MPS road safety activity – update report

Report: 9
Date: 26 May 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines MPS Road Safety activity carried out by the Traffic Operational Command Unit, and the London Safety Camera Partnership.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. The new Assistant Commissioner Central Operations now owns the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Road Policing Strategy. The Commander, Traffic and Transport Branch, incorporating the Traffic Operational Command Unit (OCU), Transport OCU and the Traffic Criminal Justice OCU is the strategic and policy lead for roads policing issues.

2. The Traffic and Transport Branch strategic aim is - 'Making London's roads safer through the engagement of intelligence led policing, denying criminals the use of the roads, reducing road casualties and maximising available space for lawful road users'.

3. Individual OCU responsibilities include:

4. Traffic OCU - preventing criminal use of the roads; casualty reduction through enforcement, education and partnerships; investigation of fatal and life changing injury collisions; specific operational support to the MPS counter-terrorism strategy, and traffic management during public-order events.

5. Traffic Criminal Justice OCU - assists and supports casualty reduction through the prosecution of traffic and anti-social behaviour offences; management of the Driver Improvement Scheme; operational and back office support for the London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP).

6. Transport OCU - (now incorporating the Traffic Warden Service) policing London's bus infrastructure on agreed routes, corridors and the strategic road network (red routes); cab trade and minicab enforcement, supporting Operation Sapphire; management of critical congestion.

Roads safety performance

7. The MPS has adopted the Department for Transport (DfT) Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) target of reducing casualties by 40%, and child casualties by 50%, by the year 2010 (set against the 1994 to 1998 baseline), as part of the wider aim to create 'Safer neighbourhoods'.

8. The projected reduction against that baseline in KSI’s by the end of the financial year 2004/05 is 33% and in child casualties by 34%. This is very welcome news and suggests that the MPS is on track to meet the 2010 target.

9. Furthermore, on London’s roads in 2003/04, there were 34 (12%) fewer deaths and 578 (11%) fewer serious injuries than the previous year. That trend is continuing to improve, (in the current financial year to end of February there were 46 (19%) fewer deaths than in same period 2003/04).

Road policing supports the wider policing agenda

10. In recent years, the ethos of Roads Policing in London has shifted. The high standards of technical expertise and commitment of the Traffic OCU have been maintained, while increasingly, the preventative and detective techniques of the traffic officer are deployed against a broader spectrum of criminal and antisocial behaviour. The benefits of this approach are clear.

11. In pursuit of casualty reduction and greater safety on the road, the Traffic OCU focuses on speed, poor driving, drink driving, non-wearing of seatbelts and the use of mobile phones whilst driving. These activities directly support the DfT ‘Think’ campaign, which is now embodied in the National Roads Policing Strategy.

12. Activity has increased this financial year to end of January compared with last year (2003/04). Speeding offences detected by Traffic officers increased by 30%, ‘drink drive’ arrests by 12%, and ‘no seat belt’ offences by 11% (adult not wearing) and 36% (child not wearing). Since the mobile phone offence became law in December 2003, over 14,000 fixed penalty notices have been issued.

13. Traffic OCU patrol activities are intelligence-led and benefit from increasingly sophisticated analysis. Deployments can be counter terrorist in nature, or based on hotspots that link high road casualty figures to the incidence of volume crime and anti-social behaviour. The Traffic tasking teams have become formidable anti-crime units that can be deployed in support of Borough Operational Command Unit’s (BOCU’s) through the pan-London tasking process to tackle particular roadspace crime problems e.g. scooter-based robbery.

14. This development in the MPS approach to Roads Policing was acknowledged nationally as good practice by the House of Commons Transport Committee in its report 'Traffic Law and its Enforcement', dated October 2004.

15. Within the terms of the Traffic Partnership function, the OCU is developing a tactical advice and support service to Safer Neighbourhoods Teams to contribute to reducing anti-social behavior associated with the use of motor vehicles (including scooters). This initiative will link the activity of BOCU Crime Prevention Design Advisors with Traffic Management Officers to consider as well as providing 'tactical advice' on patrol and enforcement options open to Safer Neighborhood teams.

Denying criminals use of roads

16. The Traffic OCU currently operates five Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) teams seconded to the OCU, and ANPR equipped operational patrol vehicles. The MPS ANPR database includes intelligence of a local, London-wide and national nature including those who persistently offend and evade traffic enforcement activities.

17. The ANPR teams are deployed through the pan-London tasking process to address crime problems, as well as supporting Traffic and Transport’s strategic assessment and the Mayor's Road Safety Plan by tackling persistent offenders/evaders and unregistered vehicles. This has included partnership working with other agencies, including Transport for London, where there is a joint interest in detecting and deterring unregistered, uninsured and unlicensed use of vehicles on London’s road network.

18. In the 30 weeks since absorbing the MPS ANPR operation in September 2004, the Traffic ANPR teams have recorded over 1,600 arrests, identified over 3,000 unregistered vehicles, and instigated 5,000 prosecutions for road traffic offences by way of fixed penalty ticket or summons through use of ANPR. This represents a 37% increase in the previous ANPR team arrest rate.

19. These outcomes reflect national research that every ANPR officer contributes 31 offences to the Offenders Brought to Justice Target - over three times more than general policing.

20. The Traffic Criminal Justice OCU has a key role in developing the MPS persistent offender/evader database, supported by analysis to achieve the most effective tasking.

London Safety Camera Partnership

21. The London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP) is in its third year of operation, and includes the MPS, City of London Police, Transport for London, Association of London Government and Greater London Magistrates Court Authority (GLMCA).

22. Each year an operational case has to be agreed with DfT within strict guidelines and sets out the Partnership’s intentions with respect to casualty reduction, operational activity and costs (capital and revenue).

23. The camera site selection process using casualty and speed data is now well established and the development of a sustainable enforcement strategy has been achieved.

24. The 2002/03 (Year 1) and 2003/04 (Year 2) operations achieved on average, 30% reduction in collisions resulting in death or serious injury (KSI) year on year at the camera sites installed by the partnership. Both years closed with their accounts balanced. The current year, similarly, is set to close with a small projected surplus.

25. In the Operational Case for 2004/05, the LSCP committed itself to investigating 100 new sites for fixed installations. This target will be met, and will result in 165 new sites since the Partnership's inception.

26. 2004/05 has also seen MPS enforcement activity levels 43% higher than those of year one. This has been achieved by increased efficiency brought about by streamlining working practices, staffing stability and the introduction of new information technology.

27. There has been some increase in staff numbers but for the most part this has been limited to the recruitment of enquiry officers to help tackle persistent offenders/evaders.

28. The Operational Case proposed for 2005/06 included a target to reduce KSIs by 100 per annum to be achieved by the installation of a further 120 new fixed sites.

29. This increase in enforcement activity was planned against provision of an increase in back office staff. However, in January 2005, the DfT wrote to the Partnership stating that because a significant number of partnerships had submitted operational cases which included plans to increase staff levels, no additional staff would be approved, pending a DfT review of each partnership’s staffing structures. The Partnership has been informed that the DfT review will take place “towards the end of this financial year/early next year”.

30. As a consequence, and at the present, the Operational Case for 2005/06 will be pegged at 2004/05 staffing levels. This could result in a reduction of new installations by as many as 54 sites. The Partnership is currently exploring avenues to minimise the impact of the review period, and a plan is being put into place to make good the potential shortfall.

31. An enhancement to the London Driver Improvement Scheme will also be piloted. This will aim at drivers exceeding ACPO guidelines in the 30 to 39mph speeding band, offering drivers the choice of the normal penalty and fine, or paying to attend the driver improvement course without penalty endorsement on their licence.

Collision Investigations

32. The Collision Investigation Units (CIUs) of the Traffic OCU are responsible for the investigation of all fatal and life changing injury collisions. Considerable progress has been achieved in the development of the service provided by CIUs (in keeping with the principles of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Road Death Investigation Manual) since last report.

33. Staff within the CIU have received specialist 'crime academy' training relevant to their role including investigative training to detective constable and detective sergeant level.

34. Advanced level Criminal Investigation Department training, as given to detective inspectors, has been negotiated for unit inspectors during the course of 2005.

35. The backlog in Family Liaison Officer training has been rectified. Service performance indicators in relation to timely first contact with families (both FLO and Senior Investigating Officer), and effective and timely handling of fatal investigations and prosecutions (in respect of Coroners and Crown Prosecution Service) have been developed and introduced in the course of 2004.

36. The Murder Review Group has conducted a number of reviews of unsolved fatal collisions. Recommendations are in the process of being implemented.

Partnership activity

37. Traffic partnership activity is extensive, and includes the Home Office, other Constabularies, GLMCA, ACPO, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the CPS, the Highways Agency, Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Coroners, the Health and Safety Executive, and membership of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee for Transport Safety.

38. Additionally, the Traffic OCU is a member of regional forums including the Pan London Road Safety Forum; Local Officer Technical Advisory Group; London Motorcycle Working Group; DfT Work Related Roads Risk forum, and Occupational Road Safety Alliance.

39. The OCU is also involved in a number of partnership initiatives including ‘Safer Routes to School’, ‘BikeSafe’ training (5000 attendees by May 2005), and a Freight Travel Plan project to improve freight sector fuel efficiency and risk management practices with the declared aim of reducing collisions and casualties.

40. Partnership conferences have been hosted at New Scotland Yard to promote more effective local relationships, and these in turn have led to the creation of local casualty reduction forums involving individual local authorities and officers from the OCU’s Traffic Management Units (TMUs).

41. All London boroughs are currently submitting their Local Implementation Plans in accordance with the Mayor’s Transport Strategy and an important recurring theme is safety. Consultation must include the MPS, and the operational links will be made with the TMUs.

42. To ensure consistency and to support these developments, and those in local policing within the MPS, a chief inspector has been appointed to lead on partnership working pan London.

C. Race and equality impact

The contents of this report are not considered to have any equality or diversity implications.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications of this report.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Commander Kay, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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