Commissioner’s report

Report: 4
Date: 23 July 2009
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report, prepared for the July full Authority meeting, summarises the progress of the Metropolitan Police Service against the objectives featured in the Policing London 2009 – 2012 Business Plan.

The narrative in the report covers the periods May and June 2009 with data for individual measures reflecting the rolling year ended 31 May 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:

• Knife crime shows a 10.7% reduction or 1,478 fewer violent crimes involving knives
• Sanction detections for the trafficking of Class A drugs, primarily cocaine (including crack cocaine) and heroin, remain a challenge
• The MPS workforce increased to over 52,000 employees at the end of May while the overall police officer numbers at almost 33,000 are the highest level ever recorded

A. Recommendation

That the report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides updates on performance against the corporate objectives featured in the Policing London Business Plan. These have been grouped under the key priorities of Confidence, Safety and Continuous Improvement. For each objective we summarise progress 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. The new set of CPAs for 2009/10 include the following key changes from 2008/09:

• Reflecting a change in government policy first highlighted in the Green Paper “From the neighbourhood to the national: policing our communities together” – for 2009/10 there is only one designated Statutory Performance Indicator (SPI) – the new overarching confidence measure “% people who agree that the police and local council are dealing with the anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter in their area”.
• No other measures carry a designated SPI status. However we track many CPAs via performance indicators from the Assessment of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) framework. (A glossary of terms is attached at Appendix 2)
• A measure for whether the public agree that the police would treat them with respect has been added, to reflect this key component of the MPS Policing Pledge.
• Knife crime is now a CPA, reaffirming this continuing priority for the MPS.
• The CPAs now also include efficiency and productivity, ICT availability and BME police officer recruitment targets.

3. The work on the 5 Ps of Presence, Performance, Productivity, Professionalism and Pride provide a focus on delivering our priorities of confidence, safety and improvement. Progress is being overseen by our Confidence and Pride Board chaired by the Deputy Commissioner. A fuller report on this will be coming to full Authority in September.

Our Delivery: performance and activity

Confidence

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

4. The primary measure for this objective is the SPI for public confidence in police and local councils dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime that matter in their area measured independently via the Home Office’s British Crime Survey (BCS). The MPS track confidence in local policing alone using a separate BCS indicator.

5. We also monitor our progress via two APACS performance indicators (APACS PI) focusing on user satisfaction. This is 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.

6. The MPS gauge how the wider London public perceive they are treated by the police using a measure from the Public Attitude Survey (PAS). The PAS is conducted for the MPS by an independent market research company and measures Londoners' perceptions of policing, as well as identifying their priorities and experiences of crime and policing.

Progress summary

• The latest results show the SPI for confidence in local policing now stands at 48.2% [year to Dec 2008] up from 47.4% [year to Sept 2008] against a target to reach 55.4% by March 2011. On the second indicator tracking the job done by the MPS, rather than in partnership with local councils, confidence was 54.8% [year to Dec 2008]. 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 on both these indicators. The result for the full year to March 2009 is not expected to become available until July. Considerable effort is being applied to improve this performance and a detailed update was provided to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on 8 June.
• Victim satisfaction with our overall service was 77.7% for the year to March 2009. We are aiming to improve overall satisfaction to 80% during 2009/10.
• The satisfaction gap between white and BME victims was 4.7% points for the year to March 2009. The MPS is implementing a number of initiatives to address overall victim satisfaction and this satisfaction gap.
• 78% of the public surveyed agreed that the police would treat them with respect if they contacted them for any reason. We aim to improve this to 79% in 2009/10.

Recent initiatives

Town centres

7. All 32 boroughs now have dedicated town centre patrols that have an action plan focusing upon community/business engagement, identifying town centre issues. This plan includes the development of a Town Centre Panel to select appropriate priorities for the teams to deal with. Local businesses play an integral role in this style of policing. An extra 42,000 patrol hours in each town centre have resulted in more than 750 alcohol confiscations, 279 people dispersed from dispersal areas and 465 arrests during May.

8. In June, Brent, Haringey, Southwark and Westminster increased to ten extra patrols each day primarily resourced through local staff being redeployed. These boroughs will be putting sergeants in place to co-ordinate town centre activity and employ the MSC to maximum benefit. All boroughs have been given a performance management return to facilitate monthly monitoring.

Safer Neighbourhoods

9. The current bi-monthly schedule of Safer Neighbourhood inspections includes 20 boroughs to be visited in July 2009. The visits are always structured on the quality of delivery to local communities as part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Engagement Model. The operational focus for June and July is the role of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams in delivering the Policing Pledge and also how they can be used as a tactical option in borough burglary plans.

Special Constabulary deployments

10. Clubs and Vice OCU now have 12 dedicated special constables working within the clubs and vice environment. This is a six month trial where these officers are helping to deliver a direct fast time response to incidents around licensed premises. There is a recognised link between licensed premises and disorder and this work directly supports officers on borough and specialist units such as Trident.

Safety

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

11. Progress is monitored using the serious acquisitive crime rate and, to assess the safety of our roads network across the capital, the MPS monitors the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions.

Progress summary

• Serious acquisitive crime has increased in comparison to last months 7.5% reduction to a reduction of 6.4% [13,594 offences] over the rolling year. Our target is to achieve a 2% reduction year-on-year for 2009/10.
• The MPS has a long term target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions to half the annual average between 1994 and 1998. The MPS is currently above the reduction target.

Recent initiatives

Operation Bumblebee

12. We have commenced a burglary action plan under Operation Bumblebee that has as its objectives a reduction in residential burglary of 2.2%, a sanction detection rate of 16% and an increase in victim satisfaction for burglary which currently stands at 83%. Attention is being focused on those boroughs facing the most significant challenges. The plan includes a range of operational activity, for example, Operation Eastmund targeting cross border burglaries between London and Essex, and Operation Icepick covering three boroughs in North East London.

13. Core elements of Bumblebee include:

• Targeted operations against the most prolific burglars in London, involving a range of overt and covert tactics;
• Enhanced use of financial investigation techniques against burglars and those who handle stolen goods;
• A continuing focus on organised criminal enterprises engaged in burglary;
• Increased forensic interventions and maximising the evidential use of forensic product in conjunction with the CPS;
• Using our telecommunications capability to target the 15% of burglaries in which mobile phones are stolen; and
• Prevention activity in burglary ‘hotspots’ through the problem solving capability of our Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

14. The action plan is being proactively led through the corporate tasking arrangement where a range of interventions are receiving Met wide support to arrest and charge offenders (including the use of covert techniques). Early successes are being seen in the release of surveillance asset for this task and in the focusing of attention on organised crime groups who are committing burglary with the sole purpose of stealing vehicles; this specific aspect is up 56% in this financial year. There are currently seven MPS operations addressing this area specifically.

15. Additionally the umbrella operation and strategy seeks to prevent offences occurring through the use of Safer Neighbourhood teams to support victims and through the better exploitation of intelligence (including the support of the National Mobile Phone Unit). In this and other work we are seeking financial assistance from the Home office and the ‘National Safer Homes’ initiative.

16. DPA is currently developing a media re-launch of Operation Bumblebee to increase public awareness. To date in 2009/10 a total of £242K has been allocated for burglary operations, which is estimated to rise to around £1 million by the end of the financial year.

Operation Tyrol

17. This operation is designed to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour on the bus and transport network in partnership with Transport for London. There are 32 transport hub teams now in place located in 26 different boroughs across London. Responsibility for the Transport OCU is moving to TP and as part of this process the 11 inner London Boroughs will also receive a Safer Transport Team, mirroring the 21 outer boroughs.

National BikeSafe Show

18. As part of the drive to improve safety on the roads, over 18,000 people attended the BikeSafe event on 20 and 21 June where riders were invited to ride one of the many motor cycles provided by the major manufacturers, and receive a BikeSafe assessment. The event was supported by the Fire Brigade and National Health Service riders and sponsored by the London Camera Safety Partnership - part of TfL. Invaluable logistical support was provided by Property Services and Mounted Branch and a Safer Neighbourhood Team from Barnet were among others on display at the event.

Objective: Reduce serious violence and protect young people

How we monitor our performance

19. Performance is monitored against this objective using APACS indicators for most serious violence, knife crime and our investigation performance, for which we use sanction detection (SD) rates as a proxy for the number of offenders brought to justice.

Progress summary

• April-May 2009 shows an apparent increase of 24.3% in Most Serious Violence (MSV) compared to April-May 2008. This is a significant change and it is not clear how much is attributable to the change in MSV recording practice brought in by the Home Office from April 2008. We are currently reviewing the recording of MSV in the first quarter of 2008/09. At the end of June HMIC will also be reviewing the adoption of new recording practice across all forces.
• Knife crime showed a 10.7% reduction or 1,478 fewer violent knife crimes.
• The sanction detection rate for most serious violence was 30.7%. Our target is to improve this to 32% for 2009/10.
• The sanction detection rate for serious sexual offences was 29.9%. Our target is to improve this to 31% for 2009/10.

Recent initiatives

Operation Blunt 2

20. As part of ongoing activity to prevent serious youth violence in London, Operation Hawk (under Blunt 2) took place on 11 June. This operation was intended to arrest and prosecute those involved in serious youth violence including attention to street groupings or gangs.

21. The addresses of several hundred individuals were searched in co-ordinated raids across all boroughs. The operation involved over 1200 officers, including those from Central Operations and Specialist crime. Some 259 people were arrested for a range of violent crime, including robbery, violent disorder and serious assault. Seizures included 5 firearms, 8 dangerous dogs, over £200,000 in cash and significant quantities of controlled drugs. Some 85 people have been charged to date and investigations are ongoing. It is anticipated that the majority of those arrested will face prosecution.

MPS Youth Strategy

22. The MPS Youth Strategy has pioneered a new approach to preventing serious youth violence through funding a co-ordinated programme of universal, targeted and specialist youth engagement and diversion programmes. The strategy has been externally reviewed and an evaluation of the programmes commissioned was delivered to the Youth Strategy Board on 12 June. This will be presented to members in due course.

23. The Youth Strategy Board will examine the findings of the external evaluation and work with the Mayor’s Time for Action programme and the London Community Safety Partnership’s Serious Youth Violence Board on expanding and developing activity to reduce serious youth violence in London. There have already been encouraging reductions in the number of young people becoming victims or being accused of crime.s.

Recent operations and trials

24. On 11 June three men were found guilty of murdering 16 year old Ben Kinsella. The following day they were all sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 19 years to serve. He was murdered in June 2008 when he was an innocent victim of a dispute between two groups of young people. He was stabbed numerous times and later died in hospital from his injuries.

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

How we monitor our performance

25. We monitor performance using a combination of internal measures and an APACS PI.

Progress summary

• We disrupted 397 criminal networks over the 12 months to April-May 2009 and aim to increase this to 425 disruptions in the rolling year to March 2010.
• The value of assets identified by court order for seizure was £54.5m, currently exceeding the year end target of £45m.
• There have been 2,312 sanction detections for the trafficking of Class A drugs for the rolling year period to May 2009. This is below our target of 2,516. The sanction detection for trafficking of Class A drugs consist of mainly Cocaine (including Crack) and Heroin. There were 1471 Cocaine (including Crack) sanction detections for the rolling year to May 2009. This is below the target of 1,636. There were 673 sanction detections for Heroin, 24 sanction detections below our target of 697.

Recent operations and trials

26. On 22 June a female pleaded guilty to two counts of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and managing a brothel for gain. A partnership operation with several non government organisations ensured the victims were supported and felt confident to attend court to give evidence and an organised criminal network was removed.

27. On 10 June officers from Specialist Crime e-Crime Unit arrested 9 people in raids across London and elsewhere as part of an operation into fraudulent, online music sales under Operation Lumpfish. The arrests are the result of a parallel operation with the FBI that the unit began in February 2009. A UK criminal network defrauded Apple and Amazon who unwittingly paid out $300,000 in royalties.

28. The Directorate of Information has made a number of enhancements to the MPS intelligence system Crimint plus. The enhancements will make it easier to record and access intelligence data, providing more of a complete picture therefore aiding detection. Enhancements include the ability to narrow down search results and reduced re-keying of information.

Objective: Enhance our counter terrorism capability and capacity

How we monitor our performance

29. The MPS continues to report its performance in relation to counter-terrorism to the MPA/MPS Counter Terrorism Protective Services Sub-committee, chaired by Lord Toby Harris. The next meeting of this group is on 23 July 2009. Internally reports are also regularly provided to MPS Performance Board.

Progress summary

30. Terrorism remains a significant threat to the United Kingdom. The current threat level is assessed as Severe (since 4 July 2007). To address this, significant capacity has been developed within the MPS to deliver the Government counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST 2.

Prevent

31. The MPS Prevent implementation plan launched in March is ongoing under the new Prevent lead Commander Shaun Sawyer. This includes development of local counter terrorism profiles to assist partnership work with communities or individuals vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremists.

32. The MPS Counter Terrorism Command has recently set up the London Somali Youth Forum, a body to improve our understanding of and relationship with young Somali people, enabling us to better address that community’s needs and work with it more effectively. Using Home Office funding, the forum uses links with boroughs and local authorities to provide a single point of contact for advice on the Somali community. It has already provided valuable community insight and cultural intelligence in support of investigations and engagement. It is also a way to relay crime and safety messages to the Somali community, to raise awareness of our activities, and to improve trust and confidence.

33. On 10 and 22 June there were aviation and environmental protests at London airports, one at City Airport and one at Heathrow. In both cases, officers from SO18 responded using established operational procedures for these protests. In each case, there was no significant disruption to flights.

Recent operations and trials

34. A UK man was jailed for two years on 12 June for buying electronic equipment which a banned terrorist organisation, Sri Lanka’s LTTE (Tamil Tigers), could have used to make a bomb. He was found guilty of receiving and conspiracy to receive property to be used for the purposes of terrorism.

35. A man pleaded guilty to preplanned travel to Afghanistan in order to join groups fighting coalition forces. He was jailed for three and a half years at the Old Bailey in June for engaging in conduct in preparation for committing acts of terrorism. In 2008 he had organised a trip to Tajikstan under the pretext of a trekking holiday. However he was planning, once there, to cross the border to Afghanistan and join or assist the insurgency conducted by the terrorist groups there. Following an intelligence-led operation his activities were disrupted and he was arrested at Heathrow.

Section 44 Review

36. The Section 44 TACT ‘pilot’ of reduced use on four London boroughs has been successfully completed and the new tactical approach will be rolled out across London from July. There has been a significant reduction in stop and search, while maintaining our capacity and capability to create a defensive space.

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

How we monitor our performance

37. 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. A new programme management structure is in the process of being put in place in the Home Office. This will be complemented by a new delivery structure within the MPS, ACPO and other partners which is also being developed. The programme reports to a newly formed Olympic Security Board which is currently chaired by the Director General of Office of Security and Counter Terrorism in the Home Office. This meeting is attended by Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison who is responsible for the Olympics and is also attended by members of the MPA. In addition, the MPA maintain oversight of the MPS involvement through the MPA Olympic Sub-Committee.

Progress summary

38. The current position in relation to the Olympics is as follows:

• Commander Richard Morris has been appointed to assist Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison in managing the delivery of the various projects commissioned to ACPO/the MPS. He is currently devising the necessary infra-structure required to undertake this function and this team will work closely with the Olympic Security Directorate in the Home Office.
• At the last meeting of the MPS Full Authority, the MPA received a paper on issues relating to policing the Olympic Games in London and supported the current planning proposals.
• The Ministerial meeting, NSID, will meet on the 20 July to consider progress to date on the strategy, the concept of operations and the emerging thinking on how security of the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be delivered within the £600m funding envelope.
• The five programme boards, each associated with one of the strands of the strategy, continue to meet and ensure that the various projects are being delivered as required.

39. This objective is not solely about the Olympics but also reflects the need for the MPS to deal with the large number of public order events that take place in the Capital. 2009 has been a very busy year already in public order terms. The New Year’s Eve celebrations were immediately followed by the Israeli/Palestinian demonstrations and these were followed by planning and delivery of policing for the G20 events. The subsequent Tamil demonstrations took place continuously for 72 days requiring considerable resources and this has been the subject of debate at previous MPA meetings. The traditional ceremonial events, Trooping the Colour and Beating the Retreat, took place in June without incident as did the 20-20 Cricket World Cup at the Oval and Lords. A range of smaller events continue to take place (such as concerts and marches and demonstrations) but the main focus is on the preparations and planning for Notting Hill Carnival and Climate Camp that are due to take place at the end of August.

40. The MPS Central Operations Command regularly receives support from other MPS Business Groups. The Operational Support Group, part of Property Services, provides vital logistical support for the policing of major operational events. As a recent example; in preparation for Trooping the Colour in June they deployed approximately 4,500 crowd control barriers, observation posts and secured the provision of concrete barriers to facilitate safe vehicle management control.

41. Since the last meeting of the full Authority, ‘Adapting to Protest’, HMIC’s review into policing protest, has been published. As a police service, we have clear duties under the law: to facilitate protest, minimise the impact it has on others and maintain peace on our streets. As the report has recognised, balancing these competing responsibilities is not easy. We also fully accept that we need to address areas of public concern and move forward. Members’ will discuss issues surrounding this in detail at Civil Liberties Panel but there will also be an opportunity to address them at this meeting of the full Authority.

Continuous improvement

Objective: Lead and manage our service to ensure the most efficient, effective and economic use of all the resources entrusted to us

How we monitor our performance

42. We monitor performance using a combination of APACS PIs and an internal measure.

Progress summary

• During 2009/10 we aim to deliver net cashable, efficiency and productivity gains of £142.9m.
• We have targeted recruiting 20% of all police officers from minority ethnic groups and are currently achieving 14.7%.
• We are aiming for our corporate ICT systems to meet target availability levels. During 2009/10 performance information will be available for 8 systems. In March 2009 these 8 systems all achieved or exceeded their target availability.

People Services

43. HR is changing in preparation for the launch of the new HR services on 1 December 2009. To be known as “PeopleServices”, the new HR service will bring a more efficient and effective service to the whole Met community. As part of this transition staff can now access HR information online through PeoplePages as well as their own personal information. From December, staff will be able to access HR services via the Intranet, phone or email as well as face to face support when appropriate.

44. At the end of June 2009 the MPS workforce increased to 52,336 employees. The number of regular police officers has increased to 33,205, whilst the number of special constables continues to grow and stands at 2,608 officers in line with the deployment plan. The number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) has increased to 4,797, impacting positively upon community relations.

45. The MPS has received a number of industry awards recently recognising much of the good work carried out across the organisation in relation to staff wellbeing. At the HR Excellence Awards, the Met won ‘Best Health and Wellbeing Award’ for the Met wide stress package 'Shrinking Clouds'. The MPS also received accreditation in the Top 20 list compiled by Working Families, the UK's leading work-life balance organisation for work carried out in providing a healthy work-life balance for staff. Volunteer recruitment was also recognised through the Specials 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life' campaign, which won both best ‘Outdoor Advertising' and best 'Press Advertisement Campaign' at the CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards.

C. Legal implications

1. There are no direct legal implications arising from this performance monitoring report.

2. The MPA is required to monitor compliance of the MPS’s performance in accordance with s6ZA of the Police Act 1996 as inserted by the paragraph 8, Schedule 2 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 and The Police Authorities (Particular Functions & Transitional provisions) Order 2008.

D. Race and equality impact

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.

E. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

F. Background papers

None

G. 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 2

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 of UK residents conducted face-to-face in people’s homes designed to capture levels of crime and public attitudes to crime as well as other criminal justice issues. The results play an important role informing Government policy. The survey captures the views of approximately 48,000 citizens across England & Wales annually – roughly 3,000 in London. Survey results are published quarterly and relate to a rolling 12-month period. Limitations are that respondents are aged 17+ and it does not capture business crime.

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.

MSV

Most Serious Violence includes homicide & child destruction; attempted murder; wounding/GBH; causing death by driving (dangerous driving, careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs, careless or inconsiderate driving) or by aggravated vehicle taking.

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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