This meeting's agenda includes a presentation by the Metropolitan Police about their work with Waltham Forest Council¹ on neighbourhood policing in the borough. This will include the publication of the draft action plan arising from the Citizens' Assembly on the Future of Neighbourhood Policing that the council held last year. The committee will also be considering a report on the council’s performance on community safety issues.

Citizens' Assembly on Neighbourhood Policing in Waltham Forest

The draft action plan arising from last year's Citizens' Assembly on Neighbourhood Policing in Waltham Forest ² will be included in this meeting's agenda. This is expected to include details about the planned inclusive mentoring scheme in which groups of young people from the borough with lived experience of community safety issues could mentor policing staff. This was a key recommendation made by the young people who were consulted as part of the drafting of the action plan, who said they hoped it would lead to police having an improved understanding of young people's experiences, leading to better treatment of young people by the police.

The draft action plan is also expected to include details about the council's plan to improve its communications with residents on community safety issues, for example through expanded use of social media. The plan is also expected to include further details about the Safer Routes scheme which has recently been piloted in the borough. This is described as a scheme to place trained youth workers on routes to and from secondary school, present at times and in areas identified as having a heightened risk of violence, helping children to feel safer. The police are also expected to describe how they plan to improve ward panels, which have been criticised by some residents for not offering meaningful opportunities for engagement.

Corporate Performance Overview - Community Safety

The committee will be asked to note a report on the council's performance on community safety. This is expected to include discussion of the recently added performance indicators relating to violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The report notes that the figures for domestic abuse are particularly difficult to interpret because of the recent introduction of a new ICT system at the Metropolitan Police.

In this context, recorded offences only reflect a partial and limited view of the problem, and increases in offences may not indicate rising prevalence but instead increasing trust and confidence amongst victims and survivors in criminal justice institutions and outcomes.

The report explains that the council and its partners use a range of other data sources to understand VAWG in the borough, including the pan-London VAWG needs assessment and the council's own strategic needs assessment. These are not public documents.

It is important to note that these documents can contain sensitive information and are normally assigned as restricted and not publicly available, data is shared under a strict information sharing protocol and using relevant legislative duties and powers.

The report explains that the council does not set reduction targets for crime.

Whilst our aspiration both as the LBWF and as a Community Safety Partnership is to have no crimes, realistically any reductions in numbers and incidents and improvements in perceptions of safety and fear are positive.

The report also explains that the council believes its performance dashboard is a model of best practice, though it should not be considered in isolation.

Our dashboard and data management is deemed a model of best practise across community safety services, it is consistently reviewed by the data team and by community safety to ensure it remains, relevant, effective and informative. However, this data should not be considered in isolation, it needs to be understood in the context of ingoing support and interventions, national challenges, national data recording practises and what influence we can have on those areas of concern.