Agenda item

The Commissioner of the City of London Police to be heard.

Members received an update of the Superintendent of the City of London Police and the following points were made:

During the discussion the following points were noted:

a)    Operation Luscombe had been relaunched to tackle begging, given the increasing footfall to the City and the rise of the night-time economy. However, numbers are low in comparison to 2018 when Luscombe was launched.

b)    Luscombe offers an alternative to criminalisation via enforcement of the Vagrancy Act, as it provides clients with 4 offers of assistance before prosecution; ie – a green ticket, which is an  informal invitation to attend a hub with drug workers, mental health nurses and the homelessness team in attendance.  Further acts of begging result in an amber ticket and a red ticket which results in exclusion from the City for 3 months.   The offer of assistance at the hub remains throughout the process.  Further to issuing a red ticket, 3 more breaches will result in the Police applying for a criminal behaviour order, which is judicially mandated.  At this stage the Police can request any restrictions it feels appropriate; to minimise the impact on the  City and its communities, and in the best interests of the client.  Over the past few years there had been very few prosecutions.

c)    All officers at the City of London Police have received autism awareness  training  and rough sleeping clients are also invited to use the services available at the hubs.   Rough sleepers might be moved on if they are causing an obstruction, but they are also referred to Street Link, which ensures that the Outreach Workers are aware of them.

d)    The City Corporation has found the correct balance in terms of provision of accommodation for rough sleepers, without generating voids.

e)    Despite some clients resisting offers of support, the Outreach Team are very persistent in trying to find the best offer to meet complex mental health and substance misuse issues. 

f)     The Police have just completed a visual  environmental audit, and made recommendations in the Bishopsgate area in respect of  re-siting bus stops, lighting, cctv coverage, environmental cleansing and unlet retail establishments.

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

1. Other London Boroughs are likely to have a dedicated Cabinet Member responsible for rough sleeping and there is a designated GLA Officer Group. There are also regular task force meetings at senior government level.   Officers agreed to expand on this as part of the briefing session after the next meeting. 

2. Members of the Sub Committee are welcome to go out on patrols with the Outreach Team or Park Guard but this is best  done on a 1-1 basis.

3. There were some issues with the phone number provided with the Street Link App but the app was being redesigned   Members asked if Homeless Link could attend a future meeting in order to receive feedback and suggestions.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.