Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 28 November 2002 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Richard Barnes (Deputy Chair)
• R David Muir (Deputy Chair)
• Anthony Arbour
• Reshard Auladin
• Cindy Butts
• Lynne Featherstone
• Kirsten Hearn
• Peter Herbert
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Jenny Jones
• Nicholas Long
• Sir John Quinton
• Richard Sumray
• Abdal Ullah
• Rachel Whittaker
• Cecile Wright

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• Simon Vile (Head of Secretariat).

MPS officers

• Sir John Stevens (Commissioner)
• Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)
• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Alistair Thompson (Deputy Director of Resources)
• Bernard Hogan-Howe (Assistant Commissioner)
• Richard Bryan (Deputy Assistant Commissioner)
• Commander Jo Kaye

Part 1

51. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Jennette Arnold, John Biggs, Nicky Gavron, Darren Johnson and Graham Tope.

52. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

None made.

53. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Authority held on 31 October 2002 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Matters arising

In item 42 of the minutes, the Authority had commissioned a report on the Volunteer Police Cadet Corp. Jenny Jones asked that the report cover some specific financial aspects, such as the opportunity cost savings from cadets covering events police officers would otherwise have to cover. She would also like it to cover the fact that there is quite a high minority ethnic membership of the Corp and that this offers an opportunity to encourage these cadets to become police officers in due course (and to save on recruitment costs). It was confirmed that the report should be put to the Co-ordination and Policing Committee.

54. Minutes of committees

(Agenda item 4)

The Authority received the draft minutes of the following committees:

• Co-ordination & Policing Committee, 21 October & 18 November
• Finance Committee, 24 October and 14 November
• Consultation Committee 31 October
• Planning, Performance & Review Committee, 11 November

In considering the minutes of the Consultation Committee, the Authority supported the co-options proposed by the Committee.

55. Chair’s, Members’ and Clerk’s updates

(Agenda item 5)

The Authority noted tabled and oral updates given by the Chair and other members.

56. Commissioner’s update

(Agenda item 6)

The Commissioner updated the Authority on a number of issues.

Fatal accident

The Commissioner referred to the fatal accident involving two officers in a marked police car on 27 November. In doing so, he paid tribute to work of the London Fire Brigade, the North Middlesex Hospital, the London Ambulance Service and the Ministry of Defence. Authority members asked for their condolences to be passed to the family of PC Parker and for their wishes for a speedy recovery to be given to PC Hicks.

Serious disorder in Haringey

The Commissioner referred to the serious disturbance that broke out in Green Lanes on 9 November, the result of an ongoing feud between rival Turkish and Kurdish drug gangs. He commented that it was not the case, as reported in the press, that there was now routine armed patrolling in Haringey, although there was currently a greater deployment of armed response vehicles.

Fire Service dispute

The Commissioner reported that in the first 48 hour strike 1,016 calls had been received at Control Centre, resulting in 632 deployments. To date there had been no serious or fatal fires in the MPS.

The policing cost per 24 hour period amounted to £18,912 together with opportunity costs of £39,933 – a total of £58,845. The Treasurer reported that the government had agreed to meet support costs and the guidance received by the Authority indicated that reimbursement would be made for escorting duties, call handling and first attendance at incidents – he believed that the full cost would be reimbursed rather than the marginal cost.

Following a visit to Chelsea Barracks, Nicholas Long commented on the absence of up to date street maps for Green Goddess crews (for instance showing road closures) and no ready information on bridge heights.

Crime trends

The Commissioner reported on trends in street crime, burglary and auto crime, which were all downwards compared to the previous year.

57. Association of Police Authorities’ Conference

(Agenda item 7)

The Authority considered a report by the Clerk on the proceedings of the conference, which took place on 20 and 21 November. Members were also shown a video which had formed part of the proceedings at the conference. The Clerk commented that the video sent out a strong message to police authorities about their role, as confirmed in the video by the Prime Minister. This point was reinforced by the fact that the Home Secretary had launched the National Policing Plan at the conference. She considered that the plan was sufficiently flexible to allow the Authority to set priorities which addressed the needs of local communities.

Richard Barnes commented that the uniqueness of the MPS had come across strongly at the conference. Because of this there was almost no relevant benchmarking process to judge success or failure by. The Deputy Commissioner said that part of the MPS’s benchmarking work was, with the Standards Unit, to develop comparisons with other international cities.

Richard Sumray emphasised the need for the Authority to get involved with the London Criminal Justice Board. The Board was empowered to set targets which could impact on the police and therefore create conflicting priorities.

Resolved – That

1. members note the Authority’s position in relation to each of the issues raised at the conference; and
2. agree the action points in respect of
   1. citizen focus (paragraph 4 of the report)
   2. National Intelligence Model (paragraph 12)

58. Policing plan objectives 2003/04

(Agenda item 8)

The Authority considered a report by the Commissioner setting out the MPS’s proposed objectives supporting the priorities for Londoners and priorities for excellence, which were agreed at the previous Authority meeting.

Richard Sumray commented that the national policing plan contained a mixture of 51 priorities but some essential ones such as auto crime, which the Authority would need to reflect in some way. Anti-social behaviour was not referred to in the report – the Authority considered it important that individual boroughs should address this locally, but this devolution of responsibility needed to be made explicit. He also expressed concern that new priorities had been introduced without consideration by the Planning Panel – ‘to reduce the number of road casualties’ and ‘to communicate more effectively with Londoners and our staff’. These needed further discussion.

In reply to members’ questions, the Deputy Commissioner said that the objectives were in no priority order and that the operational policing measure was about a uniformed presence in its broadest sense rather than just police officers.

Other issues raised by members included:

• the need to communicate more effectively what was being done about stop and search
• the priority ‘to manage the demands on the MPS more effectively’ felt rather limited to technological solutions
• the priority ‘to develop a strategic analytical capability in the MPS’ could include a commitment to introduce an operational policing measure
• support for the objective ‘to reduce the number of road casualties’ but also the view that there were already enough priorities
• currently no reference to removing differential treatment on the grounds of race, sexuality etc
• different approaches were needed to ‘communicating more effectively’ with Londoners and with MPS staff
• because judicial disposals only cover the process up to the point of charge, there is a need to develop measures which take account of all parts of the process

Resolved – That

1. the Planning Panel be reconvened to consider the objectives further; and
2. its recommendations be brought back to the full Authority in January together with associated targets and measures

59. MPS road safety activity

(Agenda item 9)

The Authority considered a report by the Commissioner outlining the road safety activity carried out by the MPS and in partnership with other agencies. The meeting was also shown some Irish road safety television advertisements.

The meeting discussed the wider use of cameras and the connected issues such as the extent to which this could deliver road safety improvements. Department of Transport figures identify 1,000 hotspots in London which could qualify for cameras. However, the London Camera Partnership has to check that each site is suitable for cameras, in partnership with local authorities which may have other solutions. Consequently, there are enormous resource implications and at present a roll out of about 60 to 65 cameras a year is being achieved. The Authority asked for more information to help members understand the constraints and key issues in connection with greater use of speed cameras.

There was also discussion about the adequacy or otherwise of MPS resources put into road collision investigation.

Other issues discussed at the meeting included:

• whether there was any evidence of the value of cameras compared to flashing ‘slow down’ signs for reducing speed/accidents
• civil liberties issues of shared use between agencies of number plate intelligence
• problems of bicyclists – ignoring traffic signs and riding on the pavement. Drug pushers getting about on bikes
• the need to address/tackle driver behaviour, understanding the causes of aggression etc
• pizza delivery riders are a particular problem but the growth in two-wheeler accidents generally is of concern and suggests a possible need for regular refresher training
• why not allow two-wheelers to use bus lanes to separate them from the rest of the traffic?
• the government decision to make cameras conspicuous was based on no research at all – there are dangers in traffic slowing down and speeding up as a result
• how do/can police work with other agencies?
• further information on the geographical areas covered by the various traffic police garages would be helpful

Resolved – That a further report be presented to the Authority meeting in January, in particular addressing:

• what are the constraints preventing a faster implementation/greater increase in the use of speed cameras as a deterrent and what can be done to remove these constraints?
• further information about the adequacy or otherwise of the resources put into collision investigation. Roadpeace to be asked for their view on the adequacy of current collision investigation. Similar views to be sought from coroners’ courts.

60. MPS Youth Strategy

(Agenda item 10)

DAC Bryan asked for the Authority’s agreement to this report being withdrawn, as further work was required to identify and assess the financial implications of the proposed strategy.

In agreeing this request, members suggested that the report could be improved in the following ways:

• it is not clear what the strategy is trying to achieve – it could be more focused
• the report does not adequately describe what is being done now, what could be done in partnership with other agencies and action on the prevention of crime
• there is no reference to LGBT youth in the strategy
• account should be taken of the serious issues raised by the numbers of youths in young offenders institutes, including the lack of diversion and aftercare and the disproportionate number of Black and Asian inmates. The development of a youth strategy should include consultation with the Governors of young offenders institutes so that the issues can be addressed in a holistic way.

It was agreed that the revised report should be put to the February 2003 full Authority meeting.

61. Questions from Members – changes to standing orders

(Agenda item 11)

The Authority considered a report by the Clerk recommending changes to Standing Orders to enable MPA members, in exceptional circumstances, to ask questions at Authority meetings.

Resolved – That provision be included in Standing Orders as proposed in paragraph 2 of the report.

The meeting ended at 12.50 p.m.

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