--- title: "Tackling Gangs and Serious Youth Violence" type: "pdf" year: "2012" canonical: "/projects/802" --- # Tackling Gangs and Serious Youth Violence ![img-0.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-0.jpeg) # Table of Contents - [Tackling Gangs and Serious Youth Violence](#tackling-gangs-and-serious-youth-violence) - [London Borough of Enfield, UK](#london-borough-of-enfield-uk) - [Project Contact Person](#project-contact-person) - [Key Project Team Members](#key-project-team-members) - [Summary](#summary) - [Scanning](#scanning) - [Analysis](#analysis) - [Response](#response) - [Assessment](#assessment) - [WORD COUNT: 400](#word-count-400) - [Scanning](#scanning) - [Analysis](#analysis) - [Victim](#victim) - [Offender](#offender) - [Location](#location) - [Temporal Analysis](#temporal-analysis) - [Gang Related Offending](#gang-related-offending) - [Response](#response) - [Improving Understanding](#improving-understanding) - [Gangs Call-In](#gangs-call-in) - [Location Based Responses](#location-based-responses) - [Assessment](#assessment) - [Challenges and Further Developments](#challenges-and-further-developments) # London Borough of Enfield, UK The Safer & Stronger Communities Board (SSCB) is a partnership of leading Enfield authorities, partner agencies and volunteer groups whose vision is to make Enfield one of the safest boroughs in London. # Project Contact Person Name: Sandeep Broca Position: Community Safety Youth Crime Analyst Address: Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield Middlesex EN1 3XA, United Kingdom City/State: Enfield, Greater London Phone: 02083791861 Fax: 02083794005 Email Sandeep.Broca@enfield.gov.uk ## Key Project Team Members - London Borough of Enfield Council - Safer \& Stronger Communities Board (Local Community Safety Partnership) - Metropolitan Police - Enfield Youth Offending Service - Enfield Social Care and Children's Services - Housing Providers - Enfield Youth Support Service - Enfield Youth Engagement Panel - Enfield Street Pastors - London Probation - Enfield Education Authority - UK Borders Association Cover Image: Identified Gang Territories within the London Borough of Enfield (Enfield Community Safety Unit) # Summary ## Scanning - Series of youth murders in Enfield (2008), three of which were gang-related. - Average of 11 SYV offences per week (2006-2009). - 13\% increase in Serious Youth Violence (SYV) (2010), 32\% increase in knifeenabled robberies. - Widespread negative media attention contributed to increasing fear of crime in local community. - Residents chose weapon and gang crime as top priority; only $33 \%$ felt safe in their local area after dark. ## Analysis - Two-thirds of victims were youths, $48 \%$ white, $24 \%$ black. $87 \%$ of incidents involved lone victim. - Black males significantly over-represented as offenders. More than half of incidents involved multiple suspects. - Offences concentrated in the east of the borough, particularly estates, transport hubs and shopping centres. - Offending temporal pattern matched closely with school timings (time of offending/seasonality). - Five main gangs identified from Partnership intelligence, two of which contributed to over $70 \%$ of gang offences. - Gang members significantly over-represented as victims and perpetrators. ## Response - Gangs Symposium and multiple training sessions held to improve practitioners' understanding of gangs. - Gangs Action Group (GAG) established to minimise violence through coordinated pathways for identified offenders and to improve information sharing. - Detailed gang and offender profiles developed. - Intelligence used to obtain ASBOs and a Gang Injunction. - Gangs Call-In developed to present opportunity for gang members to engage with support services. - Location based responses included improvements to gang-linked estates, better linking up of borough CCTV, use of deployable CCTV cameras to priority locations, improved weapon sweeps through use of metal detecting wands, knife arches being deployed in schools and dispersal zones being utilised. # Assessment - SYV decreased 11\% (2009-2011); long term, figures show 28\% reduction since peak levels in 2007. - SYV reduced 28\% in main gang hotspots; GBH and ABH decreased by 52\% and $32 \%$ respectively. - Gang-related estates experienced 16\% decrease in anti-social behaviour, with one estate achieving 50\% reduction. - Over 200 hidden knives and weapons have been discovered around the borough, including one firearm, all of which have been removed from circulation. - 34 gang members have attended Call-In sessions to date, with 22 signing agreements to stop offending. Only one has subsequently committed an offence. - Feelings of safety have improved drastically, with 61\% of residents stating they feel safe in their local area after dark (2011). - Challenges include working with gang-linked females, and dealing with potential financial pressures. ## WORD COUNT: 400 # Scanning The London Borough of Enfield has experienced persistent levels of youth delinquency since the mid 1990's. Initially this consisted of anti-social behaviour and low level incidents amounting to nuisance rather than criminal offences. Towards the early 2000's an emergence of more serious incidents of violence began to be prevalent. This was manifested by the identification of several offending cohorts and gangs, particularly around the Edmonton area of Enfield. By 2006/07 four named gangs were present in Edmonton and gang-linked violence escalated. In 2008, cross-borough youth violence resulted in a series of youth murders, three of which were considered as being gang-related. These incidents lead to further rivalries developing internally within the borough and externally across North-London, with existing gangs expanding in membership and further groups emerging in the aftermath. Serious youth violence (SYV) also continued to rise. A 13\% increase in incidents was recorded in 2010, leading to Enfield becoming the $5^{\text {th }}$ highest volume London borough for SYV. In particular, this was driven by a $32 \%$ increase in knife-enabled robberies. Heavy media attention of these escalating issues led to the area being nicknamed 'Shanktown'. Numerous articles in newspapers as well as documentaries focusing on Enfield portrayed the borough as the setting for a 'postcode war between gangs. ${ }^{1}$ Such coverage led to increased fear within the local community, particularly amongst schoolchildren and parents. This was emphasised by weapon and gang crime being [^0] [^0]: ${ }^{1}$ Enfield Independent (2011). Organisers pleased with Edmonton Peace March response. Available: http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/9094884.Organisers_pleased_with_Peace_March_response/ Last accessed $12^{\text {th }}$ March 2012. chosen by residents as their greatest priority in the annual public consultation, followed by youth crime. The 2009 Enfield Community Safety survey revealed that only $33 \%$ of respondents felt safe in their local area after dark. Additionally, $48 \%$ of residents felt that young people hanging around the streets was a very big or fairly big problem. Between 2006 and 2009 2,606 victims of youth perpetrated serious violence were recorded in 2,233 separate incidents, averaging 11 offences per week. The escalation of violence and growing gang culture led to the problem being looked at in depth by partnership agencies across the borough, including the Metropolitan Police, Council Community Safety Unit, Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Team, Youth Offending Services, Education Services, Probation and Social Care. It was identified that further understanding of the issue was required. # Analysis In carrying out the following analysis, serious youth violence (SYV) has been defined as incidents of grievous bodily harm (GBH), actual bodily harm (ABH), murder, rape and knife enabled robbery with a primary suspect aged 10 to 19. ## Victim The majority of victim's were aged between 10 and 19, with $64 \%$ of all victims being within this range. Furthermore, over two-thirds of all victims were male. The largest victim ethnicity groups were white (IC1), which accounted for $48 \%$, followed by black (IC3) contributing to $24 \%$ of victims. $87 \%$ of incidents involved a lone victim. ## Offender By definition, all offenders were aged between 10 to 19 , with 18 and 17 being the most common suspect ages. The majority of suspects ( $84 \%$ ) were male. Additionally, over half of all suspects were described as black (IC3), which is a significant overrepresentation considering that this group accounts for only $23 \%$ of Enfield's youth population. Over half of all incidents involved multiple suspects. It was noted that suspects were formally identified in less than one-in-ten instances. Therefore suspect descriptions for most incidents were the subjective opinion of victims, which may not have been wholly accurate, particularly for stranger perpetrated crimes. # Location As shown in Map 1, the majority of SYV offences in Enfield between 2006 and 2009 took place towards the east of the borough. Furthermore, knives and other hidden weapons were often found in these areas, matching closely with weapon enabled offending hotspots. ![img-1.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-1.jpeg) Map 1 - Serious Youth Violence 2006-2009 ![img-2.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-2.jpeg) Map 2 - IMD Ranking 2004 This section of the borough features the wards with some of the highest deprivation levels in London, as shown in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) map (Map 2). Additionally, the main hotspots are located in estates around the borough which are considered by gangs to be 'their territory', as well as the key transport hubs and shopping areas. Issues such as disrepair and poor security led to some estates becoming crime enablers due to little regulation of behaviour and erosion of controls. # Temporal Analysis Chart 1 shows the time of offending for SYV and knife-enabled robbery offences, 2006 to 2009. Offence levels steadily rose during daytime, followed by a sharp increase 1500 to 1700 which coincides with school closing times and the subsequent journey through the borough by a large number of young people. This school time peak is more pronounced for robbery offences as compared to other SYV categories, suggesting that the majority of these extra offences are likely to be targeted against vulnerable school age victims. Offending levels after 1700 dropped off sharply, particularly throughout the late evening / night. ![img-3.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-3.jpeg) Chart 1 - Temporal breakdown of Serious Youth Violence and Knife Enabled Robbery Chart 2 shows SYV offences during weekdays stayed fairly constant in volume, before a decline on the weekend. Between 2006 and 2009, Sundays experienced the lowest volumes. ![img-4.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-4.jpeg) Chart 2 - Serious Youth Violence offences by day Chart 3 shows the seasonal variation in SYV. Offending levels were highest between March and May, with a cyclical peak occurring in March and April. A secondary winter peak has also been experienced in October/November. This pattern matches up with school terms, with offending levels rising when school terms restart and ![img-5.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-5.jpeg) Chart 3 - Serious Youth Violence Seasonality Chart falling during holiday periods. Additionally, offending rates were found to be almost three times greater on school days as compared to weekends and school holidays. Considering all three aspects of the above temporal analysis, a clear link between school timings and SYV was established. Thus, suitable responses were chosen in order to directly address this. # Gang Related Offending In order to identify gangs across the borough and young people linked to these groups, a number of different information sources were consulted. These included police intelligence, Youth Offending Services (YOS) specialists, Safe Schools Police, school / college tutors, and online open source websites (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc). The Centre for Social Justice's 2009 report, Dying to Belong defines a gang as: A relatively durable, predominantly street-based group of young people who (1) see themselves (and are seen by others) as a discernible group, (2) engage in a range of criminal activity and violence, (3) identify with or lay claim over territory, (4) have some form of identifying structural feature, and (5) are in conflict with other, similar, gangs. Extract 1 - Centre For Social Justice, Dying To Belong (2009), pg. 48 Based on this criteria, several gangs were identified across the borough from the information collated: ![img-6.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-6.jpeg) Map 3 - Identified Gang Areas Around Enfield Since 2007, two gangs have contributed to over $40 \%$ of intelligence reports and crime - Young Dem Africans (YDA) and Get Money Gang (GMG). These groups have been responsible for over $70 \%$ of gang related violence over this period. Chart 4 shows the volume of gang flagged offences in Enfield between 2007 and 2010, which experienced a significant increase in incidents between 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, analysis of Youth Offending Service data has shown that identified gang members contribute to over $25 \%$ of youth crime whilst forming less than $1 \%$ of Enfield's youth population, a significant over-representation. This disproportionality is even more distinct when considering stabbings and serious violence. ![img-7.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-7.jpeg) Chart 4 - Gang Flagged Offences in Enfield (2007-2010) This led to the issue being considered primarily a 'Wolf' problem, due to offenders targeting different vulnerable targets at various locations Analysis of recorded crime showed that gang members were also significantly overrepresented as victims of youth violence, particularly weapon enabled offences for which they contributed to over $45 \%$ of victims. Between 2007 and 2009, high profile police operations within Enfield led to over 30 key gang members being convicted and more than 20 firearms being removed from the streets. Whilst it was initially thought that this had solved the issue of gangs in Enfield, this instead left a power vacuum, through which the next generation of gang members emerged. From initial discussions by statutory agencies with gang members, it was clear that many wanted to exit the criminal lifestyle, but were unable due to a lack of support. # Response In order to tackle SYV and gang issues, a multi-faceted approach was deemed necessary. This approach focussed on responding to each side of the crime triangle to ensure a comprehensive response was delivered. ## Improving Understanding From carrying out the scanning/analysis, it was clear that practitioners across the borough had limited understanding of youth crime/gang issues. To address this, several events were held using key-speakers and experts to deliver training and to explain the local issues. In 2009 the Local Safeguarding Children's Board organised a Gangs Symposium. This also included colleagues from neighbouring boroughs, as it was deemed that cross-border issues needed to be tackled in partnership. This event explained what each agency was expected to deliver to locally address gang problems. Following on from this, training sessions were held for practitioners in order to inform them of local 'gang indicators' as well as details of tensions and allegiances between groups. A number of follow on events were also held in order to ensure that practitioners were kept informed of new updates as well as the evolving relationships between the various offending groups. Attendees included police, youth offending service, health service, housing providers, social care, probation, education and youth support representatives. Subsequent to these events, a problem solving group known as the Gangs Action Group (GAG) was developed. This involves three key stages: - Analysis to enable local gang issues to be understood and to identify young people involved. - Robust information sharing with local and cross-border partners to enable the creation of gang and offender intelligence profiles. - A working group to manage priority gang nominals. The aims of the GAG are to: - Prevent and minimise violence between groups of young people - Coordinate plans for individual gang members through enforcement, intervention and support to divert them onto positive pathways away from criminal activity. - Improve information sharing and local knowledge of gangs The GAG working group meets every five weeks to monitor individual gang members and is attended by agencies including the Police, Youth Offending Service, AntiSocial Behaviour Team, Council Community Safety Unit, Youth Support Team, local housing providers, schools representatives, Probation, Social Care, UK Borders Agency and third-sector organisations. Referrals to the group can be made by any agency that has concerns regarding young people they are in contact with being at risk of gang-related offending. All partners subsequently provide intelligence on each referral and, based on this information, a decision is made by the working group to decide if the referral is suitable to be looked at by the GAG This decision is based on the risk of the individual being a victim and/or perpetrator of gang related violence. Initially, the working group focussed on 15 priority individuals; as the problem solving group has developed, this has risen to over 40. Individual action-plans are created for each referral, including a combination of enforcement, support and diversionary activities. These are co-ordinated and updated by the gangs analyst who acts as the single point of contact for gang intelligence. Offender Profiles (Image 1) are created for each referral and include all available information on each individual. This includes housing/property details, benefits information, ASB issues relating to the individual or their home address, education info, health and A\&E details, immigration information, Probation history, Police intelligence including CRIS and CRIMINT information, Social Services information, Youth Offending Service history and gang information (associates, hangout areas etc). Information on immediate family members is also included. ![img-8.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-8.jpeg) Image 1 - Example Offender Profile The above information allows the GAG to appropriately decide on enforcement, support and diversion actions. Each of these is tailored specifically to the needs of the individual and is also based on the outcome of previous and ongoing actions. Offender Timelines (Image 2) to track the offending and intervention history of each individual are also created and kept updated. ![img-9.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-9.jpeg) To support the work of the GAG, a dedicated Gangs Police Unit was created in Enfield. This team can be tasked to carry out activities such as intelligence gathering and priority execution of warrants relating to perpetrators of SYV/gang crime. Furthermore, they are also used in a preventative capacity when advance intelligence of potential violence is obtained by the GAG. Additionally, a partnership unit known as 'Achilles Heel' was set up to target known gang members / youth violence perpetrators and their families. This team focuses on uncovering fraud offences through detailed analysis of financial, insurance and immigration databases. Offences such as falsification of motor vehicle insurance, illegal entry into the UK and fraudulent benefits claims have been discovered. These have been used as alternative methods to stop individuals from offending. The extensive intelligence gathered by the GAG has allowed for several Injunctions to be obtained. This includes North-London's first Gang Injunction, obtained on an Edmonton gang member in May 2011 (Image 3). Whilst this severely restricted the individual's ability to carry out criminal and anti-social acts (through non-association and geographical exclusion clauses), it also included a number of positive requirements designed to divert him onto a positive pathway. This included liaising with Connexions Services to assist in training, education and employment, contacting the Enfield Youth Engagement Panel (YEP) and participating in a local football ![img-10.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-10.jpeg) Image 3 - Gang Injunction Article, Edmonton Advertiser \& Herald, May 112011 # Gangs Call-In Analysis and previous police operations showed that a solely enforcement based approach was not a viable long-term solution to gangs and SYV issues. It was identified that exit strategies and support to enable offenders to exit gangs was necessary. To facilitate this, a Gangs Call-In project was designed, which takes place in a courtroom in a local Crown Court. Up to 40 identified gang members and youth violence perpetrators are invited to attend each session which features a series of hard-hitting presentations including: - A senior police officer explaining that the event is an opportunity to stop offending and to move onto a supported pathway. It is also made clear that all enforcement options will be utilised, should individuals actively chose not to engage. - A surgeon detailing the medical effects of violence including graphic images of victims' injuries. - A mother of a murdered youth explaining the effect on her and her family of losing her son. - Ex-gang members who have rejected the gang lifestyle recounting their experiences and how they left their gang. Following this, numerous service providers then outline what they are able to offer as assistance. Should they choose to engage with these services, a priority service is provided to ensure the support is put into place as quickly as possible. This covers the following strands: - Education assistance - Training - Employment - Mentoring - Counselling / Emotional Support - Financial Advice / Assistance - Health \& Drugs/Alcohol Support - Parental Support - Housing Advice - Young People Support Services - Domestic Violence Support The session ends with a request for the young people to sign an agreement to cease offending. They are also provided with a direct telephone number to access any of the above support. In the days immediately following each Gangs Call-In session, contact is made with each individual by a suitable lead person e.g. YOS worker, teacher, social worker etc to encourage them to engage and take up the support offer. Regular contact is then maintained to ensure the needs of the young person are being met to enable them to exit the gang lifestyle. As analysis showed that offending levels correlated with school timings, supportive and diversionary activities were designed to take place during these key periods. # Location Based Responses As highlighted in the analysis, a number of gang / SYV problems have persisted in particular locations for extended periods of time. To tackle these, a number of environmental improvements were identified by the GAG. Three estates which had suffered from youth violence for several years were Osward Place and Klinger Estate in Edmonton and Lytchet Way Estate in North-East Enfield. These estates have also historically been notable gang territories. Following site surveys by a specialist Crime Prevention Officer, a number of recommendations were implemented to these locations, including: - Removal of shrubbery to prevent weapons being secreted in these areas and to improve natural surveillance. - Clearing of rubbish and debris, particular bricks etc. which may be used as weapons. - Key-operated gates and railings being installed to improve access control measures and to limit escape routes. - Locking rubbish chutes to prevent unauthorised access to housing blocks. - Anti-climb paint being applied to prevent offenders from entering the estates. - Automatic security lights being installed to act as a deterrent and to also reduce the fear of crime felt by residents. ![img-11.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-11.jpeg) Image 4: Environmental improvements implemented in Lytchet Way Estate. Image 4 shows one of 11 sections of the Lytchet Way Estate which have undergone environmental improvements. Changes within this estate have focussed on improving sight-lines to assist natural surveillance and to reduce anonymity. Two long-term youth crime hotspots identified through analysis were the largest shopping areas, Edmonton Green Shopping Centre and Palace Gardens in Enfield Town. Whilst these areas did have CCTV in place, this was managed internally by the shopping centres, rather than the borough-wide CCTV Control Centre. This limited their usefulness as suspects could not be easily tracked when moving in and out of these areas. To tackle this, work was undertaken to link the shopping centre cameras to the borough-wide CCTV Control Centre, to ensure that a single source is able to monitor all of Enfield and direct appropriate action where required. Following on from this, work is currently underway to link cameras in another youth violence hotspot (Edmonton Green Bus Station) to the CCTV Control Centre. To additionally strengthen formal surveillance, eight deployable 'Domehawk' cameras have been purchased by the Partnership. These can be rapidly installed in any location across Enfield to monitor issues, including gang and youth crime tensions. It had been identified though analysis that weapons were being hidden by young people in various public locations such as bushes, flower-beds and on top of garages. As these were often well secreted, they were not easily visible to patrolling officers. Thus, the Partnership purchased 70 handheld metal-detecting wands which were distributed to Safer Neighbourhood Police officers, Parks Police teams, park caretakers, school janitors, estate managers and to other workers based in areas where weapons were known to be hidden. These have been used during daily patrols and sweeps in the borough to locate any dangerous items. To tackle robbery hotspots around schools, School Pastor patrols have now been established. These are patrols carried out by members of the community in identified robbery hotspot times and locations around schools in order to extend guardianship and reduce the number of vulnerable school-age children being targeted. Additionally, through liaison with headteachers, temporary metal-detecting arches were deployed in secondary schools across Enfield over the course of a month. This was designed to act as deterrent to young people bringing weapons into schools and to deliver the message that weapon enabled crime was being proactively enforced in Enfield. Advice and information was provided by specialist officers to young people as they passed through the arches in order to educate them about the dangers of carrying knives. As the 2009 resident survey responses showed, many residents were concerned with teenagers hanging around the streets and being involved in anti-social behaviour. This also contributed to the fear of crime felt by local inhabitants. To address this, a number of dispersal zones have been implemented in areas which analysis has shown have high levels of gang/group related anti-social behaviour. Since 2009, 16 separate dispersal zones have been implemented. These have enabled officers to direct individuals away from the area as appropriate to minimise ASB levels and to prevent large volumes of potential perpetrators of youth violence from loitering in high risk areas. # Assessment Chart 5 shows that between 2009 and 2011, SYV in Enfield fell by 11\%. Long term, 2011 figures represent a $28 \%$ reduction from peak offending levels experienced in 2007. ![img-12.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-12.jpeg) Chart 5 - Recorded Serious Youth Violence offences per year since 2007 Targeted activity in identified gang hotspot areas has included: - Deployment of 'Domehawk' cameras at two popular fast-food locations where YDA and GMG members loitered - Dispersal zones in main gang territories, 2010 to 2011 - Five ASBOs and one Gang Injunction which include exclusion areas to prevent high-risk individuals frequenting unsuitable locations - High-visibility intelligence-led patrols during peak days/times of youth crime and gang-related ASB. - Daily weapon sweeps in high risk areas using metal-detecting wands. This work has led to significant decreases in gang related crimes as shown in Table 2, with an overall reduction in SYV in these areas of $28 \%$. In particular, violent offences such as GBH and ABH have experienced large decreases of $52 \%$ and $32 \%$ respectively. | Table 2 - Crimes perpetrated by youths in gang hotspot areas (EN3 and N9 postcodes) | | | | | :-- | :--: | :--: | :--: | | Crime Type | 2010 | 2011 | Change 2010 to 11 | | GBH | 33 | 16 | $-52 \%$ | | ABH | 146 | 99 | $-32 \%$ | | Knife Enabled Robbery | 81 | 71 | $-12 \%$ | | All Serious Youth Violence | $\mathbf{2 7 0}$ | $\mathbf{1 9 5}$ | $\mathbf{- 2 8 \%}$ | Reductions in violence within the most persistent long-term gang hotspot (N9 postcode) were even greater, $-60 \%$ for GBH and $-44 \%$ for ABH. Following improvement works in Osward Place, Klinger and Lytchet Way Estates, youth crime levels have fallen, with an overall reduction in these estates of $11 \%$. Furthermore, as shown in Table 3, ASB levels in each of these estates have also experienced significant decreases, amounting to a $16 \%$ reduction. | Table 3 - ASB in estates | | | | | :-- | :--: | :--: | :--: | | Estate | 2010 | 2011 | Change 2010 to 11 | | Osward Place | 30 | 15 | $-50 \%$ | | Klinger | 85 | 83 | $-2 \%$ | | Lytchet Way | 131 | 108 | $-18 \%$ | | Overall | $\mathbf{2 4 6}$ | $\mathbf{2 0 6}$ | $\mathbf{- 1 6 \%}$ | Weapon sweeps have led to over 200 knives and weapons being removed from circulation, including a firearm, resulting in a reduction in weapon-related offences. Youth possession of offensive weapons decreased by 16\% between 2010 and 2011 (111 offences, down to 93). Additionally, youth-perpetrated weapon-enabled violence experienced a $2.4 \%$ decrease over this period. Furthermore, in the past 12 months, knife crime and firearms offences have reduced by $11 \%$ and $50 \%$ borough-wide respectively. Since School Pastor patrols were introduced, a 38\% reduction in robberies around schools where patrols are taking place has been recorded. Students have also given positive feedback on the presence of the patrols and have stated it has 'improved feelings of safety'. Through the improved CCTV and linking up of borough-wide camera systems, there has been a $21 \%$ increase in arrests supported by CCTV in Enfield over the past 12 months. Three Gang Call-Ins have been held in 2012. (Image 5). 50 high-risk gang members have attended these sessions, with 30 signing agreements to stop offending and to engage with services being offered to them. To date, only one individual who attended the Call-In sessions has been involved in a serious criminal offence, which represents a significant improvement over the previous behaviour of this group. Those who attended have been assessed to determine the support they require, including benefits and housing advice, engagement with Parent Support Services, mentoring work and apprenticeships being offered. A further three Call-Ins will be held by the end of 2012. As an example, one GAG nominal was a particularly violent individual who was well recognised amongst Enfield's youth as a high-ranking gang member. An action plan which included intensive police attention being targeted around him was devised by the GAG in early 2011. This was coupled with home visits to his parents by the dedicated gangs unit which learnt that he wished to attend college. His application was supported through GAG agencies, with the provision that offending would lead to exclusion from college. Since joining college, he has not engaged in any further offending and currently has a $99 \%$ attendance rate. ![img-13.jpeg](https://popdatasets.blob.core.windows.net/popdatasetmdimgs/12-20_london_met_enfield/img-13.jpeg) Image 5 - BBC Gang Call-In Article, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16825265 (01/02/12) The combined effect of the responses which have been implemented has had a positive effect on feelings of safety felt by local residents. This has been reflected in the latest Enfield Residents Survey (2011) which shows that only 35\% of people now consider teenagers hanging around on the streets to be a problem, down from 48\% in 2009. 61\% of residents now stated that they felt safe in their local area after dark, an improvement from only $33 \%$ in 2009. # Challenges and Further Developments Intelligence around gang-linked females and the subsequent support available is currently limited. Thus, the Nia Project's Safe-Choices programme is being delivered in Enfield in 2012, with the aim of reducing violent offending involving young women. To date, 18 local practitioners have been trained to identify risk indicators, referral pathways and processes for agencies. The potential reduction of services to support and divert young people from criminality is a key challenge faced due to the present financial position. To mitigate against the effects of this, cohesive partnership work to ensure best use of resources is vital. Whilst survey results show that overall feelings of safety have improved across the borough, gang linked areas are still over-represented in negative responses. Thus, targeted cohesion work in these areas through the use of community groups will be necessary to restore local feelings of safety and to increase public confidence. WORD COUNT: 3,996