Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 29 October 2009 at Chamber, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA.

Present

Members

• Boris Johnson (Chair)
• Kit Malthouse (Vice Chair)
• Jennette Arnold
• Reshard Auladin
• John Biggs
• Faith Boardman
• Christopher Boothman
• Valerie Brasse
• Victoria Borwick (from item 5)
• Cindy Butts
• James Cleverly
• Dee Doocey
• Toby Harris
• Jenny Jones
• Clive Lawton
• Joanne McCartney
• Steve O’Connell
• Caroline Pidgeon
• Deborah Regal

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Annabel Adams (Acting Treasurer)
• Nick Baker (Head of Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Sir Paul Stephenson (Commissioner)
• Tim Godwin (Deputy Commissioner)

37. Apologies for absence and announcements

(Agenda item 1)

37.1 Apologies for absence were received from Cindy Butts, Neil Johnson, Graham Speed, Richard Tracey and Jane Harwood (Assistant Chief Executive).

38. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

38.1 No declarations were made.

39. Minutes: 24 September 2009

(Agenda item 3)

39.1 Members considered the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 24 September 2009.

Matters arising

39.2 Joanne McCartney stated that at the last meeting of the Authority she had requested an analysis to show if town centre patrols had simply displaced crime to elsewhere in the borough, however, the information that had been provided referred to the MPS averages across the entire MPS area. The Commissioner agreed to provide the necessary borough breakdown information.

39.3 In response to Dee Doocey, the Commissioner agreed that figures relating to the number of police officers and in particular recruits would be shown separately as they were in the MPS budget.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 24 September 2009 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

40. Chair and Vice Chair's update

(Agenda item 4)

Police Review’s Diversity in Action Award 2009

40.1 The Chair and members welcomed and congratulated two sergeants from SO19; Paul Young and Michael Atkinson, who had recently won the Police Review’s Diversity in Action Award 2009.

40.2 Both officers had undertaken a considerable amount of work visiting schools, community centres and youth offending teams to deliver tailor made presentations designed to provide young people with the information they need to make the right decisions about guns.

MPS appointments

40.3 The Chair confirmed to the Authority the appointment of Ian McPherson, the current Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary, as the new Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing.

Other matters

40.4 As part of his update to members the Chair confirmed that he and the Deputy Chair had attended the launch of Operation Bumblebee, he also reported that there had been joint engagement (JEM) meetings on anti social behaviour with Tower Hamlets and Kingston and that Toby Harris had chaired a meeting of the National Counter Terrorism Oversight Group. The Chair confirmed that the MPA consultation ‘Have your say in policing London’ would run until 30 November 2009 and encouraged Londoners to contribute. He also confirmed that the MPA Civil Liberties Panel would be holding a public meeting on 5 November 2009 on the public order policing of the G20 protests earlier this year. The Chair suggested that this was an excellent opportunity for Londoners to have views on this matter.

Homophobic attacks

40.5 The Chair concluded his update by commenting on the recent murder of Ian Baynham in Trafalgar Square. In passing on his condolences to the family and friends of the victim, the Chair asked that the Commissioner provide members with an update as part of his report.

Resolved – That the Chair’s and Deputy Chair’s update be noted.

41. Motion received by the Chief Executive

(Agenda item 5)

41.1 The Chief Executive stated that she had received the following motion from Jenny Jones (seconded by Joanne McCartney), in accordance with Standing Orders 5.7:

41.2 With the agreement of both Jenny Jones and Joanne McCartney it was agreed to defer discussion of the motion to the Agenda item 6 ‘Commissioner’s Update’ where the Commissioner wished to make a statement..

Resolved – That consideration and discussion of the motion be deferred to the Commissioners Update (agenda item 6)

42. Commissioner's report

(Agenda item 6)

Performance issues

42.1 The Commissioner presented a report summarising the progress of the MPS against the objectives in the Policing London 2009-2012 Business Plan. The report covered the periods August and September 2009 with data for individual measures reflecting the rolling year ended 31 August 2009.

42.2 In presenting the performance data the Commissioner highlighted that the first six months of this year had revealed that crime in London was at its lowest level for ten years. He stated that there were 5,000 less offences, with significant progress in youth violence (an MPS priority), knife crime and homicide.

42.3 As part of this success, the Commissioner highlighted some of the achievements that had contributed to this reduction in crime.

42.4 In relation to the reduction of youth violence he outlined the success of Operation Blunt 2 which had been in operation since May 2008 and which had seen nearly 2,500 arrests, 90,00 searches and the seizure of 550 knives, 20 guns and 150 other weapons. He also outlined details of other targeted activity to tackle youth and gang violence under Operation Blunt 2. In doing so, he added that the MPS needed to capture the learning from Operation Blunt 2.

42.5 The Commissioner added that between April 2009 and September 2009 there had been five victims of homicide between the ages of 10 and 19. In acknowledging that this was five homicides too many and that they were hugely regrettable, comparisons showed that this was almost a third of the total in the same period of the previous year and less an half compared with 2007/08 which showed progress in eradicating this crime.

42.6 In relation to homicide overall, he reported that his concern that those involving a firearm were slightly higher during this performance year, however, it was still lower than 2007/08. He was encouraged that those killed by a sharp instrument had fallen compared to the same six months last year: from 28 to 47. Nonetheless, he reiterated that overall homicide was now at its lowest level in ten years and significantly reduced on last year by some 30 fewer offences.

42.7 As part of the discussion on homicide, the Commissioner stated that the MPS is often compared with other iconic cities such as New York, where homicide is consistently higher than London. The Commissioner stated that any homicide was regrettable, but as an analogy and to put it into some form of context, he highlighted Baltimore, a small city of around 640,000 people, but a homicide rate of 224. He stated that London’s homicide rate is 2 per 100,000 of the population, New York between six and seven and Baltimore 35.

Other matters

Policing Halloween and future events

42.8 The Commissioner outlined a number of issues including policing around Halloween and bonfire night, which historically had seen an increase in anti social behaviour. Members were informed that Operation Autumn Nights would be operating across all 32 boroughs and would be in partnership with local government, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and local businesses. In addition, he confirmed that safer neighbourhood teams were working later shifts to support communities, following lessons learnt from last year, together with enhanced coverage from the Special Constabulary.

Special Constabulary

42.9 The Commissioner was pleased to inform members that the Special Constabulary currently stood at 2,800 specials and a further 80 new specials were due to join the Constabulary following an attestation ceremony on 1 November 2009, all of which would support the MPS target of achieving two million hours of quality policing by the MPA Special Constabulary.

Burglary

42.10 At recent Authority meetings the Commissioner had mentioned, as a reaction to the challenge of burglary, the re-introduction of Operation Bumblebee. Whilst he acknowledged that it was early to assess the full impact of this, he outlined its positive effects in a number of boroughs.

Gun Crime

42.11 During the first six months of the performance year there had been a 17 percent rise in gun crime which is 252 offences compared to the same period last year, although levels had flattened out since June 2009. The Commissioner stated the MPS were taking this rise seriously, but felt that it needed to be taken in context. He added that there had been a significant decrease of 25.8 percent the previous year and therefore the MPS were working from a low comparison figure.

42.12 In considering these figures the Commissioner informed the Authority that data based on the current definition of gun crime had only been available since April 2008 as there had been a change in the definition. He confirmed that based on a proxy measure, the MPS were confident that gun crime could have reduced by as much as 29 percent, compared to the same six month period in 2006. He added that whilst he accepted that the MPS could not be complacent because the current figures were too high, even with the 17 percent rise the MPS were at the second lowest level for gun crime over the last five years.

42.13 He outlined a number of activities in place to challenge the rise in figures which included details of a number of intelligence-led operations. These included: Operation Argon, which looks at firearm offences associated with licensed premises; Operation Neon which utilises automatic number plate recognition technology to identify and stop vehicles with gun crime and Operation Esen, a covert operation to identify people in possession of firearms. He also outlined work as part of Operation Trident related to media campaigns about discouraging people from hiding firearms and the effects of doing so.

Homophobic Crime

42.14 As requested by the Chair and following a question submitted by Kirsten Hearn, the Commissioner commented on homophobic crime.

42.15 The Commissioner joined members in offering his condolences to the family and friends of Mr Ian Baynham who had died following an attacked in Trafalgar Square. He confirmed that three people had been arrested and charged and therefore he could not comment any further.

42.16 He confirmed that during the performance year from April compared with the same period last year there had been 99 reported offences. This increase was being taken seriously by the MPS, with the caveat that some of the rise may be due to an increase in reporting due to increased confidence. However, the Commissioner also acknowledged that there was a significant issue of under reporting of hate crime offences, which left the MPS having to balance out a difficult position of either good or bad news.

42.17 The Commissioner outlined to members a number of ways in which the MPS were dealing with hate crimes, including homophobic crime and these included:

• increasing MPS staff awareness;
• improving recording systems;
• activities to assist victims to identify that they have experienced a hate crime;
• multi-agency partnership working
• engagement with safer neighbourhood teams
• reporting protocols with third party organisations such as Gallop;
• Media campaigns (including LGBT press publications and radio programmes)

42.18 The Commissioner stated that he would welcome further suggestions on how the MPS could get the message into communities about reporting hate crime and agreed that this was a matter of improving confidence and how the MPS responded to those who did report hate crimes. He also agreed with members that there appeared to be a trend of young people who were perpetrating homophobic crimes and whilst acknowledging the work of safer schools officers he agreed that the MPS needed to look at this issue with other partners. He also agreed with members that often hate crimes can develop into something serious from something quite minor and that this issue needed to be picked up when victims contact the police, such as at front counters and when people phone in.

42.19 The Commissioner raised the issue of MPS LGBT liaison officers. He confirmed that there were over 200 of these officers and confirmed that most were part time, with full time officers working in boroughs and specialised units. He stated that the MPS had no plans to lose these roles and the MPS recognised them as having a vital role in building confidence and expertise. He reassured members that whilst the MPS continued to work on how to improve services to communities, he stated that there was no substance to comments that the MPS are going to remove this provision and that the MPS were working with communities and partners on how to increase reporting and improve MPS response.

42.20 Members welcomed the Commissioner’s comments and ask if he could also look at customer experience including in relation to reporting of hate crimes, particularly at font desks and telephone calls.

Routine armed foot patrolling

42.21 The Commissioner reaffirmed his media statement of 27 October that the MPS has no intention at all of introducing routine armed foot patrols on the streets of London. He added that he did not believe that there is currently the necessity to change, or adjust existing firearm tactics. In reiterating this statement the Commissioner acknowledged and regretted that that any suggestion of such a change of this tactic had raised concerns from members and communities.

42.22 He informed members that if he considered it necessary to routinely deploy armed foot patrols in the way that had been reported he would ensure that this change of policy would have been consulted and communicated to the Mayor, the Authority and with communities.

42.23 The Commissioner also wished to put into context how this situation had arisen. He informed members that C019 had taken part in eight pre-planned intelligence led operations on five boroughs working alongside neighbourhood teams, sometime walking along side their unarmed colleague, with two operations lasting for 20 minutes, five last one hour and one lasting and half hours. The operations were put into place for the best of reasons by officers, to support local communities and local unarmed officers. Each operation was authorised as a firearm operation by local borough superintendents and each was subject to a community impact assessment. During two of the operations three firearms were recovered. The Commissioner stated that they were not routine deployments, as had been reported, but pre-planned operations, but acknowledged that the manner of these operations did amount in his opinion, to a small extension of existing firearms tactics and that the communication of this gave a wrong impression that armed officers would be routinely patrolling alongside their unarmed colleagues.

42.24 Additionally, the Commissioner acknowledged and regretted that there had been a failure to recognise the significance of this tactic and the need for this to have been escalated within the organisation before it had proceeded. However, he was satisfied that once if had become clear the Deputy Commissioner had acted decisively and immediately to stop it. He also acknowledged that the MPS’ communications on this matter had not been at its best.

42.25 The Commissioner concluded that, of course there would be deployment in support of unarmed colleagues and patrols (which are routine) in airports and other locations where specific intelligence required armed officers, however, at this moment in time he did not believe that it was necessary to have routine armed foot patrolling and therefore no need to consult on the tactic.

42.26 The Chair invited members to comment. In light of the full discussion from members and responses from the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner an extract from the transcript of the meeting is attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes.

Issues raised by members

Human Trafficking

42.27 The Chair invited Jenny Jones to put her motion

42.28 Jenny Jones put the following motion to the Authority:

‘This Authority calls on the Metropolitan Police Service to commit to maintaining the specialist human trafficking team in view of its important role as the only specialist operational anti-trafficking team in the country and London's position as a major gateway for human trafficking into the UK. Further, the international consensus is that a specialist team represents best practice in combating trafficking.

At minimum this commitment should be to maintain the team until after the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. The Met cannot afford to lose the expertise or disrupt the intelligence work of the specialist team at this time, given the prediction of a substantial increase in the number of people trafficked into London over the next three years as a result of the Games’.

42.29 In supporting her motion Jenny Jones, stated that trafficking remained a major problem in London and is likely to get worse during the build up to and during the Olympics. She understood that the proposed reorganisation proposals to place some of the specialist human trafficking team into the clubs and vice (C014), with enhanced resources for C014, and other trafficking issues reaming in the Specialist Crime Directorate would enhance awareness and victim identification and this can be mainstreamed across the boroughs. However, she felt that as in other areas specialist teams are seen as the best place to deal with particular issues and skills and did not feel that mainstreaming trafficking issues was the right way forward.

42.30 She stated that the motion supported keeping the specialist human trafficking team open, particularly during the period up to and during the Olympics and added that trafficking was not just about people being trafficked for prostitution, but other servitude matters. She acknowledged that funding would not be provided by the Government and suggested that money could be saved from work associated with databases and directed into maintaining this specialist unit.

42.31 Joanne McCartney seconded the motion. She felt that having a discrete unit focusing on human trafficking was vital, particularly as the current unit is cited as international best practice and is often replicated internationally.

42.32 She added that the current specialist human trafficking team had developed strong links with partners, developing expertise of an extremely sensitive and complex issue. Following comments made by the Deputy Commissioner that if the team did move to C014 it would be kept as a discrete unit, she sought reassurances that officers would remain together and that that expertise would not be lost. In relation to the Olympics, she informed members that during the last football world cup in Germany there was a 63 percent rise in women entering the country for prostitution and highlighted issues about other trafficking and organised criminal networks.

42.33 The Deputy Chair stated that he had long supported the work of the specialist human trafficking team however; he felt that the current structure within the MPS may hamper this work rather than enhance it and putting them together means they could work in a much more coordinated way.

42.34 Several members expressed concerns about the future of the team and in particular not having clear information about the proposals, on whether the specialist human trafficking team is going to be part of S014 and the rest dispersed into boroughs or all of it in another team.

42.35 The Deputy Commissioner in response to members said the MPS Management Board had yet to consider the options for the future of the specialist human trafficking team and the debate with members would help inform that debate. In supporting the comments of the Deputy Commissioner and in response to members, the Commissioner, agreed to provide the Authority with a report on future proposals but only once it had been through the MPS Management Board.

42.36 In light of the comments made by the Commissioner and the undertaking that the Authority would receive a report on this matter, Jenny Jones withdrew her motion.

Questions from members submitted in advance of the meeting

HMIC report

42.37 Valerie Brasse had submitted a question following the HMIC report ‘crime counts: review of data quality for offences of the most serious violence’ seeking details the MPS quality of recording of serious violent crime, including figures relating to the recording of ‘no crime’, comparisons with other forces and where classification had been done wrongly.

42.38 The Deputy Commissioner confirmed that the recorded proportion of ‘no crime’ in terms of serious violence was a 78 percent accuracy rate, mainly due to over recording of most serious violence. He added that the MPS recorded violent crimes as serious violence and that the HMIC think that the MPS should be recording it as not serious violence. He said that the MPS were content with the over recording as in terms that the MPS want to make sure that they are dealt with appropriately. In relation to the definitions used in the survey he agreed that these are what the MPS would want to adopt. He confirmed that the ‘no crime rate’ for the MPS was 2.7 percent and was below the national average which was currently 4.1 percent. In terms of overall violence against the person the ‘no crime’ rate was 2.38 percent, with the national average of 3.51 percent. He agreed to check the figures in relation to similar force average as the figure he had (an average of 7.7 percent compared with the MPS at 2.38 percent) seen too high. Variation between boroughs was 2 percent in terms of some no crime rates, up to 6 percent in others.

42.39 The Vice Chair as part of the discussion on crime statistics reminded members that the MPA crime statics were on the MPA website and he confirmed that the definitions which have been pledged will not change. He added that he looked forward to a time when definitions and methods of formulating statics did not change and therefore could not be disputed. Jennette Arnold added that especially around hate crime she was referring people to the MPA statistics as they are easily accessible.

42.40 The Chair agreed with members that as this matter was both important and complex members should receive a detailed briefing note on this matter.

Senior Officers fleet

42.41 Dee Doocey submitted a question which asked the Commissioner if he felt that the £2 million currently spent on providing chauffeurs and cars for senior officers (non protection services) was value for money and if not could the money be spent on providing an extra 30 front line police officers.

42.42 The Commissioner replied that some ACPO officers do get cars and drivers for security reasons and added that they also get them for operational reasons. He informed members that in the current constrained financial position, cars can form part of a remuneration package offered by the Authority’s scheme to ACPO officers. Putting some context to this, the Commissioner added that as part of the highly competitive recruitment of ACPO ranked officers the Authority has to compete against other police services who often engage in ‘off book payments’, which the MPS do not engage in. The Commissioner confirmed that the current scheme strictly controlled the choice and type of vehicle that can be used and that some ACPO officers have declined a car and received a cash equivalent.

42.43 The Commissioner agreed that there was an issue around the provision of drivers and how cars were fitted out and the need to look at this and that he recognised the change in the context in which the MPS were now working. However, he added members need to be aware that provision of this facility does form part of officers terms and conditions.

Crimint, CO11 and NPOIU databases

42.44 Jenny Jones submitted a question which asked what members were on these databases.

42.45 The Commissioner replied that the Data Protection Act does not permit him to discuss with MPA members in public However, should individual members, wish to have provided, on an individual basis, information that is held they could make an individual request under the Subject Access Provisions of the Data Provision Act. Exemptions may be applicable to any or all of that data, should the release prejudice prevention and/or detection of crime.

42.46 Those issues that the Commissioner undertook to report back on to members have been circulated in the form of an addendum report and are appended to these minutes at Appendix 5.

Resolved – That the report be received.

43. Committee appointments

(Agenda item 7)

43.1 At the annual meeting of the Authority on 25 June 2009, members resolved that as the committee structure had not yet been in place for a full year it should be reviewed in October 2009 and that all existing appointments should remain unchanged until then.

43.2 Following consultation members now received a report that outlined expressions of interest in appointments of Chairs and Deputy Chairs of committee, membership of committee and sub-committee, borough link member positions and MPA representation to outside bodies.

Committee structure

43.3 Members agreed to retain the current committee structure, with the exception of merging and combining the terms of reference of the Resources Sub-Committee and the Productivity and Performance Sub-Committee to form a single sub-committee: Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee.

Appointment of Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of Committees

43.4 Nominations had been received and seconded for the positions of Chair and Deputy Chair of Committees. It was noted that no expression of interest had been received for the deputy Chair position for Corporate Governance Committee. It was agreed that at this stage one would not be appointed.

Membership of committee and sub-committee

43.5 Members considered and agreed the membership of committee and sub-committees, with the later being subject to confirmation at the next meeting of the parent committee.

Reconfirmation of borough link member positions

43.6 Borough link member positions were reconfirmed. Steve O’Connell asked members, particularly those who currently represent one borough if they would consider representing Greenwich.

MPA representation on outside bodies

43.7 In agreeing those expressions of interest, it was noted that those positions currently vacant be referred to a future meeting of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee.

Resolved – That

1. the current committee structure be confirmed including the merger (combining the terms of reference) of the Resources Sub-Committee and the Productivity and Performance Sub-Committee to form a single sub-committee: Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee be agreed;
2. appointments be made to the positions of chairmen and vice chairmen of committees and sub-committees (the latter being subject to confirmation at the next meeting of the parent committee) as shown at Appendix 2 to the minutes;
3. appointments be made to the membership of the committees and that proposals for the membership of sub-committees be made to the ‘parent’ committees as shown at Appendix 3 to these minutes;
4. the Authority positions of borough link member positions be reconfirmed;
5. members be appointed to represent the MPA on outside bodies, including the appointment of Chair of the MPA Domestic Violence Board as shown at Appendix 4 to the report, with any outstanding vacancies referred to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee;
6. it be noted that all appointments be effective until the Authority’s next Annual Meeting in 2010.

44. Reports from committees

(Agenda item 8)

44.1 The Authority received a report outlining key issues that had been considered at recent Authority Committee meetings. The report covered the following meetings:

• Joint Finance and Resources Committee/Strategic Operation and Policing Committee – 3 September 2009
• Strategic Operation and Policing Committee – 3 September 2009
• Communities, Equalities and Peoples Committee – 10 September 2009
• Corporate Governance Committee – 14 September 2009
• Finance and Resources Committee – 17 September 2009
• Standards Committee – 23 September 2009

44.2 As part of the report from the Standards Committee members were asked to consider a recommendation on the protocol on confidential briefings and information

Resolved - That

1. the report be received; and
2. the protocol on confidential briefings and information as given at Appendix 1 of the report be agreed.

45. Any other urgent business

(Agenda item 13)

45.1 There were no items of urgent business

The meeting closed at 12.27 p.m.

Addendum to the Commissioner’s report

Report by the Commissioner

This addendum to the Commissioner’s report follows up on the actions and commitments made verbally by the Commissioner at the Full Authority meeting on 29 October 2009.

1. The Commissioner committed to provide an update to Members on the following issues:

• Provide analysis to show if town centre patrols have simply displaced crime to elsewhere in the borough.
• Ensure consistency in the reporting of police figures.
• What is the MPS doing centrally to ensure the whole community is reassured following the recent armed patrol issue?
• How can the MPS improve the judgement of officers.
• Is the MPS making effective use of Armed Response Vehicles?
• What are the MPS doing to engage young people to help prevent homophobic crime?
• What is being done to improve the customer experience?
• Provide a report on future proposals for the Human Trafficking Unit to MPA
• Provide a briefing note on the findings of the recent HMIC review into the recording of most serious violence.

Provide analysis to show if town centre patrols have simply displaced crime to elsewhere in the borough

2. The issue of whether or not Town Centre Teams are responsible for displacing crime to neighbouring areas is not straightforward to analyse.

3. If displacement is taking place a basic assumption might be that crime would be reducing in Town Centres and increasing in surrounding areas. A fast-time review has considered this relationship for Peckham Town Centre in the borough of Southwark.

4. Peckham Town Centre sits fairly much within the ward of the Lane and as of September 2009 has a significantly high crime reduction of 20%. There are 5 wards that surround the Lane and all but one have also had reductions in crime but not as high as the Lane.

5. On the face of it this evidence would suggest that, for Peckham Town Centre, displacement is not taking place. However, there are additional factors that need to be borne in mind. For example, Southwark is a borough where there is an overall crime reduction of nearly 10% and this makes it difficult to assign cause and effect within more localised areas. Another factor to consider is the small number of crimes typically recorded at ward level where really quite a small number of additional offences can convert into high percentages.

6. Historically, there is little evidence to support the displacement hypothesis. An evaluation of the Hammersmith and Fulham 24/7 initiative (2007) which had an additional patrolling factor just like Town Centre teams failed to find evidence of displacement following a comprehensive ward-level analysis.

7. The MPS will continue to consider displacement, but ultimately it is an issue that academics fail to agree on due to its complexity.

Ensure consistency in the reporting of police figures

8. Arrangements have been made to ensure consistency in the reporting of police figures.

What is the MPS doing centrally to ensure the whole community is reassured following the recent armed patrol issue?

9. All 32 Boroughs have been offered a briefing that can be made at Community Consultative meetings or their equivalent, by CO5 and/or CO19 in respect of this issue. Such a briefing has already taken place at Lambeth where CO19 gave an outline of firearms tactics and CO5 gave a presentation on the new Firearms Command Unit. Every Borough within the MPS has been consulted with regards to this matter, with a view to identify Boroughs that have any issues, similar to those that were seen at Lambeth. Feedback from Boroughs has been positive with little concern or issue being reported via local councils, Independent Advisory Groups or Police/Public Consultative Groups. A number of Boroughs have expressed an interest for such groups to have the presentation delivered by CO5 and CO19 and these dates are currently being arranged by the Boroughs concerned.

How can the MPS improve the judgement of officers?

10. A briefing note has been provided for Members.

Is the MPS making effective use of Armed Response Vehicles?

11. As CO19 is constantly ensuring that it makes the most effective use of the officers in its command. The specialist firearms teams are fully utilised providing armed support to surveillance operations as well as undertaking rapid entry to, or call outs from, premises when necessary. CO19 also provides a mobile armed response capability across the MPS through the provision of ARVs on a 24/7 basis. The number of vehicles available varies depending on the time of day and when not responding to calls, these vehicles are tasked via weekly intelligence reviews to undertake directed mobile patrols in high gun crime boroughs.

12. There are also a number of other pre-planned ARV tactical options that can be used in the fight against gun crime. Decisions on these deployments are made by Corporate Tasking on the basis of gun crime intelligence. The options available are:

• Operation Neon - Targets dangerous individuals connected to firearms using ANPR technology.
• Operation Xenon - This operation is exactly as per Op Neon but uses spotters instead of ANPR to identify suspected armed subjects.
• Operation Portilla – A smaller scale Op Neon that requires fewer resources.
• Operation Argon - High visibility deterrent deployed at nightclub events during seasonal periods supporting SCD8 and officers from CO14.
• Operation Sentinel - Targeting the supply of and carriage of firearms through London using ANPR technology.
• Dedicated mobile patrols provided on a cost basis to BOCU’s in response to specific intelligence.

What are the MPS doing to engage young people to help prevent homophobic crime?

13. In 2006 the LGBT Strand of DCFD, working with the ‘Out On Thursday LGBT Youth Group’ produced a hate crime reporting information sheet for LGBT young people. This credit card styled insert has subsequently been adopted by the National True Vision Third Party reporting programme now managed by the Home Office - Race, Confidence and Justice Unit (OCJR) and is an integral element of their 2009 hate crime packs and has been widely disseminated to LGBT Youth Associations through the LGBT London Consortium.

14. The Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team (CTSet S015) whilst not their core business, have sponsored work to create an information pack with a charity called London Youth. The charity has connections with over four hundred youth clubs Pan London. The pack informs young people of the issues in the LGBT communities and how and from which organisations they could seek help.

15. The MPS Youth Strategy Team are currently working with DCFD on the construction of a Youth Reference Network that will effectively take the place of the Met Youth Advisory Group (MYIAG). The purpose of the Network is to provide a corporate means of engagement with all young people on Pan London issues and will also be used as part of the Consultation Process on corporate strategies such as the MPS Youth Strategy and Equality Impact Assessments.

16. The MPS Youth Team are already engaged with the GLA Peer Outreach Group and the BTP Youth Board and access 22 Borough Youth Panels/IAGs and local Councils.

17. The MPS Youth Team are working to improve engagement with young people in relation to homophobic crime and have identified groups such as Children's Rights Officers and Advocates (CROA), Schools, Out and London Consortium to develop contacts and strategic links in engaging united voice through young people to help prevent homophobic crime.

18. The MPS Watch Over Me programme contains modules on hate crime and in particular homophobic crime. The programme includes training for specialist teaching staff within 1,000 schools including Faith Schools and roll out of the programme will be completed January/February 2010. Once training has been completed schools Pan London will have access to the Watch Over Me programme at the start of the school year, September 2010.

19. All Safer School police officers and PCSO’s will undergo a revised MPS designed and delivered 3 day training programme. The first of these courses will commence 16th January 2010 and all will complete training by September 2010.

20. The MPS recognised through training needs analysis that there was a specific need for raising awareness of homophobic hate crime in schools. The module around homophobic bullying and hate crime has been designed with the assistance of Stonewall.

21. The MPS through the Junior Citizen programme reach last year students within primary schools and use these forums to raise awareness and understanding of hate crime.

What is being done to improve the customer experience?

22. A briefing note has been provided for Members.

Provide a report on future proposals for the Human Trafficking Unit to MPA

23. A report will be brought back to the Authority once relevant decisions have been made by MPS Management Board.

Provide a briefing note on the finding of the recent HMIC review into the recording of most serious violence

24. A briefing note will be provided to Members shortly.

Author: Brett Dalby, Strategic Relationships, MPS 

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