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Council defends choice to opt out of youth crime meetings

1 min read Youth Justice
Greenwich Council has defended its decision to become the only London borough not to take part in a capital-wide series of youth crime meetings.

The Joint Engagement Meetings are run by the Metropolitan Police Authority. These take place across London and involve discussions between police, community safety and council representatives on issues such as school truancy and youth offender management.

But Greenwich has said that the meetings merely duplicate the council’s existing youth crime work and would be a waste of local police officers’ time.

A council spokeswoman said: "We have taken the view at this time that these merely seek to duplicate bureaucratic oversight of community safety activities and would take police and community safety officers off the street and divert them from doing what they should be doing, fighting crime and reassuring residents on our streets and in our neighbourhoods."

She said that the council already funds a £1m violent and organised crime unit, which has a focus on tackling youth gang members. The council has also funded an additional safer neighbourhood team on a local housing estate and employs 50 neighbourhood wardens to offer reassurance to members of the public in town centre areas.

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