The March Safer Neighbourhoods Newsletter for Palmers Green ward reports robberies of phones from children on their way home from school:
There have been a number of robberies in Green Lanes and Aldermans Hill after the end of school. Most of the victims have been teenagers of school age in uniform carrying iPhones who are on their own. Please have a chat with your children about hanging around after school in Palmers Green and not going straight home. Do your children need to carry a phone to school? If so then carrying an old phone not a brand new top of the range one is more advisable. When using buses staying on the bottom deck and avoiding the top deck is safer.
There have also been reports of Anti-social behaviour in McDonalds involving school children in school uniform. We are hoping to identify these individuals with the help of the schools and school’s police officers.
There are also continuing problems with schoolchildren being robbed after school in Enfield Town. On 8th March the head teacher at Enfield Grammar School wrote to parents, for at least the second time, about incidents, this time taking place in Church Street. In an earlier letter he described robberies carried out in the alleys behind the school and around the Gentleman's Row area. The situation is so bad that Love Your Doorstep have set up a "community patrol initiative" to provide safety for children after school.