Operation Blunt 2

Report: 6
Date: 29 May 2008
By: the Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out the background to the introduction across the MPS of Operation Blunt 2 to reduce serious youth violence, particularly knife crime, building on reductions achieved in 2007/08.

The report highlights concerns shared by communities, the MPS and the Authority about the number of young people murdered in London. It describes the robust operational approach which will see additional effort and resources being applied in every borough across London throughout the coming year to meet the objectives of Operation Blunt 2, and the supporting activity across MPS business groups. It sets out the intention to develop a bespoke performance framework and identifies the financial implications of Operation Blunt 2.

The report outlines the existing strong engagement by the MPS with young people and communities, and explains how this will be built upon in delivery of the additional enforcement activity. It also outlines the activity across MPS business groups which will support the delivery of Operation Blunt 2 and explains work ongoing with partners through the London Criminal Justice Board in relation to youth justice issues.

A. Recommendation

That:

1. the introduction of Operation Blunt 2 and the associated funding arrangements are noted;

2. members support this MPS initiative to enhance enforcement activity in relation to serious youth violence, and in particular to reduce the number of young victims of knife crime; and

3. members note that this enforcement initiative takes place in the context of strong long-term engagement by the MPS with young people and communities across London, and an enhanced commitment to Safer Schools Partnerships and Safer Neighbourhoods youth panels.

B. Supporting information

1. In early 2007 the murders of a number of young people, many as a result of the use of knives, caused great concern to communities, to the Authority and to the MPS. The MPS responded, under the auspices of the MPS Youth Strategy, by introducing additional robust operational measures to reduce serious youth violence.

2. Operation Curb was introduced across every borough in London, to target the most violent young offenders and reduce attempted homicide, grievous bodily harm (GBH) and weapon enabled crime where both the victim and the offender were aged under 20 years. Operation Kartel focussed on places and times when it was anticipated that anti-social behaviour and disorder would be highest, such as school holidays. Operation Blunt specifically targeted knife crime and Operation Alliance developed a cross-borough approach to tackling youth violence in South East London.

3. Under the MPS Youth Strategy these specific operations significantly reduced serious youth violence in 2007/08, including:

• Reduction of 16% in attempted homicide, GBH and weapon enabled crime involving victims and offenders under 20 years.
• Reduction of 21.8% in personal robbery, with a 24% reduction in young victims of robbery.
• Reduction of 16% in knife enabled crime overall.
• Reduction of 5% in GBH involving victims and offenders under 20 years.

4. Sadly, deaths of young people as a result of knife crime have continued, and community concerns remain understandably high. The death of any young person through violence is a tragedy and every death is one too many. The MPS alone cannot reduce serious youth violence and it needs the support of communities and the commitment of partner agencies.

5. The challenge of reducing deaths, serious violence and the carrying of weapons by young people continues, and the MPS is now deploying Operation Blunt 2 to tackle it across London, with particular emphasis in the most affected areas.

6. Operation Blunt 2 is primarily an enforcement initiative against serious youth violence, but it relies heavily on effective community engagement and participation. It is supported by continuing work on youth engagement and youth justice under the MPS Youth Strategy.

Operation Blunt 2 objectives

7. The intention of Operation Blunt 2 is to stop the killing of young people by weapons on the streets of London. It is a long term, pan-London operation, the objectives of which are:

• To reduce serious violence involving young people as victims of knife crime and as offenders
• To reduce the carrying of weapons by young people on the streets of London
• To maintain the support of communities and young people for police action to reduce youth violence.

8. Operation Blunt 2 will develop the learning from previous youth violence operations to shape robust operational activity. The focus will be on dangerous people and dangerous places, and the MPS will:

• Target the most violent young offenders on every borough, using intelligence to disrupt their activities and arrest them
• Focus on times and places where anti-social behaviour, disorder and youth violence are highest
• Target those who carry knives, identify offenders and ensure that as many as possible are put before the courts.

Operational Approach

9. Operation Blunt 2 will involve the use of the tactics successfully developed in Operations Curb, Blunt and Kartel under one all-embracing, long term, pan-London youth violence initiative. It will also draw on the learning and experience from Operation Alliance. The MPS recognises that the problems of serious youth violence cannot be solved by the police service alone.

10. Operation Blunt 2 represents the application of additional effort targeting dangerous people and dangerous places to reduce serious youth violence and the carrying of knives by young people.

11. Operation Blunt 2 is being centrally led by DAC Operations Territorial Policing and co-ordinated by Territorial Policing headquarters (TPHQ), and will roll out in all boroughs across London. Those boroughs with the most serious problems of youth violence and knife crime will receive additional support from corporate assets in support of local operational activity.

12. All borough commanders are being required to identify their hotspot locations and offender/victim profiles and develop local plans to reduce serious youth violence. All such plans will include a clear engagement strategy and a robust equalities impact assessment.

13. Operation Blunt 2 will seek community support for robust intelligence-led anti-knife operations using powers under s.60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act in areas where knife offenders live as well as where knife offences occur. These operations will include the use of search arches and search wands to identify people carrying knives, which will be deployed at times and in places where intelligence indicates that young people will be.

14. Operation Blunt 2 is based on the robust, intelligence-led use of stop and search powers in specific localities. The MPS will continue to work with communities to use stop and search effectively and appropriately as an important tool in discouraging young people from carrying knives and other weapons. It is clear that there is support for this tactic, provided that it is based on intelligence and is used with sensitivity and respect. Disproportionality in the use of stop and search is less in London than it is across the rest of the UK, but it is clear that the stabbings of young people in London are affecting minority communities and it is therefore likely that intelligence-led operations will take place in areas where minority communities live. The MPS will work with the MPA and the Stop and Search Community Monitoring Network (CMN) to monitor the proportionate use of stop and search closely.

15. Through Safer Neighbourhood Teams, the MPS will brief local ward panels and other stakeholders to encourage people to participate as observers during the deployment of Op Blunt 2 in their areas. The intention is to achieve a community mandate for the tactical enforcement approach of this operation, together with the active engagement of community members in the operation itself, in the role of observer.

16. Working closely with the MPA and the Stop and Search CMN, the MPS will encourage young people to understand their rights in relation to stop and search, and to complain if they are not happy about how they were treated.

Youth Engagement

17. The MPS will continue to engage with young people to encourage them not to carry knives, to report knife crime and to have confidence in policing. The MPS has taken an active part in the current MPA Youth Scrutiny, and awaits publication of the recommendations with interest, particularly as they will help to shape the delivery of Operation Blunt 2.

18. Safer Schools Officers (SSOs) are being deployed in 185 priority schools and colleges and all 59 pupil referral units across London, and will work with young people specifically on these issues under Operation Blunt 2. Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) will ensure that all ward panels identify priorities for young people to make them safer, and will brief those panels on the problems of serious youth violence and knife crime. In every ward in London a youth panel will ensure that young people can work directly with the police to make London safer, including tackling knife crime. Feedback from many young people makes it clear that they want the police service to be robust in keeping them safe.

19. Individual boroughs will also work with local authority and third sector youth workers, street pastors and others engaged in youth outreach to inform young people about the dangers of carrying knives. It is of critical importance that young people understand that carrying a knife is not cool and that choosing to carry a knife puts a young person at high risk of killing someone else, of being injured themselves and of going to prison. Ultimately, the aim is to encourage not only those whom young people respect and listen to to champion this approach, but also to find champions among young people themselves.

20. The MPS will use leaflets during deployments of Operation Blunt 2 to inform young people about the reasons for the operation, the dangers of carrying knives, how to report knife crime to the police and through Crimestoppers, and what their rights are in relation to stop and search.

Community engagement

21. All borough plans will include a local engagement strategy that ensures Safer Neighbourhoods ward panels and youth panels are actively engaged in discussion of the issues concerning serious youth violence and knife crime, to enable them to understand and inform the police response. In locations identified as hotspots for youth violence, Safer Neighbourhood Teams will be required to undertake problem solving activity with communities and partner agencies in support of Operation Blunt 2.

22. Police Community Consultative Groups (PCCGs), Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs), borough Stop and Search CMNs and other consultative groups as appropriate will be engaged in order to harness support for police operations and to monitor the use of tactics such as stop and search.

23. Partners in the statutory and third sectors will be engaged in appropriate joint initiatives to complement the enforcement activity undertaken by police, particularly at the local level.

24. There will be pan-London engagement with the MPS IAGs, particularly those focused on race and youth, and with the London Youth Crime Prevention Board, to advise on the Operation Blunt 2 approach and operational delivery.

Youth Justice

25. The MPS is working with partners in the criminal justice system to divert as many young people from crime as possible, to deal sensitively with young victims and to deal speedily and effectively with those who commit serious violence.

26. Work is underway, managed by the London Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) (of which the MPS is a key member), to pilot in two London boroughs a number of measures which will have a significant impact in relation to dealing with serious youth violence. These include early risk assessment of youth offenders to ensure that serious offences are dealt with robustly through the courts, while other disposal options for less serious offences are considered as appropriate.

27. Measures are also being piloted aimed at increasing the confidence of young victims and witnesses, improving the court environment and speeding up youth court processes. The MPS is supporting these measures by introducing dedicated Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to patrol youth courts.

28. Liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is being undertaken at pan-London level regarding prosecution policy in support of Operation Blunt 2. Boroughs will be expected to engage actively with the local CPS to ensure a robust joint prosecution approach, and to produce impact statements for court which clearly set out the effects of serious youth violence and knife crime on local communities.

29. Borough commanders will brief local magistrates on the local profile of knife crime and the operational activity being undertaken under Operation Blunt 2 to address it.

MPS Pan-Business Group Support

30. Operation Blunt 2 is a pan-London operation, delivered locally through borough plans. The majority of the police assets engaged in delivering Operation Blunt 2 will therefore be borough officers, including Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Safer Schools Officers.

31. Additional resources deployed to those boroughs with the most significant serious youth violence and knife crime problems will include Central Operations assets such as the Territorial Support Group (TSG).

32. Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) support will be provided through intelligence analysis by the Met Intelligence Bureau (MIB). In addition, SCD1 Homicide Operational Command Unit (OCU) will investigate youth murders, support the borough investigation of serious violent crimes where appropriate, and undertake targeted engagement with young people under borough engagement plans to underline the consequences of carrying weapons.

33. Longer term work by SCD3, in partnership with boroughs and local authorities, will support Operation Blunt 2 by delivering the Pathways project to assist young people in turning away from crime, particularly those involved in gang activity. SCD3 have also developed a toolkit for use both by the MPS and partners to assist in developing an understanding of the strategies and tactics which have been successful elsewhere in tackling those specific types of youth offending which are linked to gangs.

34. Operation Trident has extensive links with black communities and is engaged in work with those communities which, although focused on preventing gun crime, will clearly have an impact on those young people at risk of becoming involved in serious violence of other kinds.

35. Specialist pan-London engagement and community impact support will be provided by the Specialist Operations Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team (CTSET).

Performance framework

36. A bespoke performance framework is being developed to monitor the application of existing and additional resources and the delivery of successful outcomes under Operation Blunt 2. The performance framework will include analysis and monitoring of proportionality in relation to activity and outcomes. It will be reported regularly to MPS Performance Board.

37. The information from this framework will be used in engagement with local communities through Neighbourhood and youth panels, Stop and Search CMNs, IAGs, local consultative and other groups.

38. Boroughs are required to prioritise activity that supports the aims of Operation Blunt 2, which may have an impact on other activity. There will be close monitoring of any associated performance impact. The redirection of other business group assets in support of Operation Blunt 2 may have also have implications for non-TP activity which will also need to be managed.

39. All operational plans will be costed.

C. Race and equality impact

Issues of proportionality concerning police activity and performance outcomes will be addressed by virtue of being included at the heart of the bespoke performance framework for Operation Blunt 2 which is currently being developed.

An Equalities Impact Assessment for Operation Blunt 2 pan-London has been opened. All local borough Operation Blunt 2 plans will be required to have community impact assessments.

D. Financial implications

Operation Blunt 2 will be delivered through existing BOCU, business group, TP Tasking and Corporate Tasking arrangements. The additional activity is estimated at this time to cost £1m in the current year.

Boroughs are required to prioritise activity that supports the aims of Operation Blunt 2 and other OCUs across SCD, CO, SO and TP are also providing operational input. This level of additional activity needs to be supported to ensure that it does not have a serious impact on other initiatives. There is a £5m provision set aside in finalising the 2008/09 budget following the Government announcement on NI Employer Contributions which resulted in a saving to the Authority. In agreeing the 2008/09 budget, the Chair of the Authority indicated that at least some of this provision should be used to support activity to enhance youth engagement and reduce serious youth violence. It is therefore proposed to augment the Corporate Tasking budget by the addition of £1m specifically to support enforcement operations under Operation Blunt 2.

Operational plans are being produced at borough, OCU and corporate level in support of Operation Blunt 2 and will be fully costed. A clear focus in the central co-ordination of Operation Blunt 2 is to ensure that the tactics generate the greatest return against the operational objectives through the management of best practice and quality control of borough plans.

Boroughs are supported by the ability to apply through TP Tasking to Corporate Tasking for financial support for specific operations to supplement their own resources. Each application is considered and prioritised on its merits, taking into account the proposed objectives, the intelligence platform, the resources sought and the pan-London operational picture in relation to serious youth violence and other priority crimes.

The deployment of other business group assets is managed through the Corporate Tasking process. The Corporate Tasking budget will be augmented by £1m as set out above, specifically to support this activity to reduce serious youth violence. Should the operational response in future be required to exceed existing budgets, any request for additional resources will be subject to the normal decision making processes.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Rose Fitzpatrick, DAC Operations, TP, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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