Commissioner’s report

Report: 4
Date: 24 September 2009
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report 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 July and August 2009 with data for individual measures reflecting the rolling year ended 31 July 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 10.4% reduction or 1,413 fewer violent crimes involving knives
• Confidence in local policing, the single overarching measure established by government has risen by nearly 2% to 49.3% in the first six months since the Home Office set the baseline
• The number of Police Community Support Officers has risen to 4,881 at the end of July, the highest figure yet 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.

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

2. 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 as measured independently via the Home Office’s British Crime Survey (BCS). The MPS track confidence in local policing alone using a separate BCS indicator.

3. The MPS also monitor 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.

4. 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 49.3% [year to March 2009] 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 55.1% [year to March 2009]. The MPS is second in its Home Office Most Similar Family (MSF) group for the SPI and is 14th out of the 42 police force areas in England and Wales on both these indicators. Considerable effort is being applied to improve this performance.
• Victim satisfaction with our overall service was 77.3% for the year to June 2009. The MPS are aiming to improve overall satisfaction to 80% during 2009/10.
• The satisfaction gap between white and BME victims was 5.5% points for the year to March 2009. This is wider than the target set but comparable to the difference seen across England and Wales. The MPS is implementing a number of initiatives to address overall victim satisfaction and this satisfaction gap which were reported to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on 3 September. These initiatives are designed to improve satisfaction of victims whose views will be dependent upon the type of contact such as front counter visit, 999 call etc., the nature of the crime being reported, the age of the victim and an individual’s prior opinion of the police.
• 77% 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 centre patrols

5. Since April 2009 there have been over 184,000 patrols by officers working on town centre teams resulting in more than 2,000 arrests, 3,200 alcohol confiscations and more than 1,300 people dispersed from designated dispersal areas. In addition to these outputs there has been a significant reduction in crime and ASB in these town centre locations since April:

Most serious violence -9%
Possession of drugs -18%
Offensive weapons -31%
Fraud -17%
Criminal damage -5%

6. Brent, Haringey, Southwark and Westminster are operating with ten extra patrols each day. On these boroughs the local Town Centre Panel is reviewing and confirming the priorities that they wish the dedicated teams to focus upon. For example, in Wood Green town centre in Haringey the current priorities are anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, pick pocketing and street drinking.

Metropolitan Special Constabulary Operational Support Unit (OSU)

7. In addition to their role within the town centre teams, MSC officers are providing significant support in tackling current crime hotspots. The MSC OSU is a mobile unit made up of approximately 100 officers who can be deployed across the whole of the MPS. They have their own vehicles and equipment and are supervised on each deployment by regular officers. They have been deployed on 14 different boroughs to date tackling serious violence and increasing visible policing presence on the nights they were deployed by up to 25%.

Delivering the policing pledge

8. In July, the Patrol OCU and Central Communications Command (CCC) initiated a pilot project in Brent, Barnet and Harrow designed to improve delivery of the policing pledge, particularly in terms of effective patrol, the development of an efficient appointments system and improving the response to calls graded ‘Immediate’ and ‘Significant’. In the first three weeks of the pilot performance on ‘Significant’ calls improved by 8 per cent compared with the previous month.

9. The policing pledge internet page has recently been redesigned to enable the public to find out more about how the MPS is fulfilling its promise. It contains an overview of the pledge in 10 different languages, advice and a feedback form as well as a podcast from the Commissioner. Visits to the website have doubled since the section was launched.

Virtual courts

10. The virtual court pilot has now completed its implementation stage across Westminster BOCU and all 9 South East London BOCUs, 15 sites in total. The pilot is testing the concept of video link technology for first hearings between all 15 sites and Camberwell Green Magistrates Court. Over 90 defendants have consented to participate in virtual courts so far. The system has reduced the average time between charge and first hearing from the current 5-14 days to between 3 and 4 hours.

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 decreased by 5.1% [10,753 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. The media launch for Operation Bumblebee will commence during the week of 19 October 2009 but will be supported by borough activity starting from 28 September. The rationale behind the selection of these dates is that there are seasonal spikes in burglary. The media launch and supporting activity is to directly address this seasonal increase. The other spikes occur immediately after Christmas and in the last week of January. Plans are currently being developed for increased policing activities at these times. It is these periods when police activity can have the highest impact on burglary both in terms of achieving reductions and arresting offenders.

13. Police activity around intelligence, prevention and enforcement is supported by a corporate action plan that involves support from across the whole of the MPS. The agreed budget for this phase of activity under this action plan is £2.1million.

14. In the meantime activity to address burglary continues. During August and September corporate assets are being deployed for burglary operations in the most affected boroughs. Operation Eastmond continues targeting cross border car-key burglaries and Operation Kavanagh is targeting organised criminal networks involved in burglary. In addition to these, there have been several successful operations to manage the release of prolific burglars from prison..

Operation Safe Bus and Safer School Partnership Officers

15. Operation Safe Bus began in July and is designed to tackle knife crime and serious youth violence in the after school period and is focused on priority bus routes and at transport hub locations. As well as Safer Transport Teams, the operation also involved Safer School Partnership officers under the co-ordination of Safer Neighbourhood teams. With the new school term, these officers will carry out high visibility after school patrols and provide reassurance and engagement with young people.

Objective: Reduce serious violence and protect young people

How we monitor our performance

16. 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

• Most serious violence (MSV) has increased by 0.6% over the period April-July 2009 compared to April-July 2008.
• Knife crime showed a 10.4% reduction or 1,413 fewer violent knife crimes.
• The sanction detection rate for most serious violence was 31.8%. Our target is to improve this to 32% for 2009/10.
• The sanction detection rate for serious sexual offences was 28.1%. Our target is to improve this to 31% for 2009/10.

Recent initiatives

The Pathways Programme

17. Specialist Crime’s Prevention and Partnership Unit, in partnership with the London Criminal Justice Board and the boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark and Croydon are developing the Pathways Programme which is designed to reduce gang-related violence. It aims to reduce the violence associated with gang offending by simultaneously supporting those who wish to exit their gang lifestyle and using robust enforcement tactics against those who continue to engage in serious violence.

Operation Blunt 2

18. Enforcement and prevention initiatives to reduce serious youth violence have continued under Blunt 2. The focus has remained upon activity to deter the carriage and use of lethal weapons, notably knives. To enhance our response across the summer, a central intelligence unit has been formed under Operation Verano. This supports a daily review of violent incidents across London, covering knives and firearms. It involves a daily management meeting drawing staff from Specialist Crime, Territorial Policing and Central Operations to ensure opportunities to prevent serious violence are co-ordinated.

19. Operation Blunt 2 is scheduled to continue and its tactics are regularly reviewed. A greater focus upon knife crime victims in the 20-24 age range is now being delivered with attention to further enforcement operations in and around town centres with a substantial late night economy. Interim learning from Operation Verano will be captured to determine whether a similar daily management process should form a permanent part of the MPS response.

Recent operations and trials

20. On 23 August 2009, a man was arrested in connection with a series of 9 armed robberies of London banks since 22 July. Officers from Specialist Crime identified the suspect from CCTV footage. His name and photograph were released to the public and as a result he was arrested the same day. He has been charged with all offences and has been remanded in custody.

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

• 384 criminal networks were disrupted over the 12 months to April-July 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 £54.4m, currently exceeding the year end target of £45m.
• There have been 2,475 sanction detections for the trafficking of Class A drugs for the rolling year period to July 2009. This is below our target to exceed 2,516. The sanction detection for trafficking of Class A drugs consist of mainly cocaine (including crack) and heroin. There were 1,603 cocaine (including crack) sanction detections for the rolling year to July 2009. This is below the target to exceed 1,636. There were 715 sanction detections for heroin, on track to meet our target of exceeding 697.

Recent operations and trials

22. The Directorate of Information’s Digital and Electronic Forensic Service (DEFS) has been instrumental in successful convictions in two recent court cases. These have involved the examination of computers and memory cards associated with the suspects. In one case, the evidence helped the conviction of a seven strong gang that murdered a teenage boy and in the other secured the conviction of two brothers who were responsible for the importation and distribution of prohibited weapons.

23. On 6 August 2009 two men walked into Graff Jewellers in Mayfair, produced guns which they later fired and stole approximately £40 million worth of jewellery. Specialist Crime Flying Squad investigated this offence and within two weeks had arrested and charged three men in connection with the robbery and recovered a firearm. The investigation is ongoing and there have been eight men charged so far in total.

24. During the weekend of 18-19 July the Territorial Support Group within Central Operations conducted Operation Fallon, a passive drugs dog intervention operation at the entrance to an open air concert in Hackney. The operation resulted in a total of 785 searches, 368 of which were positive leading to 162 arrests for Class A drug possession and possession with intent to supply.

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.

Threat level

26. Terrorism remains a significant threat to the United Kingdom. The current threat level is assessed as ‘substantial’ (since 20 June 2009) which is defined as ‘an attack is a strong possibility’. To address this, significant capacity has been developed within the MPS to deliver the Government counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST 2.

27. While the threat level for international terrorism has changed from ‘severe’ to ‘substantial’, there is still a strong possibility that a no-warning terrorist attack could happen in London or elsewhere in the UK. The MPS are therefore continuing to urge the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to police. There can be no room for complacency. While the MPS will continue to review its contingency planning and policing tactics, we currently do not anticipate a significant change in the way we police London in the immediate future. People who live, work and visit the capital will continue to see a wide range of policing tactics being used.

Rich Picture

28. There have been several key successes within Rich Picture (community based intelligence) in recent months, notably the continued development of the Rich Picture database. This will allow analysis to be conducted across all twelve identified themes, helping identify new intelligence leads based on community intelligence.

29. To aid governance Specialist Operations (SO15) has recently created a Rich Picture Delivery Panel. It will review the work behind these identified themes and ensure intelligence gathering and analysis continues to meet national requirements and add value to the MPS intelligence effort.

Prevent

30. Forging strong relationships with communities through the prevent strategy builds trust and confidence. The deployment plan around Prevent Engagement Officers has been reviewed, though the total number of officers has not changed.

Counter Terrorism Local Profiles

31. Counter Terrorism Local Profiles have been written for all 32 London boroughs and should by September have been delivered to all Borough Commanders and appropriate Local Authority and other partners.

Counter Terrorism Stop and Search

32. Refined tactics in the use of stop and search under the Terrorism Act 2000 have been introduced across the MPS. From August 2009 Section 44 powers are only used at pre-identified significant locations, such as iconic sites and crowded places, or for specific operations. Officers retain full discretion under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to stop any individual they have reasonable suspicion may be involved in terrorist related activity.

33. The new approach builds on a review to ensure the tactics remain as effective as possible and a pilot in four boroughs. The use of Section 44 has been subject to regular analysis and evaluation to keep it as effective as possible and took into account new operational guidance from the National Police Improvement Agency.

Recent operations and trials

34. Two men who admitted setting fire to the home of a publisher were jailed for four and a half years each on 7 July 2009. They had planned the arson attack on Gibson Square Books Ltd after discovering it was going to publish ‘The Jewel of Medina’ - a book about the prophet Mohammad and his young wife. A third man who was to be the getaway driver received a sentence for conspiracy to commit arson.

35. A right-wing extremist, Neil Lewington, was found guilty of a series of terrorist offences at the Old Bailey on 15 July 2009 and will be sentenced in September. He was arrested in Lowestoft carrying parts for two viable improvised incendiary devices in a holdall. Searches at his home found components which could be used for explosive devices.

36. Two men were sentenced to up to four years at the Old Bailey in August 2009 after pleading guilty to money laundering offences, which included hiding £600,000 in a washing machine. In March, Kent police found a total of £685,000 hidden in a van searched at Dover in a routine stop, after which the investigation was taken over by the MPS.

37. The capability of terrorist facilitators and groups is diminished by disruption, arrests, prosecutions and convictions. The effective use of a broad range of counter terrorism and supportive legislation against these organisations improves public safety. Public understanding and confidence in our activity is highlighted by judicial success, increasing community awareness.

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

How we monitor our performance

38. 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 has been put in place in the Home Office. This will be complemented by a new delivery structure within the MPS, ACPO. The programme reports to a newly formed Olympic Security Board which is currently chaired by the Director General of the 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

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

• Significant work has been undertaken in relation to the development of an Olympic Policing Co-ordination Team which will be led by Commander Richard Morris and will co-ordinate all the work being done by the police service in relation to the Olympics/Paralympics. This team will co-locate with the Home Office team in Canary Wharf towards the end of September.
• The Ministerial meeting, NSID, met in July and considered progress to date, with a focus on how the 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.

40. 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. As well as many other small marches and demonstrations, August saw the start of the football season and the scenes of disorder seen at the West Ham v Millwall match are an unwelcome reminder of the violence that can occur at some fixtures. During planning for the match, the potential for disorder had been recognised and extra resources had been put in place. Despite this, violence did break out and was of a ferocity that has not been seen for many years. A post-event investigation is in place to bring justice to those responsible for the disorder.

41. Between 26 August and 2 September, the Camp for Climate Action took place on Blackheath. The MPS worked hard to embed the recommendations from the HMIC G20 report into the policing operation, including having many meetings with the Climate Camp liaison team in the spirit of ‘no surprises’. While there were many discussions, the protestors refused to tell the MPS any details of the camp or their protests prior to them taking place. The policing operation was low key in line with the intelligence and there were few demonstrations in the week that required any police intervention. One arrest was made and six people were summoned over their invasion of the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters. Because of Notting Hill Carnival, 200 officers from across the country had to be deployed on mutual aid to assist in policing the event.

42. Notting Hill Carnival took place over the Bank Holiday Weekend in the streets of West London with about 750,000 people attending the event in total being policed by over 11,000 officer shifts. Despite lots of work being done with London Notting Hill Carnival Limited, the early start did not materialise and as such there were still floats on the route after dark. However, through interventions on the ground by police working with stewards, the majority of floats turned their music off progressively from about 8.30pm which meant that there was little to keep the crowds in the Notting Hill area. Search intervention points were put in place outside the carnival footprint, with the TSG being deployed at areas of greatest footfall and BTP ran Operation Shield on the underground. In addition, proactive teams were deployed across the MPS to intervene to prevent those intending to commit crime and disorder from attending carnival. Because of the serious and sustained disorder at the conclusion of last year’s event, public order trained officers were deployed in their protective equipment.

43. Throughout the carnival, Airwave provided effective and reliable communications. The dedicated Directorate of Information (DOI) Airwave team and partners undertook extensive planning in preparation for the event to identify and rectify any areas where coverage was considered insufficient. Over 1,800 special event radios were programmed and issued in advance of the carnival and support was on hand throughout the event with on-site technicians monitoring the live communications.

44. Final data on crime and arrests takes some time to be collated but provisional data shows a reduction in crime and a slight reduction in arrests.

45. In the last month, considerable work has been undertaken in an effort to show how events are policed and our officers are trained. Five journalists attended the Public Order Training Centre and took part in the training, the feedback being very complimentary both on the training and what officers actually do. In addition, some MPA members and officials have been to the training centre, observed the Notting Hill policing operation and have been out on patrol with the Territorial Support Group.

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. Results for the first quarter of 2009/10 are due to be reported to the MPA Finance Committee on 17 September.
• We have targeted recruiting 20% of all police officers from minority ethnic groups and are currently achieving 15.0%.
• We are aiming for our corporate ICT systems to meet target availability levels. During 2009/10 performance information will be available for 8 systems. For the first quarter all 8 systems achieved or exceeded their target availability.

Long term detention facilities at Paddington Green

47. The MPS has responded to concerns around the condition of long term detention facilities at Paddington Green by refurbishing 8 cells to acceptable detention conditions. Work was completed in July and the cell block now contains wash basins, improved cell furniture, improved natural lighting and increased CCTV capacity. In addition to improving conditions of detention, it will also benefit forensic and processing capability.

‘Swap Shop’

48. Recently, Resources Directorate has introduced an internal ‘swap shop’ that has been designed to ‘recycle’ surplus office equipment and stationery items from colleagues instead of ordering from new. In the first few weeks of launching over 1,400 items have been advertised translating already to savings of in excess of £8,000.

Our people

49. In accordance with the Commissioner’s focus on pride the first passing out ceremony for PCSOs took place on 28 August. Successful students received framed certificates to commemorate their success. In another recent initiative, student PCSOs have been taken out of training school for the first time to gain valuable experience with the public by working alongside colleagues from the Colindale Safer Neighbourhoods Team.

50. At the end of July 2009 the MPS workforce increased to 52,385 employees. The number of regular police officers stands at 33,196, whilst the number of special constables totals 2,573 officers in line with the deployment plan. The number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) has increased to 4,881, impacting positively upon community relations.

51. A total of 105 staff have been displaced under the Transforming HR Programme and formal consultation with the trade unions on pre-redundancy measures was concluded on 24 August. As a result, there will be no compulsory redundancies; 15 staff have volunteered for early severance and all other staff have been absorbed into mainstream business and successfully posted.

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. This report satisfies the requirements set referred to above.

D. Environmental impact

There are no direct environmental implications arising from this report.

E. 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.

F. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

G. Background papers

None

H. 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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