Two Islingtons: Understanding the Problem - Islington Council

Islington Housing Aid Centre have commissioned bespoke training on domestic violence
and housing and SIP are commissioning DV Training for substance misuse agencies on
working with perpetrators for 2010/11.
9.9. The Gang Prevention Team is based in the Islington Youth Offending Service that
supports young people at risk of becoming involved in gangs and youth violence and
provides gang prevention education in Islington Schools. 45 young people aged 8-17 have
been engaged who are at risk of gang involvement and 20 parents/carers provided with
support to enhance parenting skills and increase their confidence. The Family Intervention
Project is a family support service that provides intensive support to families where young
people are at risk of involvement in youth violence.
9.10. The Bronze Group is a multi agency operational meeting which aims to prevent and
reduce young people’s involvement in gang activity, group offending and violent crime. It
aims to do this through the sharing of information and the use of resources to work with
individuals and groups. The work of the Bronze Group is underpinned by the overall aim to
prevent harm to children and young people. The Bronze Group is designed for young
people up to the age of 24, where the referring agency has concerns that the person is at a
high risk of becoming involved in violent crime as either a perpetrator or a victim, whether
or not they are involved in a gang or group. During October 2009-March 2010 40 young
people had action plans in place.
9.11. The BME Community Outreach Project has been very effective in developing the
services for BME communities and strengthening BME community groups. It also has been
very successful in prioritizing domestic violence within BME networks in Islington. A wide
range of BME groups participated in the project including Iranian, Kurdish, Asian, Somali,
and Eritrean which strengthened their relations and enabled them to act together and in
cooperation for particular causes. The participating organizations organized raising
awareness events and developed their services by attending trainings and forums which in
return will help to decrease domestic violence cases in the borough.
9.12. The project also brought a change in the perceptions of domestic violence, which is now
not regarded as a private matter and it is seen as an unacceptable behaviour in every
community. BME women are more aware of their rights and have been increasingly using
the services in the borough. The referral system has been used very efficiently by the
organizations. In cases where there are alcohol and drug problems or other specific needs,
the clients were referred to appropriate agencies. Cases are being reported to the police
more either directly or using third party reporting. According to the feedback from the
groups, they feel more confident in referring cases to statutory agencies. An evaluation
undertaken in 2009 showed that nearly every community group involved in the project had
identified cases while the Islington Somali Community Centre said they had identified
hundreds of cases.
9.13. The Introduction of Islington Deaf Link scheme provides a direct text service for the Deaf
community to contact police regarding non-urgent crime. This project has just been
implemented and is aimed at increasing reporting of crime as well as ensuring that the
deaf community receive the same level of service as a hearing resident. Unlike previous
schemes an officer will take responsibility for a phone and will respond immediately to the
text. This project is a pilot which if used successfully will be rolled out across the Met
Police service. As the scheme is new it needs publicity to the deaf community to ensure its
success.
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