--- title: "Tackling Alcoholrelated AntiSocial Behaviour in High Street" type: "pdf" year: "2015" canonical: "/projects/796" --- # Goldstein Awards 2015 Application form # Table of Contents - [Goldstein Awards 2015 Application form](#goldstein-awards-2015-application-form) - [Details of application](#details-of-application) - [Contact Information](#contact-information) - [Section 1: Summary of Application](#section-1-summary-of-application) - [Section 2: SARA](#section-2-sara) - [Scanning](#scanning) - [Analysis:](#analysis) - [Response:](#response) - [Licensing:](#licensing) - [Enforcement:](#enforcement) - [Environmental:](#environmental) - [Support](#support) - [Licensing](#licensing) - [Enforcement](#enforcement) - [Environmental](#environmental) - [Assessment:](#assessment) - [Police and Council recorded ASB:](#police-and-council-recorded-asb) - [Arrests:](#arrests) - [Waltham Forest Safety Net Partnership](#waltham-forest-safety-net-partnership) - [Effect of Reducing Overall Complaints of ASB, as Well as a Decline in Police Arrests](#effect-of-reducing-overall-complaints-of-asb-as-well-as-a-decline-in-police-arrests) - [Offender 1](#offender-1) - [Offender 2](#offender-2) - [Offender 3](#offender-3) - [Offender 4](#offender-4) - [Offender 5](#offender-5) - [Offender 6](#offender-6) - [Offender 7](#offender-7) - [Outreach Service Referrals](#outreach-service-referrals) - [Diffusion of benefit](#diffusion-of-benefit) - [Alcohol related ambulance calls in High Street ward:](#alcohol-related-ambulance-calls-in-high-street-ward) ## Details of application Title of the project: Tackling alcohol related ASB in High Street, E17 ## Contact Information Name of OCU/agency/CDRP/CSP: Waltham Forest Safety Net Partnership Name of one contact person with position and/or rank (this should be one of the authors): PS 3JC Alison Smith - Neighbourhood Problem Solving Team Manager Email address: Alison.Smith@walthamforest.gov.uk Full postal address: Rowan House, Cecil Road, Leytonstone, E11 3HF Telephone number: 02084966843 Alternate e-mail address: Alison.smith3@met.police.uk Name of endorsing senior representatives(s): Chief Supt Mark Collins Name of organisation, position and/or rank of endorsing senior representatives(s):Waltham Forest Police Borough Commander Full address of endorsing senior representatives(s): Chingford Police Station, Kings Head Hill, Chingford E4 Please tick box to indicate that all organisations involved in the project have been notified of this entry (this is to prevent duplicate entries of the same project): ## Section 1: Summary of Application This summary outlines an extensive ongoing piece of work focused on tackling the problem of alcohol related Anti-Social Behaviour in Walthamstow High Street and the Town Square, E17. The High Street and its adjacent town square has been blighted in recent years by groups of Street Drinkers who regularly hang around, drinking, fighting, begging and abusing passers-by. Despite the Council obtaining a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) in 2008, the problem was gradually increasing, and the prohibitions were routinely being ignored by those frequenting the area. The DPPO provides Police discretionary powers to require a person to stop drinking and confiscate alcohol or containers of alcohol in a previously defined public space Police resources that were needed to effectively enforce the legislation were limited and consisted primarily of the local Safer Neighbourhood Team. Their shift pattern was not entirely conducive to addressing the issues as they were not always on duty when the problems were at their worst. This small team also had many other responsibilities within the ward that were not related to this problem The Street Drinkers were seen as intimidating, even if they were not directly being abusive, or aggressive, and their presence impacted greatly on the quality of life of the residents living in, or travelling through this part of the Borough. Residents complained of the Street Drinkers sitting on their walls, throwing litter (beer cans) into their front gardens, and urinating and defecating on the pavement outside their homes. Commuters complained of the Street Drinkers begging and being abusive if they declined to give them any money. Pressure to tackle the issues was increasing and came from the Police, Local Council, and Businesses operating in the area, residents, and Councilors. # Section 2: SARA ## Scanning In November 2011 - A ward Councilor expressed concerns, describing the location as a "risky" area. In a letter to the licensing department she wrote: "The High Street ward has the highest crime rate of any ward and also has serious levels of deprivation. This combination of factors as well as environmental factors has led to an increase in street drinking. There are consequently people in the area who have serious drink problems who congregate around locations which sell alcohol and food late into the night and in the early hours of the morning" Early in 2012, the London Ambulance Service released a report which revealed a staggering 70 per cent rise in its staff being called to alcohol-related injuries and illnesses in Waltham Forest - This was the highest percentage rise when compared to other London Boroughs. Concern has been growing about the problem in the borough over the last decade, recognised by such initiatives as the council's alcohol-free zones to tackle street drinkers. In 2011/12 there were 1152 ASB complaints to the Police about Street Drinkers in the High Street. This was an enormous increase on the previous year's ASB figures with only 785 complaints. A 2 day Police operation in July 2012 resulted in 90 street drinkers stopped and spoken to by Police in the area over the 48 hour period. The names of those stopped were collated and shared with Partners with a view to identifying repeat offenders. During November 2012 there was a reported increase in Street Drinker and ASB activity in Walthamstow High Street. With Christmas approaching, there was concern that this increase in ASB would continue to escalate, especially with the expected increase in footfall in the area over this period. These complaints and the rise in concerns led to a 4 week multi-agency operation running from 10th December 2012 and 4th January 2013 - Operation Christmas Presence. During this 4 week period, Police Officers from the SNT arrested of a number of individuals for various offences. Local Authority Licensing officers and Trading Standards conducted test purchase operations in relation to the illegal sale of alcohol or tobacco to those underage and to check compliance with their licence conditions. The number of premises visited was captured as well as the number of non- compliance premises identified. This operation highlighted those premises that were more likely to breach other conditions - such as serving to those who appear intoxicated. Outreach workers were deployed to engage with street drinkers, and Partners held a multi- agency event to engage with the public and provide community reassurance. The results of this operation, whilst relatively successful - highlighted the need to address this problem holistically, looking at long-term interventions, involving all partners from the Statutory and Voluntary sector, in order to truly impact on this issue. # Analysis: There were a number of factors to consider and understand: Who were our Drinkers? - Where did they come from? What were their issues? Were they engaging with any services already? Were they Street Homeless? Why did they come to Walthamstow High Street each day to drink? Who were our victims? Why were some residents affective more than others? What were their biggest concerns? What were their expectations? How were they affected? What was it about this Location that attracted the Drinkers? What was it about Walthamstow High Street that made it an attractive place to frequent? Was there a specific premise(s) that attracted the Street Drinkers? To address the first set of questions, about the Drinkers themselves, we recognised that a lot of information would be held by our partners in the Health Service, and in the voluntary sector. Qalb is a commissioned service by London Borough of Waltham Forest to provide support to those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. We were able to obtain data from Qalb, via detailed questionnaires from outreach workers and the street drinkers themselves, using semi structures interviews. They proactively patrolled the hot spot areas and engaged with those individuals who appeared to be street drinkers and/or street homeless. This research identified approximately 61 contacts over a 3 month period of which 30 were identified as habitual street drinkers. Of these, approximately one third were defined as Eastern European. It was caveated that the data we received related to successful engagements and that those who were unable (e.g. due to language barriers) or unwilling to speak to the workers were unlikely to be captured. This could mean that the proportion of Eastern European street drinker may be higher in reality than the figures suggest, however in reality, it provided no real conclusive evidence regarding our intended cohort. Many of these clients had no recourse to public funds. As an outreach service, Qalb faced many difficulties sustaining client engagement if these clients are hindered from structured services. The rules on eligibility for benefits for people coming to the UK from abroad are extremely complex. Whether or not a person can claim benefits and, if so, which benefits, may depend on a number of factors. These include nationality, immigration status, and the circumstances under which the person arrived in the UK, whether they are deemed "habitually resident", whether they are in work or looking for work, and whether they arrived alone or with other family members. Many other factors may be relevant. Out of those Street Drinkers interviewed, 85\% were male with only 15\% female. 70\% also reported to be street homeless. They are therefore not able to access services and be accepted for community detox. As stated above, not having a permanent address precludes individuals from certain EU countries from claiming public funds. They need to show proof of an address to claim benefits and show proof of income (i.e. benefits) to be eligible for community detox. This leaves a "Catch 22" situation. Of note:- Waltham Forest has the 2nd highest population of A10 migrants (inc Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary) - 9.9\% v's the rest of London (4.5\%) In terms of other substance use, $53.1 \%$ of participants reported using other substances in the last four weeks; including heroin, crack and methadone Data held by A\&E services was also obtained and confirmed that street drinking participants in this cohort were typically male, over 35 years old and demonstrated extremely heavy drinking behavior. While heavy drinking may be expected of street drinkers, the average consumption on a normal day for a participant was demonstrated to be ten times the recommended safe daily limit for males and females. Very few individuals in this group reported having any qualifications and all individuals reported being unemployed. The most appropriate treatment for this population is inpatient detoxification followed by residential rehabilitation. Data that we were unable to obtain from QALB (due to their initial reluctance to share personal information) was whether or not any of the 61 individuals had previously received inpatient detoxification. This would have been useful to determine the success of such interventions. Research does suggest however that alcohol users, are keen for quick detox without psychological preparation to sustain the change. The purpose of an individual seeking detox is often 'to have a break' rather than to make a long term lifestyle change Whilst QALB were willing to share data around figures, and statistics they were reluctant to provide the actual names of those 61 contacts. We were not able to run further checks on those individuals with other agencies such as the Police and Mental Health Services to understand more about them and their behaviour. There key barriers that this research highlighted was - The readiness (or lack of) and practicality of homeless street drinkers to engage in detoxification - The absence of options for people with no recourse to public funds. - The reluctance of outreach services to share information on their clients Regarding our Victims - we used both Police and Council call data to identify the numbers of victims reporting ASB to the authorities, and also the numbers of "repeat victims". According to the ASB Top 20 list of repeat callers to Police, there were 3 separate victims of ASB who felt the need to contact Police on multiple occasions due to the impact of Street Drinkers on their daily lives. On top of this, In 2011/12 there was 1152 ASB complaints to the Police about Street Drinkers in the High Street. Even taking out the 3 separate repeat victims mentioned above, these figures still indicated a large number of residents/businesses/community affected. One local resident, speaking on behalf of the nearby "Residents' Association" told a reporter from the Waltham Forest Guardian that the problems with drinkers had got worse in recent years. She said: "It has started to affect our lives. My neighbour's children used to play football in the street but don't anymore because of the people hanging around. "It's a lovely area to live in but these people have started making us feel unsafe and uncomfortable We conducted a survey of 49, randomly selected members of the High Street community (both residents and those working in the area). Of the 49 surveyed - the following results were reported $75 \%$ of those surveyed were aware of the Street Drinkers in the High Street $43 \%$ of those surveyed said that they had been approached by one or more of the Street Drinkers $43 \%$ of those surveyed said that they had been intimidated by the Street Drinkers Participants were invited to explain how they feel about the Street Drinkers in the High Street. Some of their responses have been included below "I feel scared because I do not want to see these people in this area" "The people that use the Soup Kitchen intimidate me as they are drunk and they stare at me" "I am scared at the night time in the High Street because of these people shouting" "I feel scared as these people are fighting and shouting at my neighbours for cigarettes" "It upsets me and angers me as they leave litter and urinate outside my shop" "It brings the area down. Walthamstow is no longer the area where residents feel safe and happy. This area is in decline" "I hate it. I see them fighting, shouting, urinating and I know that my neighbours feel so intimidated that they avoid the Town Square and nearby area. The other questions asked related specifically to the presence of a Soup Kitchen in the area. Whilst this report recognises that the Soup Kitchen attracts a mixture of street homeless and others to the area, these responses have not been included in this report (as the Soup Kitchen itself and its position in the High Street is subject to legal challenge at the High Court) Regarding the location, - Walthamstow High Street is the longest street market in Europe, spanning over 1 km in length. It attracts shoppers from far and wide, and there is a large residential population in the surrounding streets. There is a large indoor mall adjacent to the Town Square. Both the Mall and the High Street are covered well by local authority CCTV cameras. There is also a Police office situated directly opposite the entrance to the Mall. There is a walkway that leads directly to Walthamstow Central Underground station, which is the Boroughs leading transport hub. Between the hours of 19:30-20:30 there is a Soup Kitchen situated just off the High Street that offers free meals and hot drinks to homeless people. It is run by a local Christian Group and is a magnet for Street Drinkers from Waltham Forest, as well as neighboring Boroughs. There are in excess of 116 licensed premises within a short distance of the Town Square - many of those are licensed to sell alcohol to be consumed off the premises. There are also 12 betting shops in the High Street as well as 4 Pubs The presence of the soup kitchen, unlimited opportunity to purchase alcohol, very small policing team covering a large, busy High Street, major transport hub, lack of public toilets, a range of public seating in the form of benches and a high volume of pedestrian traffic that creates greater opportunity for begging makes the area very attractive to Street Drinkers to congregate and loiter. # Response: As a result of the analysis, a Street Drinking Project Initiation Document (PID) was developed which looked to formulate a multi-agency response to tackling Street Drinking in this area with a view to employing: - Enforcement approaches (both criminal and civil) - To take a joined up approach to tackle those individuals who fail to engage in support services and whose behaviour continues to cause a nuisance and annoyance in the community. - Licensing interventions - To consider long term solutions in relation to the licensed premises in the area, as well as proactively target those off licences that might be, in some way contributing to the problem, (i.e. by selling intoxicating liquor to drunks etc) - Behaviour change interventions. - To tackle the social issues that are driving the behaviors as well as addressing the environmental issues that might contribute to making this area attractive to street drinkers It was agreed that this PID would be used to establish a tasking group which would look at delivering an action plan to tackle the issue over the remaining 2012/13 period, and into the next financial year. The group, now the Street Drinking Tasking Group has expanded from its original inception to now include representatives from: - Community Safety - ASB team - Police (Problem Solving Team and NPT's) - British Transport Police - Health (Alcohol Commissioner and Alcohol Outreach Service) - Ascham Homes (Homelessness and Resettlement manager) - Thames Reach (Homelessness and Reconnections worker) - Licensing (Council \& Police) - Qalb (Outreach Drug \& Alcohol Service) - LBWF CCTV manager - LBWF Legal Services - Funded ASBO officer This tasking group developed an action plan that was approved by all the relevant stakeholders to deliver key outcomes that it was envisaged would result in a reduction in visible street drinking activity. The action plan looked to coordinate and combine a range of interventions with partner agencies across several partnership structures, as well as develop new actions to solve the problem. The Local Authority introduced a temporary post of "Task Force Coordinator" - using local funding, to appoint an officer who would be responsible full time for delivering on this action plan, tasking partners, holding agencies to account for their actions, and briefing senior leaders on its progress. . The action plan looked to deliver a balanced approach to deliver three key outcomes 1) Reduce the number of street drinkers involved in street drinking in the area 2) Reduce the numbers of complaints to the Police or Council regarding alcohol related ASB/Street Drinkers in the High Street from members of the public by 20\% (This figure was set to fall in line with the Met's newly launched ASB strategy) 3) Mainstreaming the learning into future daily business. The action plan was divided into sub - categories as follows Support: - Improved information sharing on identified street drinkers to deliver coordinated service outcomes - $\quad$ Targeted outreach support by Drug and Alcohol Services to engage with prolific street drinkers - Coordination with homelessness and re-patriation services (where relevant); and - Use of tenancy conditions to engage with street drinkers with accommodation provided by Ascham Homes and exert further leverage # Licensing: - Voluntary agreements with off licenses not to stock cheap, high strength alcohol in known street drinking hotspot locations to reduce opportunities to engage in cheap binge drinking; - Enforcement action against license holders where there is evidence that individuals have been served alcohol when clearly drunk and - Setting of licensing conditions as a result of enforcement action. ## Enforcement: - Ongoing use of S27 and DPPO 'pour away powers' to disperse drinkers in High St hotspots. These are Police Powers that enable officers to disperse individuals from a designated area if their presence is believed to contribute to ASB and disorder. They can be told not to return for up to 48 hours. Under the DPPO legislation, officers can also confiscate alcohol and "pour" away any alcohol from an open container. - Borough wide 'Days of Action' to target and engage with Street Drinkers and - Use of civil and criminal powers against prolific drinkers including ASBOs and the use of other sanctions where appropriate to change drinking behaviour ## Environmental: - Target hardening around the High Street area to design out opportunities There were a number of risks and challenges to the delivery of this project that were identified along the way including; | Risk | Mitigation | | :--: | :--: | | No recourse to public funds for street drinkers from A8 countries limits access to services (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary) A8 nationals are specifically excluded from the 1948 National Assistance Act, under which social services have a duty to provide support to destitute adults if they are in need of "looking after" | Use of open access and community based services where possible. Engagement of Reconnections charity and Border Agency to facilitate return of street drinker to home countries where appropriate. | | Overlap of Street Drinking group with a variety of other partner structures including, Top 20 (looking at repeat caller data regarding ASB), Town Centre Group (Working group of agencies with interest in the High Street, Rough Sleeping Group (a partnership group that addresses the issues linked to homelessness on the Borough) | Development of links with other groups. Establishment of overarching action plan designed to capture all key actions specific to street drinking. | | No partnership problem solving structure in place to hand over ongoing delivery of activities. | Discussions at BMG and with new Borough Commander to resolve structural gap in multiagency problem solving processes. | | Sharing of data with non-statutory agencies to tackle the problem | Police identified as having common law powers to share data under MOPI guidelines. Purpose specific Information Sharing protocol to be put discussed with Doi to check if required. | Under the 4 separate headings, I have listed the activities that took place in support of this action plan ## Support 1) Proactive "Tasking" of Outreach Services including :- TRIO (A funded organization that helps people access accommodation, counseling, literacy workshops, financial support, training and employment opportunities) Thamesreach - A London based charity working with homeless men and women Qalb - Outreach services that engages and advocates for drug and alcohol users Turning Point - A drop in service for individuals with substance misuse problems Each of the listed outreach services are key partners in the tasking group. They were tasked during each meeting to visit emerging hotspots, with a view to engaging with the individuals prior to Police involvement. They also shared information with regards to individuals who are - or are not engaging with their services. This assisted in the decision making process to support the enforcement piece. 2) Information Sharing - Existing Information Sharing agreements were firmed up and clarified to enable open and honest discussions about specific individuals to take place in a safe environment. Information was shared routinely during the meetings. 3) Vulnerability Checks were conducted on all individuals who were repeatedly coming to notice, and a plan of action was agreed with partners. First step of any casework involving the individuals sought opportunities to engage with support services prior to any enforcement action being considered. We would make contact with support services such as mental health teams, Outreach services and drug/alcohol services to establish what (if any) involvement their services have had with the individual, and whether or not the individual was engaging or has refused to engage 4) Ways of mainstreaming support were identified. # Licensing 1) The Local Authority and Police licensing officers worked together to promote the "reduce the strength campaign". They approached off-licences within the hot spot area, inviting them to sign up to a Voluntary Code of Conduct" committing to removal of all high strength alcohol from their shelves. A register of all premises signed up to the code was shared with relevant Police teams. 2) To date, 11 premises have voluntarily signed up to the campaign and a further 1 premises has had this imposed as a condition of their licence in the High Street. Licensing officers targeted the smaller independent off licenses that were suspected of being linked to the problem we were trying to address. The larger stores (such as ASDA etc were less likely to impact on the issues as they tended to be more responsible and would not serve alcohol to those intoxicated in the first place. Plans were in place to call licenses into a review if they breached or refused to sign the voluntary code of conduct - at which point the authorities would look to make this a mandatory condition of their license. 3) In addition, In May 2012 the Council adopted a cumulative impact policy (CIP) in the High Street area as part of its licensing policy. The CIP does not prevent new applications being submitted however; it creates a rebuttal presumption that no new licences will be granted in areas where a CIP has been adopted, unless there are exceptional circumstances to justify departing from the policy. Since its adoption 7 licences have been refused. A further 2 were granted but with additional conditions and reduced hours; 4) Operation Condor days of action utilised Partnership resources over a 2 day operation, tackling alcohol related disorder in the High Street by a series of targeted interventions on establishments selling alcohol both on and off the premises. 5) Information shared regarding premises believed to be in breach of their license, thus enabling follow up interventions by the relevant team of officers 6) Partnership licensing work around street drinking was built into daily business. ## Enforcement 1) Warning Letters were drafted and translated into various languages outlining the behavior complained about, and the potential consequences to the individual if the behavior continued. These letters were either posted or hand delivered to Street Drinkers following Police contact. The letters also contained useful contact information for some of the support services available. 2) I prepared a training package, including a Power Point presentation regarding the use of section 27 Powers (powers to disperse individuals from the locality if their presence contributes to alcohol related ASB) and distributed this to all SNT officers and Response Team officers to raise awareness of this useful Police power. 3) Using money made available by Council Leader, the Local Authority fund a specialist lawyer to assist with ASB enforcement, working closely with the officers from the evidence gathering stage, right up to, and including court appearances 4) The Local Authority funded a Police Officer role that was co-located with Council ASB officers. This Officer was responsible for gathering evidence in support of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, and presenting cases in court - primarily for Post-Conviction, but also for stand-alone ASBO's. 5) Local Authority enforcement officers were tasked to patrol the High Street daily and issue fixed penalty notices to individuals littering or urinating in the area. These patrols often took place jointly with the SNT. Details of individuals issued with a ticket were shared with the Local Authority ASB team for further ASB interventions where appropriate. # Environmental 1) It was identified that a number of signs that publicized the existence of the Alcohol Restriction Zone in the High Street were missing. The Local Authority arranged for further signs to be placed on lampposts in hot spot areas, in conjunction with the NPT. As and when signs go missing in future, replacements are ordered straight away 2) The library was identified as a key hotspot where the street drinkers would frequent, the Manager of the service was a key participant in the tasking group and this allowed for fast time information sharing regarding those individuals who were causing the most problems. The SNT undertook daily visits to the library, The Manager agreed to increase the number of security guards on duty in the library, and Police held "surgeries" inside the library itself, which enabled residents and customers to meet with a Police Officer and discuss any concerns they might have, without having to attend a Police Station. Banning letters were issued to individuals at the same time as the individual was ejected from the library following a complaint. Whilst the problems at the library were not always alcohol related - the general behaviour of the street drinkers, whilst using the library facilities caused alarm and distress to other users (e.g. smell, talking loudly, excess bags etc) 3) Local Authority CCTV operators were tasked with hourly sweeps of the hot spots in the High Street, and encouraged to report incidents of Street Drinking to Police via the Police Radio, or by dialing 101. 4) One area in particular was highlighted as lacking CCTV, creating areas of seclusion and privacy that Street Drinkers gravitated to. Local Authority CCTV manager agreed to purchase and install a new fixed CCTV camera covering the area concerned, thus limiting opportunity for the Street Drinkers to commit ASB without being captured. In addition to the above, we undertook a review of the on-going problem solving processes integrated the learning from the street drinking project into mainstream business. ## Assessment: The purpose of the Tasking Group was to report visible results in the following 3 areas:- 1) Reduce the number of street drinkers repeatedly involved in street drinking in the area 2) Reduce the numbers of complaints to the Police or Council regarding alcohol related ASB/Street Drinkers in the High Street from members of the public by 20\% 3) Mainstreaming the learning into future daily business. Progress to date includes: # Police and Council recorded ASB: ![img-0.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/15-06_london_waltham/img-0.jpeg) Police and Council ASB data has shown a continuous decrease over the past three years. In the period between $1^{\text {st }}$ September 2012 and $31^{\text {st }}$ August 2013, $7.5 \%$ decrease of ASB incidents was reported in High Street ward. In the same period the following year, an additional $17.4 \%$ decrease was recorded. The above table highlights the year on year reduction in ASB related calls to the High Street E17 over the 3 year period. This equates to 285 fewer victims affected by ASB in 2013/14 than there were in 2011/12 - which is a reduction of $24.7 \%$. Whilst investment was great during this period - it was spread across numerous agencies so no single agency bared the brunt of resourcing the initiative. This reduction was hailed a success across the Partnership. ## Arrests: ![img-1.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/15-06_london_waltham/img-1.jpeg) Number of arrests recorded in 2013/14 has reduced. Reduction of $39.7 \%$ in 2013/14 was recorded when compared to the same period 2012/13. Sections 27 directions: The number of section 27 dispersal orders issued in the High Street has increased year on year. Since June 2012, High Street SNT officers have issued 686 section 27 dispersal notices. When these figures are compared with the table above that shows a decrease in the number of individuals arrested, there is a clear indication that the low level ASB interventions appear to be having a positive impact - and individuals do not go on to breach the direction and end up getting arrested. Similar results are reflected in the Councils ASB team data which shows that in 2012/13 - the Local Authority issued 26 ASB warning letters to individuals committing alcohol related ASB in the High Street. In 2013/14 - this figure more than doubled to 62 ASB warning letters issued. Although this figure is a significant rise - it shows that by promoting the use of low level ASB interventions - this has the desired # Waltham Forest Safety Net Partnership ## Effect of Reducing Overall Complaints of ASB, as Well as a Decline in Police Arrests During the same period – Police and the Local Authority, secured 7 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders against those individuals who persistently committed ASB, despite all the low level interventions and engagements activities. The resultant behaviour change in these 7 individuals are tracked monthly at the SDTG meetings and the results are as follows: ### Offender 1 - **ASBO granted 16/04/2013**: Since being granted the ASBO at court – #1 has not been seen in the area and is believed to have repatriated back to Poland. ### Offender 2 - **ASBO granted 11/03/2013**: #2 has been arrested only twice for breaching his ASBO. The first occasion was just 1 month after being served the order and the 2nd was approximately 1 year later. He has not been seen in the Borough since. ### Offender 3 - **ASBO granted 11/04/2013**: #3 has been arrested on just the one occasion – shortly after being served the ASBO. He has not come to notice for over 1 year now. ### Offender 4 - **ASBO granted 28/06/2012**: #4 continued to breach his ASBO (6 occasions) – although the arrests were mainly for breaching a non-association prohibition, as opposed to alcohol related matters. The Local Authority subsequently went back to court in March 2014 and was successful in being granted a Borough ban. Since March – #4 has not come to notice in this Borough. ### Offender 5 - **ASBO granted 28/06/2012**: #5 (in company with #4 above breached her ASBO conditions on 2 occasions. However, since the variation to #4's ASBO above – #5 has not come to notice in Waltham Forest. ### Offender 6 - **ASBO granted 28/06/2012**: There have been no breaches since the ASBO was granted. ### Offender 7 - **ASBO granted 31/01/2014**: There have been no breaches since the ASBO was granted. There has been a significant reduction in offending behaviour in the above 7 individuals compared to their behaviour leading up to the ASBO proceedings. 42% of the cohort who received an ASBO have not reoffended in relation to Street Drinking, 14% have only offended once, and 28% have offended twice. The remaining offenders (16%) continued to breach their ASBO's and further enforcement was taken against them. (There are currently 3 further ASBO applications with the courts, awaiting a trial date) Every Individual who became subject of a full ASBO granted by the Court had the terms of their ASBO and their photograph published in the local newspaper and leaflets were designed that were distributed within the affected area. (Paid for by LA) This publicity enabled the residents to see the results of some of the work that the SDTG was doing – and empowered them to report any breaches with confidence. ## Outreach Service Referrals ![img-2.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/15-06_london_waltham/img-2.jpeg) Data received from outreach service Qalb indicates year on year reduction of the number of referrals for alcohol related incidents. This is a direct result of combined proactive patrols by the Police and Council in High Street ward over past three years. This figure indicates a reduction of the number of Street Drinkers in High Street ward. As stated, the decline in numbers highlighted above coincides with a decline in the number of visible street drinkers with whom Qalb could engage. Further to this, Turning Point Day programme is a drug and alcohol referral service operating in Waltham Forest - whilst their figures are not specifically broken down into ward areas such as High Street - the data below shows a general pattern across Waltham Forest Borough as a whole, of a steady increase in referrals over the 3 year period of the project. $2011 / 12=264$ clients referred of which 232 attended $2012 / 13=315$ clients referred of which 257 attended $2013 / 14=493$ clients referred of which 375 attended So whilst numbers of Street Drinkers in the High Street itself is declining, the numbers of individuals across the Borough as a whole accessing Drug and Alcohol services is increasing year on year. Further to this, the project has also see the integration of the street drinking work into the partnership problem solving structure as well as the expansion of the methodology to other areas of the borough. # Diffusion of benefit As well as achieving the 2 main objectives of this project - there were a number of added benefits that came about as a direct result of the work we were undertaking. I have listed those below - Research and Analysis played a key role in this project, (defining the problem, identifying the responses, and evaluating the progress) - As a direct result of this, and other Problem Solving projects - the Local Authority agreed to employ $2 \times$ crime analysts to support the Problem Solving Process - Increase in library footfall (the library has reported an approximate increase of 6000 visitors between April 2012 and April 2013). - Training was sourced by the Local Authority with regards to Problem Solving and Simple 2 Start. This training was rolled out to all partner agencies, and we were fortunate to have Alun Edmunds (the founder of S2S) to come to the Borough and deliver the training - as well as have him attend one of our Street Drinking tasking meetings. - A marked decrease in alcohol related Ambulance calls and violence related ambulance calls compared to 2012/13 financial year - coinciding with the inception of the tasking group. (see below) ## Alcohol related ambulance calls in High Street ward: ![img-3.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/15-06_london_waltham/img-3.jpeg) Number of alcohol related ambulance calls in High Street ward recorded in the period between $1^{\text {st }}$ September 2011 and $31^{\text {st }}$ of August 2012 was 124; this is $77.4 \%$ less than in the same period 2012/13. However, number of alcohol related ambulance calls had decreased in the same period 2013/14 by $25 \%$. Table2 - Violence related ambulance calls in High Street ward: ![img-4.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/15-06_london_waltham/img-4.jpeg) Violence related ambulance calls recorded in the High Street ward between $1^{\text {st }}$ September 2012 and $31^{\text {st }}$ of August 2013 decreased $22.2 \%$. This trend continues into 2013/14 with an additional $12.2 \%$ decrease. The project has been supported greatly by the Local Authority, as evidenced in the report. Councillor Liaquat Ali, Portfolio Lead for Community Safety provided the response below - "As the Cabinet member with the Lead for Community Safety, I have fully supported the Street Drink Tasking Group since its formation in 2012. Tackling ASB contributes to the Councils number 1 priority to "make our community a safer place". Organisations from across the Partnership, both Statutory and Voluntary have worked tirelessly to address the problems associated with street drinking in Walthamstow High Street. Their work has resulted in a significant drop in visible street drinkers in the area, and a reduction in the number of residents and businesses directly affected by the type of behavior. The work of this group has now been extended to include other areas of the Borough similarly affected" The Borough Commander for Waltham Forest Police - Chief Superintendant Mark Collins said "The Street Drinking Tasking Group has been extremely successful in delivering a range of interventions to meet the agreed targets set out and the template designed by the group has now been adopted by other parts of the Borough with similar problems"