Commissioner’s report

Report: 5
Date: 25 February 2010
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report summarises the progress of the Metropolitan Police Service against the objectives featured in the Policing London 2009–2012 Business Plan.

This report covers initiatives and activities that occurred in December 2009 and January 2010. Unless otherwise stated, the data and the indicators in the tables reflect the rolling year to 31 December 2009 and references to the financial year to date (FYTD) are for the period April to December in 2009/10. It is intended to highlight progress against corporate targets and identifies key operational activities that deliver a safer city for all London’s communities.

A. Recommendation

That the report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides updates on performance against the corporate objectives featured in the Policing London Business Plan. For each objective we summarise progress and report on key initiatives. For ease of reference a summary table giving an overview of performance is attached at Appendix 1 with a green (G), amber (A), red (R) assessment against the Critical Performance Areas (CPAs) under each objective.

Our Delivery: Performance and Activity

Objective: Make our services more accessible and improve people’s experience of their contact with us, especially victims and witnesses.

Progress Summary - quarterly data

• The 51.2% for confidence in the police and local council dealing with local issues is almost hitting the MPS target for 2009/10. It is the third successive rise and as such an encouraging sign that the MPS is on course to meet its Home Office target of a 55.4% rate by March 2011.
• User satisfaction (victims of violent crime, burglary, vehicle crime and road accidents) with the service provided by the police stands at 77.8% for the FYTD missing the 80% target. However the 79.1% satisfaction rate for quarter 3 (Oct -Dec ’09) is the best quarterly performance for over 3 years.
• The gap for the satisfaction of white and BME victim is unlikely to hit the 3.8% pts target. A report on this topic is scheduled to go to the SOP Committee’s March meeting.
• The percentage of people who think that the police would treat them with respect is derived from the MPS’s survey of the public in London (PAS). Performance has been at a similar level for the last 3 quarters at 77-78%.

Recent Operations

2. A recent Safer Travel at Night operation was undertaken on behalf of Transport for London. It used Safer Transport Command borough based teams and the Cab Enforcement Unit. All boroughs took part in high visibility patrols around their night clubs to deter unlicensed taxi cabs and taxi touting. The teams engaged with the public and provided them with public safety leaflets provided by TfL. Over one hundred arrests were made for taxi touting offences.

3. A dispersal zone that has been in place in parts of two wards in Bexley has resulted in a 73% reduction in anti-social behaviour calls to police. The dispersal order gives officers and PCSOs powers to disperse groups of people who do not live in the area and ban them for returning for 24 hours; and take home under 16s who are found in the dispersal zone between 9pm and 6am.

4. Calls to police about anti-social behaviour in that area have reduced from 15 per week on average to 4. Officers have dispersed 235 people and arrested 27 for breaching the dispersal zone. They have either received a youth reprimand, final warning or have been charged to appear in court. Nobody has been released from custody without any further action being taken.

5. The dispersal zone is part of a longer term plan to reduce anti-social behaviour in the area and the police are working with the London Borough of Bexley to provide improved facilities in the area.

6. In the 8 weeks lead up to Christmas the police in Richmond with the Community Safety Partnership ran the annual Christmas Crime Reduction Campaign. The initiative included advertising in town centres, ANPR operations on roads, high visibility and enhanced patrolling, proactive enforcement of controlled alcohol zones and licensing visits. The results were over 700 vehicles checked, 169 breath tests, 32 arrests and 91 licensing visits during the course of the campaign and officers reported a reduction of public disorder.

Objective: Make our neighbourhoods safer through local and city-wide problem solving and partnership working to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and road casualties

Progress Summary

• The decrease in serious acquisitive crime (SAQ) for the FYTD at 3.4% / 5,122 offences is now on track to meet the 2009/10 reduction target. A drop of almost 10% (8,202 offences/ 9.9%) in motor vehicle crime has made a key contribution to this.
• Residential burglaries are up by almost 7% FYTD but 2008/09 had the fewest residential burglaries since at least 1998/99.
• Robbery is showing a very small rise of 0.7%/ 171 offences FYTD compared to last year - its second lowest level for this period since 1999/2000.

Recent operations

7. Bumblebee Taskforces have been deployed at Redbridge since 14 December 2009 and at Bromley since 4 January 2010, resulting in 236 arrests and 91 charges, with 64 people still under investigation. Burglary accounted for 26 of the arrests and 13 of the charges. A number of suspected burglars were arrested and charged in order to disrupt their activities.

8. In 2009 the police in Southwark with partners targeted serious youth violence and gang activity using Anti Social Behaviour Orders. Known gang members were identified and evidence for court applications gathered. Interim ASBOs were obtained on 7 subjects which were later made full orders for 2 years in December 2009. The target area has shown a 59% drop in crime. This is attributed in part to the ASBOs and in part to other proactive crime initiatives.

Objective: Reduce serious violence and protect young people

Progress Summary

• While MSV for the financial year to date is off target, it is now showing a decrease over 2008/09 for the first time since June. Homicide, a component of MSV, is at an all time low with 25 fewer homicides in the calendar year 2009 than 2008.
• The target for knife crime reduction is being met for the rolling 12 months but not for the FYTD (- is 3.3% / 310 offences). Trends over recent months show that the reduction is getting smaller. If that trend continues, it will be difficult for knife crime to meet the target for 2009/10 but it may still achieve an overall reduction compared to 2008/09.
• The sanction detection rate (SD) for serious sexual offences is 23.4% for the FYTD, against a target of 31% for 2009/10. December had the fewest rapes reported since May 2009. The Serious Crime Directorate is concentrating on maximizing the number of serious sexual offence cases that result in charges and that then go on to reach trial. In pursuit of that objective a CPS central charging team is expected to start work in March 2010. A report is scheduled to go to the 4 March meeting of this committee on the extent to which the rise in rape is due to more or better reporting.

Recent Initiatives, Operations and Trials

9. In 2009 Southwark police and partners began an initiative to target serious youth violence through Anti Social Behaviour Orders targeted at known gang members. Subjects were identified and evidence systematically gathered to support court applications. “Without notice” interim ASBOs were obtained on 7 subjects residing in the Peckham area, which after full hearings, were made full orders for 2 years in December 2009.

10. On 17 December, a man was convicted at the Old Bailey of the so-called ‘honour’ killing of his 15 year old daughter following an investigation spanning more than 10 years. The daughter had gone missing in January 1999. She had been in a relationship with a 30 year old man and her family disapproved of the relationship. She was murdered by her father but her body has never been found.

11. Officers worked closely with the daughter’s mother, who gave evidence against her husband during the trial. She has openly encouraged women in her position to speak out.

Sexual Offences

12. A man who carried out a serious sexual assault and burglary on a pensioner 17 years ago was sentenced on 18 December to 13 years imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court. The man had pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of burglary on November 2. A 76 year -old woman, who is now deceased, was attacked in January 1993 but it was not possible to identify her attacker. The investigation was reopened by the Metropolitan Police Service's Sapphire Cold Case team in 2007 and the assailant was arrested as a result of advances in DNA technology since 1993.

Objective: Disrupt more criminal networks and reduce the harm caused by drugs

Progress Summary

• The SD targets for overall numbers of Class A drug trafficking and those for cocaine related SDs are unlikely to be met. The average for the last 4 months has been 178 SDs vs a target of 210 for all SDs.

Recent Operations and Trials

13. The final members of a 6-man gang were sentenced on January 18 to 76 years in prison at Woolwich Crown Court. Some members of the gang had previously been sentenced to 18 years bringing the overall total of the sentences to 94 years. The offences included conspiracy to import over 91 kilos of cocaine, firearm possession and conspiracy to commit robbery.

14. The sentences were the result of a complex investigation in the UK and abroad led by the MPS and involving a range of partner bodies. The investigation began in 2007. Members of the gang were arrested in possession of a firearm, preparing to rob a cash-in-transit delivery, while the UK Border Agency and Royal Navy stopped a yacht carrying cocaine off the English coast.

15. Three men were sentenced on 11 January 2010 at Kingston Crown Court to a total of 55½ years in prison for their roles in a £30 million heroin haul. A fourth member of the gang had already been sentenced at an earlier hearing to 26 years. The sentences were the result of a protracted intelligence-led operation into an east London gang involved in large-scale heroin trafficking. It is believed to be the largest ever heroin seizure by a UK police force.

16. Members of an organised crime gang were found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and supply counterfeit travel/identity documents on 17 December at Wood Green Crown Court and sentenced to a total of 21 years in prison. They were caught following an intelligence-led operation by officers from the MPS and the UK Border Agency. The gang forged thousands of passports and identity cards from their base in a North London flat. Police searches uncovered a vast array of sophisticated false travel/identity documents and forgery equipment including more than 2,000 counterfeit passports, identity cards and National Insurance cards.

Objective: Enhance our counter terrorism capability and capacity -

How we monitor our performance

17. The MPS continues to report its performance in relation to counter-terrorism to the MPA/MPS Counter Terrorism Protective Services Sub-committee, chaired by Lord Toby Harris. The next meeting of this group is on 28 March 2010. Internally reports are also regularly provided to MPS Performance Board.

Objective: Plan for, and effectively police, major events in London and prepare for the 2012 Olympics

How we monitor our performance

18. The MPS does not use PIs for this corporate objective, which is linked to the wider milestones for delivering the national Olympic Security Programme that goes beyond policing and are the responsibility of the Home Secretary. However, the MPS are held to account by the Olympics and Paralympics Sub-Committee, which is chaired by Dee Doocey. The next meeting of the sub-committee is 11 March 2010.

Objective: Lead and manage our service to ensure the most efficient, effective and economic use of all the resources entrusted to us

Progress summary

• The proportion of BME police officer recruits is unchanged since November when it was 14.3%, because there were no intakes of recruits in December and January. The recruits for the February and March intakes have now been informed of their starting date and the overall performance for 2009/10 will be 16.6% (minimum) as previously projected. This is an improvement on last years 16.2%.

Recruiting BME Officers

19. BME police officer strength increased from 2,864 at the end of March 2009 to 3,042 at the end of December 2009, an increase of 178 officers and a rise in percentage terms from 8.8% at the end of March 2009 to 9.1%.

Our People

20. At the end of December 2009 the MPS had:

• 33,322 regular police officers - 23% female and 9.1% BME.
• 2,892 special constables - 30% female and 32% BME.
• 4,609 Police Community Support Officers - 36% female and 29% BME.

Technology

21. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have been successfully rolled-out to frontline officers in 3 boroughs and 2 central units. The PDA, designed by the MPS, provides users with mobile access to the National Mobile Phone Register, the Voters database and to Stop and Search data. So far, officers have accessed one or more of those data sources to verify details people have given them in around 1,000 ‘stops’. 4,000 devices are now being rolled-out across the MPS.

The Environment

22. The Director of Resources, as the MPS Environmental Champion, has signed up to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) commitment to halve waste to landfill. The MPS has also pledged to halve construction waste by 2012.

23. In December, as a part of significant contribution from the MPS to the Building Energy Efficiency Programme (BEEP) steering group, a procurement framework was launched by the Mayor of London for use by all public sectors. This will help to deliver guaranteed reductions in energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The fact that many of the key areas of specific activity in this report relate to equalities issues demonstrates the Met's commitment to diversity and that we recognise effectiveness in these areas is essential to the success of the MPS. The aim of this report is principally to highlight overall performance; the issues raised in this summary are subject to greater scrutiny elsewhere. For example the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee, meeting on 4 March 2010, will receive reports on:

• the Met's continued concern over the satisfaction gap between white and BME victims; and
• rape, which will articulate the Met's concern over the relatively low sanction detection rate for serious sexual offences.

The Communities, Equalities and People Committee meeting on 11 March 2010 will receive a report on:

• The MPS recruitment targets, which will include BME recruitment.

D. Financial implications

1. The current revenue budget position is that the outturn forecast, as at Period 9 (December), is to overspend by £10.3m (approximately 0.4% of budget). The majority of the overspend is due to operational demands as a result of the Tamil and Climate Camp demonstrations.

2. The Capital Programme at Period 9 (December) is expected to underspend by £7.8m below the revised annual budget of £214m.

E. Legal implications

1. There are no direct legal implications arising from this performance monitoring report.

2. The MPA is required to monitor compliance of the performance of the MPS in accordance with s6ZA of the Police Act 1996 as inserted by the paragraph 8, Schedule 2 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 and The Police Authorities (Particular Functions & Transitional provisions) Order 2008.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report author(s): Worth Houghton

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms

APACS

Assessment of Policing and Community Safety performance indicators set devised by the Home Office for police forces in England and Wales for it and other Government bodies to use to monitor and assess policing and community safety

BCS

British Crime Survey – a Home Office managed survey of UK residents conducted face-to-face to capture levels of crime, public attitudes to crime and other criminal justice issues. Surveys ~48,000 citizens across England and Wales annually, ~3,000 in London, results are published quarterly and relate to a rolling 12-month period. Respondents 17 yrs +; business crime not included.

CPA

Critical Performance Areas - the suite of MPS corporate measures used to track progress against the delivery of corporate objectives

Criminal network

a network of individuals involved in ongoing criminal activity for personal gain (usually profit, can also be social standing).

Disruption

a disruption has been achieved when a network is unable to operate at its normal level of activity for a significant amount of time.

Harm

where the consequence of pursuing an activity is seen to have an adverse effect on the social, physical or economic well being of individuals or a community.

LCJB

London Criminal Justice Board

MIB

Met Intelligence Bureau

MSV

Most Serious Violence - includes homicide and child destruction; attempted murder; wounding/GBH; causing death by driving (dangerous, under the influence of drink or drugs, careless or inconsiderate) or by aggravated vehicle taking.

NSID

National Security and International relations and Development (Protective Security and Resilience)

PURE

Police Use of Resources Evaluation

OGC

Office of Government Commerce

SD

Sanction detection - police generated detections of a crime including charges, cautions, fixed penalty notices [FPN], taken into considerations [TIC], summons and cannabis warnings

SAQ

Serious Acquisitive Crime - Includes robbery, residential burglary and motor vehicle crime

SOCA

Serious and Organised Crime Agency

SPI

Statutory Performance Indicator

TIC

Taken into consideration – the clear up of multiple crimes attributable committed by one criminal e.g. multiple burglaries

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