A problem shared is a problem solved!
Click here to meet and contact the local people behind the website.
For a local crime or anti social behaviour problem that you don't want to dial 999 for but need a police officer call Islington police on 0300 123 1212
or if you want the ultra local Caledonian Ward team and can wait for a response try 020 7421 0271 or their mobile on 07876 132092 when they are on duty or you can email them
For an incident in a park call Parkguard on 07970 893588
If you want to know about the kinds of work the PCSO's of our Safer Neighbourhood's Team do, why not listen to this interview in which two of our team, John Argyrou and George Motum explain their roles.
Listen to the interview conducted by Tim Wallace - click here
Our Safer Neighbourhood's Team need your help!
The Community Bulletin Board just received this urgent appeal from Sgt. Michael Atkinson, Head of our local Caledonian Ward Safer Neighbourhood's Team.
Apparently, in the early hours of Friday 4th June 2010 there were 17 motor vehicles broken into and had property taken from them on the Bemerton Estate.
The Police are treating this extremely seriously and our Team are appealing to any witnesses with any information to contact their local police on 020 7421 0271. Alternatively, if you wish to remain anonymous please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
According to our Sgt, crime in Islington - including vehicle crime has gone down over several consecutive years, and the Police are currently working on reducing it further. This appears to be a one off incident and extra patrols have been moved to this area.
Further crime prevention advice can be found at www.met.police.uk/crime prevention
For more information about Islington Police go to or to read the latest Safer Neighbourhoods newsletter for Caledonian ward go to: www.met.police.uk/islington.
Please, if you know or have seen something that you feel could help get in touch with the local police ASAP.
And remember these crime prevention tips:
Basic Crime Prevention Measures
Most vehicle crime is preventable. It can take as little as 10 seconds for a thief to steal something from your car. If at all possible, leave nothing on view.
NEVER leave valuable items in your car, including sunglasses, the removable radio cover and your Sat Nav. Do you really need all those things you keep in the glove box? It is good practice to leave the glove box empty and open when the vehicle is unattended.
Wipe away the Sat Nav suction mark on your windscreen.
Consider fitting anti-tamper screws to your number plate.
Never leave your car keys where they can be seen from the front door.
Vehicle Common Sense
Always: -
Park with care, particularly at night or if you are leaving the vehicle for a long time. If possible, park in a busy, well-lit area.
Never leave cash, credit cards, chequebooks, mobile phones, vehicle documents or other valuables in the car.
Never leave your keys in the car, even for a second - treat them as you would your cash and credit cards.
With all the problems facing the world you might wonder why I bother with this posting!
Yes another local tree seems to have been vandalized but frankly, who really cares, the Council will replace it, won't they?
Well I care, and I would really like to know how this happened (and continues to happen). I would like to know who did this and why can't we try to find out so that we might get them to pay.
We have cameras all over our streets, yet every time I offer to spend of my personal time trawling thru CCTV footage I'm told that I'm not authorized to do so... Of course when it comes to traffic fines, then we surely get snapped!!!!
Well, can't we get someome who can focus on this problem - after all our taxes are being spent on replanting so why can't some of our money go into finding the culprits for this type of crime and making them pay. What do you have to say?
Local crime is one of the most discussed issues facing the local community. So, if you have something to say on this matter, the local Safer Neighbourhood's Team are the folks that should hear about it and the Safer Neighbourhood's Panel is the meeting you want to attend to express your concerns.
Approximately every eight weeks, the Panel meets with members of the local community to discuss priorities for the Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team to target. Members of the Team are present and attendance is made up of those local residents who have had or see potential problems in their local areas as well as residents who attend on a regular basis to hear what the Team is doing to make our area safer.
The Chairman of our Panel has been Councillor Paul Convery, however with recent changes to the Council, Paul has taken on a larger role in community affairs and has decided to resign. Paul has explained his reasons in a letter to the Panel's current mailing list which you can download (Download Letter_from_Paul_Convery). Paul has recommended another well-know local resident to succeed him - Lisa Tang.
If you've been frustrated when trying to deal with the Met, this is a good way to meet your local police - the police on our beat, rather then speaking to someone in a call centre in the Midlands. The Team needs local feedback to focus action on where WE feel it's needed, so this is a real way to get involved in making our neighbourhood safer.
The next meeting will take place on Thursday, 27 May from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at in the Wenlock Room of King's Place, the new office/concert hall venue on York Way at the intersection with Good's Way.
The meeting room as well as tea, coffee and biscuits has been donated by King's Place as part of their ongoing efforts to build stronger ties with the local community. For those of you who have never visited the building this is a great opportunity to take a look inside and attend an important local meeting. Download map and directions:
For more information about what takes place at these meeting you can download the Minutes of the last meeting: Download SNP minutes March
Your attendance is encouraged. And, if you wish to be added to the mailing list for future meetings, please send an email to the Panel's Secretary.
For forward planning, please know that future meetings will be held on: 22 Jul, 9 Sep, and 11 Nov.
Game Over: Islington Unite against Domestic Violence
This year is the first year of Islington Council and Arsenal in the Community's "Game Over: Islington United against Domestic Violence" campaign.
Partners including Islington Police will be taking part in this fun and worthy cause. Sign up and join Arsenal in the Community and Islington residents for a five-a-side football tournament to unite against domestic violence in Islington.
Kick off is 5pm on Friday 4 June, at Rosemary Gardens, N1.
Sign up deadline is 30 May, but places are limited, so sign up as soon as you can. Team members must be over 18.
Friends and family are welcome to come along and watch, and we will have stalls and activities going on as well as the football!
Domestic Violence in Islington - We need your help
Last year there were 3,777 domestic violence reports made to the police in Islington. Research into domestic violence during the last World Cup showed an increase in violence of over 30 percent for some games. We hope our Game Over: Islington United campaign will help to tackle this problem, but we need friends and family of people committing domestic violence to report it. Domestic violence isn't a relationship; it can start with isolation and intimidation but can end up with GBH, assault, rape and sometimes murder.
We need you to report it just as you would any of those crimes.
If you have any concerns please contact the National Domestic Violence help line on 0808 200 0247. If you are a perpetrator of domestic violence, you can get help by contacting the RESPECT helpline on 0845 122 8609.
To sign up, or to find out more information about domestic violence services in Islington go to www.islington.gov.uk/united.
For more information about Islington Police go to www.met.police.uk/islington. If you wish to receive Islington Police news alerts please email [email protected].
In response to concern from the local community about large groups of young people congregating, causing criminal damage and being threatening to passers-by, Islington Anti Social Behaviour Team have introduced a three-month dispersal zone in Edward Square, N1 and surrounding area including the south part of Caledonian Road.
A Dispersal Order gives police the power to move on groups of two or more youths in an area, who are involved in or are likely to become involved in crime or anti-social behaviour. Those who fail to comply with a police request to move on, in the area known as a dispersal zone, can be arrested.
The Dispersal zone will start on Monday, 17 May 2010 and will remain in place until 17 August 2010. Barnsbury and Caledonian Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, the South Islington Problem Solving Team and the Safer Neighbourhoods Taskforce will be enforcing the order with increased patrols in the evenings.
To provide long-term solutions to this issue, Islington Council including Young Peoples Service will be working together to provide outreach support and landscape changes in order to engage the young people.
Graham Burke, Islington Anti Social Behaviour Team said:” The dispersal zone is aimed at breaking up large groups of young people who seem intent on causing trouble. This will not only protect local residents and traders from the noise, nuisance and threatening behaviour they have been suffering but will allow police to deal with individuals more effectively"
The Community Bulletin Board would like to hear your views on this matter - especially from local residents in the affected areas. Please post your comments...
Continuing the Bulletin Board's commitment to support our local police, we will periodically be publishing appeals for help from local residents.
Have you seen the person pictured. Officers from the Islington Wanted Offenders Unit are appealing for information from the public to trace a man wanted for breach of his prison licence.
David Kelly is a white male aged 26 years (Dob 27/04/84).
The Probation Service has revoked his licence as he is alleged to have been involved in further offences.
Members of the public are advised not to approach him.
If he is seen please call Detective Sergeant Chris Collinson on 020 7421 0157. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. In an emergency dial 999.
It's tricky for people to get to hustings, or indeed any meetings. So i went along and got some video at the excellent election hustings last night for Islington South and Finsbury organised by St James, Clerkenwell. Antonia Cox (Con), James Humphreys (Green) Bridget Fox (LibDem) and Emily Thornberry (Lab) spoke fluently and frankly.
I managed to ask a question about the tragic murders in Kings Cross recently. I agree with Cllr Convery that we need a big intervention in the area and felt that it was right to raise the issue with the would-be Westminster politicians. The footage stretches over several clips - the candidates gave thoughtful answers, but were gracious enough to admit that they didn't have all the answers to a grim set of problems.
The first part is below, the second and third behind the links. The answers get better as they goes on. Hope the video is useful - will post more from the hustings as I process it and get it into youtube (note the deliberate error on the title screen of the first one, late night editing).
We seem to have had more than our fair share of murders in Kings Cross in recent years. The two killings in the last month prompted me to check my recollection of past events and ask what
we can all do
about this as individuals and a community.
I was loath to pull this list together - like many people I would rather forget all this and move on. The area is improving, let's focus on that. But we have to remember these tragedies to learn from them. All bar one of the following have been solved or likely to be:
Sharif Zaiden shot three times by a man who ran out of the Egg nightclub on York way August 2006. Killer Sean Samuels sentenced to 27 years.
Daniel Ross shot dead in a reckless shooting in the Scala nightclub September 2006 – remains unsolved
Christopher Winship November 2008 stabbed to death in a domestic dispute while picking up his step daughter from nursery on Bingfield Street. Eddie Reid the murderer was given a life sentence in August 2009.Samuel Fitzgerald stabbed to death outside the Thornhill Arms pub, Caledonian Road, a man has been arrested and charged with murder April 2010.
Jessie Wright, 16 strangled to death in Outram Place just off Randell’s Road in March 2010, Zakk Sackett a local youth has been arrested and charged with murder.
I am not fully on top of the statistics but this does seem to be a higher death toll than one might expect for an urban area about a mile long by half a mile wide over three and a half years. If we go back further there are others.
Yet crime in the area has fallen, a lot. Walking around Kings Cross from top to bottom feels safer. It is unrecognisable now from when I first lived in the area in 1994 on Wharfdale Road - saturated by the local sex trade who spent their takings with the dealers on ‘Class A Corner’ at the bottom of the Cally Road. Streets have been transformed, bad, decrepit housing like Naish Court has been replaced with better modern housing. The remaining big estates now benefit from security doors that put the residents back in control and help keep the drug trade out. We have a lot more police on the ground thanks to Safer Neighbourhood Teams and this website works to support them. Excellent local youth organisations like Crumbles, Sparkplug and CYP provide support for young people.Each murder has its own special circumstances and defies generalisation. It's not just young people in gangs, it's not just the licensed premises, it's not just visitors nor people who live here, it's not just domestics, not just organised crime nor the sex and drug trade. Knives are a recurring factor, but often kitchen knives that defy control. Youth gangs come and go but have not been quite the insidious problem that other areas have. Two nightclub-related shootings perhaps point to issues there.
I was involved early on in the Safer Neighbourhoods Panel and have helped out CYP over the years (less in the last year or so as i set up a business). But overall I am at a loss to know what to do about these killings both as an individual and more broadly what we could do as a community. The murders seem beyond a statistical freak, yet it's hard to pin it on any one factor or even a set of factors.
As we face a future of public service cuts it's all the more important that as a community we can prioritise and focus precious resources. But what do we need to do to stop this dreadful trend? Any ideas?
Sadly another murder in Kings Cross - seems like an isolated stabbing outside the Thornhill Arms on the Caledonian Road, with someone arrested. Will update if we get any more. If anyone has anything useful to share please call Crimestoppers (below). Despite recent murders I don't feel that Kings cross is any more unsafe than it has been - what do others think?
UPDATE - since I posted this at about 133o, Paul convery has put an update with intelligence about a local gang over on his Cally councillors blog. When I spoke to the police today (twice) they gave no indication that this was anything other than a dispute around a pub.
FURTHER UPDATE from the police received 1740
We await formal identification, however we are satisfied the deceased is Samuel Fitzgerald, 20 of the N1 area. A post-mortem examination will take place at St Pancras Mortuary tomorrow, Friday 16 April. An incident room has opened under DCI John Sandlin.
DCI Sandlin said: "Mr Fitzgerald had been drinking inside the Thornhill Arms pub shortly before he was attacked. He had stepped outside the venue, when he became involved in an altercation with at least one man, resulting in him being fatally wounded.
"I appeal to anyone who has information, or was in the area at the time of the attack who may have seen or heard anything suspicious to contact us- this includes anyone inside the Thornhill Arms pub who has not yet spoken to police, or anyone in the area of nearby Caledonian Road, including the Canal 125 Bar which is close to the scene of the attack ."
This in from the police at 1300:
Police were called at 20:07hrs on Wednesday, 14 April, to a man stabbed in the street outside the Thornhill Arms pub in Wynford Road, N1. Officers and London Ambulance Service attended to find a 20-year-old man suffering a stab wound to the torso.
He was taken to the Royal London Hospital where he died shortly after arrival. We believe we know the identity of the deceased, but await formal identification and confirmation that next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination is yet to be arranged. Officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command are investigating.
Anyone with information that may assist police should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. At this early stage, officers retain an open mind as to any motive. A 20-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He has been taken to a north London police station where he remains in custody.
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