Domestic Violence and Child Protection

Report: 05
Date: 8 July 2008
By: Commander Simmons, TP Violent Crime Directorate, MPS

Summary

This report relates to the development of the MPS’ Domestic Violence performance relating to children and updates relating to Public Protection Desks and key community projects including Projects Violet and Azure.

A. Recommendations

That the MPA Domestic Violence Scrutiny Board notes this report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) response to children involved in domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence is managed by Violent Crime Directorate (VCD) and the Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC).

2. The VCD is charged with the responsibility of owning and developing the domestic violence (DV) policy and the accompanying standard operating procedures (SOP). Its Community Safety Unit (CSU) Service Delivery Team staff provide support and guidance to all MPS staff in respect of DV and assist compliance with the DV SOPs. The policy is cognisant of children who are either witnesses to or are from homes and families where DV is a factor. In these circumstances children must be regarded as victims and proactive action taken regarding their safety and welfare.

3. The CAIC is accountable for the investigation [1] of all suspicions or allegations of crime that come within the scope of the term ‘child abuse’ in co-operation with Local Authorities and other appropriate agencies including:

• Intra-familial abuse (as opposed to a stranger attack);Intra-familial means: - within the family and extended family including Aunts; uncles; cousin; siblings including step, fostered, half brother and sister, grandparents, step grandparents, step mothers or fathers and can include long term partners but must be an established relationship)
• Professional abuse - working in a child focused environment who abuses their paid position e.g. teachers; sports coaches; youth workers; ministers; caretaker of a school; school cleaner; prison staff
• Other carers – who act as a carer with some responsibility for the child at the time of the offence – e.g. babysitters; voluntary groups like scouting, unpaid sports coaches; close personal family friends,
• Where the victim is an adult and the abuse occurred whilst he or she was a child under the circumstances as described in the first 3 points above;
• Which are connected matters (offences against other children) coming to notice during enquiries by officers into the first four points above (e.g. where an abuser within a family has also committed similar offences against an unrelated child);
• Allegations categorised as parental abduction, outlined in the Child Abduction Act 1984 S1;
• To investigate intelligence led investigations allocated through the National Intelligence Model (NIM) tasking process; and
• To investigate sudden and unexpected death in infancy of children under the age of 2 within the family.

4. The MPS works to the Association of Chief Police Officer (ACPO) Domestic Violence (DV) definition: 'Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged 18 and over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender and sexuality'. (Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and grandparents, whether directly related, in-laws or step-family) [ACPO, 2004].

5. This definition is wide to ensure that all forms of domestic abuse including cases within an intimate relationship, a family context, cases of forced marriage and honour based violence are captured. However we know that many DV cases affect those under 18 years old or are perpetuated by extended family members. We ensure that those victims are given an equally effective service in line with the MPS’ positive action policy.

6. It is a notable fact, of which there is much evidence to support, that children are often victims and/or witnesses of domestic violence. As a witness to DV, children must be viewed, as already stated, as victims whether or not they directly or indirectly witness actual assaults or other crimes – they will be adversely affected whatever the level of abuse. What can be guaranteed is that children do hear, they do see and they are aware of violence in the family.

7. In DV cases the MPS aims to ensure the safety of victims, their children and families, whilst holding perpetrators to account for their actions. It’s with these aims in mind that officers are provided with clear guidance in how to conduct a perpetrator-focused investigation whilst effectively managing the risk(s) to victims. The MPS acknowledges that whilst victims must lie at the centre of decision-making the onus of decisions shall not be placed on them.

8. Both the DV and Child Abuse investigation SOPs have set out clear remits for who will take primacy in any investigation where there may be a cross-over between DV and child abuse. The MPS SOPs in respect of children are driven by legislation, notably the Children’s Act 2004 (and predecessor legislation), which puts a duty on police to safeguard children and promote their well-being.

9. The VCD consider the welfare of children as being of paramount importance in any investigation process. Any officer investigating DV is provided with clear direction in the MPS’ DV SOPs to take proactive action regarding their safety and welfare.

10. The Children’s Act 2004 is the Government’s response to the findings and recommendations of Lord Laming’s Public Inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of the late Victoria Climbie. The Act is the legal framework for the Government’s national change programme ‘Every Child Matters (ECM) – Change for Children’.

11. The Children’s Act sets out a statutory requirement for all agencies working with children and young people to work in partnership to ensure that all children are able to achieve in life. Sec 10 sets out the duty for all agencies to cooperate to improve well-being and Sec 11 is a duty to promote safeguarding and well-being. All organisations including the police must have processes in place by April 2008.

12. In September 2005 the MPS initiated an ECM Programme Board, which is chaired at Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) level.

13. In order to promote the safeguarding and well-being of children and young people form birth to 18 years old (in the case of police) agencies must assess children against the following 5 key outcomes;

• Be Healthy
• Stay Safe
• Enjoy & Achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being.

14. When children come to the notice of MPS staff they must make an assessment regarding these key outcomes and document their actions and decisions on the MPS ‘Missing Person Linked Indices’ (MERLIN) [2] database. In addition the MPS recognises that DV within the family is one of the most prevalent factors apparent in the review of child deaths where abuse or neglect is suspected. The impact of DV on children’s well being is documented in several bodies of research.

15. In addition the MPS also recognises that if a child is abused, then there is every likelihood that her/his mother will also be the subject of abuse. Accordingly child abuse is an indicator of high risk and has been incorporated into the MPS’ risk assessment and management processes.

16. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people. The CAF is a standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child's additional needs and deciding how those needs should be met.

17. The CAF will promote more effective, earlier identification of additional needs, particularly in universal services. It is intended to provide a simple process for a holistic assessment of a child's needs and strengths, taking account of the role of parents, carers and environmental factors of their development. Practitioners will then be better placed to agree, with the child and family, about what support is appropriate. The CAF will also help to improve integrated working by promoting co-ordinated service provision.

18. Implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) has required the MPS to review the way information on children at potential risk of harm is processed. The current policy requires officers to report interactions with children at potential risk of harm by way of a Merlin ‘coming to notice’ report, which is then automatically forwarded to the local Child Abuse Investigation Team.

19. As part of the new MPS Safeguarding Children process the MERLIN system is being adapted so that it can capture the information needed to generate a Pre Assessment Checklist (PAC) [3] . To support the Every Child Matters (ECM) five key outcomes and the CAF process the current Coming To Notice (CTN) threshold has been reviewed and now captures a broader range of concerns which will be recorded by staff and where appropriate shared with statutory and voluntary partners.

20. In the domestic violence context a MERLIN pre-assessment checklist (PAC) must be completed by the primary investigating officer or other nominated officer where children are present or known to be present in the household, regardless of whether they saw (or were present at) the incident or not. This will include DV cases where children are asleep in adjoining rooms, or away from the location at the time of incident or if there are child contact issues and where the victim is pregnant.

21. These records will be risk further reviewed and risk assessed by the PPD decision maker who will determine which agencies the records are communicated to.

22. The MERLIN entry is cross-referenced with the DV crime report. This action is imperative to ensure that appropriate information is shared with children’s social care. The MERLIN entry will provide sufficient information to inform;

• An effective risk identification, assessment and management process,
• The need for a subsequent investigation into possible offences against the children,
• need for safeguarding measures to be considered, and
• a meaningful assessment against the 5 key outcomes.

23. When first responders (or primary investigating officers) attend DV scenes they must visually check children. If it’s not immediately obvious that there is a child or children present then there is a requirement that police officers must be proactive (i.e. ask questions, look for toys, clothing, etc.) to ascertain the existence of children. In cases where there is a likelihood of significant risk of harm to children if they are left at the scene, officers must consider taking the them into police protection as determined by Section 46 Children and Young Persons Act 1989.

24. In the updated DV SOP (due for publication in June 2008) officers are reminded of legislation under the Adoption and Children’s Act, 2002 which amends s.39 Children’s Act 1989 to include "for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing ill-treatment of another" under 'significant harm' in cases of neglect. Officers are asked to consider consulting with the CPS so that DV perpetrators can be charged with an offence under s.1 Children Act 1989 of neglect or wilful exposure, where appropriate evidence exists.

25. The MPS recognises the limitation of the ACPO definition of domestic violence and its exclusion of victims and suspects under 18 years old e.g. boyfriend / girlfriend, 16/17 years old married couple, young person abusing a parent. Its imperative that although they rest outside the ACPO DV definition that such cases will be recorded in accordance with National Standards of Incident Recording (NSIR) and National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) and should be investigated by DV specialised investigators. There will also be a requirement that a Merlin PACs is completed. This ensures that those victims and perpetrators receive the same level of service as adults and that the requirements of ECM are complied with. It also ensures that victims and perpetrators can be signed posted to specialised support services in a timely manner.

26. On occasions where there is both DV and child abuse a joint investigation will be conducted by the Community Safety Unit (CSU) and the Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT). For example, in cases where a child is assaulted indirectly, where an adult is carrying a child in their arms and the partner attacks the adult and in the process injury is inflicted on both the adult and the child, the CSU will take primacy for the investigation with the assistance and advice of a CAIT investigator. The CAIT will assist, where possible, in respect of information sharing and Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interviews if appropriate. They will also advise borough officers in respect of attendance at strategy meetings and/or case conferences.

27. In those cases where an adult is violent towards a child (i.e. under the age of 18 years) and the partner intervenes and is assaulted due to their intervention the CAIT will take investigative primacy assisted by a DV specialist.

28. Each CSU and CAIT has a nominated liaison officer to ensure effective communication and joint working between the teams to improve service delivery and inter-team cooperation. Initial liaison with a CAIT will be via the CAIT’s referral desk Sergeant.

Data

29. The MPS is committed to ensuring that its staff and its strategic and community partners have the best possible, accurate, timely and reliable data to permit them to effectively discharge their duties and responsibilities. Only data produced by the MPS’ Performance Information Bureau (PIB) is officially recognised. To this end it’s only this data that should be released to partners and otherwise published.

30. PIB produce data weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual performance reports as well as reports relating to bespoke requests. Performance data produced outside of this recognised format is not ‘official’ and should not be released.

31. The following data for financial year 07/08 has been extracted by Performance Information Bureau (PIB) from crime data, where a child has been recorded as a direct victim of a crime that has been flagged as a DV matter. Its limitation is that It will exclude most instances for recent records, where the child was the only victim of a crime at that incident, and all instances where a child was present during the offence, but was not a victim of a crime.

32. Due to the complexities of the MPS recording systems, the brief details below took 2 PIB performance analysts 8 hours to produce. The MPS has been unable to be provide equalities data with these performance outcomes:

• DV Incidents where 1 or more victims aged 1-18 years was 3647.
• Persons arrested and proceeded against where the victim was aged 1- 18 years old was 737.
• DV offences where 1 or more victims aged 1-18 years old were 2356.
• Persons arrested and proceeded against where the victim was aged 1- 18 years old was 493.
• DV sanction detections where victim was aged 1-18 years old was 1722 i.e. a sanction detection rate of 73.1%.

33. These figures must be viewed with extreme caution as they will only relate to CRiS reports where children are recorded on the relevant ‘Victim Informant, Witnesses’ pages of the records. The above outcomes must be benchmarked against the fact that there were 102,227 DV incidents recorded in the Metropolitan Police Area in FY 07/08 coupled with anecdotal evidence that a notable proportion of these DV incidents involve children.

34. To prevent double keying and reduce bureaucracy investigating officers (including fist responders) will re-produce children’s details in a MERLIN report, which is not currently searchable. Good practice would suggest that children’s details are replicated across the databases, however this perhaps also multiplies the chances of data input errors. That said the VCD is investigating the possibility of incorporating a mandatory completion section on CRiS if children are part of a DV investigation, which would allow for a more accurate data collection process.

35. The VCD is canvassing support to have the above incorporated into the next CRiS software upgrade in Autumn 2008.

Risk Management

36. Risk identification, assessment and management is one of the cornerstones on which the MPS’s DV response is founded.

37. Primary and secondary investigators use this model to identify, assess and manage risk. The accompanying Book 124D is employed for 3 principle functions;

• Aide memoire for officers in how to conduct an effective primary investigation and risk assessment process;
• Document and record evidence including risk management plan; and
• Sign post victims to DV specific support services (tear off and handed to the victim).

38. As part of the supportive performance regime, and recognising the importance of the book 124D [4] Violent Crime Directorate staff review the usage and quality of completed books.

39. It is the MPS’s policy that a Book 124D must be completed for all domestic violence cases (this includes cases that fall outside of the ACPO DV definition), whether a crime of non-crime incident. The recorded information in these booklets must be transferred to the CRiS at the earliest opportunity. The primary investigating officer will in the first instance assess and identify the risk as standard, medium or high, which should be quality assured by a manager.

40. All primary investigating officers are charged with the responsibility of completing and recording a risk identification, now SPECSS+ [5] , to assess current and future risks. The management of that risk remains with the primary investigating officer until it’s formally handed over to the incoming response team or members of the appropriate investigative team. The victim is informed of the risk process and safety planning is discussed with them.

41. Secondary investigating officers within dedicated investigative units, such as the CSU or Sapphire [6] teams, are responsible for reviewing the original assessment (and risk level) and if necessary conducting a secondary risk assessment for all medium and high-risk DV incidents. Investigating officers are aware that risk assessments remain dynamic and should be constantly reviewed and updated.

42. Once officers have identified and assessed the risk they should develop a risk management plan with proportionate but effective control measures. These plans should be managed in accordance with the Remove Avoid Reduce Accept (RARA) model. Clear guidance is given to officers that safety planning for victims is to be implemented regardless of the victim’s desire to enter the Criminal Justice System (CJS). All MPS staff have access to the CSU Service Delivery Team for tactical advice and a list of tactical options is published on this team’s internal Intranet site.

43. A new revised version of the Book 124D will be introduced in early Summer 2008. This version has been updated taking into consideration good practice, areas for improvement and feedback from users, CPS and other partners e.g. dual arrest is highlighted especially where children are involved.

44. At present it still remains difficult to measure the actual borough compliance around 124D usage as performance data is reliant upon a free text search of the CRiS ‘details of investigation page’. This will be rectified with the CRiS software update referred to previously. However the last audit relating to the 124d was conducted in August 2007 and reflected a MPS performance average of 73.8% with some borough achieving in excess of 95%.

45. The MPS works to the principles that the DV victim’s threat level (standard, medium, high) transfers also to the children in that abusive relationship. In addition if you are effectively managing the risks to the mother you’re also managing the risks to the child(ren).

46. Boroughs that have invested appropriately in DV service delivery and mandatory DV training see the value and worth of the Book 124D. This buy-in has got to be at frontline delivery, supervisory and management levels. Direct links can be made between the success these Boroughs achieve in relation to performance outcomes and the substance and quality of their service delivery.

47. The Violent Crime Directorate’s quality assurance processes reveal that there has been an improvement in the quality and effectiveness of DV investigations (as recorded on the CRiS system). In addition the VCD has also been provided with anecdotal evidence that the book 124D has been instrumental in achieving successful independent prosecutions.

48. The MPS is working with ACPO and other strategic partners in the development of an universal risk assessment and management process for domestic abuse, stalking, harassment and honour based violence, which is known as DASH (2008). The ACPO expert risk panel, of which the MPS is a member, will report to ACPO Chief Officer Group on 5 June 2008.

Public Protection Groups

49. The MPS considers that borough Public Protection Groups (PPG) are an essential asset in the delivery of the aim of the MPS Serious Violence strategy, which is to ‘reduce serious violence in London’.

50. In addition the PPGs are being developed to assist the MPS in its desire to effectively manage;

• Dangerous people;
• Dangerous and risky locations (public and private places); and
• Vulnerable people (adults and children).

51. Each PPG, which will be lead by a Detective Chief Inspector (or Detective Inspector on outer London Boroughs) will consist of a core element including Operation Sapphire [7] , Community Safety Units, Operation Jigsaw [8] & Operation Compass teams [9] and Public Protection Desks. Boroughs may include additional investigative teams to the PPG structure, which has been designed as a scalable model to support future growth e.g. serious assault, guns and gangs proactive and reactive investigation teams maybe added.

52. The Public Protection Group structure has been developed to;

• Rationalise and improve communication routes and intelligence flows between PP Group units & stakeholders (internal and external).
• Facilitate improvement and formalisation of cross team intelligence and information sharing, which will reduce potential for intelligence to get “lost”, increase cross-crime type offender identification and facilitate a joined-up reactive and proactive response.
• Increase the size of taskable resources to public protection offences, which should increase flexibility of resource deployment to meet changing priorities and also increase the opportunity for proactive response by the borough’s resources.

53. This concept is supported at 4 levels by:

• The MPS Corporate Public Protection Steering Group, which is led by the Violent Crime Directorate’s Chief Officer,
• A Public Protection Project Board, which is led by the Violent Crime Directorate’s Chief Officer,
• A multi-discipline Public Protection Project Team (PPPT), and
• The Violent Crime Directorate’s Public Protection Service Delivery leads meeting structure.

54. The Project Team works to a detailed programme, which is controlled by exacting milestones, accountability and time frames.

55. The day-to-day work of this project, which commenced on 28 January 2008, is the responsibility of the Public Protection Project Team (PPPT), which consists of staff from a range of public protection disciplines including TP Violent Crime Directorate, Clubs & Vice and the Child Abuse Investigation Command.

56. The team also has 2 “associate” members who currently lead on associated projects. The first is from the ECM team who, with the support of the PPPT, is leading on the ECM rollout to Boroughs. The second is from the Intelligence Standards Unit who leads on the Intelligence “Centre of Excellence” project.

57. Two part-time Project specialists (a manager and a project officer) from Service Modernisation & Performance Directorate (SM&PD) also support the Project Team.

58. Each Team member has responsibility for cross cutting themes including:

• Intelligence
•  Public Protection Desks (staffing, training, SOP’s etc)
• Risk Assessments
• Performance
• Communications,
• Acting as Specific Point of Contact (SPOC) to a range of boroughs (each borough has a SPOC).

59. As previously stipulated the project team were set a challenging programme to develop which included;

• The brigading of Sapphire, Compass, Jigsaw and CSU teams, maintaining their own strong individual brands, but being known as Borough Public Protection Groups. This brigading should, where at all possible, include co-location;
• The formation of a dedicated PP Desk on Borough to receive Pre-assessment check for vulnerable children and quality assure existing risk assessments. The intention is that a trained decision-maker will then ensure that the Merlin report is sent to the appropriate internal/external stakeholder including SMT for high-risk cases;
• The inclusion of “Public Protection” as a standing item on the borough’s Daily Management Meeting’s agenda;
• The identification of a Borough Intelligence Unit asset to act as SPOC/Focus desk for PP issues on Borough;
• For each Borough to have a PP SMT lead;
• Boroughs to have engaged their partner agencies and risk assessed the impact together;
• To produce PP monthly performance scorecard and over-arching supportive performance regime and
• To produce a draft over-arching PP Policy document for consultation.

60. All of the MPS’ Boroughs are engaged in this process and have been assessed for their level of preparedness and ability to progress to 1) Full Public Protection Group status and 2) development of a Public Protection desk for the effective management of, and compliance with ECM.

61. There are still significant challenges with respect to the introduction of public protection groups. The following are some of the headline issues that require resolution in order to ensure the documented milestones are achieved:

• Acceptance by all Boroughs’ of the agreed business model contained within the Project Initiation Document against a backdrop of no additional resource;
• ACPO approval for the recommended staffing levels and minimum skills levels for each of the Borough PPG teams;
• Financial support for the additional external agency staff required to support the boroughs;
• Clarity around the performance regime;
• Potential threats to current Partnership working arrangements;
• Human Resource levels on Public Protection Desks; and
• Compliance regime implementation.

62. It is anticipated that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will be reviewing the MPS’ Public Protection position in the autumn of 2008. The MPS aspires to achieve an ‘excellent’ HMIC grading in future thematic inspections and will continue to work with commitment, industry and effort to achieve this.

63. The creation of Public Protection Desks (PPD), within Borough Public Protection Groups provides an opportunity for existing child focused business practices to be improved. This will include information sharing with partner agencies, involvement at case conferences and the development of new approaches to policing such as tackling child abuse through sexual exploitation and child death reviews.

64. Additionally the PPD’s provide an opportunity for the MPS and boroughs to identify the other issues that impact on public protection and as this work develops the PPD functions will be enhanced, in particular tackling vulnerable adult matters.

65. The development of PPD’s will be driven by the needs of the MPS and influenced by our partner agencies. The work undertaken will enhance opportunities to identify public protection issues, improve both a policing and partnership approach and increase the opportunities to adopt problem solving as a way to improve public safety. In addition the MPS will be better placed at a local level to support the work of Safeguarding Children Boards and Children & Young People Plans.

66. Public Protection Desks is a new business area for the MPS and represent a step change for the organisation. It’s anticipated that the following clear benefits will be realised:

• Provide focus to better identify and manage threats to vulnerable people and communities from dangerous people;
• Improve opportunities to increase intelligence;
• Provide improved local partnership working and engagement with the Common Assessment Framework;
• Reduce the possibility of vulnerable children who do not easily fit within current working remits being placed or remaining at risk of harm;
• Local BOCU ownership will improve the service delivered to all children and young people;
• Local partnership arrangements and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) links will provide greater opportunity for a range of interventions for those at lower levels of risk;
• Greater focus could be brought on those families and people where multiple risks come together which may well lead to interventions for a range of criminality; and
• More BOCU resources would be taskable in order to manage risks identified.

Partnership Initiatives

Project Violet

67. The Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC) has responsibility for Project Violet, which relates to child abuse related to certain beliefs. This project, which is being progressed by the CAIC partnership team, has now moved to a reactive phase.

68. In terms of background the CAIC partnership team's main function is to identify prevention opportunities in relation to child abuse.

69. The team identifies and works with partners both within the MPS and external bodies including London Safeguarding Children's Board (LSCB), Department for Skills and Education (DfES – now DCFS), Department of Heath, non-governmental organisations including children’s charities and many other bodies.

70. The Team’s terms of reference include:

• To ensure all activity & effort is directed towards safeguarding children and promoting the welfare of children that attract safeguarding responses;
• To identify, coordinate and maximise child abuse prevention opportunities;
• To work in partnership with communities and professionals to develop safeguarding children initiatives;
• To work with the LSCB to develop & disseminate good practice, policy and procedures; and
• To promote understanding of London's diverse communities whilst advancing the interests and well being of all children & young people.

71. The project team continues to monitor crime reports and to provide specialist advice to all United Kingdom (UK) police forces. They maintain close contacts with the Congolese and Ethiopian communities and have a wide network of contacts across the London. The Command works closely with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) to develop resources for West African Communities around such matters, such as multi-lingual posters and leaflets.

72. The MPS’s involvement with the NSPCC also includes a working group to help implement guidelines that were issued by the DCFS (Department for Children Schools and Families) on children abused in the belief that they are spirit possessed.

73. A recent case study involves a 7-year-old boy of Congolese heritage who had been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. His school received a letter from his father stating that he intended to take the child out of education for a 2-week period. He wished to take his son to the Congo so that he could have ‘deliverance from evil spirits’ for his son. The local CAIT and Children’s Services became involved and the Partnership Team provided them with specialist advice. As a result the child was prevented from leaving the UK and Children’s Services are now working closely with his family.

Project Azure

74. In addition to the above CAIC has responsibility to delivery Project Azure, which aims to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is a harmful tradition practice, which is euphemistically referred to as female circumcision and impacts on children from affected communities. FGM is regarded as a form of honour based violence, causes serious injury (physical, psychological and emotional) and is a fundamental abuse of the child’s human rights.

75. This project has been led by DI Carol Hamilton who subsequently won the 2005 National Diversity Award. The Partnership Team continues to progress and support this excellent work.

76. FGM has been outlawed in the UK since 1985 with the introduction of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act as amended by the Female Genital Mutilation 2003. There have been no prosecutions ever in the UK for this crime.

77. Recognising that there has not been a prosecution Project Azure have arranged for a reward of £20,000 for information leading to the prosecution of an excisor of FGM within London. This reward is part funded by the MPS and the Waris Dirie Foundation. Ms Waris Dirie is the United Nations (UN) Ambassador against FGM. This reward is designed to send a clear message to communities of the illegality of FGM and the consequences for practitioners and therefore it also aims to have a preventative effect.

78. Research has indicated that the summer holiday period is a high risk period for such crimes with (primarily) girls failing to return to the education system. In some instances children are ‘removed’ from the UK on the pretext of going on a family holiday or visiting a sick, usually elderly relative.

79. A MPS research project conducted between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2005 revealed that there were 518 reports relating to forced marriage. Research further highlighted that children and young persons under 18 years represented 25% of these cases. The recorded crimes for forced marriage for financial year 07/08 although still being assessed will reflect an increase in the volume of children, primarily girls affected by such crimes. The updated performance information for such crimes will be available for the 8 July meeting.

80. A summer term campaign entitled 'Summer is for Fun and not for Pain' was launched in 2007. This is a multi-agency project designed to raise awareness, to empower those potentially affected, to educate professionals and to inform communities of the legal consequences for offenders and the health consequences for the victims. Leaflets had been widely distributed around London's schools, Community Buildings, Police Stations, Social Services, Hospitals and GP surgeries. In addition an educational DVD aiming at raising awareness amongst professionals and communities was developed and circulated.

81. A similar campaign is planned for this year, which will be supported by the Violent Crime Directorate and involve other MPS assets including Safer Neighbourhood Team’s schools liaison officers. The VCD also remains committed to delivering multi-agency training in this sphere.

82. The response to young girls missing from school, when notified to police, will drive a bespoke response fitting that particular case. Where forced marriage (FM) is believed to be an issue, Operation Compass officers can call on and expect the support of the Violent Crime Directorate, their local CSU, CAIC and other specialised tactical advisors.

83. It remains essential for the MPS to have effective links with local schools and other educational establishments across primary, secondary and tertiary levels through safer schools officers. The MPS remains committed to ensuring its staff has the necessary knowledge and / or access to specialist knowledge regarding this complex subject area. The MPS Crime Academy and Violent Crime Directorate recently held two 1-day Honour Based Violence (HBV) seminars where one of the target audiences was school liaison officers.

84. It’s important that effective partnerships are achieved between MPS and schools so that where children fail to reappear at school these matters can be properly investigated and the underlying issue for the disappearance identified. That said where the fear of FM is an issue, appropriate positive action(s) must be taken at the earliest opportunity as a crime prevention measure. Children must be provided with awareness and must be signposted to school internal and external support services.

85. This action can only be undertaken if schools have the knowledge and confidence to approach other agencies, including police, to assist them identify the reasons for children going missing. Under the Children’s Act 2004, and the Governments ECM initiative, schools will have a duty to ensure their pupils achieve the ECM outcomes. This must be seen as an opportunity by the MPS to tackle in partnership the issue of young girls believed involved in FM going missing from school.

Project Ocean

86. There are an estimated 3,000 Supplementary Schools in Britain and in excess of 600 in London. They are sometimes also known as 'complementary', 'community', or 'Saturday' schools. They operate outside of school hours and focus on cultural or religious teaching as well as complementing education delivered in mainstream schools.

87. Although generally they make a positive contribution to communities, they are not regulated and often have no child protection policies or safeguards in place. The Partnership Team is aiming to assist London's Supplementary schools in developing and implementing protocols in partnership with agencies including the DCSF and the National Resource Centre.

88. In addition CAIC is also engaged with the DCSF in developing a programme to raise awareness of child protection legislation and good practice within all such establishments.

Community Partnership Project

89. The Community Partnership Project (Phase 2) was a Government backed initiative. The project employed Community Partnership Advisors to identify and engage with London's diverse communities and faith groups with the aim to build trust and understanding so that potential child abuse issues could be addressed e.g. Female Genital Mutilation, Honour Violence, Spirit Possession and the Illegal Migration of Children for Abuse.

90. The project, which originally operated in 8 London Boroughs (Brent, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Newham and Southwark) officially ended in July 2007 with many of the advisors remaining employed by their boroughs.

91. The CAIC project team continues to remain in contact and supports the four remaining Community Partnership Advisors from the boroughs of Hackney, Camden, Islington and Haringey. They have provided resources and practical help in order to develop multi-lingual posters to help communites to understand the laws relating to forced marriage, female genital mutilation and the chastisement of children.

92. The CAIC has the lead in implementing the vulnerable children and young persons strand of the MPS Youth Strategy. Part of the Project involves identifying occasions where vulnerable children involved in criminal behaviour may be doing so under coercion from adult offenders. It is already well established that children who engage in prostitution are victims of sexual abuse i.e. child abuse. It’s suggested that such a change in attitudes could also be beneficial in other cases such as where pressure is brought to bear on children to act as drug traffickers (‘runners’) or perform other ‘errands’ for organised criminal networks.

93. There is currently no specific training for CAIC or VCD officers to deal with young people who sexually harm other young people including those perpetrators who may have been sexually abused. CAIC officers however, are all trained to interact with children as outlined above and are aware of the complex issues that may arise within these investigations.

Abbreviations

ABE

Achieving Best Evidence

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

APACS

Assessment of Police and Community Safety

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

CAF

Common Assessment Framework

CAIT

Child Abuse Investigation Team

CDRP

Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership

CJS

Criminal Justice System

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

CRIS

Crime Reporting Information System

CSU

Community Safety Unit

CCPAS

Churches Child Protection Advisory Service

DASH(2008)

Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour Based Violence

DC

Detective Constable

DCI

Detective Chief Inspector

DCSF

Department for Children Schools and Families

DfES

Department for Education and Skills

DI

Detective Inspector

DV

Domestic Violence

DoI

Directorate of Information

ECM

Every Child Matters

EIA

Equality Impact Assessment

FGM

Female Genital Mutilation

FM

Forced Marriage

FY

Financial Year

HBV

Honour Based Violence

HMIC

Her Majesty’s inspectorate of Constabulary

HO

Home Office

IDVA

Independent Domestic Violence Advisor

IT

Information Technology

LSCB

London Safeguarding Children’s Board

MARAC

Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference

MERLIN

Missing Person Linked Indices database

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

NGO

Non-Government Organisation

NCRS

National Crime Recording Standards

NSIR

National Standards of Incident Recording

NSPCC

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

PIB

Performance Information Bureau

PAC

Pre-assessment checklist

PP

Public Protection

PPD

Public Protection Desk

PPG

Public Protection Group

SMT

Senior Management Team

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure

SPI

Special Performance Indicator

SPOC

Single Point of Contact

TP

Territorial Policing

UK

United Kingdom

UN

United Nations

VCD

Violent Crime Directorate

C. Race and equality impact

1. The MPS is mindful of any adverse impact or disproportionality that may occur as a result of the delivery of its services. In the delivery of its services the MPS fully embraces the need to engage with and consult wisely with all communities and their informed representatives.

2. An equality impact assessment is incorporated into an informed risk assessment, identification and management of each policy and SOP. It is essential to recognise the impact of equality and diversity and ensure that such considerations are threaded into all that we do.

D. Financial implications

There are no additional financial implications in respect of this report

E. Legal Implications

There is no legal implication concerning the information recorded in this report.

F. Background papers

• MPA Project Umbra Review report (June 2007)
• MPA update report on the MPS Violent Crime Strategy (4 October 2007)
• MPA update report of MPS’ Violent Crime Directorate (30 October 2007)
• MPA EODB Umbra Report (16 November 2007)
• MPA report regarding ECM Implementation (13 December 2007)

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Detective Superintendent Campbell, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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