MPA Direct - July 2009

Issue 8

This issue of MPA Direct is available as PDF document. Or alternatively a summary version is available below.

Full Authority: 23 July 2009

This was the last meeting before the summer break. Members had asked for it to be re‐instated after it was originally cancelled when it became clear that the Race and Faith Inquiry Report would not be ready for the meeting. This was due to the large amount of material, both written and oral, from contributors and the report will now be presented to the September full Authority meeting.

The Authority had invited four Met Territorial Support Group (TSG) officers as special guests to congratulate them for the award they have won for bravery and selfless dedication to duty in the face of danger. With no regard for their own safety, they chased an armed suspect and tackled him to the ground before arresting him. The officers won both the London region award and overall UK bravery award at the Police Bravery Awards 2009, held on 17 July 2009 and sponsored by The Sun newspaper. A filmed interview at the awards ceremony, including a reconstruction of the event, was shown.

The re‐instated July meeting was scheduled for just one hour but members took the opportunity to question Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson in depth and the 11.00 deadline was missed. The Commissioner confirmed that a gold group has been set up to monitor swine flu issue within the Met and he assured the Authority that processes and structures are in place to deal with the situation as it develops. To date (23/07/09) there were 220 cases in the Met.

Topics discussed included ‘single officer patrols’, for both officers as well as Community Police Support Officer (CPSO) where appropriate. Overall the policy will result in Londoners seeing many more officers on the streets.

Jeannette Arnold raised the ongoing issue of Form 696 (which refers to the application for a licence to play music at public venue) and Jenny Jones opened discussions about the Met’s review of the investigation into alleged News of the World phone hacking. A short update was given about the work of the Civil Liberties Panel.

The meeting ended on a high note with Kit Malthouse congratulating the Met for two specific investigations: one concerned the retrieval of a machine gun from the bedroom of a 13 year old girl in Croydon; the other concerned the arrest of a prolific burglar who had been operating in south east London.

Met Forward: focusing on fighting crime: the MPA mission

Over the next few weeks the MPA’s partners and stakeholders will be receiving the document ‘Met Forward: focusing on fighting crime: the MPA mission’. As an introduction to the document, below is the foreword by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and Chair of the MPA, The full document can be found on the MPA website at: www.mpa.gov.uk/publications/metforward

When I became your Mayor one year ago, I said I would lead the fight against crime. In taking personal responsibility to make London a safer place to live, I became Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority last October.

A year later, I am proud to share with you London’s new policing strategy ‘Met Forward’. It will guide the Met in tackling the issues that matter most for Londoners: serious youth crime, violence against women, terrorism, safety on our buses and trains, and dangerous dogs. This strategy will also help us drive performance, support the Met’s officers and staff, and prepare for the enormous challenge of policing the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

I believe the solution to tackling crime and disorder lies in providing strong leadership to enable the police to do their jobs. We need to get rid of the target‐driven culture so officers can spend more time on the streets. As Mayor, my role is to set out the vision and strategy, but I know we can only realise that vision through partnership with others. I welcome the opportunity to work closely with Sir Paul Stephenson in leading the Met forward in the fight against crime.

Joint engagement meetings (JEMs)

Joint engagement meetings (JEMs) have been established by the MPA to support action and joint problem solving work between the police, local councils and other partner agencies at the borough level. JEMs identify and explore long‐term local crime and safety problems and agree practical solutions.

JEMs are chaired by Kit Malthouse, vice chair of the MPA, supported by the Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing and the relevant local authority lead. Each local borough commander attends, along with other key partners including Transport for London, British Transport Police, the London Criminal Justice Board and Youth Justice Board. Meetings are not held in public because of the confidential nature of some items for discussion.

The current focus of the JEMs is serious youth violence, a priority area that the MPA, police, local authorities and partner agencies are committed to working collaboratively on to find solutions. However, for those boroughs that do not have a particular problem with this issue, anti‐social behaviour, disorder and other issues that impact public confidence provide the focus of discussion.

Depending on the theme of the meeting, discussions can encompass a variety of topics, ranging from deprivation, crime hotspots, school exclusion and truancy, youth services, offender management, youth justice and community confidence, which help place the subject in a real context.

Actions to be taken forward by partners, wither singly or in partnership, together with areas of good practice highlighted in the meetings, are recorded by the MPA which then works to ensure these are acted on. The process offers considerable potential for wide‐ranging service improvement across London within the framework of existing partnerships which are complemented and supported by JEMs.

The MPA has released the following statements during July

Statement in response to publication of HMIC interim report on the G20 policing operation

7 July 2009

“The MPA welcomes the HMIC interim report on the G20 policing operation. Broadly supportive of the Metropolitan Police Service’s handling of public order policing, it makes a number of specific recommendations about training, communications with both protest groups and the public, and the paramount need for officers to be clearly identifiable.

“Recommendations referring to the police tactic of containment, known as ‘kettling’, such as informing the public when it is to be invoked, a plan to release vulnerable and distressed people, maintaining a flow of information to those caught‐up in the area and access to amenities, are welcome. The MPA will expect the Commissioner and his senior management team to report progress to the full Authority.

“It is an inalienable right for individuals to protest peacefully on the streets, but the police need to balance this against their duty to maintain public order and safety. Currently there is confusion and misunderstanding within the debate on civil liberties and the police are drawn into this controversy. HMIC’s report is a welcome start to a much broader debate we need to have, engaging fully with the public and human rights organisations, which the MPA new Civil Liberties Panel will want to progress as soon as possible.”

MPA welcomes appointment of Tim Godwin as new Deputy Commissioner

16 July 2009

The appointment today of Tim Godwin as Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service has been welcomed by Metropolitan Police Authority Chair, Mayor Boris Johnson.

Commenting on the appointment, Boris Johnson said:

“On behalf of the MPA, I congratulate Tim Godwin on his well deserved appointment today by Her Majesty The Queen. Tim has done an outstanding job as Acting Deputy Commissioner over the past months and today’s announcement is a recognition of his undoubted abilities.

“We interviewed outstanding candidates for the post, but Tim impressed us with his enormous experience of policing. A substantial part of his career has been spent policing London, the largest and certainly the most complex policing environment in the UK. He has an outstanding record leading the Met’s Territorial Policing, which bears responsibility for day‐to‐day policing of the capital’s communities, and this can only be of benefit in this pivotal role within the Met’s senior management team.

"Crime and safety is the biggest issue for Londoners and the job of the MPA is to make sure the Met fights crime effectively and keeps our city safe. But getting a grip on crime can only be achieved by a police force that focuses on a clear mission. We have set our statement of that mission in ‘Met Forward’, a clear signal as to how the Authority wants the police to develop and perform in the years to come. We look forward to working with Tim to achieve these goals for London."

Tim Godwin joined Sussex Constabulary in 1981 and spent 18 years moving up through the ranks before joining the Metropolitan Police Service in November 1999 as a commander. He has been Assistant Commissioner Territorial since 2002.

MPA supplementary statement: Sir Ian Blair

15 July 2009

Following a press statement by Sir Ian Blair on the 15 July 2009 the Metropolitan Police Authority issued a preliminary response. The Authority had previously regarded the consideration of the report prepared by Sir Ronnie Flanagan as an exempt piece of business. The Authority now wishes it to be made explicit that its decision, as recorded in the minutes of its exempt meeting, does not amount to an exoneration of Sir Ian Blair's conduct. In particular the sub‐committee did not accept the third conclusion reached by Sir Ronnie Flanagan that:

There is no basis upon which police misconduct proceedings could be recommended against anyone involved in this investigation. It should be noted that this conclusion has nothing whatever to do with Sir Ian Blair’s decision to retire. It would apply with equal force, should he still be serving.

In reaching this decision the Authority wishes to make it clear that the sub‐committee were only considering the conduct of Sir Ian Blair. It did however conclude that in respect of the investigation of the conduct of Sir Ian Blair the matter was now closed. Further work will be commissioned to analyse the report and reflect on lessons to be learnt for both organisations. When that work is complete the prospect of publishing the report, possibly redacted, will be re considered.

Earlier MPA statement:

The MPA's Professional Standards Cases Sub‐committee has received the Investigating Officer's final report and the supporting evidence in relation to the investigation of the circumstances surrounding the letting and management by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) of contracts with Impact Plus Ltd (later Hitachi Consulting) and the role in that process of Sir Ian Blair, former Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

At the meeting on Monday 13 July 2009 members of the Sub‐committee took the decision not to publish the final report. The MPA recognises the importance of ‘lessons to be learned’ arising from this investigation and until that work has been concluded has decided not to publish.

The sub-committee was not required to determine whether disciplinary proceedings should be brought against Sir Ian Blair since he is no longer serving with the MPS.

The sub-committee was required to consider whether a criminal offence may have been committed. It determined that the report and supporting evidence did not demonstrate any evidence of dishonesty. It also concluded that there was no evidence that any criminal offence had been committed. The MPA has therefore concluded its investigation in relation to the conduct of Sir Ian Blair and will take no further action.

MPA Appreciation

It’s nice to get feedback, so here we publish an email of appreciation for the recent EPU conference and our stakeholder magazine.

Dear MPA Direct,

As an attendee of the "Policing With Authority" conference on Saturday last, the article is very encouraging, inasmuch as showing appreciation to all my colleagues, as well as the work of "The Authority" in our Capital.

I know I speak for my colleagues and well‐wishers in showing the appreciation such an article brings to our community and neighbourhood here in LBHF (Hammersmith and Fulham).

Keep up the good work, and congratulate the editing team on a job well done!

John Ryan
ICV Hammersmith and Fulham
Hammersmith and Fulham Community and Police Engagement Group (CPEG)

Policing priorities public consultation

Last year the MPA carried out the annual consultation programme to inform the Policing London Business Plan ‘in‐house’ ‐ previously the Met had managed this. Our targeted approach led to a more than three‐fold increase in participation, 776 responses in total, and analysis of these provided information for the priority setting process for 2010/11 and other work.

This year we are already doing exceptionally well and to date we have had the following number of responses:

• 453 postcards completed when colleagues have attended events;
• 157 internet responses; and
• 18 paper responses.

The closing date is not until 30 November. If readers know of any forum where the consultation can be advertised please get in touch with the MPA and we can provide flyers, postcards or hardcopies for distribution.

London: then and now

Here we reproduce some interesting facts about London from our current year, and contrast them to facts from 1909. How times change …

London 2009

• London earns £8.2bn from overseas tourists, five times as much as the next UK region
• Heathrow is the 3rd busiest airport in the world
• The cheapest average house price is in Barking
• There are 32,976 Met Police officers in London
• A quarter of cinema admission in the UK are in London
• The oldest Tube line is the Hammersmith and City, opened in 1863
• The Northern Line carries the most passengers
• The highest life expectancy is Kensington and Chelsea (83 male and 87 female)
• The lowest is in Greenwich 74.9 male and Newham 79.8 female
• Of the 20 most ethnically diverse councils, 19 are in London

London 1909

• Stoke Newington and the City of London had the lowest death rate
• Stepney and Islington had the highest
• The leading cause of death was listed as "disease of brain and nervous and circulatory system”, Phthisis (TB) was second
• There were 18,167 Met Police Officers
• Police used 'finger prints' to identify 9,440 criminals
• The Met Police stopped 205 runaway horses
• 18 people were killed by horse traffic
• The District Line carried most tube passengers
• 8,095,212 foreign boats entered London Port
• Only 61 people out of 63,129 foreigners to land at London Port were refused entry to the UK
• 623 pairs of opera glasses were found on the tube
• 225 cow sheds were registered in London
• 404 people suffocated in their beds

Sources

1. Focus on London 2009 is a 240‐page report that looks in detail at Londoners, their lives and their work, as well as the natural environment of the capital. This report brings together in one place data from a wide range of demographic, social and economic sources. It can be downloaded at www.london.gov.uk/focusonlondon
2. Parts of the 1909 document, ‘London Statistics 1909‐10’ are also available to download at http://www.london.gov.uk/focusonlondon

Keep right up to date:

Sign up to our News Feeds to be alerted when a new committee agenda or press release is added to the MPA website: www.mpa.gov.uk/news/rss.htm

And finally…..A Local Policing Summary for every London borough, outlining police performance over the past year and priorities for the next year in your area, has been published on the MPA website. They are available to view, along with much more borough‐specific information, on each individual borough page at: www.mpa.gov.uk/partnerships/boroughs

As ever, we would appreciate your feedback Please contact us by email at communictions@mpa.gov.uk or telephone 020 7202 0217/18.

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