Rainy night in Camden Town: Three undercover officers outside Koko

ON your next night out in Camden Town, you may just find yourself standing beside plainclothes police officers on the lookout for “lurkers” as part of a borough-wide crackdown on sexual violence.

The New Journal joined the police on Saturday night to observe “Operation Vigilant,” a new initiative designed to protect women and girls from harassment and violence in busy night-time areas.

Dressed to “blend in” with partygoers, these undercover police are on the lookout for people lurking near clubs, pubs, bars and alleyways.

Anyone identified as posing a potential risk to women and girls is brought to the attention of uniformed police nearby.

Officers in uniform approach potential perpetrators, take their details and ask them to move on.

They activate their body worn video cameras to record the encounter, although the force say these are not “facial recognition” tactics.

The Operation, which has been trialled in south London, is now being launched in Camden and Islington before being rolled out across the rest of the capital. Police say the aim is to identify people who may be displaying signs of predatory behaviour.

In the first hour of their patrol on Saturday night, the New Journal saw officers engage with one man who was loitering outside Camden tube station. Officers also arrested a man for attacking his partner in Camden High Street.

Detective Sergeant Julian Bates explained his team was targeting “lurkers who stand outside but never go in” and people “waiting at bus stations who never get on a bus.” Academic studies have shown that people who commit violence against women and girls often display certain concerning behaviour patterns in the lead-up to committing crimes.

Before the patrol, the New Journal visited Holborn Police Station for a briefing on the operation.

Here, officers were trained to recognise these behaviours, which include “loitering around without a legitimate reason, [or] making unwanted contact, sexualised or misogynistic comments towards persons they don’t know,” according to Detective Inspector Tony Brownlee, who is leading the operation.

Other warning signs include “stalking and harassing behaviour, and in the worst case scenario, possession of items indicative of preparing to commit sexual offences,” D.I. Brownlee said.

Undercover teams are supported by uniformed officers

Studies also show that contextual factors – such as deteriorating mental health, the loss of a job or the break-up of a relationship – also make a person more likely to commit an offence.

People who commit sexual offences are drawn to places with a busy night-time economy like Camden Town, often travelling from outside the borough, officers were told.

Crime data shows there were 873 sexual offences committed in the borough of Camden last month.

Plainclothes officers trained to detect concerning behaviour are now being sent to areas with a busy nightlife, such as Camden Town, Parkway and Mornington Crescent. All officers work in pairs. Deployments are told to focus on specific venues around closing time.

“It’s kicking-out times at big venues: that’s when we see the spike in offending,” D.I Brownlee said, adding that the immediate aim of the Operation is to protect women from predatory behaviour. A secondary aim is to create a database of potential offenders in Camden and Islington.

“What you start to build is some corporate memory… so you’ve got some intelligence around that crime type,” he said.

“The police are very good and if they’ve got a problem somewhere, they’ll flood that area with police officers and then you don’t have that problem while the police officers are there, but as soon as you remove that resource, the problem just comes back.”

When the operation was trialled in south London, officers saw a “30 percent reduction in violence against women and girls linked to the night-time economy”, said DI Brownlee. “It’s proven, it’s worked every time they’ve deployed it.”

Officers worked until 7am on Sunday morning. In its initial stages, the operation will run on one weekend evening a month, with officers volunteering to pick up an overtime shift on top of their normal working hours.

The force has come under intense scrutiny in recent years following the murder of Sarah Everard by serving police officer Wayne Couzens in 2021, along with the serious sexual offences committed by David Carrick and numerous other officers.

As the Met grapples with the legacy of these crimes, it has been reported that officers are seeking to prioritise “disruptive tactics” against those who perpetuate violence against women and girls.

“The reality is, that if you’re going to tackle violence against women and girls, it’s not actually women and girls that are the problem. The problem is misogyny,” D.I. Brownlee said.