Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 28 January 2010 at Chamber, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA.

Present

Members

• Kit Malthouse (Vice Chairman in the Chair)
• Jennette Arnold
• Reshard Auladin
• John Biggs
• Faith Boardman
• Christopher Boothman
• Victoria Borwick
• Valerie Brasse
• Cindy Butts
• James Cleverly
• Dee Doocey
• Toby Harris
• Kirsten Hearn
• Jenny Jones
• Clive Lawton
• Joanne McCartney
• Steve O’Connell
• Caroline Pidgeon
• Deborah Regal
• Graham Speed
• Richard Tracey.

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Jane Harwood (Assistant Chief Executive)
• Bob Atkins (Treasurer)

MPS officers

• Tim Godwin (Deputy Commissioner)
• Cressida Dick (Assistant Commissioner)
• Ian McPherson (Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources).

54. Apologies for absence and announcements

(Agenda item 1)

54.1 Apologies for absence were received from Boris Johnson (Chairman) and Sir Paul Stephenson (Commissioner)

55. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

55.1 No declarations were made.

56. Minutes: 26 November 2009

(Agenda item 3)

56.1 Members considered the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 26 November 2009

Resolved – That the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 26 November 2009 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

57. Chairman’s and Vice Chairman’s update (oral report)

(Agenda item 4)

57.1 The Chairman informed the Authority that it had been the intention that the Mayor was going to announce his proposed changes to the Metropolitan Police Authority at the meeting of the London Assembly on 27 January, but unfortunately it had become common knowledge prior to that meeting. The Chairman apologised to members that details of these proposed changes had not been announced to them in advance.

557.2 The Chairman confirmed that the appointment of himself formally as Chairman and Reshard Auladin as Vice Chairman of the Authority was subject to confirmation hearings by the London Assembly, but in advance of that he offered his congratulations to Reshard Auladin for his prospective appointment as Vice Chairman of the Authority.

57.3 Moving on to other matters the Chairman, congratulated those members of the Metropolitan Police Service and of the Authority who received honours in the New Year’s Honour list. He also welcomed Ian McPherson (Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing) and Bob Atkins (MPA Treasurer) to their first meeting of the Authority.

57.4 The Chairman reminded members that the MPA Domestic Violence Board of the Authority had published its first annual report this month and that since the last meeting he had on behalf of the Authority and Mayor met various people: the NPIA to talk about Airwave; attended the Olympic Security Board; had meetings with London councils; chaired the first meeting of the Violence Against Women Board here at the Greater London Assembly (GLA) which would be working with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Board to further that work across London. He had also met the Director of the Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College London to talk to them about what further work we can do for re-offending; been in the lobby with Members of Parliament (MPs) of all parties on dangerous dogs; met the Chief Executive of London Probation, the chair of the Antisocial Behaviour Board of the LCSP; spoke at the Serious Youth Violence Board Youth Summit and the Metropolitan Police Public Order conference at Wembley which was very successful and which examined some of the issues that the Civil Liberties Panel has been looking at over the last few months.

57.5 He also confirmed that JEM meetings with Redbridge, Sutton, Haringey and Waltham Forest had taken place since the last meeting of the Authority and he had visited Thamesmead to look at some of the issues they have following a particularly unpleasant murder there last year. There had been a number of meetings with the Metropolitan Police Authority Inspection Team and along with other members he had attended the annual service of remembrance at Hendon.

57.6 Members sought an update on when they could expect a report on the Race and Faith Inquiry and the Chairman confirmed that a report was anticipated March or April, although there was no specific date as yet. He also confirmed that the report was being drafted by MPA officers, lead by the Chief Executive. In response to some members concerns that the Chief Executive had given evidence at the Inquiry and possible conflicts in drafting of the final report, the Chairman reassured members that the final report would be considered, checked and approved by the Panel before it was released.

57.7 The Chairman also agreed that that a letter be drafted to those who gave evidence at the Inquiry to provide them with details of when the report would be presented.

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

58. Petition

(Agenda item 5)

58.1 A petition had been received signed by in excess of 6,000 people, and had been submitted to the Authority by Councillor Chris Robbins (Leader of the London Borough of Waltham Forest) in the following terms:

‘Safety on our streets is the biggest concern for our residents and our campaign for more police officers has the support of all political parties in the council.

We are asking for the whole community to support us in our call for a fair level of policing resourcing in Waltham Forest. Show your support by signing out petition to help us secure 120 extra police officers for the borough ’

58.2 Additional text with the petition stated that ‘Metropolitan police crime figures show Waltham Forest has a disproportionate level of serious crime and a shortfall in police officers compared to other London boroughs with similar crime profiles’.

58.3 In presenting the report Councillor Robbins stated that:

‘In 2008 the Met Intelligence Bureau (MIB) commissioned a review of crime in our borough. They felt the need to specifically look at the problems within Waltham Forest. There were 11 key recommendations within that report. I am not going to go through that very comprehensive document, but I do wish to highlight two recommendations which said: (1), there should be a consideration of the review of the resources in the borough to ensure that they are in line with crime patterns, and (2), any review of resource allocation to include accurate population figures and a development of the 2012 Olympics. I have discussed with you, Deputy Mayor, the importance of the Olympics in our appreciation of how crime is developing within Waltham Forest.

Since that review crime figures in our borough have dramatically increased, which I am sad to say. The latest figures show that last year Waltham Forest had the second highest increase in London of 5.9%. Now, during that time the overall figures in London dropped by 1.7%. This is clearly unacceptable both to us and I am sure it is unacceptable to you as well. There was only one borough which was over 6% so we were in very high figures. The main issues in Waltham Forest are gangs, drugs, knife crime and burglary. You are familiar with all of them, you are aware of all of them but it is how it affects Waltham Forest which is important to us. You may also be surprised to know that Waltham Forest has the highest rate of serious crime as a percentage of all crime in Waltham Forest across London. Violent crime is actually going up in Waltham Forest, as is robbery and this is against the London-wide trend and reinforces our view that we simply do not have enough permanent police.

Waltham Forest is clearly seriously under resourced to deal with these circumstances. If Waltham Forest only had the average number of police officers across London we would deserve a further 120 personnel. Those are figures that have been endorsed by our local police force; they are not figures we have made up ourselves. We have inner London problems, particularly in the south of the borough, but we have outer London resources. The current allocation formula has clearly created a major injustice. I want to be clear about this because I have said this before, we are not just here to whine and complain and say that we should be a special case and so on. My borough has recently provided resources to employ ten extra police officers to go out into the community so we are putting our money where our mouth is, we are prepared to accept our responsibilities and we are prepared to do as much as we can to ensure that we provide the appropriate police resources for our community.

We have an excellent group of Safer Neighbourhood teams, which we are very proud of and they do an excellent job, and we also have an excellent - as far as we are concerned - borough police force as well. We have no problem with our local police force; we have an excellent relationship with them and we have been working together on major issues over recent years. The truth is we need to have permanent officers to get to grips with the criminal elements within our borough. We know that the Metropolitan Police Service provide us with short-term assistance as and when that is necessary, but to deal with the core issues in our borough we need permanent resources.

As I said, we do not want special treatment; we just want a fair deal. It has now been five years since the resource allocation formula was reviewed. There have been major changes in both population and crime during that period. We all have a duty to protect our citizens as best we can and Waltham Forest, in particular as an Olympic host borough, wants to show the world that we can look after our citizens and the visitors that will be with us during that period effectively.

Finally, Deputy Mayor, you will recall that you, I and the Mayor met a number of months ago and I said that Waltham Forest was on a mission. Well, we will continue that mission until our objectives are achieved. We believe we are right and we believe that we have put a fair case forward. We are not asking for special treatment, we are just asking for fairness”.

58.4 Chief Executive responded as follows:

“The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) is responsible for the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) which is the primary mechanism for determining the distribution of police resources across London's 32 boroughs.

The RAF takes into account a whole range of policing demands and social factors, which vary from borough to borough, and aims to maximise efficiency across the organisation.

The formula is designed to apportion a finite amount of resources available for distribution. However, this core number of officers and staff does not represent the totality of policing in a borough and significantly, does not include Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Safer Transport Teams who provide visible policing to communities on every borough across London over and above the numbers allocated under the formula.

All boroughs also benefit from a variety of units deployed from the centre, such as Armed Response Vehicles, the Territorial Support Group, Trident and units concerned with serious organised crime and counter terrorism.

Both the MPA and the MPS are satisfied that the formula is fair and robust and there are no plans to review it in the near future.

The MPA requested a comprehensive review of RAF in July 2003, to produce a formula that provided a fair and rational basis for the allocation of resources.

An extensive consultation process took place to change and improve all components of RAF. The new formula was agreed by the MPA in February 2005, and implemented from the financial year 2005/06.

The formula is comprised of four separate components representing different aspects of policing; demand, need, ‘opening the shop’ and capital city security.

Demand captures the number of reported incidents and crimes and the associated investigations. Need reflects the social and environmental longer term characteristics of a borough such as levels of deprivation and moderates the year on year fluctuations in demand.

Capital city and security relates to the special requirements of London as a capital city including the additional volume of people drawn to central London such as tourists and daily commuters. ‘Opening the shop’ relates to the core infrastructure posts that are designated as mandatory for every borough such as the ‘Borough Intelligence Unit’ and are essentially not related to volume.

These components are combined within the formula by an assigned high level weighting. The need and demand components comprise approximately 85%, with the other two components making up the remaining 15%. The authority understands that in making petition for an extra 120 people, Waltham Forest council have used Metropolitan Police Crime data; this is one subset of the overall formula.

When RAF was implemented in April 2005 it was done on a ‘no losers’ basis to ensure that those boroughs who fared least well under the formula would suffer no reduction in officers.

There is also a discretionary element known as Commissioner’s Judgement that is not a part of the formula itself but is applied in exceptional circumstances when the Commissioner decides that the addition of police officers in one borough results in a safer city than if those officers were allocated according to the formula“.

58.5 At the invitation of the Chairman, members were invited to comment on the petition. A number of points and comments were made and these included:

• The issues raised by the petition where not unique to Waltham Forest but also some other outer London boroughs.
• Since the Resources Allocation Formula (RAF) had been approved there had been considerable changes in some boroughs and these changes were backed with evidence and statistics.
• Some of the changes are due to increases in the volatility of the population and far higher incidents of short-term residents with little or no connections to the community they live within.
• Whist acknowledging that consideration of RAF had been a difficult process, that the RAF should be reviewed and in the short term that there was a need for the MPS to respond to how operationally the demands of Waltham Forest (and similar boroughs) have changed.
• A need for further information on why there was an increase in certain crimes in places such as Waltham Forest.
• If the RAF was not reviewed in the short term then there was a need to look and see if the formula weightings were still right.
• As part of the discussion and in noting that other otter London boroughs were also as concerned about current policing numbers, it was noted that Croydon had also had to face similar challenges to those of Waltham Forest and that they would like to speak to the Authority about this.

58.6 The Chairman invited the MPS to comment and Assistant Commissioner McPherson stated that around volatility of population in many circumstances there was a flux with significant numbers of population ‘churn’ and added that this required the MPS to be flexible. In order to meet demand He added that this was provided through central TP and SC resources providing a flexible intelligence led contribution e.g. strong box. He also felt that there could be a danger of having to revisit the RAF every 12-18 months.

58.7 The Acting Commissioner stated that a new borough commander would be appointed in Waltham Forest and that this might be a timely opportunity to hold further discussions about the policing in the borough.

58.8 The Chairman then invited the petitioner for any final comments and Councillor Robbins stated he did not expect Waltham Forest to be treated any differently to other boroughs nor where the borough looking to place blame. However, the borough felt that circumstances have changed quite dramatically over recent years and that the police's review identified these issues. That review looked at change in population, the oncoming Olympics and resources linked with crime. Councillor Robbins added that he understood that the review of the allocation formula would be something which would likely cause major problems, but it is a long-term issue and that should take place.

58.9 He noted that the allocation of resources within the borough would be dealt with by the new borough commander and welcomed the invitation to be part of those discussions, he also added that the option of use of the Commissioner’s judgement should be considered for Waltham Forest. Councillor Robbins stated that to simply finalise by suggesting that any formula which shows a major city in Europe dropping crime by 1.7%, but one of its boroughs has an increase of 5.9%, shows that there is a major issue that needs to be addressed immediately. He felt that he could not go to the victims of crime in my borough and say, "Sorry, the review is not up for three years so you will have to live with it," they will not find that acceptable.

58.10 The Chairman concluded the discussion by saying that it would be useful for members to have a briefing on the RAF and thanked Councillor Robbins and those members of the community who had attended the meeting for their attendance.

Resolved – That the petition be received.

59. Commissioner’s report

(Agenda item 6)

Performance issues

59.1 In the absence of the Commissioner, the Acting 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 October 2009 to December 2009 with data for individual measures reflecting the rolling year ended 30 November 2009 and made references to the financial year to date were for the period April to November 2009/10

59.2 In presenting the performance report, the Acting Commissioner highlighted key points around performance and these included:

• That crime had further reduced by 2% overall and that this now meant that it was at its lowest level since 1998 in terms of overall crime in London, with 12,500 less offences.
• Despite a brief increase in serious violence there was an indication that this had now ‘flat-lined’ and fallen back with a reduction of 0.5% The Acting Commissioner stated that Operation Blunt 2 and a range of other initiatives around teenage homicides so far this year had reduced knife crime incidents. He added that while recent homicides were both regrettable and far too many there was an improvement. And it remained a priority to reduce them further.
• Operation Bumblebee and specific dedicated task forces in the boroughs to tackle concerns about burglary had seen an increase of 10% fall to 6.8% and the Acting Commissioner hoped by the year end that this will have reduced to 4% or 5%
• Confidence in local policing had increased under the British Crime Survey - national key performance indicator. The Acting Commissioner confirmed that satisfaction rates were at 51% (a rise of 4% since the baseline in September 2008). He suggested that this improvement had resulted from a lot of positive work being undertaken by Safer Neighbourhoods and other teams.
• Gun Crime remains a key priority with operations Verano, Trident and Argon all running intelligence-led activity. The Acting Commissioner reminded members that there had been an increase in gun crime early in the year and that as part of the ongoing aim of reducing this crime the MPS were also looking at the use of intimation of weapons and incidents where no gun was present but alluded too.
• It was reported that knife crime was down 3.3%.
• Homophobic crime had seen a significant increase up by 26%, an increase of 226 offences. In response to this the MPS are looking at intelligence issues around these offences and how the MPS respond to them.

Other matters

Section 44

59.3 Regarding the recent European Court ruling on use of Section 44, the Acting Commissioner stated that it was up to the Government to respond and that he believed the Government intends to appeal it. In the meantime Section 44 power under primary legislation still exists and he felt that whilst it had a part to play in making a deterrent for a terrorist attack it needed to be used wisely. He reported that use of Section 44 has decreased by 51% so the number of stop and searches under Section 44 have halved. He confirmed that officers had been asked to make sure that they use good and sound judgment in terms of the use of cameras and the viewing of digital images. He added that guidance had been circulated to officers via MPS intranet as well as being circulated to all borough contact leads in terms of counter terrorism, etc, and that has been cascaded down through briefings.

Metropolitan Black Police Association

59.4 The Acting Commissioner reported that he was pleased to announce that the Metropolitan Black Police Association (MBPA) had lifted their boycott of supporting the recruit of people from the black and minority ethnic (BME) community to join the Metropolitan Police Service. He confirmed that he had written to the MBPA about MPS intentions to about moving forward with the diversity strategy of a representative police service that has a safe London as a result.

Rape and serious sexual assaults

59.5 The Acting Commissioner also reported a 30% increase in reported rapes with 470 more offences being recorded. The Acting Commissioner acknowledged that it was now a case for the MPS to focus more on this crime and possibly rethink and re-look at how this crime is dealt with, particularly in relation to recent high profile cases.

59.6 Arising from these recent high profile cases the Acting Commissioner raised his concerns that these may have left possible victims of this crime unsure of approaching the MPS to report them. He accepted that the MPS made mistakes and highlighted the need to more publically about achievements to counter negative press and install greater confidence in victims.

59.7 In terms of serious sexual assault, which is rape and what would previously have been called indecent assault, the Acting Commissioner confirmed that the MPS dealt with 7,600. Since January 2,258 allegations of rape had resulted in a total of 42 complaints. He informed members that in terms of rape only 11% of those are what are referred to ‘stranger rape’, with the remaining having some degree of connectivity, contact, or were a are known acquaintance. He added that the rise in rape is not about strangers dragging women off the street and that he felt there were other factors that needed further consideration.

59.8 In relation to the high profile cases and some of the issues that were raised by some members at the time of the IPCC press conference about officers laughing at the victim that was giving her comments in terms of a press release, the Acting Commissioner stated that both he and the Commissioner were appalled if police officers had acted in that way with a victim of such a crime. As a result, it had been raised with the IPCC and they stated they were satisfied that the issue had actually been fully investigated to their satisfaction. The Acting Commissioner had also followed that up with a letter to the IPCC ensuring them that this had been fully investigated at the time. He added that he was happy to give further details to members about this outside the meeting.

59.9 Members also asked for details relating to the rise in sexual offences and particularly the sanction detection (SD) rate and sought reassurance that the regionalisation of the Sapphire teams was not a contributing factor or that work or expertise in this area had been lost. Members also asked if the increase was a London specific if the increase was due to an increase in reporting, and, if so, was the business case for setting up SCD2 underestimated. In relation to SCD2 members also asked for borough-by-borough analysis of just how many cases, new and legacy, that are SCD2 labelled which are still sitting on boroughs.

59.10 Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick stated that London was exceeding the national trend.

59.11 She confirmed that the MPS would be coming back to the Authority with a report of the review that has been undertaken on the new arrangements which started in September 2009. It was stated that the early indications were that the increase did appear to be temporary but further work and information was need to confirm this.

59.12. Regarding a possible increase in reporting of rape and sexual violence there was an acknowledgement that more people are coming forward and that there are improved recording practices but it was still considered that this offence was under reported. AC Cressida Dick felt that there was a need for proper analysis to be undertaken before this could be confirmed. In terms of the sanction detection rate; members were informed that many other leading academics in this field were looking at whether sanction detection rates are useful measures.

59.13 In response to members’ specific question about resources (particularly in Croydon) it was reported that with the exception of about six weeks, Croydon had been up to strength according to what was allocated to them in September. AC Dick added that if the review finds a borough is too low in terms of resourcing and another area is too high then resources would need to be moved, and likewise, if staff cannot cope effectively to the standards the SCD2 would seek additional resources within SCD or across the MPS.

59.14 In relation to boroughs supporting work that is SCD2 owned it was reported that there are a number of crimes which were in the category that will be dealt with by SCD2 that happened before the changeover and a few that continued to be investigated by BOCUS, because they are better placed to deal with them. Once these were completed then there will be no crimes being dealt with in Territorial Policing that should be being dealt with in Specialist Crime. There are no very serious sexual offences or rapes being dealt with in Territorial Policing that should be being dealt with in Specialist Crime.

Sustainable Procurement Taskforce

59.15 The Acting Commissioner reported that the MPS had been awarded level five, the top possible score for procurement Governments sustainable Procurement Task Force.

Issues raised by members

Updated on Reid case

59.16 The Acting Commissioner confirmed that MPS were considering the IPCC report into the investigation of this case and may need to discuss outcomes with the IPCC. He added that he felt that it would be inappropriate to comment further in terms of the individual cases because those discussions have yet to take place. He however hoped that they would be concluded within the next four to six weeks.

Electric Vehicles

59.17 Members asked for details regarding how the Metropolitan Police Service is contributing to the Mayor's drive for electric vehicles. It was confirmed that the Finance and Resources Committee in October 2009 had approved that the MPS act in the lead role for testing and evaluation of an electric hybrid and other sustainable-fuelled vehicles, such as hydrogen, on behalf of the GLA family. Confirmation was given that the MPS were in the process of evaluating and identifying vehicles.

HGV enforcement/ Collision investigation

59.18 The Acting Commissioner confirmed that following a review Traffic OCU would create a Commercial Vehicle Unit comprising of two teams with a total of 16 officers. The work of the Commercial Vehicle Unit would be enforcement and raising road safety awareness. Full running costs yet to be determined but will be built into the final project within that OCU. In response to a members question about the impact of moving the collision investigation unit from Euston to an outer London location, the Acting Commission said he would provide further details to members.

Policing Brick Lane area

59.19 In response to members questions about additional policing in the Brick Lane area the Acting Commissioner confirmed that he had spoken to the borough commander about the plans for this area. He confirmed that at present there were no plans to create a dedicated town centre unit purely for Brick Lane and that the area was supported by Safer Neighbourhood teams. He added that the area did have a significant problem-solving team that operated as part of the ‘Jet process’ and which worked in partnership with the local authority. He added that the borough commander was currently undertaking the borough planning process which would be reviewing resources for the next three financial years. As part of this process he would be consulting with amongst others the community safety element of Tower Hamlets authority. In addition they would be looking at the need for a town centre team.

Sanction Detection (SD) targets/ Indicators/Trends

59.20 The Commissioners report indicated that SD targets for overall numbers of Class A drug trafficking and those with cocaine-related SDs are unlikely to be met because of a need to realign resources to cover other priorities. Members asked what other areas have been given priority ahead of Class A drug trafficking. Members also sought clarification relating to references in the Commissioner’s report under indicators and trends, specifically members asked for details about those indicators that were listed as ‘worsening’. The Acting Commissioner stated that a key priority was to look at what actually impacts on and causes harm to communities in the relation to the use of Class A drugs. These have included disturbance, antisocial behaviour and crime through overt drug markets, crack houses, Class A interventions and gang activity that results in harm and violence. He felt that the term ‘worsening was in appropriate and agreed he would re-visit the use of this term.

Homophobic crime reporting

59.21 In response to a question about reporting of homophobic crime the Acting Commissioner stated that there was a rise in homophobic reported incidents. In relation to the specific incident referred to he added that the recording of homophobic attacks, particularly if on or near two or more boroughs was not as accurate as he would like. He agreed to speak with members about the specific incident outside of the meeting.

Community Monitoring Network

59.22 The Acting Commissioner agreed that he would circulate to members’ information relating to the Community Monitoring Network that took place on 4 May 2009.

Helicopters

59.23 Members raised concerns at a reference in the Commissioner report that helicopters are used for operationally unnecessary activities, particularly as the Authority has often raised concerns about helicopter use being an expensive resource and can be disrupting to the community. The Acting Commissioner reiterated that the MPS acknowledged the resource issues relating to the use of helicopters, but reassured members that they were being used for operationally essential issues.

Special constables

59.24 Members noted that the report referred to there being 9.1% BME regular police officers and also mentioning that it was proving difficult to recruit more. However the report also stated that there are 33% BME special constables and members asked for a view on this.

59.25 The Acting Commissioner stated that some people have joined the special constabulary to assess whether they want to be a member of the Metropolitan Police Service and he suggested that it might be useful to report back to the Authority how the MPS use the special constables to recruit more effectively into the regular service. He then outlined the growing number of special constables stating that three years ago we had 600, we now have 2,600 and it was the aim to aspire to have 10,000 special constables. In terms of recruitment he stated that recruitment into the police services does happen with those jobs which exist but at present police officer vacancies remain low. He added that having a good interest from the BME community in becoming special constables who may wish to join the Metropolitan Police Service is a positive thing and something he was keen to build on.

Section 60

59.26 Members made reference to Section 60 (PACE) and recently published figures that indicated that among the 10 boroughs with the highest knife crime figures the biggest fall was a result of Operation Blunt 2 and in Islington where knife crime dropped 25%, but the same borough also saw the second fewest Section 60 searches in the top 10 knife crime boroughs with only 840. Members asked for a comment that possibly Section 60 does not necessarily deliver the drop in knife crime and yet it does have an impact on young community and the young BME community in particular.

59.27 The Acting Commissioner stated that the MPS had launched Operation Blunt 2 (which had a range of activities including Section 60), in order to tackle the use of weapons. He stated that work undertaken by the MPS was indicating that the decision tackle the use of weapons appeared to be working. He acknowledged that when you put certain tactics in place then people may get used to that tactic and then adjust. The Acting Commissioner added that the MPS had maintained the connectivity at the local monitoring regimes and through Safer Neighbourhoods work, however, it does constantly revisit its tactics.

59.28 In noting the comments made by the Acting Commissioner some members suggested that there was an issue around the quality in terms of the reason for stop and searches and that a blanket approach to stop and search would not be effective. The Chairman suggested that there was possibly a need to look at the work that has been done around this issue as there was a counter argument that in some areas of London more should be done and not that it had not worked. Some members also felt that further work should be done to look at Section 60 in similar terms to the recent review of Section 44 use. Members suggested that it would be useful to have further information on Section 60 on a borough-by-borough basis including how often it had been used during the past 12 months; whether it was for the whole borough or part of a borough; what the broad justification for that was; was it part of Operation Blunt 2 or something else and how that correlated with the actual numbers of stops and searches together with impact that has had on knife crime. The Acting Commissioner agreed to report to the Strategic and Operation Policing Committee on the issues raised around Section 60

Public Safety – New Year ’s Eve

59.29 Members congratulated the MPS on the policing of the New Year’s celebrations. However, in noting that this event was becoming increasing popular members therefore raised concerns about public safety suggesting that consideration should be given to holding smaller events around London, possibly using big screens.

59.30 The Chairman agreed that this should be a consideration for future events and reassured members that both the Mayor and Commissioner had already discussed this issue and also those linked to Olympic celebrations.

Race and Equality Impact

59.31 Some members expressed disappointment that the Commissioner’s report failed to address fully race and diversity impact of issues contained within it and members asked that in future the report do so.

59.32 Those issues that the Acting 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 1.

Resolved – That the report be received.

60. The MPS human trafficking response

(Agenda item 7)

60.1 Following previous discussions at the Authority, members received a report that provided details of recent decisions made by the MPS Management Board on the future policing of human trafficking.

60.2 It was reported that as of 1 April 2010 and following stakeholder consultation and the removal of Home Office funding for the current Human Trafficking Team, the MPS Management Board had decided that the responsibility for investigating organised human trafficking would pass from the Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) to the Clubs and Vice Unit (C014). C014 as an operational command unit, would move to SCD and become SCD9. Members were informed that the remit of SCD9 would include the investigation of organised human trafficking of adults for either sexual or labour exploitation.

60.3 AC Dick informed members that it was recognised that child trafficking was a highly specialised area which required close working with partners and that this would remain within ‘Operation Paladin’ - SCD5 (Child Abuse Investigation Command).

60.4 Members were informed that the changes would enable a more co-ordinated, cost effective and efficient response to the tackling organised human trafficking. It was also felt that the changes would facilitate clearer communication lines and governance structures, providing access to significant resources within the SCD business Group.

60.5 It was noted that a number of members had attended briefing meetings relating to the proposals prior to the Authority meeting

60.6 Members raised a number of points and these included:

• Concern that the combining of the units would lead to a net loss of five or six officers which would be compensated by working ‘smarter’, but part of the working smarter would put a burden for carrying out operations onto boroughs.
• Concern that the MPS like other police services had not really understood the implications and the extent of trafficking for forced labour and that there were plans in the MPS to actually undertake some research on this issues. This could lead to further operational needs and with the loss of manpower and resource reductions there did not seem to be any manoeuvring within budgets for extra resources.
• Disappointment that the report does not say enough on child trafficking, including the views of charities that child trafficking needed highly specialised teams to deal with it.
• Concern about looking forward to the Olympics and possible increases in trafficking.
• Disappointment that the Home Office had cut support to this important element of policing.
• The need to continue to work with specific communities on trafficking and in particular child trafficking.

60.7 AC Cressida Dick confirmed that the MPS would be continuing the joint working with partners, stakeholders and with communities maintaining well used and established links. She agreed to discuss trafficking further with members after the meeting.

60.8. In terms of the Olympics it was noted that it remained unclear to the MPS what the impact of the Olympics is going to be in relation to human trafficking. AC Dick acknowledged that the MPS anticipated some impact both leading up to and during the Olympics on the prostitution trade. However, the MPS were investing in the Olympic boroughs, as well as in intelligence in those boroughs, community and more technical police sources of intelligence in order to find out more information.

60.9 In relation to funding resources issues, AC Dick stated that Home Office funding had been on a fix term matched funding basis. In relation to the reduction of five posts overall she stated that Clubs and Vice of whom there are now 39 staff, an increase of 5 were previously working part of the time on human trafficking and would now focus more on human trafficking. Finally, she stated that borough officers will now have access to greater expertise, guidance, and support.

Resolved - That members note the decisions take by the MPS Management Board.

61. External audit annual letter

(Agenda item 8)

61.1 Members received from the District Auditor the annual audit letter 2008/09.

61.2 Members noted that a draft letter had been considered by the Corporate Governance Committee at its meeting on 10 December 2009, where it was recommended that it be received by the Authority for approval.

Resolved - That following consideration by the Corporate Governance Committee, the external auditor’s letter for 2008/09 be approved.

62. MPA Monitoring Officer

(Agenda item 9)

62.1 A report was considered a report that sought approval for interim arrangements for the position of the MPA Monitoring Officer.

Resolved - That

1. the post of Solicitor to the Authority (on appointment) be the designated monitoring officer; and
2. Until the Solicitor to the Authority had been appointed, the Deputy Chief Executive be the designated monitoring officer on an interim basis.

63. Reports from committees

(Agenda item 10)

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

• Communities, Equalities and People Committee - 12 November 2009
• Finance and Resources Committee - 19 November 2009
• Strategic and Operational Policing Committee - 3 December 2009
• Corporate Governance Committee - 10 December 2009
• Finance and Resources Committee - 17 December 2009

Resolved - That the reports from Committees be received.

64. Action taken under delegated authority

(Agenda 11)

64.1 Members received a report that outlined action taken under delegated authority by the Chief Executive on the grounds of urgency.

Resolved - That the report be received.

65. Any other urgent business

(Agenda item 12)

65.1 There were no items of urgent business

66. Exclusion of the press and public

(Agenda item 13)

Summary of exempt item

67. Contract compliance

(Agenda item 14)

This was a formal report to the Authority under Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 from the Monitoring Officer.

The meeting closed at 12.20 p.m.

Addendum to the Commissioner’s report

Report by the Acting Commissioner

This addendum report follows up on the actions and commitments made verbally by the Acting Commissioner at the Authority meeting on 28 January 2010.

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

• MPS to consider Waltham Forest’s position in relation to the Resource Allocation Formula and consider appropriateness of applying the ‘Commissioner’s Judgement’.
• MPS to provide members with a written briefing to allow them to better understand the criteria and application of the RAF process.
• MPS to explain the impact on response times of closing the Collisions Investigation Unit at Euston and moving them out of central London.
• MPS to inform Victoria Borwick on the progress of Tower Hamlet’s resource planning process with reference to the possibility of a town centre team for the Brick Lane area.
• Deputy Commissioner to discuss accuracy of recording homophobic crimes with Caroline Pigeon.
• MPS to provide details of charges as well as arrests made in relation to Blunt 2.
• MPS to review the quality of the Race and Equality sections of MPS reports submitted to the MPA.

MPS to consider Waltham Forest’s position in relation to the Resource Allocation Formula and consider appropriateness of applying the ‘Commissioner’s Judgement’

2. AC McPherson is scheduled to meet with representatives from Waltham Forest on 11 February 2010 to discuss policing levels and potential solutions to the issues raised by the petition.

MPS to provide members with a written briefing to allow them to better understand the criteria and application of the RAF process

3. MPS and MPA colleagues are currently in discussion about how best to brief members on the structure and application of the Resource Allocation Formula so that they are appropriately informed.

MPS to explain the impact on response times of closing the Collisions Investigation Unit at Euston and moving them out of central London

4. CO15 have reviewed their capability and capacity to investigate collisions resulting in death and serious personal injury (SPI). The Collision Investigation Units (CIU) came under single management responsibility from the current 5 sites in mid 2004 and since this time they have undergone a series of reviews to improve the MPS response to road death investigation. The numbers of people killed or seriously injured on London’s streets has gone down since 2004 by about 25%. This reduction in casualties on London’s roads has left capacity for a realignment of services to establish the Commercial Vehicle Unit (CVU) which is a core skill held by a number of traffic officers that is not available anywhere else in the MPS. CO15 are committed to further reducing traffic collisions and the subsequent death/serious injury. The CVU are a key part of this and try to prevent the most serious of collisions before they occur through intelligence led tasking, enforcement and education by working with our partners. We have a strategic assessment to identify risks to our priorities and review our limited resources to achieve our objectives.

5. The response time to a collision requiring the attention of a specialist collision investigator will be no more than about 30 minutes to the furthest reaches of London. In Central London the response time will be a lot sooner. Collision investigators are in the second wave of response. Initial response by police will not be affected by these changes. We have also recently reviewed the deployment of our CIU support to scenes to ensure that our response provides the most effective service to those managing the incident.

6. The closure will not affect the investigative capability and capacity of the CIU pan London. The closure has seen a loss of 4 Police Staff, 1 Inspector and 6 Sergeants; the remaining staff have been redeployed at the four sites increasing team sizes and resilience of cover within the MPS. In addition to the four sites the traffic command also have a small team of detectives that are available to support the most demanding or complex investigations in addition to providing support for serious injury cases.

7. As a result of a recent review of road closures on the Strategic Road Network the CIU deploy earlier to more collisions. The impact on any additional workload and any reduction on road closures will be subject of review during the coming year to establish if this is an effective strategy to enhance investigations and reduce congestion within the MPS.

MPS to inform Victoria Borwick on the progress of Tower Hamlet’s resource planning process with reference to the possibility of a town centre team for the Brick Lane area

8. The current Tower Hamlets ‘Town Centre’ is a small localised area containing Brick Lane and its side streets. Following a review of Resources and Demand Management, Ch.Supt Rickett intends to increase the footprint of the "Town Centre" and create a dedicated Town Centre team in the new financial year. The new footprint will include parts of 4 wards surrounding all of Brick Lane. The area will include the Royal London Hospital, the new Shoreditch and Whitechapel over ground stations, Whitechapel Market, 3 Underground stations as well as encompassing the main TNO hotspot for Tower Hamlets. The team will include 8 PCs and 4 PCSOs as well as officers from the MSC.

9. A steering group is now working on the resourcing and accommodation issues to establish this new team.

Deputy Commissioner to discuss accuracy of recording homophobic crimes with Caroline Pigeon

10. This issue was raised following details of a specific incident. A response has been provided direct to Caroline Pidgeon.

MPS to provide details of charges as well as arrests made in relation to Blunt 2

11. A report entitled ‘Cautions for carrying offensive weapons’ was provided to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on 4 February, 2010. This report provided information relating to the number of arrests and charges for knife crimes.

MPS to review the quality of the Race and Equality sections of MPS reports submitted to the MPA

12. Work is in progress to improve the guidance and support available to report authors and the quality assurance of completed reports. This work includes the effective consideration of race and equality impacts.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback