Youth Engagement Project YOU Project Launch & Road Show Merton Stop & Search Online Youth Survey Youth consultation project with Uptown UK

Police & Young People Survey Survey Monkey out to youth groups in Merton and launched at the Project YOU Road Show 38 participants (small sample) 22 female and 16 male 29 young people were aged 15+

Amount of Crime 22 young people believe that there is less crime in Merton compared to UK and the majority feel safe to out and travel to school/college (91%) Boys feel slightly safer than girls

Main Issue Young People Face Rubbish and damage to property seen as the highest problem (especially by girls) Drugs, Being Drunk and hanging around on street less of a problem Male see Drugs & Drink as more of an issue then females

Worries/Issues Being mugged featured highest Racial attacks featured lowest Boys worried more about having their things damaged than girls

Attitude to Police Over half of young people view the Police in a positive way with 82% saying they found them helpful. 68% said they treated young people with respect. Just under half said that police do not treat all young people the same and boys particularly they are not there when you need them

How Do You Rate The Police Great = 19.4% Good = 33.3% (highest) OK = 30.6% Bad = 16.7% Rubbish = 0% 80% of you people said they would ask the Police for help

How to Improve Community Safety 20 said more Police Presence 10 said more lighting on the streets 4 said more CCTV

Background & Methodology Series of Session around Police & Community Safety STABB Workshops Stop & Search Workshops Youth Consultation

In what ways could things be improved with regards to Community Safety? More schemes for young people to get involved with More police officers (especially at night) Creating a youth panel for young people to express their feelings direct to police. Safer travel home. More CCTV. More frequent buses after 12am More lighting around dark areas

Police to be more respectful towards young people Police should explain the reason properly as to why they are searching them Being less aggressive Treating people equally Stop abusing their power Cut out the racism Don’t just assume that because we are together in a big group, we are a gang causing trouble In what ways could things be improved with regards to how the police work?

Community Safety Issues Young people stealing others phone. More street lamps. Sometimes we feel unsafe at bus stops. Knife Crime, Gangs and Violence Drunk older people sometimes bother us, especially in Wimbledon town centre Feeling that we are going to be stopped by the police for no reason or just because we are young or wearing hooded tops Being out at night and having to wait ages for transport

What would you say to the Borough Commander? The Police need to change their attitude towards us You need more police walking the streets late at night. Put more streetlights up. Treat young people with no respect – we need fairer Stop & Search! What will you do to ever make me truly believe that the police are not racist? When are you going to get the police to sort out the real crimes and leave us alone?

Future Youth Crime Conference Take Control Street Wise Programme

Documents Available