Twenty arrests made during multi agency operation tackling crime and ASB

08 October 2012

"We are directly confronting problems that blight the lives of our residents and communities."

A total of 14 distinct operations were carried out over the two days concentrated in a relatively small geographical area contributing to a disproportionately high volume of the Borough's crime and disorder. This was in the spirit of the 'simple to start' approach and followed an agreement between senior Police and Council officials in Islington.

At least 20 arrests were made by officers for offences including theft of mobile phones, burglary, GBH, TDA, handling stolen goods and two separate possessions of Class A drugs.

To combat metal theft, officers, accompanied by Islington Council, and other agencies, visited a number of scrap metal sites. A man was arrested at one of the sites on suspicion of handling stolen goods when Network Rail identified stolen overhead rail cables.

Officers also carried out five drugs warrants, three of which led to the seizure of drugs, including a cannabis factory with 40 plants.

A weapons sweep carried out in Peabody and Camden Estates and in neighbouring areas led officers to find bladed articles, Class A drugs, needles and drug paraphernalia.

A mobile police station was used to give direct crime prevention messages to thousands of commuters and other people close to Kings Cross station, Angel and Old Street stations. Police officers (including the Borough Commander) and PCSOs spoke with hundreds of people, gave out approx 1000 leaflets and showed footage of recent offences to increase the public’s awareness of how thefts happen.

As part of a long term efforts to increase safety for cyclists and help crack down on bicycle theft in Islington, a cycle safety operation was carried out in Finsbury Square by Safer Transport officers and mechanics from Islington Council. Over 100 cycles were security marked and registered on bikeregister.com, 97 cyclists were given immobilise.com tags and numerous cyclists received safety demonstrations and free bike maintenance.

Officers in partnership with Council Licensing officials visited 38 licensed premises on Friday 5 October, including betting shops, off licenses and pubs. Warnings were given for failing to properly display licenses at some locations and re-visits will be made

Responding to the link between sexual offences and some unlicensed cabs, officers from Safer Transport on Operation STAN carried out a taxi tout operation around Upper Street and Essex Road between 11.30pm and 2.30am on Sunday. Three unlicensed cab drivers received cautions and one man was charged with taxi touting offences.

In order to improve the safety of vulnerable and elderly bank customers, the MPS conducted a meeting with representatives from local banks in the Angel which led to an agreement on an information sharing process and training for bank employees.

With the intention of tackling aggressive begging and rough sleepers along Upper Street, officers worked closely with council street outreach teams, housing advice workers and Council ASB officers in distributing leaflets and providing advice to the homeless beggars. 13 individuals were spoken to by officers and support workers and given clear, current and accurate advice to enable them to get off the streets and out of danger. A number of the persons spoken to were previously unknown to the support agencies and had been living on the streets without support for up to 3 months.

Other operations involved high visibility policing by officers on foot and bike and members of the Islington Independent Advisory Group accompanied officers to observe much of the activity.

Cllr Paul Convery, Islington Council's executive member for community safety, said: "We're on the side of residents, who want an Islington with less crime and anti-social behaviour. This joint operation is one of the most ambitious of its kind ever in Islington, and is tackling problems and concerns right across our borough.

"We are directly confronting problems that blight the lives of our residents and communities."

Neighbourhood Policing Chief Inspector, Richard Padwell in charge of the operation said: “The tremendous impact of this large-scale operation can be seen from the 50% reduction in crime* over the two days. We will continue to work with the agencies involved to build on our success and continue to strive to make Islington a safe place to live and work.”