Members of the new Community Protection Team on a walkabout in Golders Green (TheJC)[Missing Credit]
“This is a serious commitment by the government that is going to make a real difference,” said Jukes on a visit to Golders Green to meet representatives of the CST, Shomrim, and Hatzola.
A number of officers who will form part of the local CPT also went on a preliminary walkabout in the area, making contact with residents and introducing the new Met Engage van, which will be regularly stationed in the area for people to report any suspicious activity.
At the core of the effort will be neighbourhood officers, “officers the community can get to know, to trust, to see in their places of worship, around their schools, around their businesses”, Jukes explained.
The initiative reflected that the Jewish community was experiencing “a level of victimisation which is way above that experienced by other communities,” he went on, revealing that three-quarters of the 77 hate crimes reported to the Met in North-West London last month were directed at Jewish people.
In response to the wave of antisemitic incidents in London this year, the force has arranged an extra 1,000 officer shifts in some weeks to safeguard the Jewish community, drafting in police from other areas. But the creation of specialist teams will now mean those officers who were previously called on can return to duties in other neighbourhoods.
The level of antisemitic threat involved an “unprecedented alignment of individuals with racist and bigoted attitudes operating in communities through to extremists in forums and networks online and in the various groups, whether it is in the far-right space or whether it’s the Islamist terrorist ideology driving people, that also features,” Jukes added.
“And then beyond that, you have the hostility expressed by states and the interest in disrupting and disturbing cohesion in the UK.
“That’s the aspiration of a number of states, but very obviously we’ve seen it projected from Iran.”
It presented a security and policing challenge “without parallel” but also to communities that felt “that environment around them” from abuse in the street that was “too often a reality through to the fact that there are foreign states set on creating fear”.
He continued: “We want people who have driven around the streets of North London and shouting antisemitic abuse out of car windows to see the presence of the police and to feel constrained by that.”
The Met was pleased that the director of public prosecutions, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, had given priority to dealing with hate crimes, and “we are seeing that bear fruit” with the charges being brought.
“We made 35 arrests in relation to the series of incidents that took place from the Hatzola incident onwards, and there have been 13 individuals who have been charged and you have seen those lead already to a conviction.”
Several Hatzola ambulances were destroyed in an arson attack in March.
It was, Jukes explained, “important for us to show that those responsible for antisemitic hate crime are going to end up in our courts”.
Welcoming the initiative, Gary Ost, chief executive of Shomrim North-West, said: “It brings a lot of reassurance to a troubled and v concerned community, especially with what has been going on in the last few months.
“We've seen in Shomrim a huge influx of calls to our control room. People are genuinely nervous.
"We are extremely happy we have got a very good working relationship with the police, especially with the chief inspector who is heading up this team and these are real positive steps.”
