Q&A

Answer: provided by Outreach

This could be for various reason; a person may have a substance misuse need so will beg to fund their habit. They might not want their housing to be made aware of their activities so will sometimes say that they are homeless. 

Answer: provided by Outreach

Islington has one of the lowest number of people sleeping on the street. People may have multiple needs including trauma, mental health, substance misuse issues and lack of trust. Therefore, building a relationship with them may take time. But through persistent engagement we are often able to get people to accept housing and other support. 

Answer: provided by Outreach

Better Lives is part of a tri-borough agreement (Islington, Hackney and Haringey). Not everyone that has a drug support access Better Lives service. Better Lives do amazing work engaging with vulnerable people to access support. 

Answer: provided by Public Health

Islington’s community drug and alcohol service, Better Lives, work with people with any type of level of drug or alcohol use. This includes people new to treatment, and those that have received treatment before. They deliver regular outreach, working with the Council’s street population and Community Safety teams to reach people that are experiencing homelessness or who are less able to access support. We also have a specific treatment and care pathway for people sleeping rough – the InRoads service, provided by Via. To improve awareness of drug and alcohol treatment and how any service, such as housing, health, social care, or community groups, can refer someone for support, we arrange regular training sessions and communicate widely with professional and voluntary groups that work with residents across the borough. Drug and alcohol use can be long-term and people may access treatment more than once. Our services welcome anyone at any stage of their recovery journey. Our website has more information – link  

Answer: provided by Outreach

We have commissioned drug services that go out onto the street to engage and provide a range of treatment options for drug use. We are usually out in the community daily, reaching people where they are to support them into treatment and to provide other support as needed.

Answer: provided by Public Health

Islington’s drug and alcohol services treat and support people with any type or level of drug or alcohol use. People that use drugs, especially long-term, often have a lot of complexity in their lives and there is a high incidence of trauma. As well as treating drug or alcohol dependency, services therefore provide holistic support, helping people with their physical health, mental health, housing, employment and social connectedness. Treatment for drug and alcohol use can be long-term and it is not uncommon for someone to relapse and to begin treatment again. The services provided in Islington are evidence-based and rooted in clinical best practice. They have supported hundreds of people to achieve recovery, many of whom go on to support others through peer-mentoring and other roles. Our website has more information – link 

Answer: provided by Police

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) work in partnership with a number of different agencies to use different tactics. For example, within Finsbury Park, we have used the “clear, hold, build” policing to disrupt gangs, prevent exploitation and stop gangs moving into the vacuums left. The tactics to do this can be vast but will be intelligence led with much of the information coming from the communities living in these areas 

Answer: provided by Police

Pre-arrest drug diversion schemes are only used in “simple drugs possession offences” and are entirely voluntary so no person can be forced to attend, within the Metropolitan Police Service anyone arrest who has committed an offence and might be under the influence of class A drugs can be tested and if they test positive, they could be referred to drug services in the community.  

Answer: provided by Police

Begging is covered by the Vagrancy act 1824 but was repealed in 2022 so currently begging is not a criminal offence but where that begging becomes aggressive or has ASB associated there may be other offences that could make it a criminal offence. 

Answer: provided by Police

The number of police officers within each ward are set by MOPAC and as part of the New Met for London Plan Tollington has 1 PS, 2PC’s and 1 PCSO but we do not work in silo.  Across Islington there are 17 wards, and we all work together to tackle ongoing ASB and crime issues. Each week police attend hotspot meetings with the council where we allocate resources according to demand. Each ward will have 3 ward priorities set by their ward panels and often these priorities will cover more than 1 ward. Every month action plans are set to ensure we are performing against those ward priorities. 

Answer: provided by Police

Finsbury Park has its own enhanced Safer Neighbourhood Team and they work in collaboration with teams from Hackney and Haringey. Their ward priorities and activities are recorded on the MPS website.

Crime data differs largely due to the size of the borough, population densities, environmental factors and residential vs commercial districts.  

• There were 661 ASB calls to police and council (excluding noise and neighbour complaints) in the last 12 months in Tollington Ward, representing a 9% increase from the previous year, and a 31% decrease from 2020/21. Tollington is currently ranked 3rd highest out of 17 wards for ASB Call Volumes. 
• There have been 1,351 total notifiable offences in Tollington Ward (new boundary) between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This represents a 3.1% increase from the previous 12 months, ranking Tollington 10^th highest out of 17 Islington wards for overall volume of offences. 
• There has been an 7.8% reduction in Violence Against the Person in Tollington Ward in the last 12 months, compared to the prior year. Tollington Ward is currently Ranked 11^th highest ward out of 17 for violent offences.
• In Tollington Ward, there were 46 robbery offences in the last year, which aggregates as a 2.1% decrease from the previous 12 months– ranking Tollington as 11th highest ward out of 17 for robbery. 
• In the past 12 months, Tollington Ward recorded 127 Burglary offences, which was a 9% reduction compared to the previous year. Tollington is currently ranked 3rd highest ward out of 17 for burglary. 
• Theft in the ward is up by 32%, however Tollington ranks only 11^th highest out of all wards for theft.
• Tollington Ward recorded 151 Motor Vehicle offences in the last 12 months, which was a 16% decrease compared to the previous year. Tollington is ranked 5th highest ward out of 17 however for MV offences. Most stolen items include Blue Badges.  
• Tollington Ward recorded Knife crime reductions of 21% in in the last 12 months compared to the prior year, ranking Tollington 11^th highest out of 17 wards.

Answer: provided by Community Safety

Advocacy is a shared responsibility between partners.

• Community safety officers advocate for residents' safety and work with local authorities and police 
• We can gather information from residents, ASB and police reports and show crime patterns and trends to advocate for design changes, as well as pushing dates forward for works.  
• Community Safety share concerns with partners to discuss the roles of each department and what actions can be reasonably taken.
• Community Safety will set up meetings with Councillor’s to discuss feasibility of actions from Environmental Visual Audits.

Answer: provided by Community Safety

All criminal behaviour should be reported to the police, including drug dealing. Report online (https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/) or call 101 in non-urgent situations.  

If you have any concerns or intelligence regarding any crimes, you may have already reported to the police, please contact them on Tollington.SNT@met.police.uk with the CAD reference number from your report. Please note, this is not a reporting method but simply to follow up on reports you have made. 

Reporting crime and ASB 

Islington Council and the Metropolitan Police Service take crime and antisocial behaviour seriously. In order for us to deliver the best possible response, we rely on residents reporting all forms of ASB and crime to the appropriate channels. We work together to tackle issues and target resources to problematic areas. The council and Police are data-led, meaning we share data compiled from police and council reports. We review reports to the police and Parkguard weekly at our tasking meetings and identify hot spots (defined as 6 reports in a two-week period). By reporting you are also helping us build a picture of crime and antisocial behaviour, so we can target more resources in the most effective way. 

If you have any concerns or intelligence regarding any crimes, you may have already reported to the police, please contact them on Tollington.SNT@met.police.uk with the CAD reference number from your report. Please note, this is not a reporting method but simply to follow up on reports you have made. 

Crime and ASB must be reported officially to the channels listed below so your concerns can be dealt with by the appropriate team.  

Reporting criminal behaviour 

All criminal behaviour should be reported to the police. This includes drug use and drug dealing, threats, violence and harassment.  

If there is an emergency or someone is at immediate risk, call 999. 

Report online (https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/) or call 101 in non-urgent situations.  

Some anti-social behaviour should be reported to the police. This includes: 

• abuse, intimidation or harassment  
• drug use and drug dealing    
• inappropriate use of fireworks   
• aggressive begging  
• vandalism. 

Reporting anti-social behaviour 

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) covers a wide range of unacceptable activity that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to an individual from another household or to the community, or harm to the environment.  

You can report many different types of ASB, including: 

• graffiti and flyposting (sticking advertising posters on walls and other public property) 
• litter, including drug-related equipment 
• fly-tipping (dumping rubbish on the street, pavements or green areas) 
• nuisance, rowdy or inconsiderate neighbours 
• persistent dog barking or uncontrolled animals. 

We prefer you to report ASB in an online form so you can give us as much information as you have, and we can make sure your report goes to the right team as soon as possible. Visit our ASB webpage to complete the online form: https://www.islington.gov.uk/community-safety/anti-social-behaviour. You can also contact us by phone on 020 7527 7272. 

You can choose to report ASB anonymously, but this may affect the action we can take, and we will not be able to update you on any outcomes. 

Raise concerns about someone sleeping rough 

If you are concerned about the wellbeing of someone who is sleeping rough on the streets, call StreetLink on 0300 500 0914 or visit the StreetLink website. This sends an alert to the local outreach team who will visit the location to make contact with the person. 

If you are homeless yourself or worried about becoming homeless contact the council’s Housing Aid Centre on 020 7527 2000 

Visit the Islington Council website for more information about how we support people rough sleeping(External link) 

Raise concerns about someone who is unwell 

If you think someone is unwell, phone 999 and ask for an ambulance. This includes if someone has passed out or is heavily under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 

Answer: provided by Community Safety

This isn’t just a Tollington issue, and we are receiving complaints about illegal drug use across the borough. We often see higher levels of complaints around large transport hubs and this includes Finsbury Park station, which is in close proximity to Tollington Ward.  It is estimated that in 2019/20, Islington had the highest prevalence of opiate and/or crack cocaine use in London (rate of 21.5 per 1,000 population), and the 5th highest prevalence out of all local authorities in England. In response to this and in line with the national drugs strategy, Islington set up Community Drugs Partnership, which has key aims to get more people into treatment and reduce drug related harm in the borough.  

Answer: provided by Community Safety

We review both reports to the council and police on a weekly basis and this forms basis of an intelligence product that informs our weekly tasking meeting (which has attendees from council ASB, housing, Community Safety Teams, police and Parkguard). The current threshold for a hot spot is 6 reports over a two-week period, with at least 1 report in the last 7 days. All hot spots are discussed between key partners and actions are agreed to respond to the problems identified. It could lead to increased patrols, outreach, Environmental Visual Audits or it may identify key repairs needed, which can then be expedited.  

We are always reviewing our communication campaigns with residents and now have a dedicated communications officer for community safety. We recognise we do not wish to increase the fear of crime and tailor communications to prevent this from happening.   

Answer: provided by Community Safety

Drug dealing is a criminal offence, and the police are the lead agency responding to this working closely with Islington Council. The police use a variety of tactics to tackle drug dealing in the borough. They conduct both visible and plain clothes patrols utilising Safer Neighbourhood Teams, along with other specialist policing teams such as the Violence Suppression Unit. They use intelligence gathered to build cases for warrants and to inform stop and search and take action where appropriate.  

Where drug dealing is linked to a property, both the council and police have powers to apply to the courts for closure orders (full closures mean no one is allowed in the property, whilst a part closure allows us to exclude people from the property, but the tenant can remain). We would need to build evidence to show the impact the activity is having in the community and present this in court. We ensure a balanced approach between enforcement and support where it is needed. When involving council properties, the council can also take other tenancy action. 

The National Crime Agency leads the UK’s response to serious and organised crime, including drug trafficking, in uniting local, national and international law enforcement with private sector partnership approaches. As part of this, the Metropolitan Police Service and other partners, allocate significant resources into tackling serious organised crime. 

Islington’s partnership is determined to protect as many of our children from harm as possible. We are in the process of reviewing our Youth Safety Strategy, which outlines how the Safer Islington Partnership keeps young people safe. The current strategy can be found online Youth Safety Strategy | Islington Council  

Environmental Visual Audits (EVA’s) are conducted to identify and address environmental factors that contribute to crime and fear of crime. Areas of concern are usually highlighted to us through reports and discussions with residents. A site visit will occur, with invitations sent to the relevant partners involved, depending on the issues. Issues such as poor lighting, overgrown vegetation, and neglected spaces are document. Strategies are developed to address these issues, which may include improved lighting, increasing visibility, and enhancing maintenance. 

A key part of EVA’s is the involvement of local residents in identifying issues and developing solutions. If you have concerns about specific locations in your area, please contact CommunitySafety@islington.gov.uk.

Please be aware that EVA’s recommendations are not always able to be actioned due to limitations with funding or planning 

We review both reports to the council and police on a weekly basis and this forms basis of an intelligence product that informs our weekly tasking meeting (which has attendees from council ASB, housing, Community Safety Teams, police and Parkguard). The current threshold for a hot spot is 6 reports over a two-week period, with at least 1 report in the last 7 days. All hot spots are discussed between key partners and actions are agreed to respond to the problems identified. It could lead to increased patrols, outreach, Environmental Visual Audits or it may identify key repairs needed, which can then be expedited.