Community safety
Questions were received in relation to the safety of migrants from harassment and persecution, safety of the local community, impacts on organised crime and process of dealing with missing Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC).
Nuisance caused by fire alarms being setting off was also raised and KFRS have worked with the Home Office, young people and the hotel to address this issue. The frequency has reduced dramatically.
With regards to any antisocial behaviour and littering, both the police and council’s environmental enforcement team provide regular educational inputs to make the residents in the hotels understand UK law and consequences of any behavioural issues causing alarm or distress.
Other questions were received around migrant crossing, harassment issues etc and these are answered below.
- Safety of migrants: work with partner agencies to look ahead with likelihood of channel crossings, so that sufficient resources are allocated to respond.
- Conveyance of arrivals: this is the responsibility of the UK Border Force where welfare and wellbeing of individuals is the priority.
- Protection of people in hotels from harassment: people turn up with photography and do attend/engage with individuals. Key agency partners work together to understand who those individuals are and what the purpose is.
- Individuals staying: anyone concerned about harassment of asylum seekers themselves can directly or those working with migrants within the community, can report on their behalf.
- Safety of local community: there were assumptions made by members of the public submitting questions. Folkestone and Hythe District saw the lowest recorded crime for a local district in the county last month. The district has one of the highest arrest rates in the county. There is no correlation between location of residents and crime. Police and relevant partners would act if this was not the case.
- Congregation of youths: ongoing work (funded by Home Office and partner agencies) includes education of individuals to emphasis social norms and to ensure their behaviour is not intimidating.
- Women being harassed in evenings: violence against women and girls is treated seriously by Kent Police and partners. Kent Police have had additional resources but nothing has been brought to Kent Police attention, but people would need to report if this is happening.
- Impact on OCG: there is a national conversation ongoing around where trafficking starts elsewhere in world, and what happens to people when they arrive in the UK. This links to the concerns around missing children. In Kent, since January 2022, 295 reported missing, 133 located and 4 returned by choice. 4 people who reported missing within Kent have been arrested. Treat missing unaccompanied child like any other as they are vulnerable and will be quickly circulated as missing.
- An issue of fire risk at hotels was raised, all hotels are required to comply with fire regulations and Kent Fire and Rescue services are an integral partner to the multi-agency response to the asylum work in the district.