Barking and Dagenham report

Report: 3
Date: 2 February 2010
Report author: Detective Inspector Patrick Spark (Barking and Dagenham CSU) and Detective Inspector Tim Wilkinson (SCD2)

Quantitative information

Domestic violence (in numbers unless stated otherwise)	12 months to October 2009
Incidents	4636
Crimes	2082
Repeat Victimisation crimes	266
% of all DV crimes	12.7%
Unsupported DV prosecutions	25
% of all DV crimes	1.2%
Crimes flagged honour based/forced marriage	4
Number of DV Homicides	0
Sanction detections	832
Sanction detection rate (%)	40%
Number of cautions	451
Cautions as a % of all SDs	54.2%

BOCU Sexual Offences (in numbers unless stated otherwise)	12 months to October 2009
Incidents	190
Crimes	169
Sanction detection rate (%)	12.4%

Serious Sexual Offences (in numbers unless stated otherwise)	12 months to October 2009
Incidents	224
Crimes	168
Repeat Victimisation crimes	2
% of all SSO crimes	0.59%
Serious Sexual Offences flagged as DV	21
Sanction detections	23
Sanction detection rate (%)	13.7%
Number of cautions	1
Cautions as a % of all SDs	4.3%
Incidents 'no-crimed' or 'crime-related incident'	44
Incidents referred to the Havens	20

Diversity	Gender		Ethnicity		Recorded disability of victim	Age group of victim			Sexual Orientation
	F	M	White	BME		16-35	36-60	61+	LGB and T
DV incidents	4080	2580	4460	2126	68	4142	2352	168	0
DV offences	1676	371	1429	606	49	1301	693	53	1
DV SDs	680	126	604	199	13	503	277	26	1
SSO incidents	171	16	128	53	7	68	32	0	0
SSO offences	155	14	117	46	15	69	33	0	0
SSO SDs	18	5	17	4	2	9	2	0	0

Administration	As at 31 Oct 2009
Posts within Community Safety Unit/Sapphire Unit	1DI, 4DS, 14PC, 8DC / 1DI, 2DS, 6SOIT PCs
Vacant posts in CSU/Sapphire Unit	3 PCs / 1 DC
Officers/Staff trained in Child Protection	1 ex CAIT officer / 1
Officers/Staff trained in ‘honour’ based / forced marriage	19 constables / 1
Officers/Staff trained in stalking and harassment	19 constables / 11
Officers/Staff trained in victim care	19 constables / 17
Officers/Staff trained in sexual offences investigation	4 / 17
Officers/Staff trained in domestic violence investigation	19 constables / 17
Number of feedback forms distributed to victims by Sapphire team	N/A / 7 since 23 Sep 09

Part 1 - Policy compliance and quality assurance

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 use risk assessment and risk management tools to ensure victims/ survivors are made safer, and that perpetrators are made accountable for their behaviour?

1.1 All calls to domestic incidents will be attended by a police officer unless they are reported by the victim in person to a member of staff at a police station. This is to ensure the safety of the victim. All electronic Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) messages are supervised by the Integrated Borough Operations supervisor (IBOS) to ensure completeness and an appropriate result before they are put away.

1.2 All domestic incidents are reported in a book 124D which is the bespoke report book for domestic incidents. Contained within the book is a risk assessment tool called ‘SPECSS+’. Initial responding officers complete the risk assessment process and grade the risk as standard, medium or high. The initial intervention of the responding officers is checked by a supervisor who signs the report book accordingly. Supervisors’ instructions are that they must satisfy themselves that the risk assessment and action taken is correct or record remedial action to be taken. Adherence to this process has already produced additional disclosures of sexual violence now investigated by SCD2. Completed book 124Ds are then passed to the Community Safety Unit for indexing or action as appropriate.

1.3 All domestic incidents (regardless of if a crime has been alleged or not) are then recorded on the Crime Reporting information System (CRIS). The risk factors as per the SPECSS+ are recorded on the CRIS as part of the initial report. Crime reports are supervised on the same day by either the response team supervisor or the Crime Management Unit staff for completeness.

1.4 Every morning, every new DV crime and serious sexual offence is viewed by a DI and checked for initial appropriate action and quality assurance. Remedial action will be taken at this stage if there are insufficient documented positive interventions, for example arrest of suspect or safeguarding of victim or children. This is a standing agenda item at the Daily Management Meeting (DMM).

1.5 All DV reports will then be passed to a supervisor on the Community Safety Unit (CSU) for further assessment and necessary action. For crime investigations, the CSU investigating officer (IO) will undertake a secondary risk assessment of the case using the same SPECSS+ risk assessment tool. The original risk assessment grade will either be confirmed or amended accordingly. High risk cases will either be referred to the Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA), the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) or other appropriate bespoke interventions will be implemented, for example the sanctuary project.

1.6 Referral to MARAC will involve the completion of another risk assessment checklist (based on the ‘DASH’ model). If children are involved in the relationship, initial responding officers are required to complete a Merlin Pre assessment Check (PAC) report. The BOCU Public Protection Desk (PPD) then supervises this report and effectively undertakes a further risk assessment in relation to the children. If there are any concerns or is any increased risk to the children, action will be taken by police or Children’s Services to remove, avoid or otherwise minimise that risk.

1.7 The CSU’s focus is on reducing the number of outstanding DV suspects by performing ‘Operation Roundup’ every week. This is a pre-planned arrest operation utilising additional officers from other units to arrest the outstanding suspects as soon as possible. It is similar to the MPS ‘Operation Athena’. The CSU focuses on service delivery to victims and children by reducing repeat perpetration.

What processes are in place to support officers and ensure that they are effectively implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), especially in cases where several procedures may be relevant to particular cases, e.g. where an incident may involve domestic violence, rape and child abuse within a single family?

1.8 IBO Supervisor (IBOS) will endeavour to ensure prompt attendance at domestic incidents and compliance with minimum reporting requirements eg, book 124D, CRIS report and a Merlin report.

1.9 MPS Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are in place for the main issues relating to serious offences and particular categories of victim. It is the recent experience of Barking and Dagenham CSU and SCD2 that there have not been many cases where there has been ambiguity or dispute. In the limited cases where there has been, the DIs of the respective units have liaised with each other to ensure SOPS are followed and common sense and reasonableness prevail, with the welfare of the victim being paramount. Key managers of both commands are aware of the finer points of the relevant SOPS and will agree on the correct course of action at the outset. This is also the case with SCD5, the Child Abuse Investigation Team. Documented instructions are in place to specify which crimes and victims will be deal with by BOCU and which will be transferred to specialist units.

1.10 Where several procedures may relate to a particular case, the BOCU will ‘own’ the investigation until it is formally handed over to the specialist unit for investigation eg SCD2, SCD5 (CAIT). Until this point, the BOCU will be responsible for all the initial necessary action. Once investigative primacy has been transferred, the new ‘owning’ unit will have responsibility for all aspects of the investigation. Investigations are not shared or split.

1.11 As listed in 1.1-1.5 inc above, there are several layers of supervision and scrutiny in place from the moment the request for police assistance is received and thereafter. Where the involvement of a specialist unit is likely, this will be identified almost immediately by the IBO staff, their supervisor, the patrol supervisor, the duty officer (inspector), the Crime Management Unit, the night duty CID or the CSU supervisor. Additionally, the relevant specialist unit will also search the CRIS for suitably flagged crimes for their attention. The above demonstrates there are established methods for efficient transfer of investigations to specialist units.

1.12 CSU supervisors (detective sergeants) will supervise all crimes every 7 days. CSU supervisors will set an investigative strategy and complete a review for serious assaults between 10 and 18 hours of them being reported. (serious assault is defined as attempted murder. section 18 and 20 GBH including attempts). The CSU DI will provide a documented review of the investigation of serious assaults within 7 days, if they remain active. The BOCU DCI will complete a review of on going investigations every 28 days thereafter. In addition to the supervision above, other monitoring, supervision, dip sampling and scrutiny is carried out by the Violent Crime Directorate, CSU DI, BOCU DCI, BOCU Crime Management and Performance and Review Units.

What work is being done to ensure that the 124D (or DASH 2008) form is being used consistently across the borough in 100% of domestic violence cases and that the information it collects is being entered onto the relevant MPS IT assets / systems e.g. CRIS, MERLIN, and CRIMINT?

1.13 From when a domestic incident is first recorded on the CAD system, there is a default expectation that there will be a CRIS report completed unless there is significant evidence to the contrary. This is routinely checked by the IBOS. The instruction is that the electronic message cannot be completed and put away without an actual CRIS number being entered on the CAD. This ensures recording on CRIS. CAD to CRIS compliance is monitored, the current rate is 85%, (which is above the corporate average), i.e. 85% of all calls originally tagged as ‘domestic’, result in a CRIS. The remainder being resulted as ‘not domestic’. Any domestic incident where there is any suggestion of children being present, involved or part of the family relationship, whether present or not, the IBOS will require a Merlin unique reference number in addition to the CRIS reference, before the message can be put away. This ensures completion of a Merlin report in all appropriate cases.

1.14 Additional checks and supervision include the PPD monitoring CRIS reports relating to young persons to check completion of Merlin reports. Patrol supervisors and the Crime Management Unit (CMU) independently of each other also monitor this requirement. In all cases where there is both a CRIS report completed and a linked Merlin report, the unique reference numbers will be cross referenced.

1.15 CSU supervisors address probationers during their initial induction phase when joining the BOCU. The critical areas of the book 124D are stressed and it is emphasised that often, all the CSU investigators are left with, is what was obtained in the 124D by the initial responder on the first occasion. One of the CSU supervisors that performs this function is an MPS book 124D trainer.

1.16 The completion and content (eg if a victim statement has been obtained) of 124D is entered onto the CRIS report together with a more detailed explanation of the risk assessment responses as per the SPECSS+ model.

1.17 The CSU DI has previously given and is currently giving DV presentations to response team parades, training days and the team inspector’s meetings. A central part of these presentations is the requirement to complete 124Ds to an acceptable standard on every occasion. All 124Ds are indexed by the CSU allowing the investigating officer to locate and retrieve the document.

1.18 A quality assurance checklist has been developed to measure appropriate completion of 124D to an acceptable standard. It is anticipated that this will be used to dip sample reports once an administration support officer has been recruited.

1.19 Intelligence reports are monitored by the Borough Intelligence Unit. Due to the enhanced search capabilities of the ‘integrated information platform’, numerous databases are simultaneously searched therefore any intelligence will be identified without the need to rely on any one particular database.

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 support staff / officers who are experiencing domestic violence, and ensure suspected staff/ officer perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence are held accountable for their behaviour?

1.20 DV Investigations that involve BOCU staff as suspects are immediately referred to the local Directorate Of Professional Standards (DPS) Borough Support Unit. CRIS reports will be identified with a specific ‘PE’ flag and also restricted by a supervisor to minimise the opportunity for unauthorised access. The BOCU Commander will be notified that their officer is under investigation, as will the Violent Crime directorate CSU Service Delivery Team. The DPS will consider restrictions or removal from operational duty, dependent on the circumstances. This status is continuously monitored. In addition the BOCU Commander can consider removal from operational duty if appropriate. It is acknowledged that the staff member may be under increased stress during this time. Therefore a welfare officer will be appointed for the duration of the investigation. The method of the criminal investigation is not affected by the suspect being employed by the police service. However, if necessary or desirable, BOCUs can request that certain sensitive/exceptional investigations be transferred to a neighbouring ‘buddy BOCU’ if for example the suspect worked on the same BOCU in order to secure further objectivity and independence in decision making. On completion of the CSU investigation, the DPS will be notified and they perform a misconduct review on the same evidential material. In certain circumstances a third review will take place by the DPS Prevention and Reduction Team to see if any further preventive work can be done with the officer.

1.21 The Borough CSU DSs are instructed to alert the DI whenever any MPS employees are involved as victims or suspects in any CSU investigations. The DI will monitor and review all such investigations from a managerial support or corporate risk perspective respectively. The BOCU Senior Management Team sends a positive message around standards and expectations of employees.

1.22 For staff that experience domestic violence as victims, similar arrangements apply. The report will be restricted. The CSU manager will liaise with the staff member’s line manager or unit head, to ensure additional welfare support is offered and the staff member is regularly updated as per the Victims’ Code of Practice standards as a minimum. Managers are also aware of the support provided to employees by the MPS Occupational Health Services.

1.23 A Barking and Dagenham CSU manager has transferred from the DPS. He is in a position to personally monitor such cases to ensure SOP compliance, good practice and provide local guidance to staff and managers.

Part 2 - Partnership working and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP)

What is the funding dedicated to tackling domestic and sexual violence from within the overall CDRP budget?

2.1 a) London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD)

• DV and Hate Crime Manager post £52,250
• MARAC Coordinator post £40,000
• DV Projects Officer £40,365
• DV Advocacy Service (2 advocates) £45,000
• Sanctuary Project £140,000
• Refuge provision plus 2 outreach workers from January 2010 £234,000
• DV Intervention Project £35,000

b) MPS BCU Funding

• DV Advocacy Service £31,500 and DV Projects eg White Ribbon, publicity £2,000

c) Area Based Grant

• DV Projects eg White Ribbon, mobiles, publicity £13,525

d) NHS B&D Core Funds

• DV Projects eg White Ribbon, mobiles, publicity £2,000, Women’s trust £25,000

e) Government Office for London

• Training £14,000

The total above funding is ££674,640

Is domestic violence and sexual violence considered as part of the annual Strategic Assessment? Has domestic and sexual violence been identified as a priority within the Partnership Plan?

2.2 Barking and Dagenham Borough has a high level of reported domestic incidents and domestic violence offences per 1000 population, this includes an element of sexual violence now investigated by SCD2. A significant percentage of all violence offences in the Borough will be of a domestic nature (51% at the time of writing). Both DV and Sexual violence are considered in the latest strategic assessment. Domestic Violence has been identified as a priority for 2010/2011. Sexual Violence has not, but violence in general has.

Are there any CDRP domestic and/ or sexual violence projects in progress?

2.3 Barking and Dagenham Borough have an established MARAC with active participation from the key statutory and voluntary agencies. The Local authority funds a full time MARAC coordinator’s post. The CSU DI chairs the MARAC and the NHS DV Strategic Lead is Vice Chair.

2.4 The Council is leading on the long term (3 years) procurement of the DV Advocacy Service to the third sector so that the service follows the best practice of being independent. An interim contract has been set up with Solace Women’s Aid to manage the advocates whilst that process is being followed through. The MPS will be invited to sit on the tender/decision making panel. NHS Barking Dagenham will also be included in this process and will include a tender specification for three IDVAs to support Barking Havering Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT) Maternity Services.

2.5 There is refuge provision across two locations providing emergency accommodation for victims and children fleeing domestic violence. Attached to these are 2 Floating Support Officers who provide medium to long term practical assistance where women would like to remain in their homes within the borough.

2.6 LBBD works with Redbridge, Newham and Waltham Forest to commission the East London Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP) to provide a service to men who want to change their behaviour. The project also works with the women partners of men who attend their programme. Custody officers at Barking and Dagenham police stations will provide DVIP referral leaflets to all male DV perpetrators on their release.

2.7 White Ribbon day is an annual event in the Safer Borough Board’s Calendar. This year was a joint event organised by LBBD, NHS, with the police, DVIP, Barking Rugby Club, Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club. The local campaign focused on perpetrators and the friends and family of victims. The White Ribbon Day conference for professionals heard speakers from the DVIP and Mark Coulter who has been working with men to address male violence against women in Hull. It featured bus adverts, beer mats and leaflets. Awareness raising took place at Barking Rugby Club, with the active participation of ex England international, Jason Leonard, and at Dagenham and Redbridge FC home match against Aldershot, where all the players wore White Ribbon T-shirts during the warm-up.

2.8 The Sanctuary Project is a holistic homeless prevention project which comprises of target hardening to victims’ properties where it is safe for them to remain there.

2.9 The Women’s Trust counselling service launched in June 2006. It provides 18 free one-to-one counselling sessions for victims. They also offer attendance at support groups where appropriate. Woman’s Trust is the only specific domestic violence counselling service in London.

2.10 The Witness Service assists victims of crime including domestic violence victims at Barking Magistrates Court. This service is managed by Victim Support.

2.11 LBBD is responding positively to the Mayor’s invitation to work with him and the GLA to increase the provision of rape crisis centres in London. This project is in the early stages. Officers from all 7 boroughs in the east London quadrant are looking at needs in relation to sexual violence and exploring options for developing a regional rape crisis response as an extension of existing contracts for DV or Victim Support services.

2.12 Barking and Dagenham always participate in the biannual MPS Operation Athena days, which aim to arrest as many DV and hate crime suspects as possible. For the last 3 operations, Barking and Dagenham BOCU have been in first place for number of arrests achieved (data supplied from MPS Violent Crime Directorate).

2.13 The LBBD Community Safety and Neighbourhood Services and MPS CSU staff a stall together for DV and Hate Crime at the annual Dagenham Town Show providing information and advice to the public.

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 work in partnership with voluntary and statutory sector agencies locally? What training is delivered in partnership with the community?

2.14 There is a high level of commitment to partnership working. The Borough Commander chairs the DV strategic group and the CSU Inspector chairs the MARAC, Vice Chair is NHS B&D DV Strategic Lead. BCU Officers and NHS B&D will be involved in the decision on the award of the DV Advocacy contract.

2.15 Victim Support have forged a strong working partnership with the Police in Barking and Dagenham. They work closely with the CSU officers, the DCI and CSU who have all been pro-active in developing strategic and operational links, to ensure domestic violence referrals receive a rapid and professional support service. Currently there is an agreement that all high risk referrals are automatically retrieved from CRIS by the 2 IDVAs, employed by Solace, the low to medium risk cases are referred to Victim Support. The Safer Stronger Board is supporting Victim Support in securing sustainable funding so this work can continue. Victim Support delivered a recent presentation to the Stronger Borough Board demonstrating their services to DV survivors; this was followed with a presentation by the DCI and Borough Commander. Their overall aim was to highlight that by working together the Borough is a safer place for people to live and work. The presentation also demonstrated that Barking and Dagenham suffers some of the highest levels of DV crimes and that both the criminal justice agencies and the voluntary sector fall well below receiving the desired levels of funding. This means they are unable to achieve satisfactory levels of provision of support services to survivors. Victim Support and Women’s Aid are involved in the MARAC and hate Incident panel meetings.

2.16 The B&D DV Forum meets quarterly and has representation from many statutory and voluntary organisations from within the Borough, for example LGBT groups, Victim Support, Women’s Aid, housing trusts and specialist DV solicitors.

2.17 SCD2 is considering an approach to Secondary School partners in LBB&D via the local Safeguarding team, to advertise the importance of the initial response to serious sexual assault. Opportunities to enhance victim care at the point of first report must involve school staff. This is a natural extension to existing work with schools officers.

2.18 LBBD DV Team and NHS Barking and Dagenham co deliver DV corporate induction training as part of the safeguarding training to all new staff in the borough. The police also attend and present as part of the general borough induction.

2.19 CSU and local CPS have engaged with joint DV training to improve the standard of investigations and service to victims.

2.20 At CSU team meetings, the following have been invited to give presentations to raise awareness of various issues:

• Specialist local DV solicitor on the various civil remedies available
• LBBD DV and Hate Crime manager on referring to MARAC
• DV advocates on the Advocacy service
• LGBT community representatives on LGBT matters
• Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence specialist

2.21 Barking and Dagenham BOCU Senior Management Team is represented on the working party for the forthcoming Specialist DV Court bid. This is a multi agency group of stakeholders from the statutory and voluntary sectors meeting together to submit a bid to GOL for Barking Magistrates to be an accredited SDVC. The bid is to be submitted in early 2010.

2.22 A previous innovative Barking and Dagenham DV project was the Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT). This was jointly funded by police, the NHS and LBBD. The principle of DVERT was two police officers, a paramedic and a DV advocate in the same marked police response vehicle. They would attend DV calls together, providing an immediate comprehensive partnership response when the victim was most vulnerable. Deployment of this resource achieved varying levels of success. This was influenced by many factors including commitment of agencies’ staff and participation of victims. There are no plans to reintroduce this project in the same guise.

Which partnerships are particularly successful and what might be the reasons for this?

2.23 MARAC - Commitment and enthusiasm of key individuals involved together with the administrative framework and advice and support from CAADA. All agencies are now realising the importance of DV and understand how they can contribute to preventing DV homicide and reducing repeat victimisation.

2.24 The CDRP – the Safer Borough Board – sees DV and Violence Against Women as a high priority. It recently devoted a whole meeting to the issue and identified new actions to take forward to the DV Strategic group. However, in Barking and Dagenham DV and sexual violence are no longer seen as an issue just for the CDRP. It is on the agenda of the Safeguarding Adults Board. The Healthy Borough Board has also made DV a priority from a health and wellbeing perspective and an action plan is being developed to address this – which will be complementary to the work being done under the Safer Borough Board. Presentations have also been made to the Children’s Trust and LSCB on the impact of DV on the 5 key outcomes for children and young people. Actions and commitment to improve services for children exposed to DV came out of that meeting. As a result of the SBB special meeting on Violence Against Women the Director for Children’s Services and the DV Strategic lead for NHS Barking and Dagenham were delegated to write a paper on improving education and prevention work with children and young people.

Part 3 - Work with victims and communities

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 monitor service user satisfaction and/ or seek feedback from victims/survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and then integrate any improvements into policy and practice?

3.1 Any feedback brought to the attention of the CSU Manager will be considered in terms of continuous improvement via team meetings. Any organisational learning will be fed into the monthly MPS CSU DI meetings, for example use of the National Centre for Domestic Violence for injunctions.

3.2 Traditional user satisfaction survey methods are inherently difficult in DV cases and are not recommended. ‘Cold calling’ contains an element of risk as the victim may still be in a relationship with the perpetrator. The victim may have gone to the police without the knowledge of the perpetrator. The contact made by the individual seeking feedback may inadvertently alert the perpetrator and put the victim in a difficult position. The CSU recognise we do need to adopt safer methods of debriefing and recognise that victims’ views count. The MPS is currently exploring safe methods of achieving victim feedback.

3.3 SCD2 staff are required to provide customer satisfaction surveys to all those victims aged 16 and over. This provides information to the MPS Strategic Research Unit to inform organisational learning including police practice. Responses to this are likely to be delivered as part of forthcoming Serious Crime Review Group and HMIC inspections.

3.4 The involvement of SCD2 in the MARAC process allows immediate feedback and interaction with local partners in the DV arena. The IDVAs are able to give feedback to the MPS via the MARAC meeting and in preparatory meetings.

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 ensure that victims are provided with regular updates on cases and informed quickly of any changes or decisions (particularly those which may impact on their safety e.g. release on bail)?

3.5 The case officer is responsible for this function. He /she monitors each of their cases and update the victims with any significant developments as per the VCOP minimum standards. Checking this is also part of the DSs’ 7 day supervision function.

3.6 The Witness Care Unit (WCU) will check with the officer in the case to determine if it is safe to contact the victim. If so, the WCU will maintain contact with the victim periodically throughout the court process assisting with court warnings, court visits, special measures etc. Contact is made via letter and telephone.

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 ensure compliance with the Victims Code of Practice?

3.7 a) BOCU This is monitored by the BOCU Crime Management Unit (CMU). Compliance data is published locally. CMU write compliance instructions and reminders into the body of the crime reports. Support with VCOP is provided to the CSU by CMU staff. VCOP compliance is a weekly DMM agenda item. Current overall VCOP compliance on the BOCU is 95.4%. The specific figures for sexual offences and domestic violence are 75% and 94% respectively.

b) SCD2 VCOP performance is monitored within SCD2 by the SCD CMU. This process mirrors the systems described by the BOCU around compliance and supervision. The current performance figures for VCOP are 69% for sexual offences and 50% for DV.

How does the (B)OCU and SCD2 build trust and confidence with hard-to-reach communities, particularly around sensitive cultural issues such as forced marriage and ‘honour’-based violence?

3.8 The CSU participate in the local LGBT Forum and have recently invited local LGBT groups to provide training to our LGBT Liaison Officers. The CSU also participates in the local Disability Equality Forum. Barking and Dagenham CSU have arranged and received a presentation from one of the MPS specialist on Forced Marriage and HBV to raise their awareness. Cases involving forced marriage and honour based violence are referred to the MARAC. HBV and FM cases are now subject to restricted MARACs ensuring only the most necessary partners are involved, to further reduce risk to victims.

3.9 Where bespoke advocacy is available SCD2 refer victims to such agencies. e.g. A GALOP advocate was utilised for a male rape victim.

3.10 Staff in the CSU have a wide range of professional and life skills eg cultural knowledge, linguistic skills, LGBT community etc. These staff members are deployed where it may assist the bespoke needs of the victim.

3.11 Deployment of female Asian DV Advocates for appropriate cases will reassure victims from minority groups. Trust and confidence with police will be built via the Advocates.

3.12 Uniformed police officers are embedded into every secondary school on the BOCU. Their presence fosters good relations with staff and students through familiarity and continuity. Recent examples have shown how two cases of suspected FM have been reported direct to a female schools officer within the school by teenage students. The feedback received from the school was that the matters were reported due to the trust and confidence of the students, with the schools officer.

Part 4 - Organisational improvement

Where there have been recommendations from homicide reviews or serious case reviews, what are they and how have they been implemented?

4.1 Barking and Dagenham BOCU did not experience a domestic homicide for the years 2005-2008. On 19th November this year a woman was killed by her ex-partner and a homicide review is currently underway. We keenly await the conclusion of the review to determine and lessons learnt for the partnership and to ensure that any recommendations are swiftly implemented. SCR currently underway for a sudden infant death investigation. A likely recommendation will be to introduce a more robust CAD to Merlin compliance system to ensure any children not present, but exist within the relationship are identified at the time and a Merlin report is completed.

What have been the benefits and challenges of implementing SCD2 locally?

4.2 Prior to centralisation, Barking and Dagenham BOCU had amalgamated their skills and response with other BOCUs which was identified as best practice. Benefits now include dedicated specialist investigators for serious sexual offences. This has enhanced the quality of investigations, victim care and opportunities for justice. Additional benefits are Sapphire staff have received a bespoke training course focussing on investigative and victim care solutions to sexual violence. SCD2 are now another participant in the local MARAC. Implementation of SCD2 model allows greater access to a larger pool of trained and experienced staff and expertise, than in the previous local model. Also a consistency of service is now achieved regardless of which BOCU the offence takes place. SCD2 access additional support services for victims via the local BOCU CSU.

4.3 Challenges - With the structural change have come some solvable teething problems with initial communication between the BOCU and SCD2, for example the implementation of the new protocol. Remedial measures were put in place to ensure enhanced awareness for all staff. Additional challenges included the loss of experienced detectives from the BOCU CID. Also, new BOCU CID/CSU officers no longer gain experience of dealing with serious sexual offences.

How have close working practices been ensured between SCD2 and the (B)OCU?

4.4 SCD2 staff are now invited on to local MARAC. CSU and SCD2 DIs have met and agreed a local protocol. The CSU DI has provided input for SCD2 DI with local support services and specialist DV assistance. Respective DIs meet periodically to discuss blockages, solutions and improvements.

4.5 The role of the BOCU as initial investigators ensures an operational relationship. Also, the BOCU will continue to support the SCD2 investigation in terms of risk management, support services for victims and policing resources. SCD2 and BOCU management jointly attend strategic meetings eg early consultation for rape crisis centres.

Where there have been cases of ‘honour’-based Violence, has the HBV Action Plan proved fit for purpose? If not, how could it be improved?

4.6 The CSU do not have a specific HBV action plan. The CSU accept that all HBV cases are high or potentially high risk and therefore follow the MPS SOP. All cases are referred to Advocacy and a restricted MARAC. All cases are subject to a risk assessment, increased levels of scrutiny and a bespoke risk management plan. Previous cases have received intense police and partner activity from the outset regardless of the perceived seriousness of the circumstance. This has resulted in risk being minimised at the earliest opportunity. The CSU is aware of and makes use of the capability of specialists within the VCD who provide expert advice for HBV cases. In addition, access to and use of various MPS knowledge and support products and statutory multi-agency guidelines in relation to HBV and forced marriage is made via the CSU Service Delivery intranet site.

What have been the successes and areas for improvement of Public Protection Desks?

4.7 Since the formation of the Borough PPD the level of expertise and supervision has improved considerably, this is because there are now two supervisors, a DI and a PS. The PS has recently attended the latest PPD training course and has been able to implement the latest policy. This officer has introduced a number of check systems to ensure nothing is overlooked. The PPD now incorporates the Missing Persons Unit, Pre assessment check (PAC) team and Jigsaw, this has also enabled officers to take on other roles within the unit, e.g. cover in the absence of Missing Person Officers. The Missing Person Unit has recently managed to discover the identity a body found in the river. Prior to the formation of the PPD and without CID leadership, the Missing Persons team would never have been tasked with such an investigation. It is intended that a number of meetings will be arranged with our partners, e.g. Social Services, Education etc, to develop and enhance joint working.

4.8 The standard of Merlin reports has risen due to increased scrutiny. Volume of Merlin reports has also risen. Both these issues are standing agenda items at the daily management meeting. Any reports that do not meet the minimum standards are brought to the meeting for remedial action. There is a need to increase capacity to risk assess DV Merlins at the PPD

What single improvement do the BOCU think the Metropolitan Police Service could make which would greatly improve the response to a) domestic and b) sexual violence locally?

4.9 BOCU Removing the sanction detection rate as a performance indicator in favour of a repeat victim rate. This would allow officers greater discretion in terms of actually providing a bespoke quality service to victims and making them safe, rather than focussing on arrest and prosecution, which may sometimes be against the victim’s wishes.

4.10 SCD2 Clarity on what constitutes ‘good performance’, with a focus on victims. Ensuring that appropriate resources are available to deliver an excellent standard of care to victims of SV.

4.11 Partnership Each Safer Neighbourhood Team is to have a nominated dedicated officer for DV in their ward who is responsible for victims, in terms of building relationships and safety planning. Remote court access based in police or Council buildings eg using the PACE room at Roycraft House as an extension to the court.

4.13 Increase referrals from police to MARAC, clarify DV support referral route for CSU officers and provide admin support for CSU to support MARAC.

4.14 Conditional cautions are not seen as an appropriate disposal option for DV as they are not counted as detections. It is the view of external partners that a caution subject to conditions of referral and completion of the DV Intervention (Perpetrators’) Project would be a worthwhile venture. Essentially, allowing conditional cautions to count as detections for certain closely monitored DV cases would be an improvement.

What do you think the MPA Domestic and Sexual Violence Board and its Members could do to help or support SCD2 / the (B)OCU in dealing with domestic and/or sexual violence?

4.15 BOCU and Partners - Lobby for performance targets of CPS and MPS not to be in conflict with each other, i.e. MPS DV sanction detection rate versus CPS court attrition rate for DV cases. Effort to improve performance by one agency may negatively impact on the other. For example the CPS trying to maximise their success at court may be inclined to only charge the cases with the strongest evidence or an anticipated guilty plea thereby reducing their court failure rate, to the detriment of evidentially weaker but still worthy cases. SCD2 - seek continued lobbying for the deployment of independent SV advisors and a move to victim focussed performance indicators, and outcomes other than SD rate.

Part 5 - Additional information

5.1 The CSU has recently submitted a funding bid for a number of digital cameras, memory cards and printers to be able to immediately capture photographic evidence at scenes. The Polaroid cameras that are currently in use provide poor quality images and this is often key corroborative evidence. Discussions have already been held with the CPS Borough Crown Prosecutor in terms of evidential integrity. An acceptable storage and retention process has been identified.

5.2 Government Office for London (GOL) has invited bids from local partnerships for additional funding to support victims of sexual violence. The Borough will be submitting a joint bid to GOL in January 2010 for an additional £20k to fund the support for sexual violence victims and develop a better understanding of the nature of sexual violence in the local area.

Part 6 - Equality and diversity implications

6.1 CSU Diversity: The structure of the CSU is particularly diverse and representative of the local community. For example they have French, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Portuguese, Punjabi and Hinko speaking officers. Over 50% of the CSU are female. The CSU contains BME, LGBT, single parents, Borough residents, part time, flexible workers, carers, grandparents, and disabled staff. All CSU staff have completed their mandatory diversity training and the CSU manager is a former MPS diversity trainer.

6.2 Barking and Dagenham CSU is committed to providing policing services that meet the needs of all communities. We want all communities to be confident that we will always treat them fairly, with dignity and respect, making sure that everyone has access to all our services. Delivering this strategy is critical to our priorities of giving communities more confidence in our ability to keep them safe.

6.3 Barking and Dagenham CSU will treat every DV victim as an individual, according to their unique needs. Officers are mindful that victims from minority groups may have additional needs, issues or vulnerabilities and will as far as possible work with victims and others to meet these needs. Equality and diversity considerations are applied to all MPS policies to ensure they do not disproportionately discriminate or adversely affect any minority group.

6.4 Barking and Dagenham BOCU has an active LGBT team consisting of gay and straight, male and female officers who have volunteered to perform this role. They meet monthly and are coordinated by a CSU supervisor. An LGBT liaison officer would be offered to support a victim of a same sex domestic violence or homophobic/transphobic hate offence. LGBT officers attend the local LGBT Forum and the East London Out Project.

6.5 CSU officers form part of the local Disability Equality Forum where the implications of policies on the disabled community are discussed.

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