Commissioner's report

Report: 5
Date: 30 April 2009
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report, prepared for the Authority meeting, summarises the progress of the Metropolitan Police Service against the objectives featured in the 2008–2011 Policing Plan for London.

The report covers the periods February and March 2009 with data for individual measures reflecting the 12-month period ending February 2009 unless stated otherwise. It is intended to highlight progress against corporate targets and identifies key operational activities that deliver a safer city for all London’s communities.

This report contains the usual monthly figures relating to the Critical Performance Areas. Report headlines can be summarised as follows:

• The residential burglary rate has dropped again and is currently at a reduction of 1.5% (912 fewer offences) for the 12 months to February 2009 compared with the previous rolling 12 months. While this does represent a historical low, the MPS recognises that this may prove challenging to sustain in the longer term.
• Between April 2008 and February 2009 there were 2,163 fewer youth (under 20 years old) victims of crime than in the corresponding period in 2007/08. The number of youth homicide victims (aged 10-19) is down to 21 from 25 compared to the same period in 2007/08.
• Rape offences have increased by 15.9%, 300 offences, in the 12 months to February 2009 compared with the previous rolling 12-month period. Domestic violence offences have also increased by 4.8% over the same period.
• Overall police officer numbers are at the highest level ever recorded (32,261). Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) police officer representation continues to increase and stands at its highest level 2,816 (8.7% of regular officers). Female officer representation is also its highest ever recorded level, standing at 7,185 (22.3%).

A. Recommendation

The report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. This report updates progress against the corporate objectives featured in the Policing Plan for London. For each objective we summarise progress to date and report on key initiatives. For ease of reference a summary table giving an overview of performance is attached at Appendix 1 with a green (G), amber (A), red (R) assessment against the Critical Performance Areas (CPAs) under each objective.

2. This month’s report has an additional appendix, Appendix 2, featuring the MPS end of year crime figures following the close of the financial year 2008/09. This is not a full set of data; several of the 2008/09 measures are not yet available and the available data represents only the top-level crime performance areas. The full set of 2008/09 measures will be reported to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee in June, together with commentary on exceptions. It should be noted that this is not a like for like set for comparison with the usual data provided around the Critical Performance Areas that is included in this report.

Our Delivery: performance and activity

Objective: Make our services more accessible and improve people’s experience of their contact with us, especially victims and witnesses.

How we monitor our performance

3. We monitor our progress against this objective via two Critical Performance Areas measures (see below). Both measures are statutory performance indicators (SPI) derived from a comprehensive survey of service users conducted by an independent market research company. The survey takes place on a continuous basis and captures recent experiences of victims of burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime, road traffic collisions and racist incidents

Progress Summary

• This is quarterly survey data that has not been changes since the March report. The latest results showed that victim satisfaction with our overall service has improved by 1% point for the year to December 2008. The satisfaction gap between white and BME victims is close to the national average and the focus of ongoing research by the Home Office, NPIA and MPS to gain a greater understanding of the key drivers of satisfaction amongst different user groups. The MPS is implementing a number of initiatives to address victim satisfaction and the satisfaction gap; these are highlighted below.

Recent initiatives

4. The MPS created a ‘Victims and Witness Satisfaction Working Group’ in December 2008. Attended by senior management from across various MPS directorates as well as colleagues from Victim Support its focus is to address and reduce the satisfaction gap between BME and white victim groups. A representative from the MPA sits on the working group.

5. Other key areas of public satisfaction considered by the working group include the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, Witness Care Units, Policing Pledge and Witness Charter. Crucial to the improvement of satisfaction is meeting our commitments within the policing pledge. The working group is ensuring that knowledge and learning is shared amongst MPS business groups to assist them with implementation of the pledge principles. Further detail on the work being done to close the satisfaction gap is in the report that went to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on 2 April.

Objective: Make our neighbourhoods safer through local and city-wide problem solving and partnership working to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and road casualties

How we monitor our performance

6. The primary measure for this objective is public confidence through a statutory performance indicator measured independently via the Home Office’s British Crime Survey (BCS) (glossary of terms is attached at Appendix 3). The BCS is a long established continuous survey of UK residents conducted face-to-face in people’s homes. The limitations are that respondents are aged 17 and above and it does not capture business crime.

7. In addition to public confidence, progress is monitored using Home Office Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) focused on the underlying serious acquisitive crime rate and our associated investigation performance – namely the number of offenders brought to justice. Additionally, to assess the safety of our roads network across the capital, the MPS use a very specific SPI - a count of the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions relative to the number of vehicle kilometres travelled. This measure enables the Home Office to compare and contrast performance across forces with different traffic densities.

Progress Summary

• The latest results show confidence in local policing now stands at 54.2% [year to Sept 2008] below the year-end target of 56.2%. The MPS leads its Home Office Most Similar Family (MSF) group and is 15th out of the 42 police force areas in England and Wales. Considerable effort is being applied to improve this performance and a detailed update was provided to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on 5 February.
• Serious acquisitive crime is on a long term improving trend and is now at its lowest level in any rolling 12 month period since the year to March 1999. We are currently on-track to deliver against our year-end target of a 4 percent year-on-year reduction.
• For the rolling year to January the sanction detection rate for serious acquisitive crime was 10.5%, below our 2008/9 target of 11.8%. Meeting this target represents a significant challenge in the final month of this financial year.

Recent initiatives

Operation Spotlight

8. Residential burglary is currently at a reduction of 1.5% (912 fewer offences) for the 12 months to February 2009 compared with the previous rolling 12 months. Since the start of Operation Spotlight in November 2008 there have been over 2,500 arrests for residential burglary and the current MPS detection rate for residential burglary is 13.2%. The SD rate is 13.6%

9. Recent analysis of victim satisfaction surveys carried out by Market Research UK (MRUK) show gradual improvement in key areas relating to Spotlight. Based on data from seven boroughs over three months, they show an increase in levels of satisfaction for police response, rising from 81% to 91%. Satisfaction with police treatment increased form 90% to 97% and victims being reassured by police increased from 83% to 93%.

10. We anticipate that burglary will continue to be a challenging area. To coincide with the start of the new performance year, a new operational phase is taking place to identify opportunities to sustain burglary reduction in 2009/10. Additionally areas for improvement identified as a result of victim satisfaction performance analysis will be incorporated into the MPS burglary control strategy for 2009/10.

Police Central e-Crime Unit

11. Following its launch in September 2008, the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has been developing its ability to pursue serious e-criminals. Based in the MPS, the PCeU is working closely with the City of London Police in the creation of the National Fraud Reporting Bureau – with the aim of processing all fraud and e-crime reports that are the subject of multi-agency analysis and directing them to the appropriate agency. The unit is also exploring new ways of working with the banking and retail sectors in which industry will share key data regarding the nature of attacks and agree shared objectives in the creation of a ‘Virtual Task Force’ to combat e-crime.

Operation Seaquest

12. For the last ten weeks officers from the North East Traffic Unit have undertaken a seizure operation in partnership with the North East boroughs. The aim of the operation was to seize and remove uninsured and unroadworthy vehicles from London’s roads, thus reducing incidences of people being killed or seriously injured. During the operation over 1,800 vehicles were seized. In addition, 162 people were arrested for a variety of offences, 201 dangerous FPNs issued and 74 vehicles removed as being too dangerous to drive on the road.

Airwave

13. The Directorate of Information continues to work with internal and external partners on the ongoing project to improve in-building communications at selected locations where radio communication is considered critical to operations. To date, the Airwave team have installed Airwave in-building communication solutions in over 20 police and public buildings, including the new Westfield Shopping Centre in White City. There is also a vehicle capability in testing, looking to provide coverage in places where a fixed location is not possible, such as underground car parks and large buildings such as blocks of flats. This works through a vehicle gateway radio set which allows officers to ‘talk back’ to their vehicle, which then connects through to the Airwave network. These gateway sets were recently used by officers providing security to delegates at their hotels during the G20 summit talks in London.

Objective: Reduce serious violence and protect young people

How we monitor our performance

14. Performance is monitored against this objective using a combination of Home Office SPIs and internal MPS metrics. The SPIs also feature within the new national Assessment of Policing and Community Safety framework (APACS) introduced in April 2008.

Progress Summary

15. The MPS is making steady progress against all the serious crime reduction measures

• Most Serious Violence and Assault With Injury reduced by 2.7% (1,954 offences) over the rolling year to February 2009.
• Against the new Home Office gun crime definition, we have seen a year-on-year reduction of 25.8% (-755 offences) as at the end of February 2009. This reduction has been achieved through a series of proactive initiatives including intelligence-led interventions at identified hot spots.
• The combined sanction detection rate for most serious violence and serious sexual offences is 32.1% for the rolling year to February 2009.
• The Domestic Violence offences resulting in arrest for the rolling year to February 2009 is 71.8%, on track for our target this year of 67%.
• For the period April to February 2009, the number of under 20 year olds becoming victims of violence decreased by 10.4% (2,163 victims) compared to the corresponding period in 2007. (Rolling year comparisons are not possible due to a change of measure definition by the Home Office). This is ahead of the year-end target of a 6% reduction.

Recent Initiatives

Operation Blunt 2

16. Knife crime shows a 12.9% reduction between April and February 2008/09 compared with the same period in 2007/08. This equates to 1,689 fewer violent crimes involving knives. The number of youth victims of violence has declined by 10.4% in the period between April 2008 and February 2009 when compared with the same period the previous year. This equates to some 2,163 fewer youth victims of violence.

17. The Blunt Task Force is an integral part of the MPS response to serious youth violence. Two support units comprising 50 officers provide support to Borough Commands on a daily basis to assist in targeting youth conflict involving lethal weapons, mainly knives. This approach provides a dynamic response to emerging threats of youth violence. Officers are briefed and directed to engage with young people and use search powers to detect and deter the carriage of lethal weapons. They also have significant communication with young people, explaining the reasons for the operation and rationale for the use of police powers in order to save lives. A number of MPA members, media representatives and other stakeholders have observed the Task Force in action. MPA members have noted the Task Force’s approach, and the methods of control and targeting that aim to avoid alienation of the vast majority of young people who are not involved in serious violence.

Paedophile sentenced

18. On 16 March a predatory paedophile pleaded guilty to 31 offences relating to children. Andrew Lintern, 55, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to an indeterminate sentence for public protection. This conviction was the result of a proactive operation, Operation Miscue. Lintern had been communicating online with a Covert Internet Investigator from the Specialist Crime Directorate. After several months of sexual grooming Lintern travelled to London intending to meet what he believed was a 13-year-old girl. On arrival he was immediately arrested by officers from the Paedophile Unit. Following his arrest a significant number of other offences came to light.

Objective: Disrupt more criminal networks and reduce the harm caused by drugs

How we monitor our performance

19. In the absence of nationally defined SPIs, we monitor our performance using a combination of internal measures.

Progress Summary

• Good progress is being made in disrupting criminal networks – achieving over 30 disruptions each month through the deployment of proactive teams acting on intelligence.
• The value of assets identified by court order for seizure for the period Apr’08 – Feb’09 was an average of £3.7 m per month. The MPS are on course to meet the year end target of £42 m or £3.5 m per month
• The number of sanction detections for trafficking shows a small increase on the corresponding period last year. For the 12 months to February 2009 the MPS achieved 2,520 sanction detections for Class A drug trafficking, against 2,474 for the year to February 2008.
• For the 12 months to February 2009 there has been an improvement in sanction detections for cocaine and heroin individually (monthly averages of 138 and 57 respectively) compared to the corresponding period ending February 2008

Recent Initiatives

Clubs and Vice link with Lithuania

20. Central Operations’ Clubs and Vice unit made a visit to Lithuania in March to raise awareness of young Lithuanian women trapped in the British sex industry. The team gave a presentation to a select committee at the Lithuanian Parliament as well as meeting with police and giving a number of TV and radio interviews. As a result of the visit, agreement was reached for joint working between the MPS and Lithuanian police to tackle organised criminal networks both in London and Lithuania. A large majority of the women trafficked into the UK are from Eastern Europe, and a considerable number of these come from Lithuania. Clubs and Vice aim to roll out this approach to other Eastern European countries in due course, as well as further afield to countries such as Thailand. A meeting has been arranged with the Head of Trafficking at Europol to discuss other areas where the MPS can make an impact on people trafficking from other European countries.

London Prison Anti-Corruption Team

21. On 26 March, a serving prison officer from Wormwood Scrubs was sentenced to seven years imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply drugs and misconduct in a public office. This was the first case by the new London Prison Anti-Corruption Team (LPACT) to go through court. A joint initiative between SCD6 and HM Prison Service, LPACT specifically targets the trafficking of mobile phones and drugs into London prisons by prison staff.

Objective: Enhance our counter terrorism capability and capacity

How we monitor our performance

22. The MPS continues to report its performance in relation to counter-terrorism to the MPA/MPS Counter Terrorism Protective Services Sub-committee (previously CT Oversight Committee), chaired by Lord Toby Harris. The next meeting of this group is on 28 May 2009. Internally reports are also regularly provided to MPS Performance Board.

Progress Summary

23. Terrorism remains a significant threat to the United Kingdom. The current threat level is assessed as Severe (as of 4th July 2007). To address this, significant capacity has been developed within the MPS to deliver the Government counter-terrorism strategy, which was itself revised with the public release of CONTEST 2 on 24 March.

24. As of April 1, three significant units will have transferred from Central Operations to Specialist Operations. These are the Diplomatic Protection Group (SO6), the Palace of Westminster (SO17) and Aviation Security OCU (SO18), which deals with London Heathrow and London City Airports.

Prevent

25. To support BOCUs over the next 12 months a comprehensive MPS CONTEST “Prevent” implementation plan and supporting guidance was issued on 24 March. Prevent has to be embedded into local and neighbourhood policing and be a part of our core business. It is only by working together with all our partners, to support our communities, that we can strengthen their resilience and counter the threat from violent extremism and terrorism.

26. Counter Terrorism Intelligence Officers (CTIOs) are now distributed to provide cover to every borough and it is intended to embed a minimum of one Prevent Engagement Officer (PEO) on each BOCU by the end of this financial year. Additionally, work is in progress to develop a process of information sharing with our local authority partners. Success in Prevent depends on effective sharing of information with partners and with communities, so that they both understand the extent of the problem presented by terrorism / violent extremism and recognise how their involvement can contribute to defeating it.

Recent Operations and Trials

27. In response to requests from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in March, following the murders of two British soldiers at Massareene Barracks on 7 March and a PSNI Constable in Armagh on 9 March, officers from SO15 visited Northern Ireland to assist in reviewing protective strategies and to help directly in specialised aspects of the investigations.

28. A small team travelled to Bangladesh at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to support the police there in a serious investigation following a mutiny in February 2009, which led to over 70 fatalities.

29. Two significant trials are under way. The retrial of the ‘Airline Plot’ investigated under Operation OVERT commenced in February 2009 at Woolwich Crown Court. Eight men are charged with conspiring together and with others to murder persons unknown by detonation of improvised explosive devices on transatlantic passenger aircraft in 2006. Three men are on trial at Kingston Crown Court charged with conspiring in the 7/7 bomb attacks on the London transport network. Two are also charged with knowingly attending terrorist training.

Section 44 Review

30. Following a review of the MPS use of stop & search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT), new guidance for Section 44 is being rolled out on 20 April for a three month pilot in four boroughs: Southwark, Brent, Newham and Tower Hamlets. The aim is to reduce reliance on Section 44 and reduce the discretion in its use. It is anticipated this will reduce the overall numbers of s.44 stops while giving a closer protective focus on key areas and events

Section 58a TACT

31. There were public concerns in February and March that photographers could be stopped from taking photographs of officers carrying out normal duties. This arose from revision of Section 58a TACT as part of the Terrorism Act 2008. Section 58 makes it an offence to “elicit, publish or communicate information about members of the armed forces, intelligence services or police which could be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”. After consultation with the Department of Legal Services, operating guidelines were published giving guidance to officers on the new offence. In summary, these direct that taking photographs of officers in the course of normal policing activities would not, in the absence of a link to terrorism, be considered for the new offence, and that in order to maintain the integrity of other operations, officers considering the offence must obtain guidance from the Counter Terrorism Command.

Counter Terrorism Advertising Campaign

32. On 15 March the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Business Group, together with the MPS, launched an advertising campaign to improve counter-terrorism awareness. It included information for the public on identifying possible terrorist activity, and how to report it. It received extensive publicity, and there has been a noticeable rise in reporting.

Objective: Plan for, and effectively police, major events in London and prepare for the 2012 Olympics

How we monitor our performance

32. There are no SPIs for this corporate objective, which in itself is linked to the wider milestones for delivering the national Olympic Security Programme that goes beyond policing and are the responsibility of the Home Secretary. The Olympic Security Directorate reports on progress for this planning to the Director of Olympic Safety and Security in the Home Office. The MPA maintain oversight of the MPS involvement.

Progress summary

There are four critical performance areas against which progress against the delivery programme is being measured.

• Meeting the Demand: strategic options for delivering the gap: The paper of costed options of how the identified gap between supply and demand will be met, is incorporated within the CSS draft delivered in October 2008 (see below). Draft completed.
• Beijing Security Learning: LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) official debriefs: OSD Beijing debrief is complete, awaiting LOCOG final debrief.
• OGC Gateway 0 - Programme Strategic Assessment: OGC (Office of Government Commerce) review of the Home Office Programme has moved from Red to Amber-Red. On Target.
• Costed Security Strategy (CSS) delivery: The strategy was approved by Ministers on the 25 February 2009, with a written ministerial statement released on the 26 February 2009.

Our Organisation: managing the business

Our People

33. At the end of February 2009 the MPS workforce increased to 51,188 paid personnel working together for a safer London. The number of regular police officers is at its highest ever level, increased to 32,261, whilst the number of special constables continues to grow and stands at 2,602 officers in line with the deployment plan. The number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) continues to increase, impacting positively upon community relations.

34. The MPS continues to promote diversity and equality through focused recruitment campaigns, community engagement and positive action and now has a total of 7,547 (14.7%) black and minority ethnic and 17,167 (33.5%) female personnel within the MPS. The BME police officer representation continues to increase and now stands at 2,816 (8.7%) of regular officers and 848 (33.0%) of special constables, providing a combined total of 3,664 (10.5%) warranted officers. The female officer representation has also continued to increase and now stands at 7,185 (22.3%) regular officers and 786 (30.2%) special constables, providing a combined total of 7,971 (22.9%) warranted officers.

35. The diversity amongst PCSOs continues to remain rich with BME and females accounting for 1,353 (30.4%) and 1,538 (34.6%), respectively. The PCSO role is becoming increasingly popular as a stepping-stone to police officer roles, particularly amongst currently under-represented groups. In 2007/08 around 52% of the BME officers recruited were PCSOs, by contrast 47% of the white officers recruited were PCSOs. On the whole, the Bangladeshi community appears to favour the PCSO-career pathway with on average 48% of the Bangladeshi police officers recruited having been PCSOs. A similar trend is evident with the Turkish officers recruited with on average 39% having previously been PCSOs. The group with the lowest level of PCSOs was the Chinese (18%), followed by the Indian (19%) and black Caribbean (20%) groups.

Our other resources

36. The Policing London Business Plan 2009-12 was approved at the last MPA full Authority meeting on 26 March 2009. The plan defines the MPA/MPS medium-term objectives, what will be delivered under these objectives, resources to support this service delivery and how performance will be monitored against delivery.

37. The MPA/MPS has achieved the lowest budget increase for 2009/10 in England and is the only Authority to achieve a negative precept increase. This has involved the identification of large savings targets whilst minimising the impact on public facing policing services and will enable the MPA/MPS to adequately fund the widening mission and deliver our corporate priorities within a robust corporate performance framework and a challenging financial environment.

Recent key events

Rape investigation

38. An extensive review of how rape and serious sexual offences (SSO) are investigated was recently carried out by the MPS. This led to the decision to create a new rape and SSO command within the Specialist Crime Directorate, the implementation of which began in April 2009. The SSO command provides a dedicated structure and single line of command so that the MPS can provide consistency and accountability across all such demanding investigations.

39. The new command will introduce an MPS-wide dedicated 24-hour response and will have ring-fenced detectives. Work on implementation is already underway and this will replicate the learning gained through the creation of the Met’s dedicated homicide command. At the last meeting of the Full Authority, the Commissioner stated that this was a high priority for the MPS. The investigation of rape and serious sexual offences are some of the most difficult that the MPS face. The work of the new command, together with the Authority’s Violence Against Women Board, is a key step in restoring confidence and improving the service provided to victims of these serious crimes.

G20

40. There will be an opportunity for members to discuss the MPS approach to public order policing and the issues arising from G20 at a special briefing held by A/AC Allison and Commander Broadhurst at the MPA on 23 April. In addition to this, a paper is tabled for the Full Authority meeting on 30 April for further discussion.

C. Race and equality impact

While there are no specific race and equality implications arising directly from this report, the section on ‘Our People’ (paragraphs 33, 34 and 35) charts the progress made in recruitment of BME and female staff. As we continue to develop as a more diverse organisation the more reflective we are of the communities we serve. This is demonstrated in paragraph 35 through the PCSO role becoming a pathway to police officer roles, particularly amongst groups that are currently under-represented in the MPS. Additionally, there are key areas of specific activity in relation to equalities that demonstrate our commitment to diversity and are essential to the success of the MPS. These include improving the quality of service provided to victims of hate crime, ensuring that a consistent and effective service is provided to London’s diverse communities; improving performance against domestic violence, ensuring a consistent level of service across all communities and minimising disproportionality issues; increasing community trust and confidence in the police use of stop and search ensuring it is used fairly and proportionately; continuing to develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of London and improving the progression of women within the police service.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Michael Debens, Director of Business Strategy, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 3

Glossary of terms

APACS

Assessment of Policing and Community Safety – performance management framework which will provide the Home Office and its partners with the capability to monitor and assess performance in policing and community safety

BCS

British Crime Survey – a long established Home Office managed survey designed to capture levels of crime and public attitudes to crime as well as other criminal justice issues. The results play an important role in informing Government policy. The survey captures the views of approximately 48,000 citizens across England & Wales annually – approximately 3,000 within London. Survey results are published quarterly and relate to a rolling 12-month period.

CPA

Critical Performance Areas - the suite of MPS corporate measures used to track progress against the delivery of corporate objectives

Criminal network

a network of individuals involved in ongoing criminal activity for some form of personal gain (usually profit, but can also be for social standing).

Disruption

a disruption has been achieved when a network is unable to operate at its normal level of activity for a significant amount of time.

Harm

where the consequence of pursuing an activity is seen to have an adverse effect on the social, physical or economic well being of individuals or a community.

OGC

Office of Government Commerce

SD

Sanction detection - police generated detections of a crime. SDs include charges, cautions, fixed penalty notices [FPN], taken into considerations [TIC], summons and cannabis warnings

Serious acquisitive

Includes residential robbery, burglary and motor vehicle crime

SPI

Statutory Performance Indicator

TIC

Taken into consideration – the clear up of multiple crimes attributable committed by one criminal e.g. multiple burglaries

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