Agenda item

The City of London Police to be heard.

The Committee received a presentation from the City of London Police on the work being undertaken to tackle violent crime in the City.

The use of the Late Night Levy was discussed and it was asked that support be given for flexibility in the time frame in which the money could be spent to allow for preventative work to take place. The Chairman of the Licensing Committee confirmed that evidence based bids were currently being encouraged for the excess on the night time levy from the 2015/16 budget.

Members considered the different forms of violent crime and the possible action that could be taken to tackle it. It was agreed that for progress would involve cross departmental working and a greater and more efficient degree of information sharing. A perpetrator accessing a weapon from an illegally parked car was shown as an example of where the departments not directly involved in tackling crime could have an impact on crime reduction. The Director of Port Health and Public Protection undertook to liaise with the Department of Built Environment to investigate the possibility of introducing greater late night parking enforcement 

The use of Street Pastors as a method of preventing violent crime was discussed. There was a debate over the potential denominations of the pastors and whether this would affect their effectiveness in diverse communities. There was evidence that the scheme had worked well in Tower Hamlets, however the Chairman of Licensing believed that it had not met with support when it had come in front of the Committee a number of years ago. The representative from the City of London Police undertook to investigate the scheme and its effectiveness.

In response to a query from a Member on the demographic of those committing violent crime offences in the City it was confirmed that most were non-residents or workers.

Members discussed the link between promoted events at venues and violent crime. It was reported that the provision for promoted events in new and existing licenses was being restricted to tackle the increase in crime they attracted.

RECEIVED