Police evicting a camp of rough sleepers outside University College London Hospital

PRESSURE is mounting on the council to stop police accompanying its homelessness service officers on outreach, which campaigners say is deterring vulnerable people and is “unheard of” in neighbouring boroughs.

Camden is investigating its own role in the tent eviction scandal which saw shelters behind University College London Hospital crushed in rubbish vans on November 10.

But a public meeting at St Michael’s Church in the aftermath heard calls to rethink how the council’s commissioned home­lessness service, Routes off The Streets (RTS), operates.

RTS, which is run by Change Grow Live, moves rough sleepers into accommodation, helps drug users access treatment, runs a daytime support hub in Camden Town and “stops anti-social behaviour through partnership work”.

Grassroots groups have raised concerns over the years that approaching a person experiencing homelessness alongside the police ruins trust in RTS.

Removing belongings outside UCLH on November 10

Last week Camden’s chief executive Jenny Rowlands told Lib Dem councillor Tom Simon how often the community protection officers (CPOs) and police accompany them.

Cllr Simon told the New Journal: “The response was that the standard procedure when dealing with hotspots is that CPOs and sometimes police will go along with RTS. And that there’s a need to think about the balance between keeping RTS officers safe, and also not deterring rough sleepers.

“The council needs to review the procedure to ensure they aren’t deterring rough sleepers from engaging with the service.”

In neighbouring boroughs Haringey and Islington, police do not accompany their homelessness officers on outreach.

An Islington Council spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of building trusting relationships with the people we meet, in order to support them away from the streets.

“We work with the police when there is a safety issue, for example if we need to report someone missing or if someone has been a victim of crime, but police do not accompany our outreach workers on shifts.”

Jon Glackin, founder of Streets Kitchen, said at the meeting: “30 per cent of all outreach taken out by RTS is accompanied by police. That has to end.”

He told the New Journal this week: “We were horrified to learn just how often the police accompany commissioned homeless outreach in Camden. This level of police involvement is unheard of in all the other boroughs we operate within London.

“This will be a major factor that will break down any trust. Homelessness is not a policing issue, nor ever should be. People at probably the lowest point of their life need support, not to be treated like criminals.”

Jon Glackin speaking at our meeting in St Michael’s Church

RTS went to visit those who were evicted outside UCLH on November 10.

Anthony, one of the people who camped there, said: “[RTS] had a police officer with them. They said ‘we’re here to help you’. I asked who they were and they said ‘we’re a charity’. Well if you’re a charity why are you going around with a police officer?

“The policeman said he would move down the road. I said I’m not speaking with you with a cop there. With all the hassle I’ve had with the police I don’t want to talk with them.”

Camden has said it will now not join the police on any more evictions.

Labour councillor Pat Callaghan, acting leader of Camden Council, said: “Our Routes off The Streets (RTS) service is a vital part of the support we provide to people who are sleeping rough in Camden.

“Their teams work tirelessly across Camden, at all hours and regardless of the conditions, to offer help and support to people who are in desperate need, at a time when the number of people sleeping rough is increasing nationally because of factors outside our control.

“The service makes regular visits to those sleeping rough to offer a range of specialist services and to ensure they are as safe as possible.”

Pat Callaghan at the meeting

Speaking about the UCLH eviction, Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at the advocacy group Liberty, said at the meeting in St Michael’s: “In some ways it wasn’t surprising and perhaps more of an escalation in what we see repeatedly.

“Especially from the police, in how people sleeping rough have their rights violated, how they’re criminalised, and how they’re repeatedly pushed to the margins.”

A council spokesperson said: “The police and our community presence team support our outreach team on visits to help people rough sleeping but only when it is appropriate to do so, and we are looking at our approach to this.”