Agenda item

Consideration was given to the following motion, notice of which was given by Councillor Greenwood and which was seconded by Councillor Frondigoun:-

 

This Council notes:

 

The need to prioritise community safety in our borough and to ensure that Camden is a safe and inclusive place for everyone.

 

That crime has risen by 18% nationally since July 2019, while prosecution rates have fallen by an unprecedented 18% over the same period.

 

That whilst in government, both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have implemented dramatic spending cuts to policing budgets. This has led to Camden losing 264 patrolling police officers since 2010.

 

That the previous Mayor of London and current Prime Minister oversaw the closure of 63 police stations across London during their tenure.   

 

The shocking rise in hate crime across London in recent years and the worrying increase in Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Misogyny, and abuse targeting the LGBT+ community and disabled residents.

 

This Council further notes:

 

Camden Council’s ongoing work to introduce 900 new and improved CCTV systems across the borough’s housing estates, tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.

 

The critically important work of Camden’s Youth Safety Taskforce in reducing violent crime; and the borough’s public-health approach to reducing knife violence.

 

The Council’s successful rollout of uniformed Community Presence Officers and the positive impact that this has had on improving community safety.

 

The unsatisfactory situation facing the current Mayor of London because of successive real-terms police budget cuts imposed by the Home Office.

 

This Council believes:

 

That national government has badly let down Camden by handing down harsh spending cuts to local policing year-on-year, which means crime and antisocial behaviour has risen in Camden and across London.

 

That the Council should continue its work rolling out Community Presence Officers, who can help to fill the gaps created by police spending cuts and help to improve community safety.

 

That the previous Mayor of London was wrong to close multiple local police stations, including one in this borough.   

 

That gender-based violence must be classified as a hate crime, so that we can better combat domestic and misogynistic abuse. 

 

That the Council should continue working closely with community organisations, such as the Community Security Trust and Tell Mama, in order to better identify and stamp out hate crime in our borough. 

 

This Council calls on:

 

The Government to assess the impact of over a decade of policing cuts on community safety in Camden.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to implement local measures that will offset national cutbacks to policing and the closure of local police stations; and improve community safety in the borough.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to build upon successful campaigns for two new neighbourhood policing teams for Camden; and to campaign for investment in more community policing across the borough.  

 

The Cabinet Members responsible to launch new enforcement hubs across Camden. These should link up the work of the Council's enforcement officers with police officers.

 

An amendment was moved by Councillor Kirk and seconded by Councillor Simon as follows:

 

Delete paragraph 2.

 

Delete paragraph 3 and replace with ‘Cuts to national police budgets over the last 12 years have led to a significant reduction in the number of front line police staff in Camden.’

 

Add a new paragraph 5 ‘That the current Mayor of London has closed a further 30 police stations during his tenure.’

 

Delete original paragraph 5 and replace with ‘The worrying rise in reported hate crime across London in recent years, which reflects a real increase as well as improvements in recording; the episodic spikes, sometimes linked to government policy; and the persistence of all forms of hate crime, such as Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Misogyny, and abuse targeting the LGBT+ community and disabled residents.’

 

Delete original paragraph 6 and replace with 'The slow progress since 2019 of the Council’s programme to introduce new and improved CCTV systems across the borough’s housing estates, tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.’

 

After original paragraph 9, add a new paragraph ‘The failure of leadership of the current Labour London Mayor over his six years in office that have led to:

 

a)    A series of damaging and appalling scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, the strip-searching of Child Q, stop and search of Bianca Williams, the exchange of grossly offensive messages between serving officers and the Stephen Port case.

b)    The Metropolitan Police being placed in “special measures” by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICRF)

c)    HMICRF identifying a “barely adequate standard of crime-recording accuracy” resulting in an estimated 69,000 crimes going unrecorded. 

d)    HMICRF identifying failures to engage with victims and to tackle a backlog in responding to allegations of child abuse.

e)    A collapse of public confidence in the Metropolitan Police from 67% to 49%.’

 

Original paragraph 12, delete ‘previous Mayor of London was’ and replace with ‘successive Mayors of London were’.

 

Original paragraph 15, add new paragraphs ‘The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to lobby Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan to accept personal responsibility for the woeful state of the Metropolitan Police and to provide effective leadership to  respond rapidly to the concerns raised by HMICRF.

 

The Cabinet Member for Housing to report on the progress of the programme to deliver new and improved CCTV to housing estates and to accelerate delivery of the remainder of the programme.’

 

The amended motion therefore read:

 

This Council notes:

 

The need to prioritise community safety in our borough and to ensure that Camden is a safe and inclusive place for everyone.

 

That the previous Mayor of London and current Prime Minister oversaw the closure of 63 police stations across London during their tenure.

 

That the current Mayor of London has closed a further 30 police stations during his tenure

 

The worrying rise in reported hate crime across London in recent years, which reflects a real increase as well as improvements in recording; the episodic spikes, sometimes linked to government policy; and the persistence of all forms of hate crime, such as Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Misogyny, and abuse targeting the LGBT+ community and disabled residents

 

This Council further notes:

 

The slow progress since 2019 of the Council’s programme to introduce new and improved CCTV systems across the borough’s housing estates, tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.

 

The critically important work of Camden’s Youth Safety Taskforce in reducing violent crime; and the borough’s public-health approach to reducing knife violence.

 

The Council’s successful rollout of uniformed Community Presence Officers and the positive impact that this has had on improving community safety.

 

The unsatisfactory situation facing the current Mayor of London because of successive real-terms police budget cuts imposed by the Home Office.

 

The failure of leadership of the current Labour London Mayor over his six years in office that have led to:

 

a)    A series of damaging and appalling scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, the strip-searching of Child Q, stop and search of Bianca Williams, the exchange of grossly offensive messages between serving officers and the Stephen Port case.

b)    The Metropolitan Police being placed in “special measures” by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICRF)

c)    HMICRF identifying a “barely adequate standard of crime-recording accuracy” resulting in an estimated 69,000 crimes going unrecorded. 

d)    HMICRF identifying failures to engage with victims and to tackle a backlog in responding to allegations of child abuse.

 

This Council believes:

 

That national government has badly let down Camden by handing down harsh spending cuts to local policing year-on-year, which means crime and antisocial behaviour has risen in Camden and across London.

 

That the Council should continue its work rolling out Community Presence Officers, who can help to fill the gaps created by police spending cuts and help to improve community safety.

 

That successive Mayors of London were wrong to close multiple local police stations, including one in this borough.   

 

That gender-based violence must be classified as a hate crime, so that we can better combat domestic and misogynistic abuse. 

 

That the Council should continue working closely with community organisations, such as the Community Security Trust and Tell Mama, in order to better identify and stamp out hate crime in our borough. 

 

This Council calls on:

 

The Government to assess the impact of over a decade of policing cuts on community safety in Camden.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to lobby Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan to accept personal responsibility for the woeful state of the Metropolitan Police and to provide effective leadership to  respond rapidly to the concerns raised by HMICRF.

 

The Cabinet Member for Housing to report on the progress of the programme to deliver new and improved CCTV to housing estates and to accelerate delivery of the remainder of the programme.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to implement local measures that will offset national cutbacks to policing and the closure of local police stations; and improve community safety in the borough.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to build upon successful campaigns for two new neighbourhood policing teams for Camden; and to campaign for investment in more community policing across the borough.  

 

The Cabinet Members responsible to launch new enforcement hubs across Camden. These should link up the work of the Council's enforcement officers with police officers.

 

Councillor Greenwood, the mover of the original motion, declined to accept the amendment.

 

There was then a short debate on the motion and the amendment.

 

The amendment moved by Councillors Kirk and Simon as the put to the vote and LOST.

 

The original motion was then put to the vote and CARRIED.

 

RESOLVED -

 

This Council notes:

 

The need to prioritise community safety in our borough and to ensure that Camden is a safe and inclusive place for everyone.

 

That crime has risen by 18% nationally since July 2019, while prosecution rates have fallen by an unprecedented 18% over the same period.

 

That whilst in government, both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have implemented dramatic spending cuts to policing budgets. This has led to Camden losing 264 patrolling police officers since 2010.

 

That the previous Mayor of London and current Prime Minister oversaw the closure of 63 police stations across London during their tenure.   

 

The shocking rise in hate crime across London in recent years and the worrying increase in Racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Misogyny, and abuse targeting the LGBT+ community and disabled residents.

 

This Council further notes:

 

Camden Council’s ongoing work to introduce 900 new and improved CCTV systems across the borough’s housing estates, tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.

 

The critically important work of Camden’s Youth Safety Taskforce in reducing violent crime; and the borough’s public-health approach to reducing knife violence.

 

The Council’s successful rollout of uniformed Community Presence Officers and the positive impact that this has had on improving community safety.

 

The unsatisfactory situation facing the current Mayor of London because of successive real-terms police budget cuts imposed by the Home Office.

 

This Council believes:

 

That national government has badly let down Camden by handing down harsh spending cuts to local policing year-on-year, which means crime and antisocial behaviour has risen in Camden and across London.

 

That the Council should continue its work rolling out Community Presence Officers, who can help to fill the gaps created by police spending cuts and help to improve community safety.

 

That the previous Mayor of London was wrong to close multiple local police stations, including one in this borough.   

 

That gender-based violence must be classified as a hate crime, so that we can better combat domestic and misogynistic abuse. 

 

That the Council should continue working closely with community organisations, such as the Community Security Trust and Tell Mama, in order to better identify and stamp out hate crime in our borough. 

 

This Council calls on:

 

The Government to assess the impact of over a decade of policing cuts on community safety in Camden.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to implement local measures that will offset national cutbacks to policing and the closure of local police stations; and improve community safety in the borough.

 

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members to continue to build upon successful campaigns for two new neighbourhood policing teams for Camden; and to campaign for investment in more community policing across the borough.  

 

The Cabinet Members responsible to launch new enforcement hubs across Camden. These should link up the work of the Council's enforcement officers with police officers.

 

 

The remaining motions were not considered due to lack of time.