Burnt Oak Murder - Metropolitan Police respond to Barnet Eye Concerns

Earlier this week, I emailed Barnet Police, detailing some serious concerns regarding  the background issues to the recent murder in Burnt Oak. The text below are my questions and the responses from the Police. 

The responses from the Police are in Blue italics.
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Following the two stabbing incidents in Burnt Oak, I am seeking some clarification on a few issues and concerns which have been raised. I understand that as these are active inquiries you may not be in a position to answer these questions at this time. I am intending to write a blog on the subject. If you reply but do not wish the information to be included, please state specifically what is for public consumption.

 

a) It has been suggested to me that brothels in Barnet are run by organised gangs

b) It has been suggested that there are links between gangs involved in brothels and gangs involved with sale of drugs

c) It has been suggested that the gangs involved in brothels are involved in people trafficing and procurement of underage girls

...we keep active and open minds in relation to all the points you raise...but to answer them specifically

 

a), b) and c) obviously this can't be ruled out, however, the last intelligence assessment we had indicated that these were not drivers in Barnet. In other boroughs they are. This is why we keep alert to the issue and our Safer Neighbourhood teams gather information and intelligence.  Where intelligence does support organised crime the Borough will work in partnership with the MPS's dedicated team who deal with Trafficking and Prostitution. We do need the help of the public in this and other crime related matters as it is the public who hold the information. Safer neighbourhood teams can be contacted by the public with information, but if they wished to remain anonymous, they can use CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111 or the MPS Trafficking Freephone number 0800 783 2589. We are determined to curb creation and growth of gangs in Barnet as we do see the impact in other parts of London.

 

 

d) There are over 50 brothels known to the police in Barnet

e) Safer neighbourhood teams are not enforcing the law with regards to laws on prostitution

 

d) and e) The number can be subject to change depending on all sorts of factors including police activity. We look to work with partners and use a problem solving approach, such as management of premisies through licensing procedures and issuing closure notices on landlords who allow properties to be used for prostitution. We do undertake quite a bit of activity with regard to such premises having taken into account the impact on the people who live and work in their locale.

 

I think it's important to note that we have to prioritise activity and target those that are most problematic from a crime and disorder perspective and the links to more serious crime. The big challenge in all this is that we simply displace activity to another location. Without being flippant, prostitution is often referred to as the oldest profession ( I think farmers argue that they are!) and the issue of enforcing the laws relating to it have been problematic since the inception of formal policing....enforcement alone simply moves the problem or drives it from the street into premises. Clearly, another challenge is around the supply and demand. There is a huge demand for sexual services and since time immemorial there has been a supply of women offering sexual services otherwise these places wouldn't be viable.

 

There is a much wider debate about how to tackle this in a way which safeguards women in the sex industry as well as preserving quality of life issues for residents and enforcement activity from the police is only one strand of activity.

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I hope that the response offers some degree of reassurance that organised crime is not perceived as major problem in Barnet.

More comment from the Police on this story  in the Times - 

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9148452.Burnt_Oak_murder_brothel_was_closed_by_police_in_mid_April/

As with many things, the view of the Police is that whilst Barnet has problems, they are nowhere as serious as those in some other London Boroughs. I believe we need to see visible Policing in Burnt Oak as a priority to reassure local people of this. I find the Police helpful and approachable when discussing such issues. I really think that these messages should be being communicated by the people elected to do it, but they seem to have outsourced responsibility for keeping the people informed to the Bloggers of Barnet as part of the OneBarnet cost savings program.