MPS response to the recommendations contained within the MPA Youth Scrutiny 2007/08

Report: 6
Date: 6 November 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on how the MPS is responding to the recommendations of the MPA Youth Scrutiny 2007/08 and documents both current activity and developmental work across the MPS under the MPS Youth Strategy.

This report only refers to the recommendations directed towards the MPS and does not deal with those recommendations referred to other agencies and partners. This report and attached appendices should be read as a complete response as several of the recommendations overlap and responses to some recommendations are also applicable to others.

A. Recommendation

That members note the MPS response to the recommendations contained in the MPA Youth Scrutiny report. The full MPS response is attached at Appendix 1.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA Youth Scrutiny report was discussed at Full Authority on 26 June 2008 and at that meeting the MPS undertook to provide a full response to the issues raised. In total there were 52 recommendations arising out of the Scrutiny, with 30 being wholly or at least in part, directed towards the MPS. These are listed in Appendix 2.

2. The MPS took an active part in working with the MPA on development of the Youth Scrutiny and was fully involved and consulted at all stages. The Scrutiny endorsed the focus of the MPS Youth Strategy 2008 – 2010 on reducing youth victimisation. This report sets out how the MPS is implementing the recommendations of the MPA Scrutiny and reviewing its own MPS Youth Strategy.

3. The challenges facing both Londoners and the MPS in relation to serious youth violence continue to cause significant concern. This report will outline significant effort and progress, but the MPS accepts that there is still more to be done by itself and its partners. The implementation of the recommendations in the MPA Youth Scrutiny will make a valuable contribution in taking forward the MPS approach to reducing serious youth violence in London.

4. The recommendations applicable to the MPS from the MPA Scrutiny report are grouped into six categories:

• young people as citizens
• young people as victims and witnesses
• young people as perpetrators of crime
• young people and the police
• the role of non-police agencies in crime prevention
• young people and the media.

5. The MPS is supportive of all the recommendations that refer directly to policing services, and accepts that it has a role to play in encouraging other partners to consider the recommendations made for them. For example, the police are key partners in Local Strategic Partnerships, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Local Criminal Justice Boards and the MPS has significant influence in this regard.

6. The MPS will continue to develop and review activities and processes under its Youth Strategy on a regular basis. This will ensure that the opportunities presented by ongoing developments, such as the new Mayor’s Youth Strategy, are identified and maximised to deliver the overall outcome of a safer London for all young people.

C. Race and equality impact

The Equalities Impact Assessment of the MPS Youth Strategy reflects the consultation and feedback received to date. The impact of differential outcomes is considered and closely monitored by the Youth Engagement Strand lead and overseen by the Youth Strategy Board. It is vital that every Programme or Project implemented by the MPS has a fully researched and documented Equalities Impact Assessment.

D. Financial implications

The importance of the work related to Children and Young People in London must not be under estimated and the MPA has recently approved a sum of £4m to deliver a new integrated approach to reducing youth crime and youth victimisation across London during 2008/09. Whilst many of the programmes to which this funding relates are mentioned, there are no new financial approvals sought within this report. However, work continues with all partners including the Greater London Authority (GLA) and associated bodies to identify opportunities for ongoing programme development and funding opportunities.

E. Background papers

MPA Youth Scrutiny Report

F. Contact details

Report author: A/Commander Stephen Bloomfield, TPHQ

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Response to MPS specific recommendations

Category 1: Young People as Citizens

Recommendation 2: In taking forward the Safer Neighbourhoods young people’s priority, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should:

1. Use Safer Neighbourhoods Panels and Young People’s Panels to develop positive interactions between adults and young people;
2. Ensure young people’s priorities inform the local priority setting process;
3. Ensure that all Safer Neighbourhoods Panel priorities are informed by accurate data on youth crime and do not unintentionally criminalise young people.

Current Activity

1. The Safer Neighbourhoods Programme has continued to develop the priorities of young people and since July 2007 each of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) have been required to develop a youth focussed priority. These are monitored via Form 302s and the problem solving activities are reported and monitored by each ward panel. Where specific ward based youth panels are not in place SNTs are encouraged to engage with local young people forums and panels wherever they exist. It is recognised that the MPS has a role to play in not always portraying youths as ‘the problem’ and thus any problem solving activity to resolve youth priorities on wards is encouraged to have positive outcomes and positive messages at the conclusion.

2. As part of the expansion of the Safer Schools Partnership (SSP), which will be covered in more detail later in this report, SSPs in the priority schools are being required to establish Key Individual Networks (KINs) within the school environment. There will be KINs for teachers, parents and those engaged in running the school as well as pupils. This process will mean that there will be a whole school approach to the problem solving process. This will create more engagement with youths across every London borough with problem solving methodology applied, which will include the positive outcome messages.

3. To encourage youths to engage with police in an anonymous way the MPS has provided an on-line computer based questionnaire for secondary school pupils to complete, surveying their safety both in and around their neighbourhood and school that allows youths to identify difficult locations and situations where they feel unsafe and concerned. This has had over 19000 respondents over the last two years and has contributed to communication activity as well as operational planning, particularly after school and at the end of term in areas such as transport related issues.

4. There are also many individual projects and the Safer Neighbourhoods for People (SN4P) project with young people is but one example. This provides a means for children and young people to highlight their issues by photographing places where they feel either safe or unsafe and work with the local SNT and partners to remedy these concerns. The young people directly link in with their neighbourhood panel to identify their concerns and progress through problem solving activity. This was rolled out pan-London in the summer of 2007 and continues through 2008.

5. The neighbourhood panel is fundamental in the decision making process of local priorities and this is reliant on the information and intelligence provided. The information provided is sensitive to the needs of the group and it acknowledged that all data provided by police or partners must be accurate and analytically correct. This is particularly relevant in relation to youth crime. Guidance and support for SNTs, problem solving advisors and local analysts continues to be provided via the Central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit Analyst Team and supportive visit teams. There are bespoke training packages for SNTs and ward panels. This is further reinforced in key messages from the Central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit communication team.

Developmental Work

6. The youth on-line survey will continue in 2009 and through the new Safer Schools Partnership (SSP), will improve the involvement of young people in determining priorities. The development of a Key Individual Network (KIN) drawn from the head teacher, staff, governors, parents and pupils will develop priorities and links with SNTs and the currently expanding Safer Transport Teams (STTs) across most boroughs within London.

7. The MPS has been working with the Safer London Foundation (SLF) in providing training for all the SNT panel chairs in London. After a pilot in early 2008, this Community Engagement training is now being offered and developed across every ward in London. The training consists of four sessions and has a specific focus on youth awareness and how to interpret data accurately. This training is supported by but not delivered by the MPS.

Recommendation 3: Safer Schools Officers and Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should develop links with providers of youth provision to be able to signpost young people to positive activities.

Current Activity

8. Safer Schools Officers and SNTs are key to delivering positive youth engagement and continue to build up a network of support through local partners and agencies. This has been complimented by central MPS support of third sector voluntary organisations to provide bespoke youth provision. This ensures that the support given is of a high and consistent standard and is delivered by the appropriate people. An example of this is Miss Dorothy.Com that provides school children with advice on personal safety and the consequences of involvement in crime. These projects are subject to review and evaluation both internally and externally, to assure best value. A list of some organisations and brief synopsis of the projects is provided in Appendix 3.

9. The Central Safer Neighbourhood Unit continues to publish links to external agencies and provide information to SNT and SSP officers as to both pan-London and local events that provide youth activities. Many SNTs have developed local systems for publicising youth provision throughout the year and in particularly over holiday periods. Examples include knowledge of website referrals or information cards carried by officers. Best practise in this regard is also enhanced through centrally led briefings and newsletters.

10. During 2007 and 2008, the MPS has worked with the GLA to identify summer schemes available across London through local partnerships and then for this information to be promulgated locally, not only by partnerships but also by SNTs. This awareness has extended to local SNTs carrying and distributing cards with links to the GLA website. With the advent of closer working between SNT, STTs, SSPs and local authorities this activity will be developed further to ensure coverage that includes transport routes and schools as well as geographic locations. The key point here is that it is on the local agenda and that there are local processes in place to identify such schemes. In some boroughs, for example, there are Youth Participation Officers and Children’s Workers within Victim Support schemes as well as detached outreach workers who can assist in this process.

Developmental Work

11. The MPS will continue to develop the database of youth outreach and positive engagement activities to support the work of SNT and SSP officers. This will be further complimented by the continued support of voluntary organisations to provide youth outreach. The GLA Children’s and Young Persons Unit has supported the SNT in youth engagement projects and has provided youth engagement training to 31 Boroughs. This will continue to develop and there will be a dedicated Peer Youth Outreach Worker for each BOCU to provide support and guidance on youth issues. The Peer Youth Outreach Workers are volunteers and are aged between 15 and 24.

Category 2: Young People as Victims and Witnesses

Recommendation 6: The MPS should increase the visible police presence in areas surrounding schools and colleges at the end of the school and college day.

Current Activity

12. Visibility is one of the core functions of SNT and Safer Transport Teams (STT) and this is paramount in areas and times when community reassurance is needed most. The MPS Youth Strategy is enhancing and developing Safer School Partnerships (SSPs) to ensure that all 181 high priority schools have a dedicated police officer, and that all other schools have support from their Safer Neighbourhood Team. This will deliver reassurance to young people in school and provide continued reassurance in the local neighbourhood. A key focus on these developments is about engagement techniques and information supply, as outlined earlier, and is thus not just about visibility.

13. Safer Neighbourhood Teams are also engaging with colleges and other further education establishments across the MPS. Each SNT has been required to make contact and establish a communication channel with these establishments. This varies between a PC or PCSO as a point of contact. We are now seeing a range of activity taking place which includes for example, a college youth panel at Leyton Sixth Form College, a police surgery every 3 weeks at Lewisham College and clinics and stalls at Richmond upon Thames College. There are many more examples of such activity and the information is then fed into the seven-stage problem-solving model.

14. The MPS is also involved in many partnership initiatives such as activity with the London Community Safety Partnership and the London ASB and Respect Board, where a multi-agency toolkit has been provided to SNT and SSP officers to tackle anti social behaviour (ASB) over the period of Halloween and Fireworks. Over 1,000 people in Britain are injured as a result of incidents involving fireworks and the majority are children and young people. The multi-agency action group has coordinated a pan-London approach to tackling ASB and passing on good practise to practitioners including SNT and SSP officers.

Developmental Work

15. The MPS welcomes this recommendation and the continued development of and integration of SSP and Safer Neighbourhoods will enhance the presence of police in schools, and provide dedicated links for colleges of further education. This integration will be supported and encouraged by the recent launch of the Safer Schools Award that has been developed with the London Youth Crime Prevention Board and schools will be acknowledged for their work in this area.

Recommendation 7: The MPS should increase the visibility of Safer Transport Teams at busy transport hubs and at identified crime hot spots on transport networks, in particular those that are used by large numbers of young people.

Current Activity

16. The MPS fully supports this recommendation and is already supported by the existence of Safer Transport teams in 21 outer boroughs. In June 2008, Operation Tyrol was launched that created extra transport resources focussed on transport ‘hubs’ in three London boroughs, Haringey, Newham and Croydon. A key component has been the engagement of these hub teams with partners, existing STTs and SSPs. The MPS reviews the work of STT through a joint agency group with TfL and BTP to evaluate the current priorities and deployment and share information and good practise. This is being further supported by the enhancement of STTs to deliver increased visibility and reassurance.

Developmental Work

17. The pilots have now been expanded (since October 2008) to target 30 geographic ‘hub’ locations across the MPS and these resources will be rolled out and working practices developed through the rest of 2008 and into 2009. A key component of the analysis and focus is the way that STTs work with Tyrol resources, SNTs and SSPs on youth related matters as after school bus routes are a particular focus. Additional resources from Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) are also focused on the inner boroughs in the same way to ensure that all of London is covered.

Recommendation 8: In partnership with relevant agencies the MPS should improve reporting mechanisms for young people. This should include:

1. Developing and promoting a range of young people specific reporting mechanisms;
2. Considering how Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers can receive crime reports and information directly from young people;
3. Carrying out a specific audit to identify good and promising practice concerning youth friendly reporting mechanisms and ensuring that examples of good practice are shared corporately and with relevant agencies.

Current Activity

18. In relation to encouraging young people to report crime and feeding back to them, the MPS website has been updated so that the service is improved for the reporting of crime over the Internet for low level offences is now available.

19. With regard to ‘Young Victims’ the London Criminal Justice Board work plan recognises the strong correlation between young people who are victims and those who go onto commit offences. An end-to-end model of support for young victims, with partners from Victim Support, HMCS, MPS and local authorities is being developed. The model focuses specifically on delivering better support to young victims of serious, youth violence through a range of interventions including developing and delivering a Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) approach to supporting young victims including the use of advocates. This work will link with the roll out of the Youth Safety Assessment Tool to assist with identification of those most at risk.

20. To address the needs of witnesses and vulnerable victims there have also been improvements in the access to special measures in court including use of video links.

Developmental Work

21. SSP and SNT officers are appropriately placed to deliver reassurance and therefore act as the first point of contact for young people when reporting crime. The introduction of third party reporting schemes has encouraged the reporting of certain crimes, in particular hate crime. To increase reporting there is development of ‘SHARP’ model within London schools whereby young people can report crimes or incidents within their schools via school intranet sites, these reports can be anonymous. The site also enables them to access information on local support schemes, as well as download DVDs of key issues such as knife safety. This work still requires funding and possible procurement issues to be considered before this is offered more widely.

22. The continued development of SSP with partners will enhance youth engagement in schools, prevent victimisation and support the needs of young people in London. This will further compliment the reporting mechanism for crime and sign posting for other agencies. The continued development of SHARP will assist in the improvement in the ability for young people to report crime and therefore provide emerging trends and crime patterns for young victims and witnesses.

23. The MPS are also working with the London Criminal Justice Board on developing a community engagement project, which will focus on informing and increasing confidence of communities in the criminal justice process. A focus of this will be on increasing confidence of youths in the CJS and the work is being planned with some pilot SNTs and Community Police Consultative Groups. Within the same project the London Criminal Justice Board are ‘mapping’ current engagement processes and the MPS will be contributing to this product.

Recommendation 9: Recognising the importance of early intervention, the MPS Youth Strategy Board should consider how information collected via Merlin could be used to refer young people at risk to other relevant statutory service providers.

Current Activity

24. The sharing of information relating to young people at risk has always been a key role of SCD5 Referral desks. The new Merlin format introduced under the Every Child Matters (ECM) Project is now compatible with the Common Assessment Framework and the new reports are known as Pre Assessment Checks (PAC). This has improved the receipt of information by partner agencies and their ease of assessment. All PAC reports are assessed by the new BOCU Public Protection Desks (PPD) for relevance to other agencies and if appropriate, are shared using a secure e-mail system, with Children’s Services and Health, and onward transmission as appropriate. This has been supported by a major change and training program with over 30,000 staff being trained, new SOPs and direction of resources to fund these PPDs.

Developmental Work

25. The MPS recognises the importance in early intervention of young people at risk. This is reflected in the significant increase in the number of Merlin reports being created by MPS staff, which has risen from a weekly average of 2,200 in March 08 to an average of 6,000 in September. This is consistent with the ECM training and the expansion of the need to record information about children where there are concerns about their well being or safety. This means that more information about children is being recorded, assessed and shared by the MPS with partner agencies. The next phases will look at moving from Child Protection, to identifying those at risk, to greater integration and joint working to ensure the five key outcomes are achieved.

Recommendation 10: In questioning young people who have been coerced into crime, MPS officers and the Criminal Justice Service should take into account the causes and context of the offending behaviour in order to provide measured responses.

Recommendation 11: Metropolitan Police Service, the London Criminal Justice Board and the Youth Justice Board should expand and develop current interventions for young people at risk of offending behaviour in order also to support those young people who are at risk of victimisation.

Current Activity

26. These two recommendations are linked, as there is an identified correlation between young people coerced into crime that have, themselves, been victims of crime. In relation to intervening with young people at risk of offending and victimisation, the prevention and reassurance strategy for Operation Blunt 2 has required that the 10 Tier 1 boroughs implement the Youth Safety Assessment Tool (YSAT) after piloting in Waltham Forest, Havering, Lewisham, and Greenwich earlier in the year.

27. The YSAT uses police data to identify ‘at risk’ young people and then incorporates partnership data to produce a multi-agency risk assessment to lead to early intervention and prevention, and to target youth support to prioritise engagement. This aims to bring YOT expertise and intelligence into the custody area at the point of charge. This means that young people who may be suitable for diversion out of the criminal justice system are identified quickly and interventions put in place immediately including restorative justice. In addition, Operation Blunt and SCD have given advice on how to use the generic tool for youth offending risk assessment and focus the process on violence and offending in groups.

28. The MPS uses restorative approaches to dealing with youth offending and anti-social behaviour. Many Safer Schools Partnership schools officers are trained to use a restorative approach in situations that are not serious enough to be recorded as a crime. Police officers in Youth Offending Teams also use a restorative approach following final warning or as part of a referral order plan (lowest level of court disposal).

29. Restorative Approaches in Neighbourhoods (RaiN) is a national project where Police officers, PCSOs and partners are trained to use a restorative approach to resolve problems. RAiN is not age specific but has been focused on preventing youth offending. Four MPS boroughs have trained Safer Neighbourhood Teams to use restorative approaches in local problem solving, mainly reducing anti-social behaviour and less serious crime. The focus of this work is preventing escalation of youth offending and fast response before situations or behaviour becomes entrenched. Generating this new process has required training and is slowly developing as a useful police response. Using a restorative approach in this context is not a detection’ and therefore a RAiN intervention must impact on other performance measures such as confidence and effectiveness of police in dealing with local problems (measured in public attitude surveys). RAiN pilots monitor participant satisfaction after an intervention. Satisfaction is high even where the victim has declined the approach.

Developmental Work

30. The MPS is working with the Youth Justice Board to develop Youth Restorative Disposals (YRDs). When a lesser offence is detected on the street the police officer may carry out an immediate disposal using restorative techniques. This will only be an option where the young offender has no previous warnings or convictions. They will be given (with consent) a restorative intervention at the time of the offence. This will be recorded for Youth Offending service information and to prevent a repeat YRD disposal being given. The crime will be recorded but with a positive outcome but will not be counted as a detection. This commenced in September 2008.

31. In addition, the London CJB Youth Strategy responds directly to the findings of the recent MPA Youth Scrutiny. A number of recommendations within the Youth Scrutiny are attributed to London CJB. We are progressing these actions through delivery of the Youth Strategy work strands

32. The Youth Safety Assessment Tool will be developed and reviewed to ensure that young people at risk of victimisation and offending are identified and that multi agency resources are focused to reduce youth vulnerability. The support of RAiN and other restorative approaches will also assist in the intervention of young offenders to prevent escalation in criminal activity.

Category 3: Young People as Perpetrators of Crime

Recommendation 18: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should disseminate the corporate MPS definition for the term ‘gang’. This definition should be understood corporately and communicated consistently.

Current Activity

33. The MPS has adopted the ‘Hallsworth and Young’ gang definition. That is, ‘a relatively durable, predominantly street based group who see themselves and are seen by others as a discernible group for whom crime and violence is intrinsic to group practice and solidarity.’ This definition has been disseminated extensively within the organisation through the Intelligence Standards Unit to Borough Intelligence Units (BIUs) and other specialist staff. They have been included on general briefings to operational staff and are utilised in assessing crimes and incidents. Markers within the Crime Recording Information System (CRIS) also exist to designate gang-related criminality.

Recommendation 19: In order to achieve a reduction in the number of young people carrying weapons, the MPS Youth Strategy Board should in addition to Operation Blunt and other short term measures understand and address the causes of why young people carry weapons - including fear of crime - whilst continuing to develop and promote anti-weapon messages.

Current Activity

34. Efforts to understand and address the causes of knife carriage in public space are integral to the current operational deployments under Blunt 2. Significant community engagement, notably with young people, has occurred since the commencement of Blunt 2 on 19 May 2008. These have involved extensive and interactive sessions with groups of young people and, more recently, the development of formal Youth Panels on Boroughs. In addition, the MPS has conducted prison de-briefs with convicted offenders to gain a greater understanding of motivations for knife carriage. All such learning is captured through the Blunt 2 Daily Management Meeting for the development or adjustment of tactics.

35. The Metropolitan Intelligence Bureau (MIB) is providing intelligence support to Operation Blunt 2, and prior to that Operation Alliance. This has involved addressing the most harmful groups and individuals through operational activity to reduce the levels of serious violence in London.

36. The fortnightly MPS Public Protection meeting is co chaired between MIB and TP Violent Crime Directorate. It is attended by MIB Sexual Offences and Serious Violence Desks, SCD5, Clubs and Vice, TP Violent Crime Directorate (Jigsaw/Compass, Sapphire, CSU and Serious Violence Service Delivery Teams and Racial and Violent Crime Task Force) and Operation Maxim (MPS and UK Border Agency). The purpose of the meeting is to review Intelligence and operational activity within the arena of Public Protection, including vulnerable children and young people, to initiate action and prioritise identified intelligence.

37. MIB produces a fortnightly Tactical Assessment for the Operation Blunt 2 Silver Tasking Meeting. This provides analysis of trends and patterns in offending for serious youth violence and knife crime and assists decision making around the tasking and allocation of MPS resources.

38. The MIB has produced a number of intelligence products to enhance the understanding of crime problems in the MPS. This has included products in relation to young people and crime and specifically offences of serious violence. An example is a problem profile on knife crime, which will assist with the understanding of knife crime in London.

39. The MIB has developed a Criminal Networks Matrix for the MPS that is currently being rolled out across the MPS. This will enhance the identification and assessment of Criminal Networks, which includes gangs, to ensure that the MPS is addressing the most harmful networks, and also ensures that the definition of a gang is communicated consistently and assist understanding of the term MPS wide.

40. The MIB has provided intelligence support for the MPS Youth Strategy. This has involved:

• Identifying and collating all intelligence products (30 +) produced within the MPS in relation to young people involved in crime.
• Identifying and analysing key issues from current intelligence products and critical intelligence gap
• Collation of external research to enhance the MPS picture
• Production of a draft action plan for future intelligence work, which will address the intelligence gaps. This includes greater understanding of weapon carriage.

Developmental Work

41. The implementation and review of the Youth Strategy will coordinate resources and action across the MPS. The continued development of intelligence recording and intelligence products to identify the most harmful groups and individuals will impact on serious violence and provide critical information on trends and networks of offenders.

Recommendation 20: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should acknowledge that young people in gangs are at risk both of further offending and of victimisation and consequently MPS interventions should take this into account.

Current Activity

42. This recommendation is fully accepted and is, and always will be work in progress. Earlier responses within this report have already acknowledged some of the current activity and developmental work in progress, particularly perhaps the responses to recommendations 11 and 19.

43. The Homicide Report 2008 conducted detailed research on all victims of homicide and provided a detailed analysis of young people (10-19 yrs old) in terms of gangs, territories, victimisation and further offending. This research was commissioned by SCD1 and the learning has been incorporated into policy documents such as the Serious Youth Violence Strategy.

44. A more recent research document, ‘Seen and not heard’, has been completed by the MPS Strategic Research and Analysis Unit in September 2008. Whilst the focus of this research was about how police engage with youths and focused on effective engagement methods, the lessons and recommendations within it are applicable to this and other recommendations within this report. Again, the document has been circulated to all interested parties in this subject area.

Recommendation 21: The MPS should develop the role of engagement and prevention in taking forward the critical performance area of reducing young people’s involvement in serious violence.

Current Activity

45. The deployment of Safer School Partnership Officers to 181 schools and 59 Pupil Referral Units has progressed and signals the MPS intent to maximise its engagement with young people. Under Operation Blunt 2, the tactic of home-address visits to at-risk young people is now mainstreamed and deployed on all Boroughs. Engagements with young people have been significantly enhanced under Operation Blunt 2 since May 2008, including an operational plan for ongoing preventative deployments in and around localities where young people congregate as part of a daily routine or planed event. Phase 2 of Operation Blunt covers the commencement of the new school term and each Borough Command deployed resources to enhance engagement and enhance preventative activity. Implicit in these deployments is close relationships that allow policing teams and partners to work closely with young people, intervening with individuals and their families as required.

Developmental Work

46. There is continued activity and development of the Safer Schools Partnership and the support of the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams; these will provide critical engagement and reassurance to reduce young people’s involvement in serious violence. The lessons of effective engagement and developing the ‘what’ into the ‘how’ must continue to be developed and understood. In this regard, studies such as the ‘Seen and not heard’ research document mentioned in the earlier paragraphs must be developed.

47. The MPS is currently considering the activities outlined with the recently published ‘Youth Crime Action Plan’ by the Home Office. One such activity for example is Operation Staysafe, which focuses on vulnerable children at risk in public places and immediately applies a partnership support package around such individuals. This tactic is being deployed in Croydon Borough in the next few weeks and the MPS will be looking to learn lessons from this pilot.

Category 4: Young People and the Police

Recommendation 24: MPS should consider how young people and youth organisations could provide input into initial police probation training and ongoing training for officers.

Current Activity

48. The MPS supports this recommendation and there is a facility already in place for young people to assist with the training of student officers at Hendon as role-players for practical training exercises, this is further facilitated by other police training sites throughout the MPS who have their own reciprocal training schemes with local youth agencies and volunteers through the MPS Volunteers as well as other informal local arrangements.

49. There is also training available through the Peer Youth Outreach Team from the GLA. This is a team of 37 young people aged between 15-25 from all London Boroughs who engage with young people across London. They are currently involved in the following projects and panels, Young Inspectors, Your Welcome, Gangs, Guns and Knife crime, Disabled Young Londoners, Kickz, SN4P, Lynk up Crew and Dare London. They support delivery of projects and promote participation of young people. They run workshops, research, write reports and consult with young Londoners. They have recently been involved in providing guidance to SNT in youth engagement and been aligned to each borough to continue that support. In short, there is considerable input from youths across London into police training at all levels.

Developmental Work

50. There is more work to do in relation to the involvement of young people in training courses, incorporating this as mainstream business across the MPS rather than relying on local relationships. The MPS Volunteer Cadet Corp (VCC) already provides a voice for young people on each BOCU. There are currently more than 1000 youths in the VCC and the MPS has an aspiration to move to 4,000 with appropriate funding. However, it is still acknowledged that this is only a small section of the youth community and work continues to progress to access hard to reach groups, and involve them in the consultation process. The key outcome will be to have representative youth panels on all Boroughs to ensure young people are integral in the delivery of policing to all young Londoners.

51. Project YOU (Youth Organisations in Uniform) is also being developed across London and many more opportunities for engagement of these groups with local police will become available and training and awareness sessions with local officers will be considered. Organisations in this group have 76,000 youth members with 15,000 volunteers and thus provide tremendous engagement opportunities.

Recommendation 25: As part of Safer Neighbourhoods Team’s young people’s priority:

1. Officers should engage with youth workers in their wards and use this as a hook to develop positive relationships with young people;
2. Where possible officers should be encouraged to take part in local diversionary and prevention programmes with young people, thereby allowing officers to develop positive relationships with young people.

Current Activity

52. The relationship between the police and young people has been enhanced through the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme and is discussed in the responses to recommendations 2 and 3 particularly. SNT and SSP officers work with partners and voluntary agencies to improve youth engagement and develop positive relationships. This is evident in the participation of young people in projects such as SN4P, Kickz, Urban Cricket, Metrack and other engagement and diversionary tactics. To supplement this engagement there is a menu of options for each age group and these are promoted both locally and centrally through newsletters and training days.

53. The main diversionary tactics are delivered through the Youth Offending Teams (YOT) and Youth Inclusion Support Programmes (YISP). YISPs aim is to prevent anti-social behaviour and offending by those aged 8 – 13 (up to 17 in some areas) who are considered to be at high risk of offending. They are multi-agency planning groups that offer early intervention based on assessed risk and needs. Parenting support and contracts are offered as part of a range of tailored interventions.

54. There is also a Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP) that has tailored made programmes for 8 – 17 year olds who are at high risk of involvement in crime and anti social behaviour. They operate in some of the most deprived areas. Young people are identified through a number of different agencies including YOT, Police, Children and Family services and Schools. YIPs, which are often supported by police, give young people somewhere safe to go where they can learn new skills and receive support in education. Each project aims to reduce the number of first time entrants into the criminal justice system.

Developmental Work

55. The MPS supports this recommendation and the key activity and developmental work is outlined above and in several earlier recommendations. The opportunities for local engagement with diversionary programmes will continue to develop as we continue to join up our practises, both internal and external.

Recommendation 26: The Central Safer Neighbourhoods team should corporately share examples of positive engagement of young people by particular Safer Neighbourhoods Teams with all Safer Neighbourhoods Teams.

Current Activity

56. The Central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit conducts advisory visits to all Boroughs examining the Safer Neighbourhoods processes and promulgating good practice. Each Borough Commander is provided with a report and action plan to coordinate activity and benchmark performance.

57. Each Borough is also required to attend a centrally held Crime Control Strategy Meeting (CCSM) to examine the Boroughs performance compared to other BOCU and nationally. There are a number of performance management tools and survey data, including the Public Attitude Survey (PAS) that provide information on crime and community confidence. This is supported by a CCSM showcase, to share good practice and Boroughs (BOCUs) with successful projects or tactics gave a presentation to the other BOCU Senior Management Teams.

58. To ensure that good news is circulated to all officers there are a number of publications through the MPS intranet system, an example is the Territorial Policing Headquarters Good Practice website, providing an alphabetical toolkit list. This is further reinforced through the Safer Neighbourhoods website with weekly communications messages with up to date information and good practice.

59. There have also been centrally held events including the Safer Neighbourhoods Conference in March 2008 to provide SNT with good practice including youth engagement. This involved partner agencies and a market place displaying examples of positive projects and processes.

60. The other event sponsored by the Central Safer Neighbourhood Unit is the Problem Solving Awards where a prize is given to the project that has demonstrated excellence in applying problem solving principles. The award was given at the Safer London Problem Solving Conference. There was a shortlist of three teams and one of them included Anti-social behaviour in a park in Morden. The tactics involved enforcement but also youth engagement and diversion schemes to provide alternative activities in the park. This resulted in a reduction of calls for police by 34% and a reduction in the fear of crime from 75% to 58% this being an 18% improvement in confidence.

Developmental Work

61. The central Safer Neighbourhood Unit is currently re-writing a best practice guide for delivering Neighbourhood Policing and a specific part of that document is a Good Practice Youth Engagement Toolkit.

62. The MPS will continue to corporately share good practice and promote positive engagement activities. This is further discussed below, in the response to recommendation 53.

Recommendation 27: Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers should engage and participate in extended school programmes.

Current Activity

63. The MPS agrees fully with this recommendation and is working with the extended school programme to encourage participation of SNT and SSP to support the school as the hub of engagement within the community. Some SNT are based in schools to facilitate this and the involvement of officers at schools including Pupil Referral Units (PRU) confirms the vision of the MPS to be integral in the extended schools programme. This is further discussed in the report in the responses to recommendations 3 and 6.

Recommendation 28: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should ensure that all MPS officers and staff are familiar with the corporate MPS messages regarding young people.

Current Activity

64. The MPS supports this recommendation and is delivered primarily through the Youth Strategy. To ensure that the strategy reflects the work of the Service as a whole it defines four main themes, namely: Youth Justice, Serious Youth Violence, Vulnerable Children and Young People, and Youth Engagement. These themes incorporate all the business groups within the MPS and provide a governance structure including statutory partners and agencies to illustrate the delivery of police services with an action plan to demonstrate activity and outcomes. There are also sub-committees and boards with pan-directorate membership to coordinate activities and ensure the key messages are distributed across the MPS. The corporate MPS messages regarding young people are further discussed later in this report, in the response to recommendation 53.

Developmental Work

65. A challenge for all organisations, including the MPA and the MPS is the fast moving nature of the work around youth engagement and activity. So, the intentions of this recommendation are easily said but difficult to deliver, particularly to organisational individuals for whom this is not day-to-day business. With this in mind, as well as the amount of recent work published in relation to youth engagement, the MPS is commencing in mid-October a review of its current Youth Strategy 2008 – 2010, ‘Its never too early, its never too late’. The review will not focus on re-writing the strategy but focus on where the gaps are and the communication strategy in respect of inter-agency messages will be one of the areas examined. It is recognised that in terms of communication and engagement the ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions are more important than the ‘what’ questions. Corporately, everyone must also understand that the actual numbers of young people engaged in criminality are very small.

Recommendation 29: MPS officers should follow relevant Standard Operating Procedures and ensure that they display courtesy and consideration when stopping and searching young people.

Current Activity

66. The MPS fully endorses this recommendation and recognises the importance. This is particularly so with the recent enhanced enforcement activity within Blunt 2 where to date there have been more than 100,000 stops and searches/ stop and accounts. Through extensive consultation with young people, one of the key observations is that they are often satisfied if a polite explanation of police powers used and an explanation of their legal rights are provided by police when being stopped and searched. The MPS have recently reviewed their stop and search Standing Operation Procedures to ensure they are appropriate and relevant to the current policing environment in London.

67. Extensive consultation continues within communities who are affected by the powers in order to ensure the documents address the areas of concern. Particular attention has been paid to young people and their feedback about the quality of the encounter. In July the MPA, together with the MPS held a stop and search conference where young people formed both part of the audience and appeared in presentations. At this event, the MPA and MPS launched a new Stop and Search DVD where the target audience are young people. Some 5000 copies have been circulated London wide. Courtesy and consideration during the encounter has been the main theme of the training of officers. Over the last year 15,000 officers have undergone a briefing and training process, ‘street craft’, where this theme was articulated.

Developmental Work

68. The MPS continues to develop this recommendation with the support of continued consultation and information sharing with young people and the intrusive supervision of officers to ensure that the powers to stop and search are carried out legally and with courtesy and consideration.

Recommendation 30: The MPS should provide clear information to young people on police tactics and operations that are taking place in specific areas or spaces used by them, for example: the introduction of knife arches or the implementation of a Dispersal Order.

Current Activity

69. As discussed earlier in this report, the MPS Youth Strategy provides young people with information as to the service they expect with communication through positive engagement being vital. This has been borne out in Operation Blunt 2, which has been referred to earlier in this report. The initiative is framed around the imperative to have the support of communities for tactics the police use, including knife arches and stop and search. Knife crime affects young people disproportionately more so than any other group in London. Police understand the need to consult and communicate with young people and this has precipitated a significant amount of police activity mainly through our SNT. Each SNT has a youth priority that has been reached in concert with communities. Every Youth Club and School has a SNT officer as a link officer and the teams have a remit to establish communication with young people to understand the problems that affect young people within their neighbourhood.

70. Youth engagement by Safer Neighbourhoods Teams focuses on increasing young peoples confidence in the police and communication and information is vital in this regard. Example of engagement work undertaken by SNTs between 1 May and 1 October of this year include:

• 1898 School assemblies
• 359 School fetes/carnivals
• 4709 Youth club visits
• 39114 Dedicated school patrols
• 12545 School visits

Developmental Work

71. The continued progress of youth engagement and building confidence is championed through Safer Neighbourhoods and with the implementation of an enhanced SSP and other projects the MPS will continue to inform young people of police tactics and processes. This is further enhanced through effective and developing media opportunities which includes computer based information sources. There is a wealth of information databases linked through partners and agencies to provide up to date information and advice.

72. The participation of young people throughout all consultation processes and forums is essential to provide a two-way communication structure, groups such as Peer Outreach Team are fundamental in delivering as well as providing research for young people in London.

Recommendation 31: The MPS should provide information to Londoners regularly on the progress of cases and arrests, especially where young people are involved as victims or perpetrators. Consideration should be given to using language and utilising information mechanisms that are young-people friendly.

Current Activity and developmental work

73. Both current activity and developmental work is highlighted in earlier responses, particularly recommendations 8, 11, 20, 21 and 53.

Recommendation 32: Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should develop links with private schools in their areas.

Current Activity and Developmental work

74. SNT and SSP officers engage with a wide range of schools including Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and private schools. The activities are documented above, in response to recommendations 3, 6 and 8.

Recommendation 33: In order to improve the confidence of young people, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers should consider how young people could provide feedback to officers on positive and negative experiences that they have had with the police.

Current Activity and Developmental Work

75. The current activity and developmental work is documented in the responses to recommendations 3,6,8,19,25, and 27.

Recommendation 36: The MPA and the MPS should provide clear information to Londoners on how regional and borough-wide policing priorities are developed and set.

Current Activity

76. As discussed earlier in this report there is a great deal of activity in the research and compilation of issues affecting young people. This is then progressed as part of the priorities of the SNT and a structure exists to share relevant information and the involvement of partner agencies to initiate problem-solving activity. This is periodically fed back to the panels and performance data is recorded to demonstrate success.

77. SNT ward panels were fully engaged in the MPS Priority consultation process for 2008 – 2009 and every SNT was briefed on this topic.

Developmental Work

78. The MPS accepts this recommendation and continues to develop corporate newsletters and computer web pages to provide information on priorities and processes. This has been further enhanced with joint problem solving training with partners and training for neighbourhood panel chairs. Also mentioned earlier is the Community Engagement Panel training programme being developed with the MPA and the SLF.

79. Each year the MPS conducts a major Safer Neighbourhoods publicity campaign and this year, 2008/09, the youth population is the focus and target audience. The campaign is being led by the DPA who are working with design agencies to develop delivery of key messages in a different way to the usual bus and tube posters. The aim will be to access and engage youths with SNTS and inform and them how they can affect policing priorities in their neighbourhood.

Category 5: The Role of non-Police Agencies in Crime Prevention

Recommendation 39: MPS officers working with child victims of rape and sexual exploitation should ensure that young people are signposted to specialist agencies to prevent further victimisation.

Recommendation 40: In regards to young people who are at risk of further victimisation, MPS officers should ensure that information collated via Merlin is shared with relevant partner agencies.

Current Activity

80. These two recommendations are linked and as documented earlier in this report, one of the work streams of the Youth Strategy is vulnerable children and young people Compliance with the Children’s Act 2004 and Every Child Matters (ECM) have specified the action of the MPS to improve the response to concerns about the well being and safety of children and young people across London. This has been achieved through improved training, processes to record concerns and improved partnership working, and has been accomplished by implementing borough based Public Protection Desks (PPD) to identify vulnerable young people, places of risk and dangerous people.

81. SCD5 investigate sexual offences committed against children by their family or carers, this being the majority of reported child rapes and sexual assaults. Upon receipt of an allegation, there is a detailed and structured referral process to children’s services and other specialist support services to address the needs of the young person. This is supported by a series of partnerships and protocols to ensure that the relevant services are notified at the earliest opportunity, and the correct support is available to prevent further victimisation.

82. The sharing of information and intelligence is vital in the investigation and prevention of abuse. The ECM training delivered across the MPS during 2008 has had the impact of increasing the number of Merlin reports being created. This will help to ensure that all children coming to the attention of Police are recorded on Merlin and the report is then risk assessed and referred to other agencies for safeguarding action.

Developmental Work

83. The rollout of ECM and Public Protection Desks will continue to identify the needs of vulnerable young people and deliver the correct support and assistance involving partner agencies. This work to date has resulted in 32,000 MPS staff receiving ECM training and an additional 7,000 trained and given access to Merlin, including Police Community Support Officers. This has resulted in improved quality and quantity of information gathering. At present there are on average over 6,000 incidents of concern recorded each week in London and these will be progressed through the PPD to improve local partnership working.

84. The ECM delivery team within the Violent Crime Directorate, in conjunction with the London Councils and Barnardos, are investing in a three year project to fund key workers who will be able to assist the debriefing of young people who have previously been reported as missing and offer support to those who are at most risk of being sexually abused. This project will enable the MPS to improve the response to this complex area of abuse. The MPS has put £400,000 into the London Safeguarding Board to develop and promote the infrastructure to support young victims of Sexual Exploitation across London.

Recommendation 41: MPS should outline and promote the role of Safer Schools Officers to young people, teachers and other agencies in the school Environment

Current Activity

85. The SSP will be the hub for problem solving activity in and around the school with a structure and protocol to collect and disseminate information locally and centrally. Partner agencies further this activity both internally and externally, and are discussed earlier in this report.

Developmental Work

86. The enhanced Safer School Partnerships will work with London Youth Crime Prevention Board (LYCPB) to establish a new Safer Schools Award in London to offer schools a new opportunity to achieve a higher standard of safety for young people. The LYCPB is also developing a strand of work to enhance the support and standards within Pupil Referral Units (PRUs). The MPS will support this through the deployment of dedicated officers to the 59 PRUs in London. The roles of those officers will be to deliver a focus on policing crime and reducing the fear of crime, the citizenship inputs will be delivered by third sector partners who are best placed to present lessons rather than officers.

Recommendation 43: Safer Schools Officers should work in partnership with other agencies that are based in schools to ensure that a joined-up response is provided to vulnerable young people in these settings.

Current activity and Developmental work

87. The current activity and developmental work is documented in the responses to recommendations 3,8,11,19,25, and 27.

Recommendation 44: Front line officers should be provided with an understanding of the communities and geographical areas that there are vulnerable young people in schools.

Current activity and Developmental work

88. The current activity and developmental work is documented throughout the report, especially in the training of officers through Every Child Matters. The MPS fully supports this recommendation and is committed to providing information and intelligence to all officers and staff who deal with children and young people, to ensure that vulnerable young people are given support.

Category 6: Young People and the Media

Recommendation 53: All service providers, including the media, should consider the language that they use when speaking to or about young people Consideration should always be given to avoiding pejorative and offensive language as this impacts negatively on young people and exacerbates fear of crime.

Current Activity

89. The MPS fully supports this recommendation and the communications plan supporting the delivery of the MPS Youth Strategy recognises the importance of the influence of the media in portraying a positive image of young people. There is often negative press coverage of young people following a serious violent youth crime, and the language used undermines the positive contribution young people make.

90. The London Youth Crime Prevention Board is a London coalition bringing together the agencies tackling youth crime in the capital to do more to help young people stay safe and prevent them from getting involved in crime. It has agreed a series of key messages and common language to be used by agencies in commenting on youth crime. There is also a joint communication strategy to promote a positive image of young people on all the partners’ websites.

91. This subject is also the focus of all MPS training and awareness events where youth activity is the topic.

Developmental Work

92. The MPS continues to promote positive messages about young people, through it’s leadership of Project YOU and is planning to promote the positive achievements of young people in volunteering in their communities by celebrating at high profile media events the good work young people do in volunteering in their local community.

Appendix 2

List of recommendations wholly or partly attributed to the MPS

Young people as citizens

Recommendation 2: In taking forward the Safer Neighbourhoods young people’s priority, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should:

1. use Safer Neighbourhoods Panels and Young People’s Panels to develop positive interactions between adults and young people;
2. ensure young people’s priorities inform the local priority-setting process;
3. ensure that all Safer Neighbourhoods Panel priorities are informed by accurate data on youth crime and do not unintentionally criminalise young people.

Recommendation 3: Safer Schools Officers and Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should develop links with providers of youth provision to be able to signpost young people to positive activities.

Young people as victims and witnesses of crime

Recommendation 6: The MPS should increase the visible police presence in areas surrounding schools and colleges at the end of the school and college day.

Recommendation 7: The MPS should increase the visibility of Safer Transport Teams at busy transport hubs and at identified crime hot spots on transport networks, in particular those that are used by large numbers of young people.

Recommendation 8: In partnership with relevant agencies the MPS should improve reporting mechanisms for young people. This should include:

1. developing and promoting a range of young-people-specific reporting mechanisms;
2. considering how Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers can receive crime reports and information directly from young people;
3. carrying out a specific audit to identify good and promising practice concerning youth friendly reporting mechanisms and ensuring that examples of good practice are shared corporately and with relevant agencies.

Recommendation 9: Recognising the importance of early intervention, the MPS Youth Strategy Board should consider how information collected via Merlin could be used to refer young people at risk to other relevant statutory service providers.

Recommendations for the Metropolitan Police Service, the London Criminal Justice Board and the Youth Justice Board

Recommendation 10: In questioning young people who have been coerced into crime, MPS officers and the Criminal Justice Service should take into account the causes and context of the offending behaviour in order to provide measured responses.

Recommendation 11: Metropolitan Police Service, the London Criminal Justice Board and the Youth Justice Board should expand and develop current interventions for young people at risk of offending behaviour in order also to support those young people who are at risk of victimisation.

Young people as perpetrators of crime

Recommendation 18: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should disseminate the corporate MPS definition for the term ‘gang’. This definition should be understood corporately and communicated consistently.

Recommendation 19: In order to achieve a reduction in the number of young people carrying weapons, the MPS Youth Strategy Board should in addition to Operation Blunt and other short term measures understand and address the causes of why young people carry weapons - including fear of crime - whilst continuing to develop and promote anti-weapon messages.

Recommendation 20: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should acknowledge that young people in gangs are at risk both of further offending and of victimisation and consequently MPS interventions should take this into account.

Recommendation 21: The MPS should develop the role of engagement and prevention in taking forward the critical performance area of reducing young people’s involvement in serious violence.

Young people and the police

Recommendation 24: MPS should consider how young people and youth organisations could provide input into initial police probation training and ongoing training for officers.

Recommendation 25: As part of Safer Neighbourhoods Team’s young people’s priority:

1. officers should engage with youth workers in their wards and use this as a hook to develop positive relationships with young people;
2. where possible officers should be encouraged to take part in local diversionary and prevention programmes with young people, thereby allowing officers to develop positive relationships with young people.

Recommendation 26: The Central Safer Neighbourhoods team should corporately share examples of positive engagement of young people by particular Safer Neighbourhoods Teams with all Safer Neighbourhoods Teams.

Recommendation 27: Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers should engage and participate in extended school programmes.

Recommendation 28: The MPS Youth Strategy Board should ensure that all MPS officers and staff are familiar with the corporate MPS messages regarding young people.

Recommendation 29: MPS officers should follow relevant Standard Operating Procedures and ensure that they display courtesy and consideration when stopping and searching young people.

Recommendation 30: The MPS should provide clear information to young people on police tactics and operations that are taking place in specific areas or spaces used by them, for example: the introduction of knife arches or the implementation of a Dispersal Order.

Recommendation 31: The MPS should provide information to Londoners regularly on the progress of cases and arrests, especially where young people are involved as victims or perpetrators. Consideration should be given to using language and utilising information mechanisms that are young-people-friendly.

Recommendation 32: Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should develop links with private schools in their areas.

Recommendation 33: In order to improve the confidence of young people, Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and Safer Schools Officers should consider how young people could provide feedback to officers on positive and negative experiences that they have had with the police.

Recommendations for the Metropolitan Police Service and the Metropolitan Police Authority

Recommendation 36: The MPA and the MPS should provide clear information to Londoners on how regional and borough-wide policing priorities are developed and set.

Recommendation 39: MPS officers working with child victims of rape and sexual exploitation should ensure that young people are signposted to specialist agencies to prevent further victimisation.

Recommendation 40: In regards to young people who are at risk of further victimisation, MPS officers should ensure that information collated via Merlin is shared with relevant partner agencies.

Recommendation 41: MPS should outline and promote the role of Safer Schools Officers to young people, teachers and other agencies in the school environment.

Recommendation 42: Safer Neighbourhoods Teams should develop links with private schools in their areas.

Recommendation 43: Safer Schools Officers should work in partnership with other agencies that are based in schools to ensure that a joined-up response is provided to vulnerable young people in these settings.

Recommendation 44: Front line officers should be provided with an understanding of the communities and geographical areas that they are responsible for policing. Relevant community and voluntary groups should provide information on both.

Young people and the media

Recommendation 53: All service providers, including the media, should consider the language that they use when speaking to or about young people. Consideration should always be given to avoiding pejorative and offensive language as this impacts negatively on young people and exacerbates fear of crime.

Appendix 3

Indicative list of voluntary sector and other partners and initiatives

Miss Dorothy.Com

The Miss Dorothy.Com to offer the Watch Over Me Programme to all secondary schools in London over the next 3 years, and to primary schools in areas of high priority. This covers lessons on crime and consequences, domestic violence, extremism, forced marriage, drugs, guns and knives, and alcohol, gangs, and bullying.

Evaluation conducted by volunteers at the Office of Fair Trading FT lead by Nagesh Reddy and Peter Hall Head of Diversity and overseen by Chief Executive Bart Simpson.

• Officers were astonished at level of recall of crime prevention messages from children
• Teachers say that the multi agency training is excellent and critical to the programme.
• Teachers say that the materials are high quality and have used them with SEAL and Circle time.
• Teachers say that LEAs and officials should visit flagship schools to truly understand the unique impact on children.

In 2004, the Home Office funded evaluation conducted by the National children’s Bureau and a summary of the findings are:

• 72% of children feel safer
• Overwhelming majority enjoy the resources 80% boys / 89% girls
• Children less likely to carry knives, hurt people or steal
• Children less likely to give out personal details on the internet

From September 2008, an ongoing evaluation will be taking place with selected schools, applied at three stages:

• Stage One. Immediately prior to implementation, a baseline assessment will be made of attitude and behaviours of prospective pupils.
• Stage Two. An end of year evaluation will be conducted to assess distance travelled.
• Stage Three. Three year longitudinal evaluation will be carried out by the University of Lancaster to ensure that the programme remains relevant to the needs of all partners and incorporates learning from the ongoing evaluation process.

Street Pastors

This Programme will be expanded to priority areas to cover journey from school to transport hubs and be delivered by the Ascension Trust. It provides a successful project running in 20 London Boroughs and in other UK cities. The project provides volunteers, drawn from faith communities, who patrol designated areas during times when people may be vulnerable as a result of alcohol or drug misuse or through risk of victimisation. School Pastors replicates the pastoral support offered by Street pastors among young people travelling to and from school and who may be or may perceive themselves as being at risk.

In October 2005, GS Burgess & Co was commissioned to carry out an evaluation of Street Pastors in Southwark. The results were extremely positive: an assessment of CAD disorder call data indicated a reduction in disorder for the relevant area of Peckham of 95% (74% reduction in Camberwell) over a thirteen week period (Oct 04/Jan 05) compared with the same period in the previous year.

There is a natural fit between Street Pastors and the Safer Neighbourhoods teams; it is often the SNT leader who briefs and debriefs the pastors. A useful case study may be offered in the experience of one borough with Street Pastors. Bromley borough has three town centres: Bromley (27 trained pastors); Beckenham (17 trained pastors); & Orpington (40 trained pastors). The hours worked by the volunteers vary according to the needs of the location. One of their key functions in the Bromley town centre is to assist people who have been drinking to leave the area safely. The SNT sergeant for the town centre says: “I would certainly endorse the work of the Street Pastors and could see their patrols extended…” The Borough Commander of the neighbouring borough of Beckley supports these comments and is looking to extend the coverage of his Street Pastor scheme. All this, taken with the views of police officers and the indications from crime/disorder data suggests that Street Pastors offers a valuable addition to the community safety and reassurance capability, at very low cost.

The Princes’ Trust

This will extend the delivery of Princes' Trust programmes into more secondary schools and to more people leaving school, and working in areas of high crime, providing music programmes and other Awards programmes to help young people access employment and training.

Barnados

Working with the London Safeguarding Children's' Board and Barnados on approaches to prevent child abuse through sexual exploitation.

The Wave Trust

Working with the Wave Trust on early years interventions, by supporting parents and developing programmes to prevent very young children in high-risk families becoming violent offenders.

Met-Track

This is a sport inclusion programme offering 5000 young people an opportunity to take up sport as a healthy alternative in life. The scheme was successfully piloted in Bexley Borough in 2005, and has since expanded into five further boroughs. It aims to reach 16 boroughs by 31/3/08.

The Kickz Programme

Kickz is a major youth diversion programme run in partnership with the Premier League and the Football Foundation. It provides youth diversion programmes in ‘high crime’ areas 3 days a week for disadvantaged young people. The MPS is planning to expand this so that every borough has two schemes by the summer of 2008.

Voyage and the Black Police Association’s Young Black Positive Advocates (YBPA) scheme
This currently operates in the Trident boroughs (Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Newham and Southwark) and workshops have been presented to more than 3,600 young people in schools across the six boroughs. The BPA have also developed a programme to ensure that the voice of young people are heard and listened to, VOYAGE, which includes a leadership programme with eighty young people attending the residential course in August 2007 and thirty taking part in a modular programme delivered over three months.

Junior Citizen

This is a multi agency partnership led by the children Safety Education Foundation including TFL, LAS and the LFB). This project is aimed at Year 6 (11 year olds) pupils to aid them in the transition from junior to secondary school. Crime Prevention and personal safety advice is provided by local SNT at specifics events. This scheme is being delivered to 46,000 pupils.

Globe Education Trust

This is a programme of work with young people initially from Lambeth Borough who were at risk of becoming involved in violent crime through gang association. It uses the resources of the Globe Theatre to provide a sustained learning experience for the young people involved within the professional environment of the Shakespeare Globe Centre. The participants work with actors and as actors, while in-role work will be used to create a safe and structured framework through which the group can explore a range of situations, dilemmas and environments.

Cricket Foundation

These programmes in addition to delivering activities specifically related to police objectives in relation to crime reduction and reducing victimisation ware also aimed at building the trust and confidence young people have in police and encourage them to tell us what causes concerns and the issues that matters to them.

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