Highbury East Liberal Democrats

The Youth Engagement Team (YET) will help prevent serious youth violence and knife enabled crime in Islington in the long-term through engagement and diversionary activities. It will complement the short-term enforcement tactics already in place.

Sergeant Andy Briers is leading the team with support from four police constables - Ed Stevens, Emlyn Hughes, Andy Day and Tim Cooke, all of whom have a strong interest in youth issues and excellent local knowledge. Between them they have a breadth of relevant experience which includes having worked on local Safer Neighbourhood Teams and in local schools including the Pupil Referral Unit Project .

The simple aim of the YET is to prevent harm - by young people as perpetrators and to young people as victims. The Team will engage with young people who are involved in or are at risk of becoming involved in violent crime and gangs. They will prevent teenagers coming to harm through intervention and diversionary activities and will visit the homes of Islington’s most prolific offenders as well as victims of knife crime.

Working closely with other agencies such as the Youth Offending Service and youth workers from Islington Council they will visit areas where teenagers hang around and encourage them to take part in other more positive activities already provided by the police and the council.

A large number of engagement activities are already being carried out by police in Islington. During a 23-week period, local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers carried out 658 engagement activities and events in Islington. The YET will co-ordinate these activities as well as providing additional ones aimed specifically at young people who are at risk.

The team, which has been up and running since 13^th October 2008 has already carried out numerous activities including: -

·         Conducting daily intelligence checks on young people who have come to notice, then contacting these young people and their families/guardians.

·         They have made numerous home visits.

·         They profile, monitor and assess the progress of prolific offenders.

·         They are running a Princes Trust programme with Project 16 two afternoons per week.

·         They are liaising with Haringey Council to set up a running track at Finsbury Park for students from the local pupil referral unit.

·         With local churches, they are developing a youth club to cater for 50 young people.

·         They are liaising with the Youth Offending Service to produce a definitive list of activities for young people In Islington.

·         Following the success of the Met’s partnership with MTV, EMI, charity XLP and the Safer London Foundation for MTV’s ‘Pimp My Ride’, they are liaising with the Islington garage which performed the make over of the police van and who have offered to give 12 young people apprenticeships at the garage.

Superintendent John Sutherland from Islington Police said;

‘We realised that we needed to complement our positive approach to enforcement with additional resources to support engagement - specifically with those young people who are involved in violent crime. The Youth Engagement Team aims to support potential victims and to help those most at risk of offending by building trust and diverting them towards positive activities.’