Arrests and charges re violent incidents

Police activity concerning the violent disorder that took place on September 1st in Highgate and on October 19th in Wood Green has resulted in numerous arrests and charges:

An 18 year-old man was convicted on 16 November following a disturbance at Highgate Magistrates' Court, N6, on Thursday 1 September 2011. The teenager is due to appear for sentencing in December having pleaded guilty to violent disorder, possession of a bladed article (namely an axe) in a public place and two counts of attempted wounding. A 14 year-old and 15 year-old boy arrested following the incident remain on police bail pending further enquiries.

A total of eleven youths are due to appear at court in November having been charged in relation to an incident of violent disorder on 19 October at McDonalds in High Road N22. The youths, aged 15 to 17 years are all face the charge of violent disorder, one (a 17 year-old) has additionally been charged with attempted murder and another (a 16 year-old) has been charged with possession of a knife in a public place.

Please be assured that police take violent crime seriously and we are dedicated to ensuring that we identify offenders and bring them to justrice.

We know that the vast majority of young people are law-abiding and we do not want the actions of the minority that choose to become involved in crime and disorder to impact negatively on the perception of young people in Haringey.

We are working to engage with young people, as well as to ensure that those that are identified as being involved in gangs are given a clear choice - they get help from police and our partners to divert from the gang lifestyle - or they face tough enforcement consequences. This was backed up by activity last month which saw a day of raids in Haringey, under *Operation Connect, that resulted in 13 arrests, four of which were in relation to the disorder in Tottenham in August.

*Operation Connect is the Metropolitan Police Service's dedicated unit set up to crack down on violence driven by street gangs and continues a focused approach of building on established good practice in the borough, working closely together with local officers and partner agencies to ensure we are identifying, tracking and targeting the most dangerous offenders linked to gang violence.

If you have information about crime or disorder please call police on the non-emergency number 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

In an emergency always call 999.