Hackney,
19
August
2022
|
17:52
Europe/London

Police and Council working together to combat and deescalate serious violence in borough

Hackney Town Hall

Hackney Council has been working with the police to support the community and rapidly deescalate tensions in the borough following the spate of violence, since 13 August, including serious and tragic incidents involving knives and guns. 

These incidents have been assessed as gang related. 

Five people have been arrested and charged in relation to this serious violence and other crimes, and numerous home-visits and weapons sweeps have been undertaken by the police. 

Hackney’s Integrated Gangs Unit (IGU) have been working hard within the local community, including carrying out several mediation sessions between rival gang members. 

The Council has also been carrying out extra enforcement officer patrols in hotspots; stepped up CCTV monitoring; and has been working directly with young people who may be at risk of getting caught up in further incidents. 

More than 100 households and 70 businesses in affected areas have been visited to offer support and reassurance. 

 

Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, Cabinet Member for Community Safety

Our hearts go out to the families of those devastated by the recent violence. 

We know serious violence is extremely worrying for all the community but particularly for parents with children and young people living in the area. 

We are pleased the police have made a series of arrests and hope this offers some reassurance. 

The police have assured us their operations are absolutely targeted against those individuals who are intent on causing high harm to others. And we will continue to work with police to ensure that stop and searches conducted as a result of the current tensions are only undertaken when there are clear grounds in order to prevent the power from being used indiscriminately. 

The Council has been working tirelessly to put an immediate stop to the violence; to dissipate tensions; and to restore peace and stability to the area - for everyone. 

There will be more enforcement to follow in the coming days to intervene and disrupt the violence and keep residents safe.

We are committed to keeping everyone in Hackney safe and have a long term strategy in place to help achieve this ambition, working alongside our partners in the police, community, voluntary sector and youth organisations.

Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, Cabinet Member for Community Safety

If you are worried about any aspect of gang activity, you can also contact Hackney’s Community Gangs Coordinator on: mark.barton@hackney.gov.uk or call: 07976 740235.

If you’ve been affected by violent crime, you can contact North London Victim Support for free local support on 0808 186 9291 from 8am-8pm, Monday to Friday, or 0808 1989 111 at all other times. You can also request support online: bit.ly/victim-support-help

If you are a parent, carer or member of the community and have any concerns about a young person, groups of young people, or a location where you feel children are unsafe and would like guidance and support, contact the council’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on: 020 8356 5500 (out of hours: 020 8356 2710) or on: mash@hackney.gov.uk. MASH links professionals from our children and families services and the police, health and probation service to support young people and families in need. 

Support is also available at Council’s youth hubs. Visit: www.younghackney.org for more information.