Agenda item

Report of the City of London Police

Members considered a report of the City of London Police updating them on recent significant activity. The following points were noted:

-       It was anticipated that the “16 days of action” would lead to a reduction in the domestic violence figures.

-       A Licensing action week would be taking place to tackle licensing infringements.

-       Preventative action was being taken to lower the amount of Cycle Thefts, including bicycle marking and cycle mounted officers

-       The proactive Operations in place to tackle anti-social behaviour, Operation’s Acton, Alabama and Fuze, were all going well. 

St Mungo’s Helpline

The Chairman questioned the reliability of the St Mungo’s telephone line, following an incident with a homeless person in the City. It was agreed that helpline numbers needed to have a positive response, so callers knew what action, if any, was being taken. The Director of Community and Children’s Services undertook to investigate the issue.

Noise Complaints

The Director of Port Health and Public Protection questioned the City of London Police’s handling of noise related incidents at licensed venues, and whether the information was reliably shared with the licensing and public protection departments. The Acting Superintendent reported that such incidents were dealt with alongside premises management, and as such were recorded as “interventions”, so would not be denoted as noise related in the records. It was agreed that the Police would better liaise with the Licensing Department on noise related incidents going forward.

There was a further discussion on how effectively staff at licensed venues challenged people in their premises who were obviously intoxicated. It was reported that 702 licensing visits had been carried out by the City of London Police and it was clear that this was not happening as effectively as it could be. Incidents were treated as a training/staff management issue; it was felt that premises understood that a failure to comply threatened their license.

The Member representing Business in the City confirmed that licensed premises did work together to guard against intoxicated groups from gaining entry to venues.

Offers

There was a concern that an increase in offers and deals on alcohol were contributing to the problem of anti-social behaviour. It was felt that these were difficult to tackle as were always carefully worded and operated within the licensing objectives of the venue.

RECEIVED