Dear Neighbour,
Like you, we have been shocked by the sequence of events that has unfolded across our city over the last three evenings. London has suffered a level of lawlessness unseen in living memory - with homes, businesses and shops in Hackney and elsewhere targetted.
The riots in Hackney have been particularity shocking for our community. Hackney Police have performed admirably under very difficult circumstances and I know that they have the full support of Cazenove ward residents. A number of arrests have been made and the Council is assisting the Police with their inquires using CCTV surveillance footage recorded over the course of these terrible disturbances.
As your elected local representatives I want to assure you that we are working closely with the council, the police and other emergency authorities to ensure there is an adequate response to this situation. And we have been assured that they will do everything they can to keep people and property safe here and across London.
As a community, we all also need to play our part in encouraging anyone we know to desist from any potential engagement in lawlessness. We know that our young people in Cazenove ward and across Hackney are, on the whole, positive and inspiring members of our community. We all want to encourage this to continue. So please use whatever influence you may have locally and across London to ensure that the actions of a tiny minority do not damage community cohesion for us all.
Please see the latest updated information from Hackney Council below. In the meantime, please ensure that you and your loved ones stay safe.
Warmest Regards,
Dawood, Ian & Abraham
Top line briefing – public disorder incidents in Hackney, w/c 8th August 2011
Incidents
An outline of the incidents that took place is provided below. This is a live criminal investigation, and is being co-ordinated across London by a central MPS operation.
The police are currently assessing 30+ hours of CCTV footage, which will provide a fuller picture of the number and scale of incidents around the borough.
Saturday night/Sunday morning
There were a few incidents of theft/looting and attempted theft mainly in and around Kingsland/Dalston, with some damage to chain stores in and around Kingsland Shopping Centre. 12 arrests were made.
Monday
The disturbances in Hackney on Monday night were focussed in Hackney Central and Hackney Downs. No buildings were burnt, although around 15 local shops and businesses were broken into or suffered damage, and around 24 cars were torched. There were also disturbances on the Pembury Estate, and a single decker bus was also attacked and set on fire in Shacklewell Lane. Further arrests were made (52 in total, over the two days).
All the streets were cleaned and clear by 7.30 the next morning, save for some of the burnt cars. These were all gone by lunchtime.
Tuesday
There were no disturbances, bar one burglary.
Policing
Deployment
Additional policing resources have been deployed in the borough this week, and an increased police presence will continue until next Monday. Across London, 16,000 police officers were on duty on Tuesday this week – five times the usual number for a Tuesday, and 10,000 more than the previous night.
The SNTs in Hackney are doing 12 hour tours of duty - one third 7am-7pm, and two thirds 12 - midnight. This will continue through to and including Monday at this time. All rest days cancelled through to and including Monday. SNTs tasked with high visibility re-assurance. The police will task their high visibility re-assurance patrols to those areas most impacted by the disorder and dependent on a changing incoming intelligence picture.
Local arrests
There have been 52 arrests in Hackney, as a result of the recent disturbances. Of these 52, Hackney's Burglary Squad dealt with the following:
Sunday night:
• 12 arrested, of which 11 were charged: 5 with burglary, 6 with conspiracy to burgle. 1 was bailed to return.
Monday night:
• 21 arrests, of which 19 were charged: 17 with burglary and remanded in custody to attend court; 2 for theft and remanded in custody.
• 2 were bailed to return.
Council support
CCTV operations
• Extra operators were brought in to the Stoke Newington CCTV control room – effectively double-staffed. The CCTV and Emergency Planning team also adjusted its shift system to provide maximum senior level cover in immediate period.
• Live CCTV feeds provided to police, and the police were alerted re suspicious gatherings as well as observing criminal actions
• Lots of quality images were captured to be used as evidence
• The police are currently engaged in working through 30hrs+ of footage
• Two live arrests made based on CCTV footage. Police have already acted on CCTV footage with follow-on arrests
• London Fire Brigade Borough Commander based at CCTV centre on Monday evening, to ensure co-ordinated operation.
• The Council’s Head of Growth Centre Regeneration (Town Centre areas) was also there linking in with business real time.
Public Realm
• The Council street cleansing team started clearing Mare Street and surrounding area from 8pm and Clarence Road and surrounding area from 3am. This was based on Police advice. The evening crew worked past 2.30am until 7am, and overlapped with day crews coming on shift. The Narrow Way was cleared twice, on the first occasion around 8.30pm on Monday night immediately after police had cleared the rioters. Street cleaners then had to clear the top of it again at shortly after 3am as a result of further damage.
• Most scenes cleared by 5am
• Streets washed down by 7am to 7.30am
• 14 burnt vehicles identified and removed by parking in Clarence Road by 12.15 with 10 in other areas removed.
• The damaged carriageway in Clarence Road will be repaired by close of business on Friday, with Clarence Place, Goulton Road and Clapton Square following on early next week.
• All minor street lighting damage was repaired on Tuesday and 2 burnt lamp columns to be replaced next Monday and UKPN will connect them on Wednesday.
• The graffiti that covered the whole wall in Clarence Road was also removed at 7am on Tuesday
• All bins and loose street furniture removed from Hackney Central, Dalston and the A10 on Tuesday, as a precautionary measure. They will be returned on police advice.
Council services
The Town Hall campus was closed from 4.30pm on Monday as a precautionary measure. All Council leisure facilities and libraries were also shut by about 6pm, and parks were locked early where it was safe to do so. On Tuesday, the Town Hall campus was closed from 12.30pm.
A few windows were smashed at Clissold Park House on Monday night, a window in the Hackney Service Centre was broken, and around 8 CCTV cameras were also broken around the borough. No other damage has been reported to any Council facilities.
Essential Council Services continued largely as normal. In adult social care, the meals on wheels/transport service had to do some re-routing and started slightly earlier than usual on Monday. Day Centres were open as usual although closed earlier.
Hackney Homes officers were out in the early hours of Tuesday checking housing estates and those of our RSL partners for damage. Thankfully, Hackney Homes’ estates incurred very little damage, including to those properties near the scenes of unrest. The out of hours service also did not receive many calls - the only serious incident involved someone trapped in a lift that required fire brigade assistance. To our knowledge, no residents were made homeless as a result of the disturbances – the reports back from RSLs (as well as Hackney Homes) confirm this.
Support to local businesses
• From Wednesday (10th August) we have been urging business to fully open and return to business as usual. Use shop radios to stay in contact.
• We have urged as many businesses as possible not to leave clutter and furniture outside of shops and restaurants if possible purely as a precautionary measure. We will update this advice when we receive briefing from Police and Community Safety.
Hackney Central
The table below lists the damage to local businesses in Hackney Central that we are aware of (15 in total, including 7 locally owned – in bold). The police are currently assessing 30+ hours of CCTV footage, and these numbers may increase.
The Council has been supporting local shops and businesses in Hackney Central in a variety of ways, including:
• We have been visiting all shops in the town centre frequently on a daily basis since Monday.
• We have distributed Police Advice Sheets to all possible businesses and asked businesses to cascade information onwards to fellow businesses to ensure maximum coverage
• From CCTV footage, we have been able to give advice to retail managers about how their shops were broken into and measures they can take to make them safer going forward.
• 50 Clarence Road Western Union – the business that was most affected we have organised waste removal from inside Mr Sivas shop and we have handymen from Hackney Homes doing some internal repairs in the shop.
• We also cleared glass and debris from Harris Euronics
Business Location Extent of damage
50 Clarence Road (Western Union) 50 Clarence Road Major looting and damage to store. Owner has no contents insurance.
Harris Electrical (Euronics) 62-64 Lower Clapton Road Major looting – TVs and other electrical goods taken
Burberry Factory Shop 29-53 Chatham Place Looting.
Carhartt Warehouse Outlet 18 Ellingfort Road
Apetite Mare Street Broken window
Ladbrooks Mare Street Broken window
JD Sports Mare Street Window smashed. Store raided 5 times – stock stolen.
Boots Opticians Mare Street
Eye London opticians Mare Street £15,000 of frames stolen.
Pawnbrokers (name?) Narrow Way
Second pawnbrokers on Narrow Way (name?) Narrow Way
Marks and Spencers Narrow Way Broken window
Santander Narrow Way Broken window
Holland & Barrett Broken window. Minor looting.
Jeweller (name?) Mare Street
Shoreditch, Hoxton, Dalston, Stoke Newington
A number of stores in Dalston suffered damage on Sunday evening:
Business Location Extent of damage
T mobile Kingsland shopping centre Broken doors
Foot locker Kingsland shopping centre
Argos Sandringham Road Broken window
Tesco Express Kingsland Road Broken window
Currys Kingsland Road
As a precautionary measure based on intelligence we asked businesses in Stoke Newington and Dalston to close on Monday night, and distributed the Police Advice Sheets.
Town Centre Managers have been out talking to businesses providing reassurance and advice since then.
Bars, Clubs, Theatres etc have been updated on a regular basis to give them advice and information about whether they should open – today the message is business as usual but be cautious and use shop radio systems linked to CCTV and stay in regular touch.
Shops advised that opportunistic crime due to stretched police resources is the most likely issue that business will face. Businesses urged to take this into account when opening - again this is based on Police / LBH Community Safety Advice.
Community engagement and reassurance
As detailed above, the Council has been in constant contact with local businesses affected by the public disorder.
The Mayor and Chief Executive visited local residents and businesses affected on Tuesday morning and Wednesday, including a meeting with residents, businesses, community and faith leaders on Wednesday afternoon. Cabinet and ward members have also been meeting with local residents and businesses affected.
SNTs are updating CAP Chairs regularly; and providing reassurance through face-to-face contact with residents.
About 150 people turned up at the Town Hall on Tuesday morning as part of the Twitter campaign (#RiotCleanUp) and were thanked but told that the streets had been cleared and they should go elsewhere in London where their help was needed.
