Chris Williams
Head of Community Safety
London Borough of Brent

• Pre-2004: offenders released from prison supervised if prison sentence over 12 months
• Prolific Priority Offenders programme:
– Recognised small number of offenders did huge amount of crime
– Supported on release, eg met at prison, access to drug treatment, help with benefits etc
– Saw major decreases in reoffending

• Taking PPO on:
– Prevent and Deter
• For younger prolific offenders
– Catch and Convict
• Targeting those still offending
– Rehabilitate and Resettle
• Longer term approach to tackling underlying causes

• Addressing the full needs of the offender:
– Accommodation
– Education, Employment, Training
– Finance, Benefits and Debt
– Attitudes and Behaviour
– Health and Mental Health
– Drugs and alcohol
– Families and Children

• People behave differently in a group
– Groups carry the street code
– Vendettas and rivalries
• If group dynamic is causing the problem, we need to identify the groups and engage with them – not the individuals within
• Doesn’t mean we don’t stop working with the individual!

7

• Organised Crime Groups/Urban Street Gangs have core business in drug supply
• Identifying drug markets and disrupting them impacts on gang violence
• Violence undertaken as method of control over business area – defending boundaries and intimidating users

• What drugs are being sold
• How drugs are being sold
– On street? Safe houses? In licensed premises?
Through the homes of vulnerable people?
• Who buys and sells drugs?
– Network of suppliers – on behalf of….?
– Casual users? Addicts? Age?
• Where the drugs come from
– Links to Organised Crime Groups
• Where the drugs are being sold

OPEN DRUGS MARKET
OPEN DRUGS MARKET
& GANG AREAS
GANG AREAS

• Eliminate gangs
– Enforcement
– Prevention and intervention
• Prevent gang offending
• Stop gang recruitment
• Separate gang members from gangs
• “Solve the gang problem”
• How likely is this?

• We keep doing things that have never been proven to work
• We address individuals, not “gangs” and groups
• Addressing individuals only works on an individual basis – doesn’t take out the market
• We do not engage directly with the street culture
• Let’s take back our town an area at a time…the message spreads

• Wide ranging partnership: police, council, housing providers, third sector
• Very small target population – the most violent
• Direct, sustained communication with offenders as groups
• Simple, unified message:
– The community needs this to stop
– We will help
– We’re not asking: consequences are certain
• Meticulous follow-up

• Disrespect requires violence
• We’re not afraid of death or prison
• We handle our own business
• We’ve got each other’s back
• We’re victims
• We’re justified in what we do
• …is this the same here?

• Direct, sustained engagement with street groups: community, services, police standing and acting together
• Face-to-face with gangs
• Explicit focus on violence (“Stop the violence and we will help you”)

• Group accountability for serious youth violence: group dynamic, group sanction
– Last chance has gone
– Explained ahead of time
– By any legal means: Achilles Heel
– Most serious sanctions on impact players
• Careful promise: sanction on next incident of violence, and on the most violent group
• Reversal of pro-violence peer pressure
• Allows for an “honourable exit”

• Offenders can and will chose; are responsible human beings
• Enormous harm being done and the community rejects it
• Engagement with the dangerous and mistaken street code
• Everyone is important, everyone matters
• Works best if most influential nominals are involved

• Everyone who wants help deserves it
• Some will take it
• Has to be honest: we will do everything we can, but won’t promise what we can’t deliver
• Limited resources don’t change the core fact that the violence is completely unacceptable

• It has to stop. It’s wrong. You’re better than this and you don’t like it either.
• Your community and loved ones need it to stop
• You are hugely important and valuable
• The ideas of the street code are wrong
• We will do everything we can to help you
• We will stop you if you make us

• Police Commander – the enforcement message
• A&E Consultant – what happens to shot and stabbed bodies
• Grieving Parent– when your child is killed
• Ex dealer/gang member – how to get out
• Mentoring trust– opportunities for help

• Holding the hands of the most chaotic families
• Each borough in London has to find c.800 of the neediest families – unemployment, crime, truancy, substance misuse
• Family allocated a keyworker to support journey to normality
• Linking offender and gang families into this will provide sustainable approach

Troubled Families
Safeguarding
ASB Case Panel
IOM
Prevent
RJ
Victim Support
ASBRAC
MARAC
Victim
Problem
Triangle
Offender Location Local Joint Action Groups

Chris Williams
Chris.williams@brent.gov.uk