Brent Housing Partnership recognises that one of the biggest problems landlords experience in tackling anti-social behaviour is encouraging people to act as witnesses.

Many people are reluctant to attend court hearings.

Aims:

• To support BHP tenants and leaseholders who are victims and /or witnesses of crime and serious anti-social behaviour
• to enable victims and /or witnesses to be re-housed within the Borough of Brent or to be referred to the National Witness Mobility Scheme
• to increase the confidence of tenants and leaseholders so that they are willing to take a stand against crime and serious anti-social behaviour
• to increase the number of successful prosecutions
• to improve community safety by tackling anti-social behaviour.

Who is eligible for the service?

• Brent Council tenants and leaseholders
• BHP staff who are victims or witnesses in the line of duty
• residents within BHP areas where funding has been allocated for the service.

Criteria for eligibility:

• Victims of the following crimes:
  • Murder, Gun crime, Aggravated burglary or robbery
  • domestic violence, Child abuse, serious harassment
  • drug dealing
  • any form of hate crime (including racially motivated)
  • serious anti-social behaviour.
• witnesses who have agreed to give evidence in court
• victims or witnesses who are suffering or likely to suffer intimidation or harassment from an offender, their family or associates
• victims or witnesses who cannot stay in their homes or who must be permanently relocated.

Who can refer cases to the scheme?

• BHP staff
• Brent Council staff
• BHP partners
• resident representatives
• community organisations and the Police.

What victims and witnesses can expect:

• Dedicated named BHP officer to talk to in confidence and who can provide advice and support where applicable
• BHP officer to initiate action against perpetrators or refer the incident to the Police
• risk assessment of the victim or witnesses' home environment and provision of protection measures
• relevant Officers (caretakers, wardens etc) have been informed about the incident so they can be vigilant about the victim's or witnesses' safety
• personal panic alarm
• warden patrols and after hours visits if required
• providing details of an emergency out of hours contact
• management of a transfer to another property
• referral to the national witness mobility scheme for re-housing in another UK borough / district council.

Leading up to the court hearing

• Discussing and planning every stage of any legal action with witnesses
• an opportunity to tour the court before the case is heard, an explanation of the court process and provision of support at court
• BHP officer to accompany victim or witness to and from court and arrange transport to court.

After the court hearing:

• Signposting and referrals for counselling, compensation advice and insurance
• provision of on-going support following resolution of legal action or other measures.

Useful contacts:

• Brent Metropolitan Police, Community Safety Unit 020 8733 3742
• Police (24 hour) emergency 999
• ChildLine 0800 1111
• Brent Samaritans 020 8961 6181
• Victim Support Brent 020 8965 1141
• BHP ASB team 020 8937 2951 or email asb@bhphousing.co.uk
• BHP Neighbourhood Warden Service Hotline (3.00pm - midnight) 020 8451 5050 or email wardens@bhphousing.co.uk.

Download

You can download this witness and victim support scheme leaflet in portable document format (pdf).

• Witness and victim support scheme leaflet (.pdf, 1038Kb)

Translations

The 'witness and victim support scheme' leaflet has also been translated into the following languages and are available to download as pdf's:

• Arabic (.pdf, 107Kb)
• Gujarati (.pdf, 51Kb)

You may need Adobe Reader software to view the pdf files on this page, which is available as a free download from the Adobe website.