Chief Supt Olisa's Blog

Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa is the Borough Commander for Haringey, in north London.

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Leaders in our communities...

  It has been another interesting and hugely enjoyable month since the last message.

  We had a very busy and challenging weekend on 11/12th May when we had a number of stabbings on the Friday and Saturday nights. I am pleased to say that all of the officers working that weekend responded magnificently to all of the incidents we had to deal with as well as taking a number of weapons off our streets using their powers of stop and search.

  On Wed 22nd and Thursday 23rd May I went to the Broadwater Farm Estate and had a thoroughly uplifting experience! On the Wednesday I went to watch the Tottenham Police girls and boys soccer cup finals and had the privilege of meeting some exceptional young people. The person responsible for organising the event that ran throughout the school year and culminated in the two finals is a Broadwater Farm resident and dare I say man-mountain that is Clasford Stirling MBE. Seeing Clasford's passion to do good and bring out the best in both the young and older people that were there that day together with the many others that had taken part in the many games leading up to the final got me thinking that may be the days and usefulness of community leaders had passed and that what we now have and need many more of are quiet and determined people who are making massive positive improvements in the lives of people in their communities by promoting their rights. LEADERS in the COMMUNITY!

  Thank you Clasford and long may you have the strength and good health to continue to bring out the best in all our young people. We need more people like you a true inspiration.

  On the Thursday I went out on patrol with the Ward officers and met some exceptional officers and many good people. Broadwater Farm is no different from many areas in our borough and across London. The vast majority of people want to live their lives in peace and harmony, and it is my duty and privilege together with my colleagues to create an environment that will allow them to do so through friendly, fair and firm policing.

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Doing the right thing...

I’d like to share with you my thoughts on stop and search and my pride in the way that my officers responded to several critical incidents over the weekend using this tactic and others.

The first incident was early in the morning on Saturday 11 May at about 3.40am where a man had been stabbed in the vicinity of Parkhurst Road N17. Seven men were swiftly arrested. Later that same morning, police were alerted to another man stabbed in Tottenham.

Both incidents are, at this early stage, being treated as linked. Thankfully both men are recovering. We are appealing for information about these incidents, so if you can help, please call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

It was on the Sunday, following these violent incidents, that I found myself having a chat with some officers who expressed their concern about the possibility of receiving complaints if they used stop and search. I made my position on the use of stop and search clear to them. I want my officers to use stop and search and stop and account. I want them to use the powers  professionally, to tell people why they are being stopped, and to treat everyone they stop with respect and dignity. If they do that, they will have nothing to worry about as they will have my full support.

Some of you may know that I led the Metropolitan Police Service Stop and Search Team for a year-and-a-half and worked in the Home Office for three years developing policy and practice on police use of stop and search nationally. So there are few people who have been as involved as me, and have as strong an understanding, of the benefits and concerns that the use of the powers can generate with officers and the public.

I am proud of the way my officers and other specialist Met units - such as the Territorial Support Group, Trident, Traffic, Dog section and police helicopter - worked together at the weekend in response to the incidents. Police carried out high visibility patrols, search warrants and used stop and account, and stop and search, focussing on stopping the right people, in the right place, for the right reason, in the right way. As a result of this activity police seized a loaded firearm, three large knives, a stun gun and a quantity of drugs and made numerous arrests in relation to these items.

Every single police officer has the power to stop and search people and every single police community support officer (PCSO) has the power to stop and ask people to account for themselves. My officers have been directed to use stop and search and stop and account to keep our streets safe and to use their powers professionally, appropriately and consistently and, in so doing, to earn the trust of our communities.

If you have had a negative encounter I want to hear from you, so please either contact me directly or through a third party. Obviously, I’d also like to hear if you’ve had a positive encounter.

My email address is: [email protected]

Quote of the day:

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.”

George MacDonald

Useful websites:

MPS stop and search website: http://www.met.police.uk/stopandsearch

‘Safe’, the Met’s youth website: http://www.safe.met.police.uk

Crimestoppers website: http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org

‘Fearless’ Crimestoppers’ website for young people: http://www.fearless.org

Anti-gun and knife crime website: http://www.droptheweapons.org

See how police in Haringey are working with young people on the subject of stop and search: http://www.youngfoundation.org/?press_releases=lets-talk-about-stop-and-search

Download a pdf of the full Young Foundation report ‘Lets Talk About Stop and Search’: http://www.youngfoundation.org/publications/lets-talk-about-stop-and-search

If you’re interested in statistics, the Met publications scheme publishes borough stop and search monitoring reports: http://www.met.police.uk/foi/units/stop_and_search.htm

[mpsharingey-blog]

Everyone has the potential to be brilliant, value life...

This has been a week of very mixed emotions:

Friday night fundraising for and celebrating the good work done with young people by the Haringey Community and Police Boxing Club: http://www.haringeyboxingclub.com

Tuesday saw the publication of the financial year end results, showing some significant reductions in crime across the board in Haringey, as well as increases in sanctioned detections. Which means, fewer people were victims of crime and more of those crimes were solved in 2012/13 compared to 2011/12.

We achieved reductions in personal robbery, residential burglary and motor vehicle crime of 29.9% (417 fewer victims), 17.1% (477 fewer victims) and 19.2% (832 fewer victims) respectively.

With our campaigns to encourage reporting of hate crimes, reported incidents of domestic violence (DV) and racist and religious hate crime increased. While non-DV violence reduced 11% (183 fewer victims).

See the published stats at http://www.met.police.uk/crimefigures/datatable.php?borough=yr&period=year

In Haringey, we are surrounded by all that is good about young people every day; our Volunteer Police Cadets; students at Gladesmore and their campaigns to stop violence; students at CONEL helping us to improve the way we use stop and search; local comic artist Zoom Rockman; Doccia Apparel and many more, going about their journey through life, taking steps towards their dreams.

It is difficult not to let these positives be overshadowed by the absolute sadness of seeing serious incidents of youth violence in Haringey and neighbouring boroughs. Last weekend, two youths were stabbed in N17 and a young man was shot in N15 - thankfully all are recovering. But on Thursday, a young boy died after being stabbed in Highbury Grove, Islington the previous day, last week a young man was fatally shot in Southgate, Enfield and last month a young man was fatally stabbed in N15, Haringey.

Even with all my years of policing, it still shocks me to the core to see our young people being seriously hurt or killed on our streets.

The lives of the family and friends of those killed or injured have been forever and irreversibly changed, as have the lives of those involved in those incidents. They Will be brought to justice and face the consequences of their actions, not only through the courts, but in their own minds. But that is no solace.. the only way to make this count is to make a difference.

If you have information about these incidents, or about any crime, call police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

You can help stop the violence. There are several Met websites that offer advice for people of all ages. If you're at all worried about youth violence, please look at these sites, get your friends and family to look at them. Just starting a conversation can make a difference.

http://www.stoptheguns.org

http://safe.met.police.uk

You might like to get involved in helping young people as a volunteer cadet leader, or encourage someone you know to join the Volunteer Police Cadets:

http://www.metpolicecareers.co.uk/policestaff/cadet_leaders.html

My officers will be out patrolling the streets, in uniform and in plain clothes, to keep people safe. They will continue to carry out searches of public places to take hidden weapons off the streets, and they will also use intelligence led stop and search. Stop and search - carried out on the right people, in the right place, for the right reasons, in the right way - is a valuable tool to tackle violent crime.

Whatever your view point or age, if you have ideas about how we can work together to stop youth violence, please contact me: [email protected]

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

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With Det Supt Stephen Clayman at the Haringey Police Community Amateur Boxing Club charity dinner - great evening! The club continues to raise money to support young people. Don’t miss the annual Box Cup at Alexandra Palace on 20th, 22nd and 23rd of June. Find out more at: http://www.haringeyboxingclub.com

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Visit this page of our Storify site to access links to my Twitter Q&A sessions so far.

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Community passion...

It's only early in the week and it has already been jam packed. My diary is so full it's bursting at the seams, I can almost see steam rising from my computer! In between meetings with community members and partners, I've been getting out and about on the streets as much as possible. I was out on patrol in Tottenham yesterday and a four year old came up to me out of the blue and shook my hand (his mum was with him). That's what's so great about Haringey... The people! Everyone - every age and all parts of the community and partner organisations - has been engaging with police. Today I've had back to back meetings, including chatting with my Volunteer Coordinator to catch up on how things are going. Our volunteers are doing great stuff and I'm keen to encourage more of the local community to join us and volunteer with the police to help make a positive difference. There are many different volunteering roles with the Met. You can find out more about volunteering at: http://www.metpolicecareers.co.uk/volunteers/ Today I was in Muswell Hill and Crouch End, and while I was in the area, I visited and spoke with the owner of The Urban Flower Company (@UrbanFlowerCo) at 47 Park Road N8. Last week his shop front was very badly damaged by the collision between a car and a Met Armed Response Vehicle passing through Haringey on route to a call elsewhere. Thankfully, no one was badly injured. Incredibly they are still managing to fulfil orders for weddings. Now that's the passion, commitment and drive that is prevalent among the community in Haringey. I wanted them to know that they have my support. There is a limit to what I personally can do to help, so I won't make promises that I can't keep. However, I assured him that where it is in my power to help get his business back up and running I will give my support. It was a pleasure to meet him in person and to feel his enthusiasm and passion, as well as to hear of the support he has received from the local community. While out and about I also held my 5th Twitter Q&A session, the results of which we'll load onto our Storify later this week at: http://storify.com/mpsharingey#stories where you can also find previous sessions. I'll hold my next Twitter Q&A on Tuesday 23rd April from 1pm to 2pm. Submit your questions to @MPSHaringey using the hash tag #AskBC. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you around when I'm out on patrol.

[mpsharingey-blog]

Hitting the target without missing the point...

Next week the Met is due to publish the end of financial year crime performance statistics. The figures will show that Haringey has achieved some fantastic results against our targets last year. However, public confidence in how well we do our job is stubbornly low. I believe that policing is more than just enforcement and results, and more about outcomes. I've said it before and I'll say it again; In challenging times of reduced budgets and increased demands on our resources, we want to deliver policing that is informed by science, and infused with passion. By science, I mean it is based on intelligence, practical research and validated experience. By passion, I mean going beyond what is expected of all of us. I aim to achieve this by being more effective and humane. By effective, I mean we shall respond to crime in ways that produce socially desirable results; which means greater safety, less fear, less suffering, greater respect for the rule of law and less injustice, and we do so efficiently, investing in our precious human and financial resources in ways that maximise the result we desire. By more humane, I mean we shall respond to crime in ways that recognise the humanity of those victimised by crime, those arrested and convicted of crime and others who experience the ripple effect of crime. I look forward to updating you next week and in the mean-time remember... Working together we can make things better. Quote for the week: "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Jane Goodall

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Stop and search.. Right people, right place, right reason, right way...

We revamped our procedures on the use of stop and search about 18 months ago to focus on violence and increase the effectiveness of our use of this tactic.

The Commissioner set some targets to measure how well we’re doing to change our approach.

March was a great month for Haringey, 21.7% of stop and searches carried out by my officers resulted in arrest or cannabis warning.. That’s better even than the target of 20%.

Also, compared to March 2012, my officers carried out 58.6% fewer negative drug searches, because my officers are being directed to focus on stopping the right people in the right place for the right reasons.

Our approach is working, with robbery and serious youth violence showing reductions.

It’s not all about the right people, place and reasons… its very important that my officers carry out stop and search in the right way.

I’d like to know about your experience. If you’ve been stopped and searched by police in Haringey. What was good and what wasn’t so good?

Contact me by email: [email protected] and please write ‘My stop and search experience’ in the subject line.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Quote of the day: “Every human interaction offers you the chance to make things better or to make things worse.” Barbara Brown Taylor

[mpsharingey-blog]

Changes mean we'll be able to do more to keep you safe...

The publication of the Mayor's Police and Crime Plan means we now know where we are heading with the way that people can contact us. I'm very pleased that we'll retain a 24/7 front counter in Tottenham, our busiest in terms of footfall and location of transport hubs.

We'll also retain two other front counters - Hornsey and Wood Green - although the opening hours will be reduced. We'll have several contact points open a minimum of three hours a week, and I emphasise, that is a minimum, it's up to me how long they open and where I see a demand for them to be open longer, I'll make sure that happens.

That’s on top of the other ways of contacting police; by phone, online, in the street and by appointment at a time and place to suit you.

My officers will continue to patrol from a number of deployment bases right across the borough and the great news is that we will still have 650 or so officers, so cops will always be available.

The changes in contact points brings me onto the other changes that the Met is currently going through. These are changes in structure and in policing style, so that we can continue to provide the best police service for less cash, aka work more efficiently and effectively.

Retaining bobbies on the beat is our priority, as is neighbourhood policing and you'll see as we update you in the coming weeks that there are exciting changes afoot that mean neighbourhood policing will remain our focus, yet it will become more dynamic, more resilient and more able to respond faster to your concerns.

I'll keep you posted on the changes. I for one believe they will enable me and my team to do more to keep you safe.

Quote of the week:

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often". Winston Churchill

[mpsharingey-blog]

Reflecting on three serious collisions in a week...

Considering the sheer quantity of emergency calls that police respond to safely, it is shocking and extremely unusual to see three serious collisions take place in one borough in the space of little more than a week, although I'm afraid that this will come as no comfort to those that have been affected.

In each case, officers from other boroughs or Met units have been responding to incidents outside of Haringey that have brought them into or across the borough of Haringey.

My thoughts and concerns very much remain with those affected by the incidents; the businesses and commuters affected by the road closures or the damage, and of course the family and friends of the two young men that died following the collision in Seven Sisters Road in the early hours of Friday 29th March.

I'm aware there have been hurtful comments on social media, made by people unconnected to those that died, making judgments that they are not in a position to make. Please remember the humanity of what has happened.. two men have died tragically and unexpectedly, they have families and friends that are mourning their loss and I ask everyone to remember that and consider those that remain.

[mpsharingey-blog]

Exciting times ahead...

Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog.

I joined Haringey as Borough Commander on 4th March. This is an exciting time and I am looking forward to consolidating the strong relationship between police and the community to make the borough safer. 

I am incredibly proud to lead a great team of staff and officers, committed to providing the best possible service to people in Haringey.

One example in point is DC Jonathan Rowland who last week received a Commissioner’s High Commendation for outstanding bravery. He was off duty when he intervened in an attempted armed robbery and, despite the threat of a firearm, managed to detain and arrest a man who was later sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail. Just one example of the dangers faced by police and their commitment and dedication to keeping people safe.

The financial year ended with a mix of emotions… On the positive side, our performance in terms of crime reduction is down across all crimes, particularly those that cause most concern to people, such as burglary, robbery and violence. Our detections are up, meaning we’ve arrested and charged more people, with those jailed being incarcerated for a period of time in which they cannot offend. The sad part is the tragic deaths of two men in a car collision at the weekend.

In my first month in Haringey, I’ve met with some genuine and integral people across the community who are keen to work with us to make Haringey the great place that it is and can be. With their help, the coming months bring some fantastic opportunities and exciting collaborative work:

At a breakfast meeting with a group of about thirty members of the Haringey clergy we agreed to work together on issues of domestic and youth violence.

On the issues of youth, I also met with a senior lecturer at the Sixth Form Centre and with the head of CONEL, and we are going to do lots of work with the students, looking to them to advise us and hold us to account.

We’re also planning to work with the Selby Centre and other voluntary and charity groups to increase our engagement with young people.

Having met with some influential Haringey business people involved in the regeneration of Tottenham, I’m pleased to hear that they have got some fantastic plans for improving the environment , creating job opportunities, and building up the feel good factor in Haringey.

Last week I accompanied our licensing officer and went to see a couple of club owners in N10 and N22 to ensure the safety of their clientele always remains paramount. This is work that our licensing officer regularly undertakes to ensure that if you, or your son or daughter, go to a Haringey club, they can do so safely.

On 27th March, Operation Hawk took place across London to tackle drug related crime and disorder. Here in Haringey we carried out drug search warrants in the Tottenham and Wood Green areas that led to officers seizing drugs, closing a cannabis factory, and arresting 11 people for offences including drug supply, drug possession, breach of bail and possession of an offensive weapon. You can see more about the results of Operation Hawk on our website and our Storify site.

While this activity may have grabbed the newspaper headlines on that one day, I assure you that my officers are carrying out search warrants and working to combat drug related crime every day.

If you have information, please contact your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team. You can also give police information using the non-emergency 101 number. There are now many ways to contact police, but in emergency always dial 999. If you have information and would rather not talk to police, Crimestoppers is an independent charity, you can call them anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Take a look at our newsletter ‘On the Haringey Beat’ to see how your call can help make Haringey safer.

I’m holding regular sessions on our Twitter account @MPSHaringey where people have the opportunity to ask me questions about policing in Haringey. I’d love to have you join me for the next one, which is on Friday 12 April from 1pm to 2pm. Submit your question to @MPSHaringey using the hashtag #AskBC. I look forward to hearing from you, engagement through social media is going to be an ongoing thing.

Victor’s quote of the week:

“It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick