Joint patrols and joint working
NCP, Islington Council, and Islington Police today signed up to a groundbreaking co-operation agreement aimed at reducing crime and anti-social behaviour in the city. The new scheme, called Partnership Plus was officially launched when executives from the three organisations signed a new agreement to work together.
Under the new agreement Islington's parking attendants will be given special training in recognising certain situations on the street which are of interest to the police and lines of communication will be established to help them pass on useful information.
The scheme will effectively mean Islington's Parking Attendants will become a new set of eyes and ears for the police.
It also means Islington Police will provide increased support to parking attendants, to help reduce the level of assaults and intimidation they suffer while at work. Police officers will patrol the streets jointly with parking attendants in areas where there is thought to be a greater risk of attacks to the PAs.
They will ensure that all assaults or abuse of parking attendants are investigated and where appropriate the offenders prosecuted.
Parking Attendants will assist police with their operations when there is a need to enforce against illegally parked vehicles. They will also benefit from more training by police to make them more skilled at reporting street crime swiftly and effectively.
PA's will be encouraged by NCP to report street crime and disorder incidents seen while carrying out their duties in Islington, and the information will be passed to Islington Police community safety partnership unit.
The PAs will also benefit from the use of DNA testing kits (Spit Kits) which have been successfully used on other NCP contracts to prosecute members of the public who spit at attendants whilst on duty.
Ian Kavanagh, on street director of NCP said: "We already have terrific support from the police in Islington - but this agreement specifies several useful ways we can help each other.
"It will help us to further reduce the level of assaults and abuse our parking wardens receive while carrying out their duties - and we hope that we will be able to give something back to the police by providing more formal support in terms of observing and recording street crime and disorder.
"We hope the police in Islington will come to see the Parking Attendants as an extra set of eyes and ears who are able and willing to help them we are delighted our clients in Islington have supported us in this initiative."
Councillor Lucy Watt, Islington Council's executive member for environment said:
"Parking attendants are on our streets daily and have a level of local knowledge that has been an untapped resource for the police.
"I'm very pleased that this exciting partnership between the Council, NCP and the police is up and running and hope that our parking services can provide a real benefit to the community by working closely with the police to reduce crime and make residents feel safer on the boroughs streets."
John Archell, Police Inspector attached to Islington's Community Safety Partnerships Unit said : "This new agreement builds upon the important existing partnership between NCP, LBI and the MPS.
We have already held one successful joint operation in an area where Parking Attendants had previously been abused.
We value the contribution our partners will be able to make towards increasing criminal intelligence as it will help us to deploy MPS resources as effectively as possible. "
For further details contact James Pritchard, NCP Communications: 0207 290 6218, Nicola Quinn, Islington Borough Council: 0207 527 3376 or Islington Police Press Office.
Page Last Updated: 29 July 2008