Specialist Crime Directorate update

Report: 11
Date: 26 October 2006
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Cime on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of Specialist Crime Directorate’s aims and objectives, key performance indicators, recent operational successes and diversity activity.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides an overview of Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) and an insight into its aims, objectives, key performance indicators against targets financial year-to-date, recent operational successes and diversity activity.

2 The Specialist Crime Directorate was launched in November 2002. Its units were previously part of the Specialist Operations family. In response to the emerging terrorist threat the decision was made to separate serious crime and terrorism to allow the two business groups to concentrate on their respective demanding remits. The intention being for both to develop their structures and capability to deliver in an ever-changing, complex policing environment. For Specialist Crime this culminated in Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabularies award of excellent grades in 2005 and 2006 in the investigation of major/serious crime and tackling Level 2 criminality [1].

3. It is Specialist Crime’s responsibility to reduce the impact of serious and organised crime. Not only in financial terms but also to counteract the human cost in the damage and harm caused to individuals, neighbourhoods and communities. We provide specialist support to Borough Colleagues and work with a wide variety of partners in both public and private sectors. These range from Her Majesty’s Custom and Revenue to Police and Community Consultative Groups.

4. The Directorate recently restructured in consequence of its own Modernisation Programme. Its purpose was to rationalise business, afford greater flexibility, responsiveness, increased resilience and value for money. Specifically, the programme has delivered changes aimed to better allow us to:

• Achieve our strategic aims in line with SCD mission.
• Clarify our functions, roles and responsibilities.
• Deliver performance improvement.
• Balance management responsibilities through effective spans of control.
• Minimise management on-cost.
• Maximise the resources available for the front line operational work.
• Identify resource and capability gaps.

The restructuring led to the creation of six command areas:

• Criminal networks.
• Homicide and other serious crime.
• Child abuse and economic crime.
• Covert policing and Intelligence.
• Forensic Services.
• Strategic development and business support

These command areas are focused on delivering SCD’s strategic objectives:

• Disrupting criminal networks, seizing their assets and reducing the harm they cause.
• Delivering the highest standards for homicide investigation and preventing homicide and other serious crimes by using disruption tactics.
• Safeguarding children and young persons from physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
• Developing capability to combating specialist crimes.
• Coordination and deployment of covert assets.
• Increasing the number of offences brought to justice as a result of forensic intervention.
• Being a well managed, effective, efficient and professional Directorate.

The command areas comprise a number of operational units. Amongst these are:

5. Homicide and serious crime undertakes responsibility for the following reactive investigations: all murder; manslaughter and attempted murder offences; high-risk missing persons where there is a substantive reason to suspect life has been taken or is under threat; linked series of two or more stranger rapes, which are beyond the capability of one Borough's resources to manage; other critical incidents which, due to their serious nature, complexity, or organisational risk, require support.

6. Child Abuse Investigation Command deals with child protection and paedophile issues, working closely with other child agencies. Its core objective is to identify and investigate allegations of child abuse. It has the capability to deal with large-scale allegations of systemic or organised abuse and intra-familial homicide.

7. Economic and Specialist Crime comprises specialised teams that offer investigative, proactive and intelligence development approaches to a wide range of serious crime affecting individuals, private and public sector organisations. The teams include fraud; dedicated cheque and plastic crime; money laundering investigation; specialist stolen vehicle; arts and antiques; computer crime; extradition and international assistance and regional asset recovery.

8. Serious and Organised Crime investigate commercial robberies by firearms (Flying squad); kidnaps; extortion; blackmail; contract killings; class A drugs suppliers; firearms users and traffickers. The Cultural and Communities Unit are based in this unit.

9. Trident/Trafalgar are responsible for the investigation of all shootings and discharges of firearms in London, except in those cases where the offences fall within the terms of reference of the Flying Squad. Where the victim and suspect for a non-fatal shooting are from the black community, then Trident teams investigate and where they are from other distinct communities Trafalgar teams deal. Trident’s remit includes fatal shootings where both the suspect and the victim are from our black communities. Community and Crime section meet regularly with groups and agencies to divert young children and youth away from the gun crime culture.

10. The intelligence function (SCD10) within Specialist Crime is part of Intelligence and Covert Policing Command. The unit provides a number of essential capabilities in relation to the management and development of intelligence including the Service Intelligence Bureau (MPS 24 hour intelligence support), Special Intelligence Section (tasked with dealing with serious organised crime related to people and drug trafficking), Police National Computer Bureau, Coordinating and Tasking Office (SC’s 24 x 7 operations room) and the Overseas Visitors Records Office.

11. Covert Policing comprises a number of units that provide covert operations and policing. They include surveillance teams; technical support unit; special intelligence section; authorities office; telephone intelligence; prison intelligence; witness albums; covert source management; covert operations group and Crimestoppers.

12. Forensic Services offer corporate services and consist of a number of units. These include specialist evidence recovery imaging services, fingerprint bureau, forensic development and services for territorial policing and specialist crime.

13. Crime Academy provides a co-ordinated approach to investigative, forensic and intelligence training. From the initial investigation at a scene of a crime through to presenting evidence at a court. The Crime Academy is developing links with academic institutions and seeking formal accreditation of courses especially in Forensic Training and Intelligence. In support of operational units a number of teams have been formed to deal with a particular crime problem. These include:

14. Operation Grafton – a joint strategic initiative involving Thames Valley and Surrey Police Services and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Its purpose is to reduce the levels of high value crime in and around Heathrow airport. Operation Grafton’s remit is specifically to deal with any allegation of crime concerning the movement of freight, where the value of property stolen or attempted to be stolen is in excess of 25k. Operation Grafton was established in direct response to members of the freight industry raising concerns about the significant and unsustainable losses being suffered as a result of serious and organised criminality. The situation was acute with companies already relocating and others threatening to follow unless urgent action was taken. The consequences and impact on the local economy would have been considerable.

15. Operation Maxim - a joint-agency taskforce involving the United Kingdom Immigration and Passport Services. Operation Maxim targets organised immigration crime in London. It was set-up in April 2003 to combat the exploitation and victimisation of vulnerable people who tend to come to London for economic reasons or are trying to avoid persecution. Two areas of particular concern are the sex trade where women have their illegal entry facilitated for exploitative benefit and trafficking of unaccompanied children through Heathrow airport. The investigations focus around the supply of false documents, people smuggling, trafficking for prostitution, facilitation for illegal working and immigrations such as ‘sham’ marriages and money laundering.

16. Operation Payback – this began as a joint initiative in the MPS to target London’s criminals through their finances. It is now accepted as a national term for asset recovery and anti-money laundering activity by law enforcement agencies, the courts and some government departments. It was formally launched in September 2003 with partners from City of London Police, British Transport Police and HM Revenue and Custom. The team’s objective is to promote the use of financial intelligence and powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). Its provisions of cash seizure, money laundering offences and criminal lifestyle are powerful tools against local criminals and criminal networks. The threshold for seizure was recently reduced to £1k. Operation Payback is a persuasive deterrent and aims to dissuade future offenders, disable criminal networks and give the public and business community reassurance.

17. Middle-market project - a joint initiative with HM Revenue and Customs aimed at disrupting middle-market drug dealing: best described as those criminals operating between the importers and street dealers. Research and analysis identified a gap in the enforcement capability of Class A drug trafficking. Operations are approved where intelligence offers evidence of criminal activity involving 1kg of cocaine or ½ kg of heroin and investigations are unlikely to exceed eight weeks.

18. Specialist Crime is allocated a budget of £360m. This is around 12% of the overall MPS budget. Police officer/staff pay and overtime account for over 80% of its expenditure. There is a budgeted workforce target (BWT) of 3,044 for police officers and 2,460 affordable workforce targets (AWT) for police staff.

19. The BWT is a target for police officers that is generally funded corporately and delivered by central HR (along with Business Groups) through the postings panel. As sufficient funding is provided if the BWT is reached the budget should balance. The budgets set for police officers are allocated specifically for that use.

20. The AWT is a measure of how many police staff a business group plans, and can afford, to recruit. The budget comes from within the business group who can decide to redirect the associated funding onto other areas should they wish. The Business Group can also choose to put more funding into their police staff budget line. The AWT is reached mainly through local recruitment activity.

21. Our key performance measures, targets and achievements financial year-to- date are:

No	Measure	Target	FYTD [2]
1	Number of criminal networks disrupted	150	32
2	Reduce gun enabled crime	-4%	-21%
3	The value of assets identified by court order for seizure	£35m	£10.8m
4	The number of cases where assets are restrained or cash seized	200	191
5	Detection rate for homicide offences	85%	81%
6	Conviction rate for detected homicide offences	85%	89%
7	Sanction detection rate for emotional, physical, sexual and neglect offences	20%	20%
8	Sanction detection rate for child rape	35%	31%
9	Sanction detection rate for intra-familial homicide	85%	150%

22. When compared to the same reporting period last year, there was:

• A reduction of 362 or 21% fewer gun enabled crime offences
• Fewer Trident related gun enabled crime offences, a decrease of 18 from 118 to 100. There are sixteen Boroughs yet to record an offence this financial year. The sanction detection rate has improved from 17% to 22%.
• Fewer Trafalgar related gun enabled crime offences, a decrease of 26 from 48 to 22. There are seventeen Boroughs yet to record an offence this financial year. The sanction detection rate has improved from 31% to 45%.
• Fewer commercial robberies by firearms, a decrease of 26 from 252 to 226. The largest reduction has occurred in Hackney Borough.
• A decrease in child abuse offences investigated from 3,485 to 3,109.
• A reduction in homicide offences from 85 to 70, a decrease of 17%. (Last year’s figure does include the 13 victims of July’s terrorist attack). Tower Hamlets Borough has not recorded an offence for over seventeen months.
• To achieve the criminal networks disruption target, an average of 17 in the remaining months need to be claimed by MPS units. There are around 40 claims awaiting scrutiny by the disruption panel. The current process for assessing is being supplemented by extra staff to allow more regular sittings of the panel. This would ensure a more even spread of claims and avoid any ‘bottle-necking’. Rather like last year it is anticipated that a significant number of claims will filter through in due course. The panel now has representation from Territorial Policing and Specialist Operations.
• A monthly average of £2.16m worth of assets are being seized. This needs to be increased to achieve the end of year target.

23. The threat to London presented by serious and organised criminality requires constant review and assessment. SCD monitors intelligence and the external operating environment to ensure that strategy and tactics are adjusted to meet changes in the nature and level of threats to London’s different communities. Some notable current issues for the Directorate include:

• The challenge presented by (dysfunctional) criminal role models particularly within gang culture.
• The tendency for ‘chaotic’ offending where occurrences can be easily triggered by issues such as perceived disrespect .
• The decreasing age of offenders and their willingness to use serious violence.
• The ever changing tactics and increasingly sophisticated technology used by criminals.
• The international dimension of investigations.
• Ensuring we continue to develop effective community engagement with London’s newer communities to deal effectively with serious and organised crime building on successes such as Operation Trident.
• The introduction and implementation of a new MPS Drug Strategy.
• Building our operational and partnership role with the newly formed Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
• The formation of a MPS Intelligence Bureau with its tasking and covert deployment capability.
• Implementing our modernisation review and contributing to the MPS programme.
• Conducting a post-implementation review of the three Homicide Commands’ amalgamation into a single command.
• Ensuring the right performance measures are featured in the protective services domain within the Assessment of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) framework.
• Operating to tighter financial constraints.

Some recent operational successes for the Directorate include:

24. Officers from Operation Trident seized hundreds of firearms as part of a major operation to tackle the supply of guns to criminals in London. The intelligence-led operation culminated in a dawn raid on three addresses in and around Dartford, Kent. A man was arrested on suspicion of supplying firearms from a residential address. In addition, United States law enforcement agencies are carrying out a linked operation in New Jersey. The seizures included shotguns, automatic and semi automatic weapons.

25. A man has been told he must spend the rest of his life in jail for the murder of a 15 year-old girl in Lewisham. He pleaded guilty to murdering the schoolgirl. She left her home, telling her mother, she was going to a phone box nearby to ring her friend. CCTV footage from around the phone box shows her walking away alone. There are no reports of any further sightings. London Ambulance Service called police officers to a flat after a woman alerted emergency services to a man who had attempted suicide. After visiting the flat and questioning the woman, police discovered a body concealed behind a rubbish chute. She had been dismembered and the body parts put into five black plastic sacks. A post mortem at Greenwich Mortuary concluded that she had died from strangulation. The man and a 48-year-old woman were both arrested. The woman was later released.

26. Two men have been jailed for five years each having pleaded guilty to forgery offences. Both were arrested following an intelligence-led investigation by the Operation Maxim team. It is believed that without early police intervention, the men could have produced in excess of 12,000 counterfeit passports commonly used by immigration offenders and fraudsters. Officers found computers, printers, scanners and £40k worth of specialist machinery used for producing and embossing fake documents at an address.

27. Two men have been sentenced to a total of 26 years' imprisonment following a major investigation by the Flying Squad into a multi-million pound robbery at Heathrow Airport. A delivery driver and baggage handler were found guilty of conspiracy to rob British Airways of £4.5m of various currencies and conspiring to rob a cargo warehouse of gold bullion, cash and other valuables.

28. Four men and a woman were charged with the kidnap of a 10-year-old boy after an operation led by the Kidnap Unit in which the boy was rescued. Three of the men, two Americans from New York and a Trinidad and Tobago national living in New York, have been charged with kidnap, two counts of false imprisonment, blackmail, possession of a firearm whilst committing an indictable offence and aggravated burglary. The other man and woman, both British nationals from Clapham, have been charged with kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail.

29. A man was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to a variety of child-related sex offences. He pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming, attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child, as well as other offences including distribution of indecent images of children. He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order. He formed an online relationship with someone whom he believed to be a young girl earlier this year. Discussions over via the Internet quickly became very explicit, but unbeknown to him, he was actually communicating with a specially trained detective from the Child Abuse Investigation Command. He graphically described what he wanted to do to the girl if she agreed to meet him. He travelled to London expecting to meet the girl, but officers from the Paedophile Unit were waiting and he was arrested for 'attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.' Examination of his computer uncovered 269 indecent images of children displaying the highest graded level of child pornography.

30. Five people were arrested when the Film Piracy Unit (SCD6 Economic and Specialist Crime) assisted by Trading Standards and Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) discovered over 50 tower DVD burner machines at an address in London. On searching the light industrial premises, officers also found 30,000 blank DVDs and a large quantity of printed cover inlays. The factory, theoretically, had the capacity to produce 450 DVDs every 10 minutes, (2,700 DVDs per hour). If the factory was operational for 24/7 hours it could produce 64,800 DVDs per day. This is believed to be the largest DVD piracy factory ever to be discovered in the UK. Four males and one female all aged between 21 and 41 years, were arrested. This is the first operation undertaken by the MPS Film Piracy Unit, which was launched earlier this year.

31. For more than a year the Directorate has held a Diversity Forum. It is chaired by a Commander and meets every six weeks. All OCUs have representation. A recent development included a creation of a forum in each OCU. It has 21 objectives to deliver. These were sourced from the Directorate Staff Survey, Diversity Excellence model, Morris Inquiry and Commission for Racial Equality. They include:

• Improving representation of black and minority ethnic officers.
• Improving representation of female police officers.
• Improve representation in terms of age and disability.
• Ensure fair and transparent procedures exist for promotion and appointments within SCD.
• Ensure the flexible working policy is fully understood, implemented and monitored.

32. In November 2005 the Forum sponsored the Diversity Excellence Model’s self-assessment exercise in each OCU. Areas for improvement were identified and prioritised into action plans. These are currently being worked on locally. They are subject to a quarterly update. In addition a formal review process is scheduled for late October. This will provide an opportunity to ensure the action plans are actually being delivered and having the desired impact.

33. The Forum offered an OCU to assist in the piloting of the equality self-assessment tool. Our participation has been delayed as the project has encountered supplier contractual difficulties.

34. The Cultural and Communities Resource Unit was established within the Specialist Crime Directorate to manage a confidential database of the life skills of MPS staff, to assist operationally with critical incidents. This enables the MPS to resolve critical incidents, solve major crime more quickly and to the satisfaction of our communities.

C. Race and equality impact

There are no explicit equalities items addressed. The activities that form this report and the data content are arrived at with a regard to delivering Specialist Crime policing services to an equal standard for all Londoners. The performance report should fully comply with equal opportunities legislation and associated MPA/MPS Diversity policy.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications as all of the data featured in this report is already produced regularly by the MPS.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Raymond Marshall, MPA

For more information contact:

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

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