Community safety initiatives in Central Lambeth
Initiative and activities in Brixton Hill, Brixton Town Centre, Ferndale, Herne Hill, Thornton and Tulse Hill wards.
Kerb Crawling Operation
In October 2006 and January 2007, two kerb crawling operations in the Brixton area took place and concentrated on specific ‘hotspots’ of kerb crawling and prostitution. The six week operations tackled the problem through enforcement and disencouragement methods including ASBOs, fines, letters sent to the individuals home and diversionary schemes. The operations involved the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, Metropolitan Police, Lambeth Council, outreach services and local residents working together to reduce the problem. To date, over 242 kerb crawlers have been arrested, reported or cautioned.
Brockwell Park Alternative Space
The Brockwell Park Alternative Space project is a partnership response to problems identified around street drinkers in the entrance to Brockwell Park. The agencies and groups involved include: Lambeth Police, Parks Rangers, Community Safety Team, Lambeth Drug and Alcohol Action Team, St. Mungos, Lambeth Parks, Friends of Brockwell Park, Herne Hill Forum and Friends of Ruskin Park have been working together to reduce the number of people street drinking in Brockwell Park.
The Herne Hill gate of Brockwell Park has for some years been the site of a street drinkers’ congregation point. Concerns had been raised by residents regarding anti-social behaviour, in particular abusive language and behaviour by a group of street drinkers near to the gate. The main reason for the project was to address the issues of anti-social behaviour, fear of crime, and the needs of the wider community, without shifting the problem somewhere else through enforcement, and further marginalise an already neglected group. To tackle the problem, a temporary alternative space was provided, outreach workers continue working with the group to refer them into detoxification and rehabilitation programmes or other suitable services and patrols of the park regularly occur. Since the project began, the number of drinkers have remained low and the complaints around ASB have remained very low.
Operation Refresh
Operation Refresh began in September 2003 as a multi-agency approach to addressing crime and quality of life issues within Brixton Town Centre. The over-arching aim of Operation Refresh was to “Make Brixton Town Centre a safe and pleasant place in which to live, work, shop and travel”.
Essentially this meant targeting police patrols, increasing street cleaning, and focusing co-ordinated activity around problem addresses. Most notably, this resulted in the closure of Pedro Keys and two other addresses on Coldharbour Lane.
What did Operation Refresh achieve?
In its first year, Operation Refresh aimed to achieve;
- An improvement in safety for people living in and visiting Brixton
- A cleaner environment
- An environment in which it was easy to enforce the law
- An environment which allowed for the effective provision of care and support to those who are vulnerable.
Operation Refresh also heralded the formation of an anti-social behaviour case review team which targeted primarily those involved in ticket touting within the Town Centre. The team had great success and partners involved applied and were granted 8 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.
A ‘Red Card Zone’ was introduced in and around Brixton Central Square which used legislation under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2004 to enable police to warn those engaged in anti-social behaviour within a designated area. This culminated in 28 Red Cards being issued during the summer of 2004 and 9 arrests were made.
In its first year Operation Refresh also enjoyed the following successes within the Town Centre:
- A reduction in Street Crime by 12.6%
- Reduction in Fear of Crime
- Reduction in Rough Sleepers
- 15.2% overall reduction in crime
Operation Refresh Phase 2
Phase 2 of Operation Refresh was launched in April 2005. It aims to look specifically at four identified priorities – Drugs, Street Population, Alcohol and Engaging with Businesses.
Initially this has involved co-ordinated activity in and around the market area and Brighton Terrace with a long-term aim to tackle both supply and demand within Brixton’s drugs market.
There is also a new and invigorated approach in tackling drug and drug related anti-social behaviour within the Town Centre and in particular drug use on estates. We are working closely with organisations such as St Mungo’s and the Stockwell Project and their outreach teams to identify those causing nuisance and are working together to agree the most appropriate course of action.