Kings Cross Local Environment

Domestic dispute leads to murder on Havelock Street

Police were out in force in the Bingfield area this evening on a reassurance exercise folloing last week's murder.

The police were making the point that this was not drug related nor a random attack but a specific domstic incident.

The tragic death on Havelock street followed what police on the ground are now calling a domestic dispute. 

I was worried that things were about to kick off again so this sort of reassurance is helpful.

Christopher Winslop was stabbed when picking his kids up from the Crumbles adventure playground.  He staggered to Havelock Street where he collapsed and later died in hospital.
The police apparently have the guy who did it but further witnesses always helpful. 

Press reporting here in the Gazette here and the Tribune here.

Scooters and anti-social behaviour

Have you noticed any increase in anti-social behaviour associated with scooters - thefts, crazy driving, noise or any general nuisance.  If so, this is the time to act.

Our Safer Neighbourhoods Team will be focusing on this specific problem but they need your intelligence.  So, if scooters are causing a problem in your area, please let me know.  Please provide as much information as possible that can help them indentify those behind the problem.  Snaps from your mobile phone, registration numbers, locations, times, frequency - all these items will help the SNT target those responsible.  Remember we are the teams eyes and ears and they cannot be expected to be everywhere all the time.

Oh yes, by the way, I drive a green Vespa, but I hope my driving will not have gotten me into trouble.

Arson attack - Rufford Street

Some pictures of an arson attack at the end of Rufford Street when some bins were set alight. 
A local contributor says:

'two youths came back hours later...boasting about arson and petrol'. 

Fortunately no one was hurt, not even in the flat above the bin fire - we have to be thankful that modern buildings are relatively fireproof...

Do not miss this. Whether you have kids or not knife crime potentially impacts us all. If you have teens or pre teens bring them with you.

Book now!

Network Rail = Nearly Roadkill - Network Rail plays Frogger for real on York Way

Network Rail's contractors have dug a huge hole in the road and pavement at the South end of York Way and made no provision for pedestrians.  To get to the heavily used bus stops you have to walk out into the road - there is no crossing!

This is idiotic - like a scene from a Laurel and Hardy film.  Or perhaps the classic computer game Frogger - where you have to dash between the trucks and cars to avoid a nasty death.

There isn't even a sign on the South  side telling you what to do.  On the North side there is a paltry 'use other pavement' sign but no suggestions of how - which suggests you get off the bus, walk 300m up a narrow pavement under an intimidating hoarding.  Cross at a set of lights walk back 300m, cross the road again to get back to where you started - all with a pushchair or shopping etc.   Or step boldly out into the Kings Cross gyratory.

It's terrifying that these Network Rail muppets are in charge of a railway if they can't even run some roadworks.

UPDATE - Sunday 1400 - Alastair Metcalfe of Network Rail has been in touch - he has been down to the site and told the contractors this is unacceptable, let's hope it improves

Con-artist scam and attempted burglary at York Central

How would you respond to this, if someone came to your door?

I'm staying upstairs at x's flat and we've just had a delivery.  The driver will not take my credit card, and I have no cash.  Could you please loan me £7 to pay the driver?

That's the pitch to look out for.  Unfortunately for several of York Central's well meaning neighbours - they realised the con too late.  And things got even worse from there...

While wandering around the building the bold intruder entered an open door to one of the flats and tried to make off with a laptop computer.  Spotted a chase ensued and the laptop was recovered but was severely damaged.

Do you know the person pictured? (Click the image for a larger version.)  He's the intruder.  And he's not a very smart one as he left some of his possessions behind that should help the police trace him.  However, If you do know who he is, please get in touch with [email protected]

Could anyone reading this please circulate info about this scam to their neighbours, and take a lesson from ME, even in what you think is a secure building, make sure your door is locked at all times!

Street Drinkers at Tesco

For the past several months I've noticed that the population of "street drinkers" who hang out outside our local Tesco's has been increasing.  I circtulated a note about this and received a number of emails from folks who agreed that this was becoming a problem.  At the same time I wrote to Sgt David Wiggins of our local Community Support Team and received the following update that I felt folks would want to know about.

The problem of street drinkers, beggars and prostitute advertising carders has already been highlighted to me by Sean Murray a couple of weeks ago. In response to that I have already put a request for resources to be made available to me from our MAGPI ( multi agency geographical panel in Islington) commitee. It has already been agreed that the New Horizons and Islington Council Drug and Alcohol teams will deploy their out reach teams to the area, supported by Islington council's CCTV system. They will be working in the area for the next couple of weeks trying to obtain a medium to long term solution to the problem. I have also secured some funding from the Met Police to work further hours. Once the out reach team has worked the area for the next two weeks I will have a week of action against the street population using the Caledonian ward Safer Neighbourhood team.

The reasons for an increase in the street population using the Kings Cross end of the Caledonian Rd is that Camden Police's Kings Cross SNT have been working intensively on their side of Kings Cross, pushing the beggars, street drinkers etc into our part of Kings Cross.

Just to reassure you we do take your concerns seriously and have already put in action a plan to deal with the issues.

Regards

Sergeant Dave Wiggins PS83NI

Caledonian Safer Neighbourhood Team

Islington Police Station

0207 421 0271

I'm pleased to see that the SN Team is taking some action, but being an impatient New Yorker, I decided to take some of my own action.  I popped in to see the Manager, and Duty Manager of Tesco myself.  I explained that many folks were really bothered by being hassled by some of these folks ("Have any spare change?") and that we hope Tesco's would do something about it.  He idicated that he was sorry but there was little he could do except call the police. Unfortunately he was calling the Met Police and rarely got any response.  As I had myself come armed (with two of our SNTeam members), they exchanged numbers and now Tesco's will contact the SNT rather then the Met.  We hope this will make a difference.  I would point out that as we first approached Tesco's from the other side of the street, the entire group of 5 drinkers, quickly got up and took off.

'London's trendy Kings Cross' - paparazzi - the problems of success

Ok - so we have tackled just about everything as a community - sex, drugs, porn, booze, property developers, squirrels, even karaoke but I wasn't expecting to raise the issue of unwanted paparazzi staked out in my street.  It turns out that we have a neighbour who is the subject of much comment in the tabloids.  She has been living here quietly for some time and is welcome in the community. 

The press pack have now rumbled that she lives in 'London's trendy Kings Cross'.  So every morning there is a car or two in the street with a snapper reclined on the front seat with a lens that could spot life on Mars.  As I write this there are five snappers in two illegally parked cars (on double yellows).  At about 0200 AM they rouse themselves in a frenzy of flashes as our neighbour returns home - the flashes are so bright they wake people up.  I spoke with the paparazzi - they said to me:

'Yeah, you will be seeing a lot of us now.  You should ask the people who live on Amy Winehouse's street they love us crime has gone down massively there since we have been around'

I don't make judgements about others, but the conversation felt horribly sleazy.

However, neighbour Stuart says:

'The photographers clearly need to be considerate - they are not normally noisy but so far my gripes are:
(a) the extremely bright camera flashes used in the middle of the night - it makes you think the Luftwaffe are imminent and certainly wakes you up and
(b) I'm not certain but they seem to be leaving rubbish on the street from their lunches etc. while they hover and wait.'

'I have some sympathy with what one of the cameramen said because having had my car smashed a number of times by kids with nothing better to do, I feel that a supervisory presence will cut down on property crime.'

I am not sure what we can do about this - the traffic wardens have already been asked to be more vigilant.  If a group of young people say were routinely disturbing the peace at 0200AM the police would use an ASBO or declare some sort of zone in which classes of behaviour were banned.  Perhaps we could do that for the street.  Any suggestions welcome.

And by the way, I am not going to get into a guessing game about who our neighbour is - i try to respect people's privacy and won't approve comments trying to name names.  If you want to gossip go to the Bella/Hello/Popbitch etc sites.

Street Safety Wardens abolished in Camden ward of Kings Cross against wishes of residents

I just read in "Your Camden" (the council's monthly free magazine) "the news" on Street Wardens at Kings Cross.  Except it is not new.  It is probably the old plan, namely to push forward with the ending of the Kings Cross Street Warden service.  I read, the Council heard the Kings Cross residents comments, presumably from the first Kings Cross Area Forum last year, where huge opposition to the withdrawal of the locally based street wardens was expressed.  Yet whilst they (the council through the voice of
YOUR CAMDEN ) say they apparently listen, they introduced a new schema, that meant exactly the point that was put to the council was being ignored, namely that Kings Cross residents object to the abolition of a Kings Cross based Local Neighbourhood Safety Schema. So whilst grandly announcing that they listened using a full page of the the Your Camden publication, they have done nothing to preserve the old structure.  This can hardly mean that they listened. 

Kings Cross has a huge disproportionate amount of hostels compared to the rest of Camden and it also is exposed by the by-traffic of St Pancras Kings Cross rail stations. Drug trafficking, dealing and drug and other substance abuse in public, prostitution, aggressive begging, and youth gang activities are all known to residents here.  Whilst no body can deny the need for neighbourhood safety teams elsewhere in the borough, it can hardly be right to make savings by withdrawing a well working and appreciated service, or as it may be forcing the ward to share that service with a wide range of other wards.  In a polite way of expressing it, their article in Your Camden is stupefying.
It is perhaps based on the out-dated notions that Kings Cross residents do not a have a voice  to be taken serious. 

The best way to maintain safety in a community is through local policing, with officers who know the area and its problems well. 

- a version of this letter went to Camden New Journal -

Read also:  Street Wardens  Decision Naive (Camden New Journal)
Your Camden

BBC Newsnight - Stephen Griffiths local youth worker on knife crime

Stephen Griffiths CYP youth worker was on BBC's Newsnight today - in a Gavin Esler panel discussion about knife crime with Richard Thaler, author of Nudge and political flavour of the month, Karen Buck a relatively local MP  and Chris Huhne of the LibDems.  Stephen did a great job.  The discussion overwhlemingly came down in favour of more things for young people to do.  Richard Thaler endorsed Stephen's work with CYP on sports and arts.  If you want to donate to CYP to help them continue this work with local young people click

Stephen identified a fundamental lack of self worth amongst young people:

"We have an issue with education and the environment resulting in young people with low self esteem and self worth.  If they have no worth in themselves and they have nothing...then they act in a certain way

Some young people get self worth from carrying knives.

"..amongst some young people you get a pat on the back for carrying a knife ‘well done’ ..really we need to be patting them on the back for the softer targets they achieve as adults."

"..we have to look closely at the young people in general.  It is getting worse and worse.  We need to look at young people in general, identify the issues and try to address them…..But it’s all part of a process, a programme a we need a lot more education a lot more programmes to enable young people to feel self worth."

Stop and search isn't the only answer

"Stop and search needs to be part of the bigger picture.  But it needs to be done in the right way.  I come across a lot of animosity towards the police from young people.  There is work to do to ensure that animosity is calmed down.  Stop and search has to be done with respect and regard. It needs to be done the right way.  The way it is done is vital.   If someone is carrying a knife they shouldn’t have it and they should suffer the consequences. That brings you to the point where young people have to understand the consequences of their behaviour."

In response to Stephen, Richard Thaler author of Nudge said:

"We are talking about trying to create identities.  If the knife is the identity we have already lost the game.  The kind of thing Stephen is doing getting kids involved in sports and the arts can be a way of creating a new identity for the kid that can be more productive."

(I typed this from live - errors are mine)

UPDATE - on Tuesday 15 July the show is available online here - the studio discussion with Steve is 7 minutes in