence in reporting among shopkeepers.
• Public Confidence: Greenwich has seen the most significant increase in public confidence in policing compared to Lewisham and Bexley, with 74% expressing satisfaction.
• Positive Outcome Rate: South East London has the highest positive outcome rate² in the Met, indicating a greater proportion of solved crimes.
• Knife Crime: Knife crime in South East London is down by 23%. Superintendent Nick Jowett expressed his firm support for stop and search as a tool to reduce knife crime, while acknowledging the political sensitivities around it.
• Greenwich-Specific Data: Robbery in Greenwich is trending downwards due to intelligence-led policing and focus on hotspots. Theft from persons is also decreasing. Violence with injury is a work in progress, with efforts focused on the night-time economy.
• Night-Time Economy: Councillor Joshua Ayodele, Chair of Organisation and Communities Scrutiny Panel, asked about the challenges of policing the night-time economy with the growth of night-time venues. Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the police use intelligence and resources to focus on problem venues, and praised the local authority's support.
• Intelligence: Superintendent Nick Jowett appealed to councillors and the public to provide intelligence to the police, noting that 80% of intelligence comes from, like, a human having a conversation .
• Violence Against Women and Girls: In response to a question from Councillor John Fahy, Superintendent Nick Jowett said that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority, with a multifaceted approach including rapid response, victim support, victimless prosecutions, domestic violence protection orders, and education.
• Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB): The Met is tightening up its recording of anti-social behaviour, which may account for recent increases in reports. The police try to group incidents together to identify problem areas and create proactive management plans.
• Police in Schools: Due to financial constraints, there has been a reduction in service for schools. However, officers who were schools' officers have been folded into safer neighbourhood teams to maintain relationships with schools.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Met is exploring the use of AI and robotics to reduce keyboard time for officers and allow them to spend more time on the streets.
• Disinformation: In response to a question from Councillor Issy Cooke, Chair of Inclusive Economy and Culture Scrutiny Panel, Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the police are trying to get on the front foot with their messaging using MetEngage, a new platform for pushing out information and countering disinformation.
• Neighbourhood Policing: In response to a question from Councillor Dr Dominic Mbang, Chair of Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel, Superintendent Nick Jowett said that trust in the police has improved by 5% in Greenwich. He said that the values he is trying to instill in his teams are to be approachable, presentable, and have conversations with the public. He mentioned a Met for London Roadshow on 26 November to engage with the public.
• Knife Crime and Ethnicity: In response to a question from Councillor Dr Dominic Mbang, Superintendent Nick Jowett said that knife crime is more prevalent in young black communities due to a degree of culture and glamorisation of violence, but also noted that children living in difficult conditions are also more likely to be involved in knife crime.
• Recruitment and Retention: In response to a question from Councillor Richard Cottell, Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the Met has challenges relating to retention of staff and officers. He said that he tries to be as visible as possible and thank his team for their work.
• Charing Cross: Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the Met is a shrinking organisation, but that it is moving its workforce around to ensure that the public hopefully don't notice. He said that he has not seen or heard of anything like what was portrayed in the BBC Panorama documentary about Charing Cross police station, but that he is not naive to the fact that there may still be challenges in his area.
• Hate Crime: Superintendent Nick Jowett said that hate crime is increasing due to a polarised society, but that he is reassured that communities feel comfortable in reporting incidents to the police.
• MetEngage: Councillor Richard Cottell asked the police to make sure they use other channels and meet people where they are, rather than just using MetEngage. Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the corporate stance is that the Met is moving away from other social media and focusing on MetEngage.
• Assistance from the Council: In response to a question from Councillor John Fahy, Superintendent Nick Jowett asked for a more flowing channel of information and intelligence from councillors and the public, and for councillors to broadcast some of the successes that the police have had.
• Business Radio Communication System: Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan mentioned a new business radio communication system being launched in Woolwich and Eltham, which will link up major shops and outlets and allow them to report intelligence.
• Acceptable Behaviour Orders: Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan said that the council and police need to coordinate the use of acceptable behaviour orders³ around known offenders.
• Knife Surrender Bins: Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan mentioned the success of the council's knife surrender bins.
• Kidbrooke Police Base: Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan mentioned the success of the new police base at Kidbrooke.
• Live Facial Recognition: Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan said that AI is currently being used for live facial recognition deployments, particularly in Woolwich Town Centre. Superintendent Nick Jowett said that facial recognition is the biggest game changer since he has been in the service.
• Greenwich Park Base: Superintendent Nick Jowett said that the loss of parks police has given the opportunity to move a number of teams into the Greenwich Park base.

Strategic Planning for the Borough's Parks

Councillor Sandra Bauer, Cabinet Member Equality, Culture and Communities, introduced a report providing an update on the strategic planning and management of the borough's parks. David Stevenson, Kate Parker and Chris Inglis from the Greenwich Parks Forum were also in attendance.

Key points from the report and discussion:

• Green Flags: The council has 15 green flags in its parks, the most recent of which was Boston Gardens.
• Biodiversity Officers: In response to a question from Councillor Lauren Dingsdale, Chair of Overview and Scrutiny, officers agreed to provide information on how much the council spends on consultancy for environmental and biodiversity advice compared to what it would cost to hire an in-house officer.
• Park Runs: There are six adult park runs and two junior park runs in the borough.
• Playgrounds: The council has a priority list for playground improvements, with St Alfege Park, East Greenwich Pleasaunce and Boston Gardens at the top.
• Funding: The council applies for grants from organisations such as the London Marathon Trust for playground and sport facility improvements.
• Cricket: The increase in cricket is attributed to working with the Kent Cricket League. The council is introducing a ClubSpark booking system to get better data on where people are coming from to play cricket.
• Friends Groups: The council has a network of 30 park friends groups and an overarching Greenwich Parks Forum.
• Communication with Friends Groups: A representative of a friends group said that their relationship with the Parks, Snake and Spaces staff is excellent when they can find the right contacts, but that if they are not part of the conversation, they cannot help.
• Trees: The council has planted 5000 trees, but many have not thrived due to the warm summer. The highways team funds a dedicated member of staff to water trees, but the parks team does not have this resource.
• Sponsor a Tree: Councillor John Fahy suggested that residents could sponsor a tree and water it themselves.
• Parks Budget: Councillor John Fahy asked if the parks budget is taking more of a hit than other directorates.
• Parksfest: Councillor John Fahy asked how the parkfests come together and why the council is not looking for sponsorship. Councillor Sandra Bauer said that the responsibility for parkfests is really on the parks groups, and that the council provides some vague support in terms of events planning and health and safety.
• Animal Park: The council is meeting regularly with residents to talk about the future of the animal park.
• Tree Maintenance: Councillor Dr Dominic Mbang said that some trees are overgrown and hitting double decker buses.
• New Developments: Councillor Dr Dominic Mbang asked if the council has the opportunity to make a contribution towards playgrounds when new developments are built.
• Events in Parks: The council has published the events policy on its website. People are allowed to have events with up to 30 people for free.
• Derelict Buildings: Councillor Joshua Ayodele asked about the ideal outcome for the semi-derelict buildings in parks. Officers said that there is an opportunity for the building in Maryon Wilson Park to be converted into a park cafe, but that the building in Southwood Road Park should probably be demolished.
• Demographics of Friends Groups: Councillor Joshua Ayodele asked about the demographics of the friends groups and how sustainable they are.
• Training for Friends Groups: The council provides some first-day training and volunteer risk assessments for friends groups.
• Funding for Friends Groups: Councillor Issy Cooke said that a lot of the funding is secured through friends groups, and asked if low-income communities are missing out on potential investments because they don't have the capacity to apply for funding.
• Expertise in Friends Groups: A councillor suggested that the council could tap into the expertise of people who volunteer for the friends groups, such as ecologists.
• Multi-Purpose Parks: Councillor Joshua Ayodele asked what opportunities there are to make parks more multi-purpose, given the influx of new housing in some areas.
• Citizenship Ceremonies: Councillor Dr Dominic Mbang suggested that the council could mention the friends of the park at citizenship ceremonies.

Forward Plan

The committee noted the upcoming executive decisions listed on the Forward Plan.