Metropolitan police youth strategy

Report: 13
Date: 30 January 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides the overall aim of the MPS Youth Strategy - to reduce youth crime and victimisation of young people through a structured and holistic partnership approach.

A. Recommendation

Members are asked to consider and comment upon the draft MPS Youth Strategy in order that it may be implemented.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPS Youth Strategy is structured around the MPS policing model. It is based on the accumulated experience of the MPS working with young people and the many other agencies involved in addressing the needs of young people. In addition it takes account of recent academic research into the nature and causes of youth involvement in crime. It seeks to draw together the various elements of activity, which are, or can be directed to dealing with children who are involved in crime either as victims or perpetrators, and to stimulate improved and better-targeted provision to ensure that more young people are diverted away from crime. Where such diversionary measures are not effective, the strategy seeks to ensure that the enforcement elements of the police and criminal justice agencies are more effective in minimising the trauma of victimisation and imposing effective sanctions to minimise the chances of reoffending. The draft strategy is attached at Appendix A. Action planning at corporate and borough levels is now in progress.

2. Development of the strategy has included extensive internal consultation as well as consultation with external partners and agencies, including the London Children’s Commissioner, the Youth Justice Board, representatives of local authorities, central government departments and representatives from the voluntary sector. Both the full Authority and the former Consultation Diversity and Outreach Committee have received reports for noting on various aspects of the developing strategy. An Authority member, Cecile Wright, is a member of the MPS Youth Strategic Committee, which has overseen the development of various aspects of the strategy.

3. The MPS Management Board has approved the strategy. The comments of the Authority are now sought, as a prelude to its formal adoption and to better inform the action planning process at corporate and local level.

4. The strategy recognises that the MPS is restricted in what it is able to achieve in the important area of the policing, because many of the services required by young people fall outside its remit. The work of the Crime & Disorder Partnerships, the various criminal justice agencies and the development of the strategy have provided a robust framework for future development. The street crime initiative has capitalised on this framework and enhanced the ability of partnerships to provide better and more targeted provision.

5. The strategy is intended to be a guide for partnership planning and in the development of local youth strategies. There is a strong emphasis on local delivery through Crime and Disorder Partnerships, with locally agreed youth action plans. What it does provide is a template for the MPS to work with key agencies to reduce youth crime, prevent re-offending and keep young people safe. It aims to address the needs of young people across the whole spectrum of their possible or actual involvement in crime:

• those who are merely at risk of drifting into offending,
• those who have actually started offending but have not been detected,
• those who have started offending and have been detected and
• the small group of very prolific offenders for which robust enforcement the most appropriate option.

6. The aim is to make the full range of interventions more effective. Borough Commanders will be required to fulfil two distinct functions:

• to ensure that the police activities are as effective and well targeted as possible and,
• to influence their partners to ensure that where particular types of intervention are not a police responsibility, the most appropriate partner(s) play their role as part of coherent and holistic approach to the overall problem. Aspects, which require a pan London approach, will be undertaken and/or co-ordinated by the Youth Policy Unit of the MPS.

7. In support of the MPS Youth Strategy an annual action plan will also be produced. This plan will contain details of key leaders and departments for actions in each of the six areas, which are as follows:

• Intelligence
• Problem Solving
• Targeting
• Investigation
• Diversion
• Forensics

C. Equality and diversity implications

One of the key drivers for the strategy is the fact that young people from the visible ethnic minorities are over represented in the suspect, accused and victim populations. Academic research clearly demonstrates that race itself is neither a causal nor a predictive factor in youth criminality. The research indicates that casual factors relating to adverse family situations and schooling, stressed communities and dysfunctional personal circumstances all play a part in generating involvement in criminality amongst young people. These factors appear to play a disproportionately large role in the lives of the visible ethnic minorities, simply because the minority populations tend to live in more deprived localities. This provides a plausible explanation for the observed disproportionate involvement in crime. The aspiration of the strategy is that by concentrated and better-targeted effort by the MPS and its partners, we can address these underlying causes with a view to medium and long-term reductions in youth involvement in crime, amongst all sections of the community.

D. Financial implications

1. There are several components to the current investment of youth crime prevention: the costs of the Youth Policy Unit itself, the police officers attached to Youth Offender Teams, those officers deployed as part of the Safer Schools Partnership and those of the officers working part time on the Junior Citizen Scheme and the Police Voluntary Cadets schemes. Not all Boroughs presently engage with the Junior Citizen Scheme or the Police Voluntary Cadet Schemes.

2. These costs, with the exception of the Youth policy Unit, are currently contained within the existing individual borough costs. To extend the Junior Citizens Scheme and the Police Voluntary Cadet Scheme to all Boroughs would result in an increased cost of £550k (police pay cost based on current year average costs) for police officers. Boroughs would need to meet this from within their own costs.

3. All current costs are absorbed within the overall MPS budgets. Potential increased deployment of officers in schools awaits a proper evaluation of the effectiveness of those schemes, now in progress by the Youth Justice Board and expected to be available in Summer 2003.

4. The MPS is currently reviewing the role and function of the Police Voluntary Cadet Scheme. It is possible that as a result of the review the cost of providing these schemes could change.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Commander Steve Roberts, Community Safety and Partnership Unit, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

MPS Youth Strategy

‘Working in partnership to reduce youth crime and victimisation’ - Community Safety and Partnership Unit

The overall aim of the MPS Youth Strategy for 2003-2008 is ‘to reduce youth crime and victimisation of young people through a structured and holistic partnership approach’

1. Introduction

1.1 The MPS Youth Strategy sets out policy for the MPS to reduce Youth Crime and Youth Victimisation effectively and efficiently in line with the MPS policing model for all young people up to and including 17 years of age. This Strategy is a five-year plan that covers the period 2003 – 2008. It is a strategic document that sets out the broad framework within which the MPS, through the work of boroughs and in partnership with other criminal justice agencies, can adopt a longer-term approach to tackle the complex areas of youth criminality and victimisation.

1.2 It is intended to be a guide for police Borough Command Units when engaged in partnership planning and in the development of local Youth Strategies. The strategy seeks to address the needs of all young people. The vast majority of young people will have no contact with crime at all - the MPS needs to provide support to them in the form of educational inputs to assist them and their parents in ensuring their continued safety. Some young people, by virtue of their personal, social and/or community circumstances are at risk of drifting into crime as both victims and perpetrators – the MPS has a role in identifying those most at risk and, in partnership, to target and deploy support on a voluntary basis to minimise those risks. A smaller number of young people will actually become involved in crime – when they are victims, we must do all we can to minimise the trauma of victimisation – when they are perpetrators we need to ensure that they are detected and then (via Youth Offending Teams) receive the best possible assistance, often on a compulsory basis, to minimise the chances of re-offending. Finally, there is a small group of young people who are prolific offenders – the MPS must prioritise this group for robust enforcement action, to minimise their impact on the wider community, to disrupt their offending behaviour and to ensure they too receive the most effective compulsory “treatment” to reduce their propensity to continue their criminal careers.

1.3 The strategy is not intended to act as a constraint on existing work or indeed to provide all the answers. It does however provide a template for the MPS in partnership with key agencies to reduce the involvement of young people in crime, reduce re-offending and to keep young people safe. It requires Borough Commanders to ensure that those activities, which are within the remit of the MPS, are carried out efficiently and effectively. It is also intended as a means of assisting Borough Commanders to engage more effectively with partners at the local level to ensure that partnership interventions are planned and executed as part of a coherent and holistic approach to the overall problems of youth involvement in crime.

1.4 Some of the activities that form part of the strategic approach require a pan London approach. The Youth Policy Unit will manage and/or co-ordinate these aspects.

1.5 An annual Action Plan document will provide addition guidance for the MPS as a whole, for Boroughs and other key partner agencies to implement the strategy.

2. Rationale for strategy

2.1 Concerns over the increased volume and perceived seriousness in youth offending have been developing within the MPS for some time as a result of a number of factors:

• The long term increases in street crime, much of it committed by and against young people, against a background of falling rates for crime as a whole.
• The high proportion of street crime offenders found, on arrest, to be first time entrants to the criminal justice system.
• Crime tends to be concentrated in the more deprived parts of the inner cities. In order to maximise the crime reduction opportunities, we will focus our actions into these areas.
• Academically validated risk factors for involvement in criminality tend to cluster around those who live in the more deprived localities within the inner cities.
• The MPS view is that the proper targeting of resources to help young people to avoid crime is both an ethical imperative and an effective means of reducing overall crime.
• The effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System in relation to young offenders and victims.
• The adequacy of secure facilities (in particular the extent of educational facilities and the quality of “through care” and “aftercare” for those leaving custody) for detaining youth offenders and the need for improved quality and quantity of community sentences.
• The criminal careers of many delinquent children appear to be starting earlier, becoming more intense and ending later.

The Causes of Youth Offending

3.1 There is no single cause of youth crime. However, research conducted in a number of countries has consistently identified factors in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood that increase the risk of a young person offending . These risk factors include:

• Family

• Parental criminality
• Poor parental supervision
• Harsh, neglectful, erratic discipline
• Low family income/ isolation
• Family conflict

• School

• Lack of commitment to school
• Truancy (with or without parental consent)
• Disruptive behaviour (including bullying)
• Low achievement
• Exclusion from school

• Community

• Community disorganisation
• Opportunities for crime
• Availability of drugs
• High child densities

• Personal

• Temperament
• Alienation/lack of social commitment
• Early involvement in problem behaviour
• Friends involved in anti social behaviour
• High proportion of unsupervised time spent with friends

• Early Adulthood

• No qualifications
• No work experience
• Unemployment/low income
• No advice/ support
• Homelessness

Whilst this list is far from exhaustive, it serves to illustrate the fact that if we seek to reduce youth offending in the medium to longer term, there is a need for considerable effort and expenditure by a range of agencies. The MPS should seek to influence the extent of this provision but also to ensure that whatever resources are available are deployed in those localities and targeted on those groups and individuals most at risk. The role of Borough Commanders in Local Strategic partnerships (where they exist) and Crime & Disorder Partnerships will be crucial in achieving these goals.

4 Outline of strategy

4.1 The Youth Strategy is structured around the MPS policing model and is also based on the evidence that concentration on enforcement or criminal justice system measures alone will not be sufficient to suppress youth offending and risks adverse social consequences.

4.2 This evidence relates to the fact that crime tends to be concentrated in the more deprived areas of London. These areas tend to have relatively high concentrations of ethnic minorities within which population growth is above average. Reliance on purely enforcement measures may thus have negative consequences in relation to social cohesion.

4.3 It is recognised that there are groups of young people who are not yet offending but who are at risk of drifting into crime or becoming victims of crime. The strategy is established on the proposition that social conditions generate potential criminals – as such the MPS must use its influence to mitigate those social conditions. The scarcity of resources for such work implies that resources will need to be targeted on individuals, particularly vulnerable groups and localities in which there are particular community stresses. This raises legitimate concerns about the potential for stigmatising individuals and groups as “potentially criminal”.

4.4 Young people who become involved in crime, especially those who receive custodial sentences are already severely stigmatised. This is often accompanied by greatly reduced life chances and increased social exclusion. Targeting of supportive resources on such individuals and their families to reduce the chances of becoming involved in criminality provides a means of avoiding such outcomes and it should be emphasised that for those who have yet to be arrested for criminality, any such engagement would be on a purely voluntary basis. Experience elsewhere in the UK indicates that where this type of voluntary support is offered, there is a high uptake.

4.5 At the core of this strategy is the need to share information and intelligence amongst the partners. This is essential to ensure that resources are targeted on those who need support and encouragement to avoid criminality and anti-social behaviour. This intelligence-led approach should be a shared approach.

4.6 The intelligence function is not the sole province of the MPS –rather it includes all agencies with the ability to gather and pool information. In the medium to long term it is envisaged that the intelligence function will be carried out within either the Youth Offending Team (YOT) or as part of the joint work of the police, local authorities and any other agencies able to contribute. It is not intended that the MPS should become the custodian of sensitive personalised information about young people who are not involved in crime.

5. Intelligence

Aim: To identify ‘persistent young offenders’ and those most at risk of becoming either victims or offenders by intelligence-led policing and multi-agency partnerships.

Enabling Objectives:

5.1 To identify individuals, and groups of young people who are offending or at risk of offending or becoming victims. To identify localities which merit enhanced supportive resources. These products will contribute to the National Intelligence Model “control strategies”.

5.2 To identify all prolific young offenders and ensure effective and action plans are undertaken to disrupt their offending and enable the courts to impose suitable sanctions.

5.3 To ensure that protocols are established with key partners in order that appropriate responses are in place at each stage of the Youth Justice System which are appropriate to the observed offending patterns and local crime/disorder priorities.

5.4 To establish a flow of ‘community information’ between young people and the police in schools and youth clubs in order to establish ‘Junior Crime Stoppers’.

5.5 To work with the Children & Young Persons Unit within the Department of Education and Skills in the strategic development of the Identification, Referral & Tracking (IRT) Project.

5.6 To work with individual boroughs in the development of the local aspects of the IRT Project

6. Investigation

Aim: To deal quickly and effectively with all children and young people within the Youth Justice System

Enabling Objectives

6.1 To ensure that police resources are appropriately directed towards “Persistent Young Offenders and those who are at the highest risk of re-offending.

6.2 To have efficient systems in place at Borough level for dealing with ‘persistent young offenders’ to ensure that the time from arrest to sentence meets Government standards.

6.3 To ensure that a Service Level Agreement is in place with YOTs for dealing with and processing Reprimands and Final Warnings – ensuring that at least 80% of Final Warnings are accompanied by effective interventions.

6.4 In partnership with YOTs and Youth Courts establish a Service Level Agreement in order to ensure that bail conditions imposed on youth offenders are adhered to.

6.5 To develop robust data sharing arrangements between key partners, that ensures confidence, confidentiality and integrity.

6.6 To link police work in YOTs with local operational policing strategies to develop a more cohesive approach.

6.7 To participate and support the work of YOTs, e.g. the Intensive Support and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) and Curfew Schemes.

6.8 To promote the use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and, where appropriate, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

6.9 To work with professional and community partners to ensure that appropriate protection and support measures are in place to meet the individual needs of vulnerable young victims and witnesses throughout the criminal justice system.

6.10 To provide an environment for young people who are victims or witnesses to feel confident about reporting crime and disorder.

6.11 To establish a protocol with schools for crime reporting and information sharing.

6.12 To work with key partners to develop the Restorative Justice Process.

7. Diversion

Aim: To ensure that those children and young people at greatest risk of becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour are provided with the best possible support to avoid involvement in crime through education, early intervention and partnership working.

Enabling Objectives

7.1 To offer support, guidance and training for officers engaged with schools, including those schools which have Safer Schools Partnerships.

7.2 To establish a Voluntary Cadet Corp in every borough in accordance with MPS policy and guidance.

7.3 In partnership with local authorities establish a Junior Citizen scheme in every borough to promote citizenship and personal safety.

7.4 To ensure that Truancy Sweeps are conducted in accordance with MPS policy and to ensure that they are conducted to meet the needs of schools, the local education authority and the police.

7.5 To establish and assist schools, Pupil Referral Units and key agencies in the development of systems to monitor and track excluded pupils.

7.6 To ensure that officers who are engaged in work with children and young people are trained in child protection issues.

7.7 To ensure that a missing person’s protocol for young people with key agencies is established with a focus on children who go missing from care.

7. 8 To work with partners, families and communities (within the current information sharing arrangements) to maximise the diversionary activities available to the most at risk young people, including Splash schemes and Youth Inclusion Projects (YIPs)

7.9 To identify, at local level, the Voluntary, Charitable & Faith Sector groups and capabilities and work with them and other partners to provide, improve or enhance community support.

8. Problem solving

Aim: To build and maintain positive relationships between young people and the police.

Enabling Objectives

8.1 To establish dialogue with cross sections of young people in order to understand the issues facing them.

8.2 To take account of the views of young people in determining policing policy and practice at local community level.

8.3 To work with key partners in order to meet the identified needs of each individual ‘persistent young offender’ to break their cycle of offending behaviour.

8.4 To promote the use of the MPS Problem Solving Process within the Safer Schools Partnership and Youth arena.

9. Targeting

Aim: To focus partnership working within statutory and non-statutory organisations, to make an effective contribution to reducing youth crime and victimisation

Enabling Objectives

9.1 To ensure local Crime and Disorder Reduction partnership strategies are focused on youth issues.

9.2 To ensure that the targeting of ‘persistent young offenders’ is a Borough policing objective.

9.3 To ensure that borough community safety units address the needs of youth victims of crime.

9.4 To ensure that all agencies involved with youth diversion schemes at borough level are in direct contact with the YOT.

9.5 To promote joint training between the police and other agencies to increase the awareness of youth crime and diversion.

9.6 To develop a ‘youth media strategy’ in order to promote good news stories concerning young people.

9.7 To promote the active identification of young people leaving Young Offender Institutions to ensure they receive adequate resettlement support – specifically in relation to education, housing and medical care.

9.8 To work with the YJB and individual YOT to ensure improved support for young people in Young Offenders Institutes to ensure through care and after care for those released.

10. Forensics

Aim: To maximise the forensic opportunities when dealing with persistent young offenders.

Enabling Objectives

10.1 To ensure that the fast tracking system to prioritise forensic submissions and dealing with persistent young offenders (PYO) and those potentially eligible for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders are utilised.

10.2 To ensure all officers who deal with PYOs are aware of the forensic opportunities available to them.

11. Monitoring and Evaluation.

11.1 The Community Safety and Partnership Unit will produce an annual Action Plan that will form the working document to deliver the aims and objectives within the strategy. It will outline the lead agency and individual task leader for each action. The actions have been grouped together under the headings of the Territorial Policing Model. The progress of individual actions will be monitored on a quarterly basis and relevant performance indicators will be tracked within the unit.

11.2 An automated performance information framework has now been developed to enable borough-by-borough comparison of performance in respect of youth involvement in crime and to enable each borough to track its own progress over time. The data in relation to youth accused of crime and youth becoming victims of crime will be monitored to identify any disproportionality that may occur. Collection of this complex data has only just commenced. The data will also enable the MPS to analyse both the demand for youth diversion activity and the relative success of boroughs. In addition it should be possible to identify which boroughs are securing above average success and thus identify where good practice exists which can be shared with others.

11.3 The ability to benchmark the performance of boroughs is crucial if the MPS is to play a full and effective role in managing its own performance and stimulating better performance by its partners.

11.4 The Strategy will also be subject to a comprehensive annual review and the MPS Consultancy Group will assist in the evaluation of the overall success of the strategy.

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