2002/3 end of year performance report

Report: 8
Date: 24 July 2003
By: Clerk

Summary

The Authority has a responsibility to set annual targets and objectives for the MPS, and to monitor the MPS performance against these targets. This report details the MPS end of year performance against the policing plan objectives and targets for 2002/3.

A. Recommendation

That this report be noted.

B. Supporting information

The MPA set four policing priorities for the MPS for 2002/3:

• to increase the security of the capital against terrorism
• to create safer communities for Londoners
• to improve the police response to vulnerable victims
• to tackle youth offending

23 targets were set in relation to these four priorities. Additional targets were set for non-policing priorities, making a total of 44 targets for 2002/3.

Overall performance

1. 22 of the targets set for 2002/3 were achieved and 17 were not achieved. When this paper was written data has not been compiled for four targets. One target (implementation of the Climbié Inquiry report action plan) was withdrawn as there was insufficient time following publication of the report to measure achievement. As a comparison, in 2001/2 47 targets were set and 16 were achieved. Appendix 1 lists the MPS performance against the targets set.

2. When looking at performance against policing priorities, it is essential to bear in mind that the introduction in April 2002 of the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS), which changed some of the classifications of volume crime, generated an increase in the total number of recorded offences. The MPS estimates that NCRS led to an increase in recorded notifiable offences by between 6.5% to 17.4%.

3. The overall performance of the MPS, during 2002/03, is undoubtedly a good news story. The dramatic increase in the number of police officers and the marked decreases in the three areas of crime – street crime, burglary and car crime – which make people feel most vulnerable, point to a tangible step forward towards achieving the MPA’s goal to make London a safer city. However, there are a number of areas where targets are still not being met and members may want to consider these areas in particular.

4. Members may also want, as part of their detailed scrutiny of performance against all the targets set for 2002/03, to consider their validity. Priorities, objectives and targets for 2003/4 have already been agreed by the Authority but members’ comments will be fed into the 2004/5 planning cycle.

Terrorism

5. 75.6% of scenes of suspected or actual terrorist incidents were managed to a very good standard. This is below the 80% target. However the target to prevent any terrorist attack in London was achieved.

Street crime

6. Street crime fell by 15.8%, which reflects the positive impact of Operation Safer Streets introduced in February 2002. 58% of street crime offences in 2002/3 included the stealing of a mobile phone. The judicial disposal (JD) target of 10% was not met but the rate did show a slight increase from 8.0% to 8.6%.

Autocrime

7. Autocrime fell by 1.2%, meeting the target to prevent any increase. With a JD rate of 4.3% (same as the year before), the 5% JD rate target was not met.

Burglary

8. Significant improvements have been made regarding burglary. The number of recorded burglaries fell by 2.2%, exceeding the target to secure a 1% reduction. In addition, the JD rate for burglary rose from 10% in 2001/2 to 12.2% in 2002/3, exceeding the 11% target. Operation Safer Homes has contributed to this successful performance in burglary.

Gun related violent crime

9. The number of gun related violent crimes rose by 2.8% in 2002/3. The target was to prevent a growth above 10%. Therefore, it is successfully met. As a comparison the number of gun related violent crimes had risen by 33.9% in 2001/2. The MPS took part in the National Firearms Amnesty recently and it is hoped that the campaign will further prevent the rise in gun related violent crime. The MPA scrutiny on gun crime should also assist in bringing improvement in this area of performance.

Race hate crime

10. The JD rates for race, homophobic and domestic violence crime further increased in 2002/3 and exceeded their related target.

The JD rate for racist offences went up from 17% in 2001/2 to 18.6% in 2002/3, above the 18% target. However it should be noted that the number of JDs dropped by 3.9% during the same period of time. The number of recorded racist crimes also dropped by 10.6%.

The gap between the satisfaction of victims of racist crime and victims of all crime has widened. The former now stands 8.9 points below the latter. The target to achieve parity could not be achieved. Satisfaction of victims of racist crime has dropped over the last three financial years. This problem was discussed by the Planning, Performance & Review (PPR) Committee at its January meeting and the item was referred to the Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board (EODB) in March.

11. The JD rate for homophobic offences further increased this year. At 11% in 2000/1, it rose to 15.3% in 2001/2 and reached 17.9% in 2002/3, well above the 16% target. Again, it is interesting to note that despite this increase in the JD rate, the number of JDs remained nearly stable over the last two financial years (190 in 2001/2, 193 in 2002/3). The number of recorded homophobic offences dropped by 13.6% over the same period of time.

12. A paper on the long-term decrease in recorded racist and homophobic crime was submitted to EODB at its July 2003 meeting.

13. After three years of consecutive increase, a JD rate of 17% has been achieved for domestic violence, which is one percentage point above the 16% target. This rise is supported by a 23% rise in the number of JDs. The number of recorded domestic violence offences went up by 9.2%, which is likely to have been generated by an increase in reporting practices.

Rape

14. The JD rate for rape has been increasing for the last few years. It reached 25% in 2002/3, the level required by the target. Project Sapphire may have significantly contributed to this long-term rise, as well as contributing to the increase in reporting practices.

Child abuse

15. A target was set on child abuse, requiring the MPS ‘to implement the action plan following the Climbié inquiry’. The findings and 108 recommendations were published in January 2003 and the MPS is currently working on their implementation. The PPR Committee at its October meeting will consider an update on the implementation of the Climbié inquiry recommendations.

Youth offending

16. The number of youths accused went down by 15.3%, exceeding the 3% reduction target. In addition a new initiative led to 76 police officers being placed in schools, which more than meets the target ‘to place 44 police officers in schools’. The table attached in Appendix 1 shows that two additional targets on youth offending were successfully achieved, and one was not. However performance on this area does not solely rely on the MPS, but also requires the contribution of partners in the criminal justice system.

Road traffic

17. The number of collisions resulting in death or serious injury went down by 8.2% in comparison with 2001/2. Using the 2001 census data, this means that 0.71 collisions resulting in death or serious injury were recorded per 1,000 population in 2002/3. Hence the target to reduce this rate to 0.73 was achieved.

Emergency response

18. 82.3% of 999 calls were answered within 15 seconds, which resulted in the 80% target being achieved. This represents an improvement on 2001/2 performance (73.6%).

72.5% of immediate incidents were attended within 12 minutes. This is below the 75% target.

Quality of response and public satisfaction

19. Only one out of the four targets set on public satisfaction with police response was achieved. In addition public satisfaction with police response has slightly dropped in comparison with 2001/2.

None of the targets related to public perception was achieved. Satisfaction with foot patrols remained at the level of 15%, below the 20% target. The target to increase satisfaction with mobile patrols to 35% was also missed, with a 32% performance. Despite important drops in volume crime, the fear of crime went up from 36% to 41%.

Recruitment

20. 3,489 police officers were recruited in 2002/3, exceeding the target by 50 more recruits. The number of officers recruited rose by 27% on 2001/2. The total number of police officers went up by 6.4% from 26,768.4 (at end of March 2002) to 28,476.76 (end of March 2003), just above the set target of 28,412 officers. In addition, 512.63 PCSOs were recruited.

Retention

21. The percentage of police officers voluntarily leaving the MPS with 5 to 30 years’ of service went down from 2.66% to 2.17%, hence meeting the 2.8% target.

Among all police officers with up to 5 years’ of service, 8.3% left the MPS. The target was to limit this percentage to 6.5%. It was not achieved.

Workforce diversity

22. Of the 3,489 recruits, 375 (10.74%) were from a visible ethnic minority. This is below the target to recruit 500 VEM officers. As a comparison, in 2001/2, 283 VEM officers were recruited, representing 10.30% of the total number of recruits.

At end of March 2003 VEM officers represented 5.5% of the total police strength (4.9% in 2001/2), missing the 7.9% target. This is of great concern: a paper addressing initiatives in hand to improve performance is on the agenda for discussion at this meeting.

23. The number of female police officers rose from 16% to 16.7%, below the 17% target. The target to recruit 788 female officers (22.5% of the recruits) was not achieved either, with 708 female recruits (making up 20.3% of the recruits).

Sickness

24. None of the targets set on sickness levels was achieved. However the number of working days lost due to sickness per officer went down from 10.5 to 9.7.

Anti-social behaviour

25. Although reducing anti-social behaviour and disorder was in the 2002/3 ministerial priorities, no targets were set at corporate level to reflect this priority. It was felt more appropriate to let Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) set their own local targets on this issue. Having a statutory role in CDRPs since April this year, the MPA can now influence the setting of anti-social behaviour targets at local level.

Future monitoring of the MPS performance

26. At its meeting on 10 July 2003 the PPR committee received a more in-depth report on the MPS 2002/3 performance. Overall, members found that the figures show significant progress. The MPS was congratulated for its achievements on operational policing. Many issues were discussed in detail, including the following:

• When taking into account the effects of NCRS, the total number of notifiable offences is down in comparison with 2001/2. This good news needs to be disseminated.
• It remains unclear how some initiatives, such as Operation Safer Streets and Operations Safer Homes, may have impacted on other areas of performance.
• Mobile phones are still very attractive items. The proportion of street crime offences including a mobile phone among the total number of street crime remains high (although there is anecdotal evidence that some reported mobile phone thefts and robberies are vexatious).
• Londoners’ perception of crime does not reflect the drop in volume crime. The MPS must work over the next year to address the difficult task of shifting the perception of crime and disorder closer to the reality. As the number of officers on the streets continues to rise, and the impact of visible reassurance patrolling by PCSOs becomes more apparent, the effects of such significant reductions in volume crime ought to be re-inforced. The achievements of 2002/3 must be vigorously communicated to local communities. In addition, efforts should be made to ensure that the performance figures collected reflect the true level of crime, and that what people feel as crime is being picked up in the figures. The MPA has its own role to play in this area.
• The 9.2% rise in the number of domestic violence offences seems to be linked to improvement in reporting and recording practices, rather than to an increase in the number of domestic violence offences that have actually occurred.
• The high level of sickness rates remains an area of concern, especially for traffic wardens. The figures may indicate areas of low staff morale. However the MPS is working to identify boroughs with high sickness levels and address the problem locally.
• Overall, the areas where performance is poor mostly relate to long-term issues, such as staff morale, victims’ satisfaction and people’s fear of crime.

C. Equality and diversity implications

The EODB is kept informed of all performance matters with equality and diversity implications identified by the PPR committee. The EODB is following up the equality and diversity issues highlighted in this report.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from this report.

E. Background papers

• PPR, 10 July 2003, 2002/2003 performance report

F. Contact details

Report author: Claire Lambert, MPA.

For more information contact:

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

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