MPA community engagement strategy

Report: 8
Date: 30 June 2005
By: the Chief Executive & Clerk

Summary

This report, with appendices, puts forward for adoption a community engagement strategy for the Metropolitan Police Authority. The Community Engagement Committee considered this report and the Strategy on 16 June. The Committee recommends adoption of the Strategy.

A. Recommendation

That the Authority approves the Community Engagement Strategy.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. At its meeting on 3 February 2005, the Community Engagement Committee received a draft MPA Community Engagement Strategy together with a draft MPS Community Consultation Strategy. Since that time the MPS has begun to review its organisational arrangements and operational directions with respect to community engagement to better reflect and respond to the intent of the MPA Community Engagement Strategy.

2. The statutory obligations of the MPA to engage with Londoners are contained within a number of pieces of recent legislation, most particularly, Section 96 of the GLA Act (1999). Section 96 requires that the MPA must make arrangement after consulting the Commissioner, to obtain the views of the public about policing and to secure their cooperation with the police in preventing crime.

3. An initial draft consultation strategy and action plan was published by the MPA in November 2002. While never formally adopted, it incorporated much of the learning and recommendations arising from the Greater London Authority “Listening to London’ Best Value Review of Consultation” as well as those from the MPA/MPS Best Value Review of Consultation (2001).

4. The Community Engagement strategy establishes the foundation by which the MPA will assume its governance responsibilities both in terms of strategic direction and leadership as well as the scrutiny role for community engagement. It will need to be viewed as a living document and subject to change and amendments as the strategy is progressed.

5. In order to achieve its overall mission the MPA has adopted a corporate strategy with five strategic goals. The corporate strategy sets out the priorities that the MPA intends to achieve over the next three years. The development of the MPA’s Community Engagement Strategy is centred on one of the five strategic goals, which is to:

‘Transform community engagement to help Londoners secure more responsive policing at a local level.’

• The purpose of developing this Community Engagement Strategy therefore is first, to set out a sense of direction as to how the Authority, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service, will engage with Londoners to put community engagement at the heart of citizen focused policing.
• Secondly, the purpose of this strategy is to develop a systematic framework for embedding community engagement in the practice of policing in London. In other words, the purpose is to encourage and nurture the development of a more integrated approach to citizen-focused policing and community engagement across the whole of the organisation.
• Thirdly, the purpose of the strategy is to establish a framework by which the MPA can assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the MPS in undertaking community engagement, assist in improving its performance and enhance community accountability. Fourthly the purpose is to establish the basis by which the MPA can play a leadership role in further strengthening the civic oversight of policing in London by enhancing the capacity by which Londoners can actively participate in and influence policy decisions at both the pan-London and local level.
• Fourthly the purpose is to establish the basis by which the MPA can play a leadership role in further strengthening the civic oversight of policing in London by enhancing the capacity by which Londoners can actively participate in and influence policy decisions at both the pan-London and local level.

6. Throughout its history, policing in London has been centred on the concept of consensus policing – policing by consent within a community context. Sir Robert Peel’s principles when he formed the London Metropolitan Police in 1829 overtly emphasised the need for good relationships with the public and the prevention of crime. He stated:

“The primary object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime; the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all the efforts of police must be directed. In attaining these objects, much depends on the approval and cooperation of the public, and these will be determined by the degree of esteem and respect in which the police are held”.

7. Research has consistently since confirmed that strong communities can help to reduce crime through social monitoring and control. Policing will be much easier and more effective when it has the trust and cooperation of the public, when the police can work with local communities to identify problems and priorities.

From Consultation to Community Engagement:

8. It was not until 1985, after the Brixton riots and Lord Scarman’s report that dialogue with the community actually became mandatory. And while the legislation did not stipulate the form dialogue should take, the most common mechanism was community-police consultative groups (CPCGs). Today even the most cursory review of community police consultative arrangements across London suggests a huge array of different purposes and multiplicity of different outcomes.

9. The evolution of policy and practice over the last twenty years has perhaps brought us back full circle to revisiting what Sir Robert Peel meant by the ‘approval and cooperation of the public’ and of putting people back at the centre of public services. It is, as the Home Office Strategic Plan 2004-08 requires, putting the citizen at the heart of everything the police service does. It has also been a process of moving the traditional notion of policing by consent to a more pro-active, dynamic and accountable process of cooperation and collaboration between the police and citizens in the delivery of policing services.

10. This emphasis is reflected in the first priority of the present National Policing Plan, which requires “providing a citizen focused service to the public which responds to the needs of individuals and communities and inspires confidence in the police particularly amongst minority ethnic communities.”

11. Community police engagement today therefore – and as articulated in the Home Office White Paper, “Building Communities, Beating Crime” (November 2004) – is a proactive responsibility for harnessing the energies of local communities and partnerships in identifying problems and holding the police to account in negotiating and influencing priorities for action and participating in and shaping solutions.

12. Community engagement is much more than consultation. Community engagement encompasses a variety of approaches at the strategic level (service-wide, pan-London), the operational level (borough level), and the community level (neighbourhood and ward level) that empower residents to both express their views and influence how their particular policing needs and priorities are met.

13. Successful community-police engagement requires:

1. Community members willing and able to get involved.
2. A police service willing and able to involve and be influenced by the viewpoints of Londoners.

14. The MPA community engagement strategy therefore presents a framework and broad set of principles that entails supporting both these two strands. On the one hand the MPA needs to consider and ensure effective ways are in place to increase Londoners’ awareness and understanding of policing issues and the capacity and willingness of individuals and communities to work collectively to shape and strengthen the civic governance of policing in London.

15. On the other hand, it entails the MPA ensuring that the Met actually do engage Londoners in as open and constructive way as possible. In mainstreaming community engagement through all levels and facets of the Service, the Met must be able to demonstrate that it is engaging all Londoners in delivering policing services.

Clarifying oversight responsibilities

16. A number of recent reports have identified the present confusion around what should be the ‘division of labour’ between the MPA and the MPS regarding who owns the processes of public consultation and engagement.

17. A prime governance responsibility of the MPA is to hold the MPS to account to ensure that community engagement is fully integrated and mainstreamed throughout the MPS. In summary, the appended Community Engagement Strategy proposes that the MPA is not the primary provider of community engagement, but instead is responsible for setting the framework and focus by which the MPS integrates community engagement into its activities. Through its responsibilities for monitoring, for setting standards, for scrutiny, for developing and testing exemplary projects, and promoting best practice, the MPA will seek to improve the MPS approach to community engagement and ensure a citizen focus ethos.

18. A further underlying theme of this Community Engagement Strategy is to reinforce the principles of localisation and devolution. This is congruent with the Government’s wider strategy on public service reform and the central importance of engaging with diverse communities at the local level and a commitment to partnership working.

19. In providing greater community opportunities to influence policing, particularly at the neighbourhood and BCU level, the Government proposes a joint duty on the police and local authorities in each CDRP area to ensure they have sufficient arrangements in place to deliver a range of engagement opportunities for local neighbourhoods. At the same time, the Government proposes that the police authority will “oversee the relationship between CDRPs and neighbourhood bodies and ensure the implementation of citizen involvement.

20. In conclusion, the appended Community Engagement Strategy is intended to further strengthen the capacity Londoners have to influence policing decisions, policies and service development. This strategy is also intended as the driver for continuous, robust and sustainable improvements in ensuring that Londoners play a central part in setting the agenda for policing. It will form the basis for specific timed and costed workplans for the MPA and MPS.

C. Race and equality impact

One of the most important challenges for the police is how the policing needs of London’s diverse communities can be met in partnership with them, and in a manner in which their differences can be taken into account effectively. The proposed community engagement strategy calls for a much sharper focus on connecting the delivery of policing with the real involvement of the public, in all its diversity.

D. Financial implications

While there are no direct financial implications to this report implementation of the Community Engagement Strategy may require consideration of repositioning existing resources.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Tim Rees

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: MPA Community Engagement Strategy

1. Vision:

The goal of this Community Engagement Strategy is:

To provide effective ways for Londoners to understand and to be able to influence the policing decisions and policies that affect them, and to hold the MPS to account for the service at the local level.

The MPA therefore recognises that effective community-police engagement in London will be a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies not only problems of crime and disorder but also involves all elements of the community in the implementation of solutions to these problems.

Community police engagement is therefore defined in this strategy as a proactive role of harnessing the energies of local communities and partners in not merely identifying problems but in negotiating priorities for action and shaping and participating in solutions.

This strategy articulates the commitment by which the MPA will strengthen Londoners’ own voice in directly shaping the nature of policing.

Key indicators of success in implementing this strategy might include:

• increasing the overall public satisfaction and confidence in the police;
• Londoners increasing level of involvement and sense of ownership over the policing of London.

A success indicator for the police will be establishing a work culture which routinely recognises, understands and takes account of the needs, expectations, experience and perspectives of Londoners.

2. Lead Responsibility:

The MPA shall have overall responsibility for directing and monitoring the implementation of the Community Engagement Strategy.

3. Governance and Oversight:

Within its statutory duty to obtain the viewpoints of Londoners on policing, the MPA will first pursue this in the context of its governance and oversight responsibilities. These responsibilities help to clarify the ‘division of labour’ on community engagement between the MPA and the MPS. For example, the MPA will support and oversee the MPS and its local partners in engaging with the public on the operational and tactical issues at the borough and neighbourhood level. The prime governance responsibility of the MPA is to hold the MPS to account to ensure that community engagement is fully integrated and mainstreamed throughout the MPS.

In line with the White Paper on Police Reform and the National Policing Plan, the MPA has a primary responsibility in the management of the police, of scrutinising performance and holding those responsible to account.

The MPA will support, promote and monitor a citizen-focused police service, which responds to the needs of all Londoners. This requires:

• A citizen focused police organisation and culture with appropriate resources, standards and structures in place to ensure Londoners can influence and shape its policing requirements
• Neighbourhood policing, accessible to the public and responsive to citizen needs and priorities
• Effective engagement with Londoners on a regular basis and their increased participation in community safety
• Effective and accessible mechanisms for accountability back to residents including better information, tailored to local needs
• Partnership working across London extended beyond statutory agencies to ensure they fully involve and are responding to and serving the needs of neighbourhoods and communities

The MPA will expect to see in the annual policing plans, in local strategic plans and in the initiatives undertaken by specialist areas within the Met, the actions being taken to improve the citizen focus of policing services.

4. Standards of Community Engagement:

As part of this strategy the MPA will develop standards and performance measures for community engagement and scrutinise delivery against these standards.

The Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) provides the MPA with an initial framework for measuring, comparing and assessing the MPS’ performance with reference to community engagement and the citizen focus.

In supporting the development of standards and performance measures for community engagement, the MPA will utilise these standards in assessing all reports and presentations before it in terms of progress against the strategy.

In receiving reports or survey results on a regular basis, the MPA will also expect to see comparative satisfaction levels by race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age and gender. In this regard, the MPA will work with the Home Office and the APA to strengthen the way police performance is measured and inspected so that it reflects the priorities of the public and their views about policing.

For example, some of the additional outcome measures expected of community engagement interventions might be:

• How did it strengthen police accountability to the community or directly inform a decision, or shape policy or service delivery arrangements?
• How did it help to set local performance standards and targets?
• Did it increase the percentage of people who say the organisation listens to their views?
• Did it increase the percentage of people’s awareness of community-police engagement methods in place?
• Did it increase people’s involvement in policing (i.e. whether asked about police service, whether attended public meeting etc?)

5. Channelling the Results of Community Engagement Activities:

The variety of forms by which Londoners can engage encompasses a variety of approaches at the strategic level (i.e. service-wide, pan London), at the operational level (i.e. borough level), and at the community level (i.e. neighbourhood and ward level).

The MPA will use the results of this activity so that they inform all of the policy-making, planning and performance management functions of the Authority.

The MPA will look for opportunities to streamline these various activities and assess their effectiveness and utility.

6. Promoting Best Practice:

The MPA will strengthen its role in setting the framework and focus by which the MPS integrates community engagement in its activities. It will do this by developing performance criteria, by regular scrutiny, by developing and testing exemplary community-police engagement models and by promoting best practice. The MPA will pursue an evaluation and research agenda that will focus on evaluating, clarifying and strengthening existing methods and structures and identifying the nature of participants, intent and intended outcomes of each community engagement partnership mechanism. The MPA will look to support and disseminate innovative methods and structures for community-police engagement.

7. Community Engagement at the Local Level:

In order to enhance local accountability, increase partnership work and strengthen local democratic involvement, the MPA reposition its resources and the current arrangements by which it supports community-police engagement at a borough level.

At the borough level the MPA will continue to support the development of innovative models and structures of community police engagement to ensure a coordinated, seamless process of community participation from the local neighbourhood level to the borough level. The learning will contribute to further enhancing the criteria and standards for community police engagement performance and for promoting best practice.

The MPA will expect to receive annual reports on the methods and impact of community engagement on the activities of CDRPs. These reports will be further supplemented by the work of the MPA officers working with local CDRPs in strengthening their partnership and community engagement activities. It will also include monitoring and assessing whether:

• The impact of community engagement is responsive to the diversity of local policing needs at the borough level.
• MPA/MPS community engagement activities conform with all equality and diversity obligations and commitments and are inclusive of all sectors of London’s populations
• Community engagement activities are compliant with existing and impending legislation and fulfil existing best value and other recommendations aimed at improvement and increased effectiveness in community engagement by the MPA/MPS.

8. Community Engagement at the Pan-London Level

Historically the MPA’s community engagement efforts have largely been expended at the local level. It has been weak in obtaining a pan-London perspective in gathering Londoners views on overall strategic policing issues. The Community Engagement Committee will wish to address this by enlarging and strengthening its pan London initiatives.

This will include:

• Ensuring that the MPAs 3,000 member Safer London Panel is effectively used and its collective viewpoint is widely disseminated and promoted
• Maintaining and strengthening partnership work with appropriate institutions such as the GLA, the Home Office, ALG, GOL, APA, etc
• Building partnerships with pan-London community based organisations to undertake community engagement with specific target groups.

9. Serving Diverse Communities:

London’s diversity includes characteristics not only of race, ethnicity, faith, language and immigrant refugee status. It also includes huge differences in crime and safety experiences, and thereby different policing needs based on age, gender, sexual orientation and mental and physical disability. Further layers of ever increasing diversity that impacts upon policing – and thereby methods of community engagement – include the complex and overlapping differences and divisions that exist in terms of people’s values and beliefs, lifestyles, life chances and levels of disadvantage and deprivation.

The dramatically changing and mobile nature of London’s population clearly creates greater urgency for more purposeful community engagement processes that are accessible and equitable for all sectors of the population.

For example, the MPA will continue to drive forward the disabled peoples policing agenda, and will strengthen its engagement with the faith communities in London, particularly with respect to policing practice that negatively impacts those of certain faiths. Similarly it will wish to strengthen its engagement with the LGBT communities, with Women’s networks, and with the Black, minority and ethnic communities.

10. Strengthening The Community Voice:

Apart from ensuring a police service able to involve and be influenced by the viewpoints of Londoners, successful community-police engagement also requires residents willing and able to get involved. The MPA will therefore consider support to increase Londoners awareness and understanding of policing issues. The MPA will also support and build the capacity, willingness and skills of individuals and communities to work collectively and effectively to shape and strengthen policing in London.

11. Priorities:

In summary, the Authority sees its role in strengthening Londoners involvement at a pan London level and on overall strategic priorities, while at the borough level, the MPA will take a leadership role in supporting, facilitating and overseeing the community engagement activities of the MPS and local partners on more tactical and operational issues. The priorities in implementing the Community Engagement Strategy will be to:

• Require the MPS to establish the necessary organisational arrangements to deliver community engagement in accordance with this strategic framework, to scrutinise the community engagement performance of the MPS and to hold the MPS to account for continued improvement, all as an essential element of its governance responsibilities
• Establish standards and quality assurance of processes at the local, borough and pan-London levels that strengthen the level of Londoners involvement and influence over policing
• Establish methodological and organisational procedures that ensure the viewpoints of Londoners inform the whole of the MPA decision – making and planning process including the annual policing plan.
• Establish a public education and awareness strategy
• Develop the capacity of communities in London to engage.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback