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BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE

Author: / Alan Judd, BTP
Date: / 20th April 2011
Location: / London Underground Meeting Room, Northern Booking Hall
  1. PRESENT:

Ian McCammont(IM) Chairperson/BTP Kings Cross, HUB Sergeant

Alan Judd (AJ)BTP Kings Cross NPT, HUB Sergeant

Subbarayulu Raja (SR)BTP Kings Cross NPT HUB Police Community Support Officer

Gina Denyan-Watkins (GDW)BTP Kings Cross NPT HUB Police Officer

Mark McKevitt (MM)NWR Shift Station Manager

Sharon Wyatt (SW) East Coast Shift Manager

Neil Marsh (NM)First Capital Connect Station Manager

William Seddon (WS)WH Smith Manager

Dominika Veteskove (DV)Camden Food

Karen D’Lima (KD)Whistlestop

Phil Mamode (PM)London Underground Crime and Disorder Unit

Tim Ramskill (TR) Crime Reduction,

Pete Gilbert (PG) TFL Crime and Disorder

David Lovell (DL)Camden Street Wardens

Denis Bright (DB)London Underground Duty Station Manager

Shiraz Majid (SM)Boots the Chemist Manager

  1. APOLOGIES:

Nabeela Ahmed (NAh) Camden Met CT OPS

  1. ITEMS FOR DICSUSSION:

Outstanding actions from previous meeting

ACTIONS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETING
REF/ITEM / ACTION /

WHO

/ DEADLINE
Hull Trains / JD stated that Hull Trains had implemented dry trains for the recent Hull v Milwall match to good success. He stated that he would be looking to implement further dry trains for selected fixtures.
IM highlighted the football meeting held at Kings Cross every Thursday which he was welcome to attend and discuss upcoming fixtures which may impact on Hull Trains / JD / Closed
LN Inside News: / Due to inconsistent representation from stakeholders at PACT meetings AJ and other BTP officers chairing the meeting will continue to address this and update the mailing list accordingly.
The mailing list for meeting minutes will be forwarded to LN Media for addition to the list of recipients.
SW requested that she be added to the mailing list. / AJ / Ongoing
Community Engagement / No update provided. / AJ / Jason Sheehan / Ongoing
Workplace Violence Workshop / AJ requested PM to look in to upcoming workshops at Kings Cross. PM confirmed he would do this. / AJ / IM / Closed
Team Poster / IM informed attendees that the Hub Team website had been updated and photos added to staff books located around the station. SW requested that an additional book be provided at the East Coast First Class lounge. AJ told SW that he would have this done. / AJ / IM / Closed
Station Radios / No update provided – DB was late to attend the meeting and was therefore unable to update IM. / AJ / IM / Ongoing
Station Announcements / No Update provided / AJ / Ongoing
Direct Phone Line / No update provided. / IM / Ongoing
Recording Log / WS stated that stock loss was recorded electronically however as their stockroom is at Waterloo it is sometimes difficult to identify where the loss is occurring. WS did inform AJ that discs were available now for CCTV download. WS said all incidents of identified theft are reported to BTP. / KM & NF / Closed
Warning Stickers
(Ticket Machines) / No update provided / IM / Ongoing

Performance

AJ outlined the yearly performance at Kings Cross and highlighted the reductions achieved at what was already a low crime station. These reductions were on both the mainline and underground station.

AJ explained that the successes in March were due to a sustained Police operation which was unfortunately not sustainable although stated that crime in April was again lower than last year.

AJ highlighted that the main priority for the Hub team in the coming year was to work towards reducing crime further by joint working with other PACT attendees.

AJ asked SW whether East Coast would be able to publicise the installation of CCTV on their trains with posters at stations as a way of deterring thieves from even getting on the trains. SW said she would look into it however warned that it may be seen as a negative message by East Coast management and so may not be viable.

SM raised concerns around stock loss at Boots the Chemist. AJ explained that whilst the Hub officers could increase patrols the best remedy would be to increase the hours of security guards as the store is left unguarded for half of the day. SM stated that security could not be increased but that they had changed the shifts around with no positive result. TR asked whether Boots had considered permanently closing one of their entrances which SM said they had done temporarily. TR also suggested that AJ speak with PS James Tyrrell as he had achieved good results with a similar problem at Liverpool Street. AJ stated he would look into the problem outside of the PACT meeting with a view to opening a PSP.

Current Terror Threat

As NAh was not available to give a more Camden focused update IM outlined that the threat to London remained at the same high level that has been the case since the 7th July 2005 (with some minor exceptions).

Royal Wedding

AJ explained that additional officers would be deployed for the Royal Wedding. MM asked how many officers this would equate to and AJ stated it would be one Sergeant and six officers on both an early and late shift.

AJ stated that there was no information to suggest Kings Cross would be targeted with any protests or disruption and as a result the Policing Plan was to provide visibility and reassurance whilst supporting staff as necessary.

SW stated East Coast will be running some additional trains on the date whilst JD, MM, and DB said that no special services would be put on. DB did add that some planned closures were being reviewed.

4.UPDATE PROBLEM SOLVING GROUPS:

Problem solving groups are for those long term ongoing issues, that tend to not have an impact on the community, but they will affect BTP and particular community groups. These also tend to be the biggest crimes.

Problem Solving Plans are for the short term issues that can hope to be solved in a 6-8 week period.

OUTSTANDING PROBLEM SOLVING GROUPS
Problem Solving Plan reference / Progress / Owner
No outstanding PSG’s
OUTSTANDING PROBLEM SOLVING PLANS
Problem Solving Plan reference / Progress / Owner
European Football Fixtures
Open PSP / AJ updated attendees of the work by the Hub team in partnership with the actions taken to advertise the no drinking and no smoking notices in relevant foreign languages. He said the signage was supported by Tottenham Hotspur who linked in with their counterparts in Milan and Madrid. AJ highlighted that there had been no reports of disorder on any of the games which were targeted and that it had been seen as a great success.
DB added to the feedback by saying that the LU had also recorded no issues around the targeted games and that he had also received positive comments from both customers and staff.
Agreement reached for PSP to be closed. / AJ / Richard Osborn
Ticket Barrier
Open PSP / SW informed attendees that there had been a significant drop in the reports of verbal assaults against staff since the implementation of the barriers. She thanked the BTP for its assistance / support with the implementation and was happy for IM to close it down.
SW did highlight that the barriers were to be expanded to platforms 6 and 7 however she did not feel it was necessary to open a separate PSP as it was not as much as of a fundamental business change as it was for the first barriers.
Agreement reached for PSP to be closed. / IM/Jim Hopkins
Street Drinkers / IM explained that prior to roster changes in the Summer officers had been brought in early to target those involved. IM stated that of the seven Sundays over the PSP, five had been Policed. During those patrols fourteen stops had been conducted and no arrests. IM added that the number of complaints had dropped since the PSP was implemented.
Agreement reached for PSP to remain open. / IM / Daniel Nokes
Theft of Passenger Property (Circle Line) / AJ provided an update and explained that the Kings Cross team were supporting and not leading on this PSP. He stated that a number of engagement events had been agreed in order to target a 10% reduction.
AJ also highlighted his intention to show the ‘Pickpockets on the Tube’ DVD to staff so that they can be involved in helping reduce crime. / AJ / Gary Pacey
JC / Gareth Hill

5. UPDATE PROBLEM SOLVING PLANS

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

Street Drinkers and Beggars

SW asked whether the photos shown by DL previously were still relevant as staff were still being told to avoid a male with red hair. DL could not recall a picture of a male with red hair.

DL stated he was keen to arrange patrols with BTP and AJ confirmed that if he provided dates then an officer would be assigned to support the wardens.

Taxi Touts

DB made attendees aware that taxi touts who normally remain outside were now beginning to come down into the station after the last trains In order to pick up fares. Although this appears to be happening every night DB said it was worst on Friday and Saturday nights and that it was mainly down to four or five individuals who operate between Scala and Kings Cross.

PG told attendees that he should be able to look in to actual figures / reports’ relating to taxi touts at Kings Cross.

AJ stated he would look to open a PSP as joint work was the best opportunity to address the issue.

Black Cabs

PG asked whether attendees had ever experienced any problems with licensed cabs around the station. DB said that cabs do park both sides of Pancras Way and then do U turns in the road to join the official rank. DL supported this by adding that the turns are made near to the St Pancras Station Marks & Spencer.

UPDATE ACTIONS ARISING FROM CURRENT MEETING:

ACTIONS ARISING FROM CURRENT MEETING
REF/ITEM / ACTION /

WHO

/ DEADLINE
Staff Report Books / SW requested that an additional Police report book be placed in the First Class Lounge Reception. AJ confirmed this would be done as soon as possible. / AJ / PCSO Daniel NOKES / Next PACT
Football Debrief / SW raised a concern around Policing arrangements for Football and other events. As an example she stated that Kings Cross was ignored for the FA Cup ties despite there being a significant number of fans through Kings Cross who did not live in the geographical area of the clubs involved (Manchester). SW asked if there was any way to prevent this being the case in the future. AJ suggested that it may be possible to produce a debrief form for TOC’s to use in order to flag issues as soon as possible.
SW thought this was a good idea and AJ said he would have an officer produce a document for all TOC’s. / AJ / PC Richard OSBORN / Next PACT
Shop watch / SM whether images of thieves could be shown to staff at Boots so that they would know who to be on the watch for. AJ and IM said that images could be shown (when authorised by a D) but were concerned about the security of images if left in stores. AJ will request PCSO Nokes to arrange for a Shop watch meeting so that staff can be shown images. / AJ / Daniel NOKES / Not Set
Whistlestop
Dry Train Signage / AJ asked KD whether they could support the implementation of dry trains by restricting the sale of alcohol or by displaying signage. KD said that sale could not be restricted but that she would look into whether signage could be placed. / KD / Next PACT
Taxi Touts / Following discussion about taxi touts AJ asked how any PSP could be graded as a success. PG stated that he would look into whether any data was available within TfL. / PG / Next PACT

7.CLOSED/ONGOING PRIORITIES:

CLOSED/ONGOING PRIORITIES
Problem / Owner / Problem Solving Plan Open/Closed?
European Football / As above
East Coast Ticket Barriers

8.NEW PRIORITIES IDENTIFIED

NEW PRIORITIES
Problem / Owner / Problem Solving Plan Open/Closed?
Boots the Chemist Theft / Following discussion around theft at the store it was agreed that partnership working would be the best way to proceed. It was not agreed how this PSP would be addressed or measured and so a separate discussion will be held between Boots and the BTP. / TBC / Yes
Taxi Touts / Following discussion around taxi touts it was agreed that partnership working would be the best way to proceed. It was not agreed how this PSP would be addressed or measured and so a separate discussion will be held between Boots and the BTP. / TBC / Pending
Cash in Transit / Cash in Transit deliveries to the ATM’s in the LU Northern Ticket Hall have started to reverse their vans up to the stairs at Kings Cross. This is causing a block to both the entrance but also the site exit which could have consequences during an evacuation of workmen. A further risk is that if the vehicles struck scaffolding on the site then it would affect its stability and so result in the possible closure of the station entrance. DB requested assistance outside of PACT and so a PSP was raised for the issue to be addressed. / AJ / PC Peter CROFTS / Yes

9.DATE OF NEXT MEETING:

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