Young man on the streets. Pic: Mailliw
Rough sleeping and begging in Croydon are being targeted in a new initiative by the Metropolitan Police.
Operation Encompass will see the police working with the local authority, UK Border Force and other agencies to target “those who commit such behaviour”.
The Met Police said the operation will have officers patrolling “hot spot areas to speak with those who sleep rough and beg from members of the public”.
Arrests will also be made where offences are identified.
However, some advocates for the homeless deem the move heavy-handed, cautioning the Met are making a direct association between homelessness, crime and other anti-social behaviour.
They believe a more socially accommodating approach will be more effective.
Duncan Shrubsole, Director of Policy and External Affairs at Crisis, said: “We would be very concerned to see how aggressively targeting and potentially criminalising some of the most vulnerable people in society is going to help anyone. What homeless people really need is access to services and support to help them get off the streets and to rebuild their lives.”
According to Crisis, rough sleeping in London has risen by 62% over two years and that more than 6,400 people slept on the streets of the capital at some point last year.
It said the trend is due to the ongoing pressures resulting from the economic downturn and a chronic lack of affordable housing as well as cuts to housing benefits.
Jad Adam, Chair of the homeless charity – Night Watch said: “This is not a particularly well thought-out proposal as it conflates street homelessness with begging. If people are street homeless, that is a failing in society, not a manifestation of ‘anti-social behaviour’. Improved housing strategies will help them, not more police action.”
The Met Police however believe the initiative is robust and proportionate response that will help to make the streets of London safer.
Alison Newcomb, in charge of the operation, said: “We recognise that some of the people we engage with are vulnerable which is why we are encouraging them to access services to gain the support they need, while taking affirmative action against persistent offenders who break the law or cause intimidation to passing members of public”.
Operation Encompass will be in effect in Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster, alongside Croydon.
I am not the one to shove Jesus in someone’s face, much less down their throats, and, when speaking about him in this context – it will be to touch on and hopefully identify with his humanity, more importantly, his ministry in action, compassion and deed empowering the poor and homeless. It is easy to place myself with the crowds of people who were driven to come and listen to this unique individual who was charged to flip the script and inspire those around him to become the blade of grass that grows from the cracks in the sidewalk. And, of a truth, I see this man called Jesus today as he is clearly discernable in the lives of those who share their blood, bread, sweat and tears in the service of those less fortunate than themselves with no conditions attached.
The Met have announced plans to make ‘rough sleeping’ a crime in six London boroughs. Operation Encompass will be in effect in Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark and Westminster, alongside Croydon which will see the police working with the local authority, UK Border Force and other agencies to target these homeless and vulnerable people.
As Founder of a homeless charity and that of my fellows, we have been down this road before and fought the good fight. However, I want to focus on life of Jesus who was also a rough sleeper as there were many occasions where he did not have a place to lay his head. There is a passage in the bible that is close to my heart where Jesus says, “This Do in Remembrance of Me.” He spoke these words to his disciples when sharing the bread and wine as this would be his last supper with them. For some strange reason we have taken these words and memorialized them through a type of symbolic and traditional overture – yet I believe there was a larger calling and directive. I believe it is high time to touch on the faith of Peter and step off the boat and lay down our lives for the poor and homeless in protest to Operation Encompass and any other organisation that criminalises and defrocks the universal instrinsic human rights of the homeless and poor.
This I will do in Remembrance of Him.
Revd Rudi Richardson
Founder – Streetlytes-UK
I have worked in the fields of homelessness and housing since 1977. This type of idea comes round again and again, and usually cloaked in the language that the authorities are doing “the homeless” some kind of favour.
What would be more constructive would be for the Homelessness Protocol to be adopted by these local authorities, which recognises the right of people who are homeless to occupy public space, without the threat of being moved on; for the police to only intervene if the person who is homeless is a risk to themselves/ others.
I used to manage a homeless outreach project in inner city Sydney, before such a protocol was in place as described above, and it was inordinately frustrating to have the workers scarpering around the city trying to locate people (to help them access services)because they had been moved from their regular spot by the police. I suspect any similar service in the places in question – if there are any such services after all the cuts to local authorities funding – will experience similar problems accessing their clients. No mention of what specialised training the police might need to do this type of work, which I’d have thought would be required before letting loose at least some plods onto the poor sods they target.
This really is the height of inhumanity.
We have a housing crisis in London and the way the police respond to that is to target,arrest, intimidate and criminalise those who suffer from that crisis.
Is this really what the police are for? Intimidating the most vulnerable in society?
What an awful country we are becoming.
Will the Police fine the homeless people? I don’t think they’ll be able to pay.
The economic catastrophe that was caused by wealthy bankers, and watched on silently by their bed buddies in parliament, has seen record numbers of people evicted from their homes and placed out of work. And now the same system that put these people into this turmoil intends to resolve the issue by sweeping them under the carpet. To be left on the scrap heap at the fringes of society, It is Totally disgusting and inappropriate.
The money and time spent on Cleaning the streets of the homeless and beggars would be better spent investigating the corruption that led to this chaos in the first place. We need to house the homeless, feed the poor and enable the disenfranchised. Not ostracise them.