To receive an update from the Herts Police on Youth Engagement and Youth Crime Prevention in North Herts.
Decision:
Hertfordshire Constabulary provided a presentation, including slides and videos, on Youth Engagement and Crime Prevention, following which Members asked questions.
Minutes:
Audio recording – 55 minutes 14 seconds
Chief Inspector Hannah Treadwell, Inspector James Land, and PS Taz Gill, from Hertfordshire Constabulary, provided a presentation, including slides and videos, on Youth Engagement and Crime Prevention and advised of the following, that:
· The purpose of this presentation was to offer Members information on Youth Engagement and Crime Prevention.
· The Control Strategy allowed the police to deal with everything and could pick specific areas for focus depending on statistics, including anti-social behaviour figures. This meant that different priority areas within a county might be focussed on by different Community Safety teams.
· There were several organisations involved in the prevention of youth crime and providing engagement activities with young people, including the County Children and Young Peoples team, the Child Online Safeguarding team, Missing Persons teams, as well as others both internal at Herts Police and external.
· Overall engagement with young people at North Herts schools was good and teachers and support staff were supportive of hosting engagement activities.
· The Police had liaised with a group called the ‘Crucial Crew’ who provided engagement services to schools. The first of these sessions took place in October 2024 and over 1000 students attended across the 10 day period and included representatives from British Transport Police, Herts Fire and Rescue and the Ambulance service.
· These were really important sessions to look at preventing harm and risk to young people.
· Feedback from the events was good and plans were being made to run similar events in the future.
· These events required a large input of resources, but it was important to provide opportunities like this to save time and money down the line by trying to prevent crime from an early age, and make young people aware of the impacts of crime.
· The force had carried out knife and alcohol test purchases at sites in North Herts, with involvement from students at North Herts College. Of the 12 stores visited, 4 failed the test. The force had made videos for social media to promote these activities.
· They had distributed literature to hotels in the area outlining their responsibility to raise safeguarding concerns and had followed this up with tests, alongside students, at the hotels to ensure that processes were followed and that staff were aware of potential signs of abuse.
· Sessions had previously been delivered to primary students on Violence Against Women and Girls, which was a priority for the force and the Council. It was hoped this could be expanded to secondary students and focus on the incel movement with young boys.
· Overall there was an attempt to provide young people with a voice to direct actions taken by the police.
· Previous priority setting had taken place on platforms which young people did not access and this was being addressed through different engagement styles, including completing work with younger people to understand their concerns in the community.
· They were actively working with primary schools to engage their students and understand their concerns and take this on board going forward, with a view to set priorities for young, mid and older generations.
The following Members asked questions:
· Councillor Tina Bhartwas
· Councillor Daniel Wright-Mason
· Councillor Matt Barnes
· Councillor Ralph Muncer
· Councillor Jon Clayden
In response to questions, the Hertfordshire Constabulary representatives advised that:
· Misogyny was, from a crime recording perspective, not a listed criteria, but this could be fed back to national recording authorities and a conversation could be had as to whether this should be introduced.
· School engagement was taking place alongside charities who provide the sessions. The force had developed good relationships with these charities, as well as the teachers and support staff in schools.
· Topics of conversation overheard in playgrounds can be raised with the police, who could provide targeted presentations on these areas, where required.
· The local police teams were not closely linked to the Prevent referral scheme, but the strong relationships developed with schools and colleges helped to ensure risks were picked up early on in the process.
· It was difficult to measure the success of the programmes provided, as often higher reports of crime meant people felt more confident in reporting crime, rather than more crime happening. Would need to consider statistical data, alongside reports from residents.
· Hertfordshire was within the top few for out of court disposal and work was ongoing to try and drive this up across all crime types. When victims have the out of court disposal options explained, these are often favourable for those not wanting to go to court.
· There were two known crime groups operating in North Herts but these were drug based and not generally involving juveniles.
· Councillors could support this by being the eyes and ears for their community and liaising with their respective police officers to develop relationships.
· There were more plans for dedicated days to focus on one type of crime, and resources would be directed accordingly to support this, which had been received well previously. Councillors could be invited when this next took place in their wards.
Councillor Val Bryant noted that Officers were also working on this within her portfolio and if Members had any feedback on a larger scale, she could raise this at Police and Crime Commissioner meetings.
The Chair thanked Chief Inspector Treadwell, Inspector Lant and PS Gill for their presentation.
N.B. Following the conclusion of this item, there was a break in proceedings and the meeting reconvened at 21.40.