Update on MPS community engagement activity

Report: 5
Date: 2 February 2011
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines what community engagement work the MPS has undertaken since the Community Engagement Commitment was signed off in July 2010.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. In July 2010 the joint MPA / MPS Community Engagement Commitment 2010/2013 was approved at Full Authority. The Commitment recognises that effective community engagement is fundamental to the policing of London and set out to build on the MPS confidence objectives, plans outlined in the MPA’s three year strategy, MET Forward and the MPS Diversity and Equality Strategy.

2. Considerable consultation with communities across London informed the development of the Commitment and helped to identify the key changes required to improve the effectiveness on MPA and MPS community engagement activity.

3. The Commitment is based on the following six principles:

1. Information: We will provide clear information on how people that live in, work in or visit London can get involved in policing, engagement and problem solving opportunities.
2. Inclusion: We will ensure that our engagement activity involves a wide range of communities (in terms of age, race, sexual orientation, gender (including transgender), disability and faith). We will improve participation of groups who have not traditionally taken part in MPA and MPA community engagement activities.
3. Preparation: We will ensure Londoners who participate in our formal community engagement processes (for example Safer Neighbourhoods Panels or CPEGs) are provided with the information they need to perform their role effectively.
4. Integration: We will plan and coordinate our engagement work both internally within the MPA and MPS and, where appropriate, with Local Authority partners to prevent duplication, reduce costs and share results. We will equip our staff and ensure good practice is shared with partners and across the MPA and MPS.
5. Involve: We will ensure that we have effective community engagement mechanisms in place that allow the public to raise the issues and concerns that affect them, their communities or their areas and contribute to the setting of policing priorities at Ward, Borough and pan-London levels. We will also engage with communities at the earliest and most appropriate stages to inform decision making and build trust.
6. Feedback: We will provide timely feed back to those who have been involved in consultation and engagement activities on the decisions that have been taken. We will communicate widely the results from engagement activity and how these have informed policing activities and policies.
   Governance and development of the action plan

4. The MPS has established the Confidence and Satisfaction Board to oversee and coordinate work being undertaken across the organisation to improve public confidence and customer satisfaction. The Board comprises representatives from all business Groups and is chaired by DAC TP. MPS Management Board agreed that corporate responsibility for community engagement would rest with ACTP and that the MPS Confidence and Satisfaction Board would oversee delivery of actions to support the implementation of the Commitment within the MPS. This would ensure that the delivery of the commitment supports the organisational approach to improving confidence and satisfaction and would assist in coordinating community engagement activity being undertaken across business groups.

5. In parallel with the development of the Commitment work, was undertaken to develop a proposed action plan to deliver the improvements described in the Commitment. However, a number of pieces of work are currently taking place that could have a major impact on community engagement structures and the MPS approach to engagement, these include:

• the TP Development Programme and, in particular, its work to review Safer Neighbourhood structures
• the MPA review into Community and Police Engagement Groups
• implications arising from the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill and the establishment of Crime and Policing Commissioners in terms of local accountability structures
• ongoing work to establish the implications arising from the Comprehensive Spending Review on MPS budgets, including the impact of changes to partnership funding.

6. Given the level of potential changes that could occur to the current system of formal community engagement structures the MPS considered that it would be inappropriate to publish an action plan that would not reflect these changes and might prove to be unaffordable or unachievable in the long term. Work to revisit the action plan is due to take place in early Spring 2011 as the likely direction from the above reviews becomes clearer and is due to be presented to the MPA in May 2011.

Developmental work

7. Notwithstanding the difficulties in developing an comprehensive action plan for the delivery of the Commitment, a number of significant pieces of work are being undertaken to progress some of the aims and key issues outlined in the commitment. Some of these are described below.

8. As described above, the MPS Confidence and Satisfaction Board has been established with a clear mandate to improve MPS performance in public confidence and customer satisfaction. The contribution of community engagement is vital to delivering these outcomes. The Board comprising of senior leaders from each business group is able to provide leadership, championship and direction to community engagement work across the MPS, commissioning cross business group work and coordinating activity wherever possible.

9. Some of the key themes that emerged through the development of the commitment related to the need to ensure that engagement activity was better coordinated, and the MPS and MPA were better able to assess the effectiveness of engagement work and identify and share good practice. The Confidence and Satisfaction Board has commissioned work to undertake an audit of youth engagement work being undertaken across the MPS, and assess the costs and effectiveness of these activities. Early analysis has been useful in identifying a clear picture of the engagement work that is being undertaken across London, the purpose and aims of the different activities and programmes and those interventions that appear to deliver the most benefit per unit cost. Results are due to be presented back to the Board and this may provide an approach that could be used to review other engagement work on a thematic basis.

10. The MPS established the Children and Young People – Strategic Board, chaired by Commander Steve Rodhouse in December 2010. This board includes representatives from MPS business Group and the MPA and will be able to take forward the work described above. The Board will have responsibility for the development of the MPS Children and Young People’s Strategy which will include the coordination of a range of youth engagement interventions, assessing their operational effectiveness and that they are value for money and eliminating duplication.

11. The Commitment also highlighted the need for the MPS and MPA to make better use of new technology as a tool for community engagement. In support of this, the Directorate of Information is developing a Digital Engagement Strategy. This is looking to explore and exploit a wide range of digital media to provide information and services to Londoners and to support engagement activities. Some of the early activities include work to widen use of social media building on existing pilots, using this technology to communicate with Londoners and developing on-line survey tools to increase the feedback the MPS receives from users of its services.

12. Considerable consultation is being undertaken as part of the TP Development Programme’s review of Safer Neighbourhoods. A structured approach to consultation across Boroughs has been developed which is focused on the location of Safer Neighbourhood teams, what they deliver and how they are structured. Further information on the consultation taken place as part of the TP Development Programme is contained in the update presented to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee in January 2011.

13. A variety of examples of innovative engagement work with specific communities has been identified by DCFD through the implementation of the Equality Standard for the Police Service, the 2010 MPS Diversity Excellence Awards. DCFD is working to ensure that good practice identified through these local initiatives is captured and is made available to units across the MPS to use as appropriate. As part of a recent resource allocation process, DCFD is also funding some specific local engagement initiatives and will, again, be evaluating these to ensure that learning is captured and shared. Some of the specific examples are described in later paragraphs.

14. DCFD has undertaken work to ensure the systems of Independent Advisory Groups supports the aims of the Commitment and is consistent with the likely direction of police accountability structures. A paper summarising the work and MPS proposals was presented to the Communities, Equalities and People Committee in November 2010. In collaboration with TP, an audit of all borough IAGs have been conducted to assess the current status of these groups and assist in improving the consistency of arrangements. The process to establish a new corporate Disability Advisory Group is progressing well, with appointments to the new group expected to be made in February 2011.

Examples of Recent Community Engagement Activity

15. Since July 2010 the Commitment has influenced the community engagement work that is undertaken across the MPS. The following paragraphs provide examples of some of the engagement activity that business groups across the MPS have undertaken. This report does not attempt to provide a full picture of the community engagement work done by the MPS but does attempt to identify notable examples of good and innovative practice.

Territorial Policing

16. As discussed above, wide ranging consultation on the future of Safer Neighbourhood structures is being undertaken through the TP Development Programme, further details of this have been included in a paper recently presented to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee. This paper does not seek to describe the well established community engagement mechanisms that exist within TP, however, it does highlight a few examples of innovative practice that have been developed across a number of TP boroughs and have been recognised through the MPS Diversity Excellence Awards or through the Equality Standard for the Police Service.

17. Lewisham Borough were commended at the MPS 2010 Diversity Excellence Awards for their work with the third largest Deaf community in London. Staff have worked hard to improve communication between the police and the local Deaf community. Basic sign language lessons have been given to over 80 police officers on the borough to help them provide initial interpretation to Deaf people coming in to contact with police. Through the team promoting the Deaflink scheme the local Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing community are more confident in the police and 4 times as many crimes/incidents have been reported to the police than before. The scheme has provoked interest from local schools and other agencies supporting Deaf people. Other Boroughs are now keen to start their own Deaflink forums and there has also been interest from other police forces.

18. In response to feedback from the local stop and search monitoring group Brent Borough Partnership Unit produced a DVD on Stop and Search involving local youths from the local pupil referral unit. This has been shown to over 700 officers, local monitoring group/IAG and local students. In the last 12 months public confidence in Brent has risen by 19% and stop and search related complaints have decreased by 21%. This initiative was commended at the MPS 2010 Diversity Excellence Awards.

19. The “Nutmeg” project in Barnet was also commended. This is a youth involvement project built around concerts highlighting local music and dance groups. Over 12 months 2,250 attended the events resulting in barriers being broken down between young people and police, and increased ward panel representation by young people.

20. The work of Bromley's Darwin Safer Neighbourhood Team is featured on a brand new government website site, which has launched to help children aged 11 – 14 engage with citizenship in a fun and unique way. “Directgovkids Papertown” is aimed at children in Key Stage 3 and contains a range of resources including videos, online interviews, interactive comics, games and fact files. All resources are designed to be included within a teacher's Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship lessons, and will encourage real engagement with the subject. The site contains four missions: bullying; democracy; disability awareness; and safer streets.

21. As a part of an ongoing partnership strategy, Bromley Borough police have teamed up with Mencap, the Learning Disability Partnership Board, Bromley Sparks Advocacy Service and the MPS's Violent Crime Directorate to provide awareness training around the everyday issues that people with learning difficulties face when attempting to report a crime or when they are a victim of crime. The training seminar - attended by officers from Bromley's Safer Neighbourhood Teams, Safer Transport Teams and local residents who are members of the local Safer Neighbourhood Ward Panels was designed to ensure that the police provide the best possible service to people with learning difficulties, thus increasing trust in the Service. The seminar also heard from parents of children with learning difficulties.

22. In Harrow the Somali Interagency Taskforce has been working with the Somali community and this work was presented to the MPA Equality and Diversity sub committee in July 2010. However, since then the Taskforce has been re-named 'The New Arrivals Taskforce' and is working with all refugee and new immigrant groups in the borough. The London Refugee Council has applauded the work jointly led by of the SO15 community worker and the local council, and DCFD are currently working to replicate the work across London.

Central Operations

23. Engagement with the community and Borough Commanders is part of a specific programme within the Olympic and Paralympics planning. In addition to this the Assistant Commissioner has held specific Borough briefings to update and inform all Borough Commanders on the plans for policing the Olympics in 2012, these will continue up to the games and form a part of a larger MPS communications strategy.

24. The Specialist Firearms Command has developed information leaflets to be distributed to communities during and after operations involving armed officers. These are designed to inform communities of the reasons for the deployment of armed officers and reassure them to improve community confidence. They will be available in different formats and languages. This work strongly supports the aims of the Commitment and the need to improve feedback to communities and provide more accessible means of providing communities with information on police activities to increase community reassurance.

25. The MPS Specialist Training Centre maintains contacts with all CPEGs and borough IAGs. Visits to the centre are organised for young offenders and there is a coordinated work experience programme maintained with colleges and schools.

26. Mounted Branch build community links through visits to local community events and maintain a system of coordinated visits to stables across London for diverse community groups, including young and older people, and disabled groups. The Mounted Branch Activity Ride Display Team takes part in shows around the UK, including the Horse of the Year show at Olympia. This builds strong links with the public and presents a positive image of the MPS.

27. The Air Support Unit make community visits, arrange school visits to the air base and deliver presentations to CPEGs. Staff deliver external presentations at community events, for example the Biggin Hill Airshow.

28. The Traffic OCU have run a number of community engagement initiatives including providing specific information targeted at the Polish, Afghani and Nigerian communities and the “exchanging places” programme aimed at educating cyclists and HGV drivers about high risk locations across London. They have also run a project with Goldsmiths College aimed at finding ideas and solutions to address road safety issues within the young driver community.

29. The Territorial Support Group has continued with a well established community engagement programme which included at least ten events in August 2010 meeting with community groups and young people. These visits are listed within CO performance indicators as reported in the Central Operations Thematic report for Strategic and Operational Policing Committee 11th November 2010.

Directorate of Resources

30. The Directorate of Resources have developed a comprehensive consultation strategy to engage local communities and seek their views on new building projects. Examples include consultations carried out in Croydon and Wandsworth on the proposed building of custody centres, which involved local residents groups, community organisations, local authorities, and any other interested parties. This consultation was carried out in four parts; initially by correspondence by means of Email, telephone and letters inviting a wide range of people to public meetings and a public exhibition; a public meeting to explain the proposals and seek community views; a public exhibition to show the proposals in detail and a media campaign through local media organisations and the local authority.

Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate

31. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) has reviewed the initial returns for the Equality Standard for the Police Service (ESPS) and the Diversity Advisors have worked with borough command teams to develop action plans to address gaps identified. Good practice identified through the ESPS, nominations from the MPS Diversity Excellence Awards and other sources are being made available through the intranet. DCFD is also working to improve the effective use of IAGs through clarifying the role of IAGs among MPS staff and maintaining effective corporate IAGs - an example of this has been the work to re-establish of the Corporate Disability advisory group.

Specialist Crime Directorate

32. Presentations were held by SCD2 with a Safer Neighbourhoods Team to a youth group during alcohol awareness week. The group consisted of both male and female age range 13 - 18 years. This was an interactive presentation aimed at raising awareness around the dangers of excessive alcohol use and rape and serious sexual assaults aimed at challenging myths and attitudes relating to these subjects.

33. SDC2 have completed work with Wandsworth Social Services to produce a DVD aimed at addressing sexual bullying, sexual exploitation and assaults against young people, based on a victim and offender perspective. The DVD is aimed at 13-15 year olds and comprises of a ten minute ‘drama’ followed by an interactive workshop and question and answer session.

34. SCD2 are involved with an ongoing project working with Growing Against Gangs Project, developing and delivering an interactive presentation to schools in Lambeth challenging myths and stereotypes in relation to girls in gangs and rape and sexual offences.

Specialist Operations

35. SO have started innovative work to address the question: ‘What impact do our counter terrorism operations have on the public’s satisfaction with and confidence in MPS?’ The associated question of whether the operations/tactical options are being delivered in the most efficient ways will also be evaluated. Agreement has been reached with SO18 on the overall approach to be adopted. This entails a robust comparison of alternative ways of delivering CT operations. The benefits of this work are expected to extend beyond those directly involved in the delivery of CT operations because the evaluation will address how to:

• Reduce costs: through focusing on what works best and optimising the right number of staff to deploy
• Improve public accountability: by learning from our public encounters how to improve satisfaction with and confidence in our operations/tactics.
• Increase public cooperation: through identifying the most effective ways for officers to interact with suspects and the general public.
• Increase preparedness to report crime: by putting the lessons learned from improving public accountability and cooperation into routine operational practice.
• Transferable learning: through lessons learned from this research being applied to other policing contexts

36. The work already underway includes undertaking an online pilot exercise at Heathrow. This has involved discussion with police staff about the optimum way of collecting feedback from the public and the types of questions to ask. The pilot will not only gauge the feasibility of using an online survey but also, if successful, provide the first wave of data relating public satisfaction and confidence in CT policing at Heathrow.

37. The Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG)(SO6)) have developed a survey that is sent to all Embassies, Missions and Consulates and asks users of SO6 services to rate their experiences and comment on how services might be improved. The surveys are sent out electronically, or by post, to the points of contact that exist at each of the diplomatic locations. The surveys consist of a number of questions that require responses and have developed into a database of identified need and requirement for the Diplomatic community of London. Results are collated and are used to inform and set the priorities for the DPG in the forthcoming performance year. This process is enabling the DPG to provide a more customer-focused service that better meets the needs of diplomats and their staff.

38. SO15 ‘Prevent’ organised a specific community engagement event at Brent Town Hall in September. Developed as an opportunity to bring Afghan women together, the event attracted woman from many different backgrounds including, African (Somali) and Afro Caribbean Muslims and Pakistani women born in regions along the Pashtun belt.

39. Representatives from the local police and extended partners were able to provide an opportunity to develop a better understanding between Muslim women and front line statutory service providers. The event highlighted the importance of partnership work between communities and statutory partners in the identification and recognition of non-violent extremism and those at risk to violent extremism, and some steps to take to address these issues.

40. The event was an outstanding success with a total of approximately 100 Muslim women and children attending the event, 30 women have subsequently volunteered their time to assist other voluntary groups who deliver services for women in the community, 10 women have applied to the Met volunteer’s programme, 5 women have applied for the MSC programme.

Directorate of Public Affairs

41. The DPA continues to provide specialist services and advice to support the MPS in communicating with and informing London’s diverse communities about the Met, its services and advice on how to keep safe. This work is done through a range of channels including media, direct marketing and advertising. A dedicated DPA Community Engagement team works to engage with ethnic and specialist media (ESM) by giving them more access to the organisation, while utilising them to reach specific audiences. This year the DPA arranged a special media briefing with the Commissioner and members of the ESM. Also present were other senior officers from each of the key business groups which allowed reporters to put questions covering a range of topics. Other special events have also been arranged for ESM, including a visit to the Met’s Central Communications Command where journalists were shown around and given briefing by the OCU Commander, where key messages regarding appropriate use of 999 and language services were given. Other bespoke events by other business groups have been promoted by the DPA to ESM allowing them to report positively about what the Met is doing to keep London’s communities safe.

42. To improve access we are also bringing the MPS to the ESM. As many ESM organisations have limited resources we are providing them our own images and audio, which, not only helps promote positive stories, but makes it easier for the ESM to access our work. These and other events, as well as regular proactive and reactive engagement, are allowing ESM more of an insight into the Met and how it works. Through this work ESM are also more likely to approach us for comment when writing an article.

43. The DPA’s Publicity team leads on marketing campaigns to reach London’s communities and in 2010 delivered a number of campaigns to inform the public about how to keep safe, while encouraging them to come forward and help the police. This included the development of SAFE! - the Met’s first ever youth website. The site, which is aimed at 11-16 year olds was developed with the assistance of young people, and it offers advice on how to keep safe, and where to go if they are worried. Further work is being done to introduce an online dialogue element on the site which will allow young people to contact local Safer Schools officers and discuss issues they have.

44. Other colleagues in DPA continue to support operational units on a daily basis to inform London’s communities about crime and policing. For example the DPA provides support to each homicide through public appeals, as well as promoting successful court cases to show communities that offenders are pursued and brought to justice.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. A full equality impact assessment was undertaken as part of the development of the Community Engagement Commitment and the issues raised by it have been reflected Commitment’s principles and in the improvement actions.

2. The Commitment places a strong emphasis on ensuring the engagement mechanisms used by the MPA and MPS are as inclusive as possible and in designing engagement activities and encouraging participation amongst those communities and groups that have traditionally been less involved in police community engagement activities.

Consideration of MET Forward

3. The MPA/MPS Community Engagement Commitment is a key deliverable within MetConnect strand of MetForward. The Commitment is intended to improve how the MPS listens to and responds to the needs of communities and improves levels of confidence amongst the diverse communities that live in, work in or visit London.

Financial Implications

4. The work to enhance our approach to community engagement, as described within this report, is delivered within existing budgets as contained and approved within the 2010-13 Business Plan.

Legal Implications

5. There are no legal implications directly arising from this report.

Environmental Implications

6. There are no direct environmental implications arising from this report.

Risk Implications

7. There are no specific risk implications arising directly from this report.

D. Background papers

• The MPA and MPS Community Engagement Commitment 2010 – 2013

E. Contact details

Report authors: David Skelton and Des McCarthy, DCFD, MPS

For information contact:

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

Abbreviations

ACTP

Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing

CEP

Communities, Equalities and People Committee

CPEG

Community and Police Engagement Group

CT

Counter Terrorism

DAC

Deputy Assistant Commissioner

DCFD

Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate

DPA

Directorate of Public Affairs

ESM

Ethnic and Specialist Media

ESPS

Equality Standard for the Police Service

IAG

Independent Advisory Group

MSC

Metropolitan Special Constabulary

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

SO

Specialist Operations

TP

Territorial Policing

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