Commissioner’s Report

Report: 3
Date: 30 June 2011
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report summarises recent performance in the MPS, as well as operations and initiatives designed to tackle crime and make London safer.

It is intended to update MPA members and give a high-level, strategic view of the work of the MPS. It highlights the Commissioner’s operational priorities of improving public confidence, tackling serious violence and serious youth violence, delivering value for money policing, ensuring a safe and secure Olympics and countering terrorism.

This is the first report on MPS performance against the 2011/12 KPIs and their targets as set out in the MPA/MPS Policing London Business Plan 2011-14. At the time of this report’s submission, data is only available for one month of the new 2011/12 financial year (April 2011) and therefore the comparisons in the main body of the report are between February to April 2011 against the same three months in 2010 (except for Confidence and Satisfaction results). Three months gives a more robust view of trends than just one month and is consistent with other MPA reports, such as that submitted to SOPC.

At the Full Authority meeting, the Commissioner will be able to update members on performance in May 2011

A. Recommendations

The report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. In consultation and agreement with the MPA, the number of Key Performance Indicators has been reduced to nine for the new financial year 2001/12, including a Violence and Property portfolio target approach. This approach enables the MPS to form a view of crime in London across a large number of linked offences where the motivation is similar. The portfolios only include crimes where there is a victim, as opposed to state based crimes that are uncovered as a result of police action to enforce the law or prevent disorder - for example drug and public order offences.

Confidence and Satisfaction

2. The MPS Public Attitude Survey results at the end of the 2010/2011 financial year showed that 66% of Londoners thought their local police were doing a good job. This is a significant achievement and also represents a 4% increase on the 62% result for 2009/10. In particular performance improved in quarter 4 (January - March) of 2010/11 with 70% of Londoners approving of the local police compared to 64% for the same quarter in 2009/10. We hope to see this improvement continue into the new 2011/12 financial year.

3. The latest User Satisfaction Survey results also cover the previous financial year period of April to March 2010/11. Overall satisfaction was up slightly at 78.6% compared to 78.1% for the 2009/10 financial year period. The satisfaction of white users with the overall service rose from 78.8% in 2009/10 to 80.1% in 2010/11 while that of BME users stayed more or less the same - 73.9% vs 73.8% over the same period.

Operation Target

4. On 8 June the MPS launched Operation Target, a renewed crackdown on violent offenders, robbers and burglars. Drawing together existing operations - some of which are also outlined in this report - with additional asset, the sustained campaign brings together all the MPS’ specialist resources, skills and people to support local police officers in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

5. Specialist MPS teams, such as the Flying Squad, Traffic and Mounted Branch are supporting BOCUs to deliver the operation. Covert and overt tactics, and intelligence-led interventions are being used. Specialist investigation teams are tracing and arresting wanted or suspected robbers and burglars, while increased presence on the streets is being achieved by extra uniformed patrols in key areas.

6. Operation Target will run for at least six months and be subject to regular review as we look to analyse performance and maximise tactical deployments. In the short term, we are looking to achieve immediate crime reductions in robbery and burglary. Over a longer period we are looking to enhance public confidence by achieving significant and sustained reductions in crime in London. Additionally, the operation intends to embed a number of effective long term crime prevention strategies to ensure there is sustained crime reduction in these areas.

Violent Crime

7. Most aspects of violent crime showed a reduction over the three month period of February to April 2011. Violence with injury offences reduced by 6.1% (1,005 fewer offences from 16,556 to 15,551). Common assault reduced by 2.2% (236 fewer offences from 10,947 to 10,711) and harassment reduced by 15.9% (1,337 fewer offences from 8,416 to 7,079).

8. Overall gun crime fell by 32.8% or 273 offences (from 832 between Feb to April 2010 to 559 for the same period in 2011) and within this crimes where a gun was discharged fell by 6.7% (10 fewer offences from 149 to 139).

9. Overall knife crimes over the period Feb to April 2011 increased by 8.6% (288 additional offences from 3,348 to 3,636 offences) as did knife crimes where a knife was used to injure, up by 5.6% (56 additional offences from 1,004 to 1,060).

10. There have been four fewer victims of homicide in the three month period February to April 2011, a total of 33, compared to 37 during the same period in 2010.

11. It is concerning that the number of victims of Serious Youth Violence increased by 5.2% (an increase of 95 offences from 1,843 to 1,938) over the comparison period.

12. Centrally, the MPS has adopted a number of operations and initiatives to reduce the incidents of violence and serious youth violence in London. In addition to Operation Target detailed above, initiatives include:

• An Alcohol Violence Strategy Group (with partners) that tackles problem premises, repeat victims and repeat offenders.
• • Operation Connect, a centrally directed operation, aimed at tackling young people involved with or at risk from becoming involved with gang activity.
• Blunt 2 which has been ongoing for several years and concentrates on the response to violence. Resources are tasked and deployed through the MPS’s five Area Commanders to whom BOCU Commanders report, allowing greater local control and flexibility to respond to changing intelligence.
• The Anti-Violence Strategy 2011-14 which has been refreshed for 2011-12 with activity concentrating on the five areas of Reassurance, Intelligence, Prevention, Enforcement and Partnership.

13. Reported domestic violence offences reduced by 2.1% over the 3 month period (254 fewer reported offences from 11,826 to 11,572) as did racist and religious crimes, down by 20.2% (463 fewer offences from 2,290 to 1,827). Homophobic crimes have shown a slight increase of 2.2% (6 more offences from 267 to 273 offences).

Property Crimes

14. Property crime includes robbery, motor vehicle crime, burglary, shoplifting and criminal damage. The number of overall offences in the three month period February to April 2011 increased slightly by 0.5% (632 offences from 132,192 to 132,824 offences) over the same period in 2010. Behind that slight increase, the component offence types are showing different trends.

• Motor vehicle crime is down 2% (511 fewer offences from 24,996 to 24,485), as is criminal damage down by 12.9% (2,749 fewer offences from 21,347 to 18,598).
• Robbery offences have increased by 6.2% (578 additional offences from 9,318 to 9,896). Theft from a Person, which comprises of snatches and pick pocketing, is up by 10.8% (925 additional offences from 8,590 to 9,515). Burglary offences are up by 5.3% (1,189 additional offences from 22,599 to 23,788).
• All other thefts, which make up 35% of the offences in the property portfolio, increased by 2.6% (1,200 additional offences from 45,342 to 46,542). These offences include shoplifting, theft of pedal cycles and motor vehicle interference and tampering.

15. To counter this, and in particular combat the robbery challenge, resources will be drawn together under Operation Target. We continue to target the five most acute robbery hotspots in the MPS. Specific action plans are based on Victim, Offender, Location and Time (VOLT) analysis and the problem-solving model. Those five BOCUs (Haringey, Lewisham, Westminster, Lambeth and Southwark) are being monitored centrally along with Blunt 2 which has also increased its focus on robbery.

Road Traffic Collisions

16. There have been 16 more fatal road traffic collisions in the 3 month period February to April 2011 compared to the same period last year (an increase from 29 to 45) although that was only 1 more than the same period two years ago.

17. The dedicated MPS Traffic Command continues to work hard to remove dangerous drivers from the streets of London. As a result over 65,000 traffic offenders were prosecuted during 2010/11, up 17% on 2009/10 data.

Rape and Serious Sexual Offences

18. In the three months from February 2011 to April 2011 there were 153 Sanction Detections (a detection that results in a disposal outcome) which was 10 more than in the same period in 2010 (143 SDs), a rise of 7%. There have been 51 more reported rapes in the period which equates to an increase of 6.2% (from 825 to 876). The SD rate consequently is almost unchanged at 17.5% for the three month period this year vs. 17.3% in 2010. Reported rapes went up by 16.7% (465) in 2010/11 which suggests that the rate of increase is slowing.

19. We continue to focus resources and operations on those areas that pose the greatest risk through ongoing partnership work with both the CPS, which has led to a new CPS rape charging centre being formed, with the Havens through the Havens Strategic Board. A new contract is being developed with the NHS to focus Haven services on the changing victim and reporting profile and to ensure specialist services are accessible for children.

Delivering a safe and secure Olympics

20. On 17 May, the AC Allison provided oral evidence to the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill Committee which examined issues around ticket touting and other aspects of the amendment. This was an opportunity to update on the ongoing efforts of Operation Podium as security planning continues.

21. The towns that will host overnight celebrations during the Olympic Torch relay were announced on 18 May and the MPS Torch team led by Superintendent Claire Johnston is working closely with host forces and other partners in London and across the country to plan in detail the security of this event.

22. Several significant Testing and Exercising events take place between now and the Games. The first strategic games-wide table top exercise for London 2012 will take place in early July and will focus on the Olympic Command Control and Co-ordination (C3) architecture and Concept of Operations (CONOPs) to be used during Games time. Other exercises and test events are planned throughout 2011 and early 2012.

23. On 6 July AC Allison will present to the ACPO Conference on Olympic matters. The presentation will discuss the developing understanding of how the police service will meet the demand of the Games, work closely with other delivery partners and raise awareness across UK Forces of the resource pressures the Games will generate nationally.

24. As part of the Olympic ICT programme, the upgrade to the Lambeth Special Operations Room (SOR) facilities is progressing to schedule. On 3 May 2011, the Lambeth site closed for Olympic reconfiguration of the ICT. The technology installations within the SOR include desk phones, ICCS (Integrated Communications Control System) terminals with touch screens, CCTV screens, computer terminals, headset connections and footswitches for Airwave radio communications. To provide cover during the Lambeth closure, the re-fit of the Hendon SOR was completed in advance of the Royal Wedding. It is intended that both facilities will be tested during the test events across London.

Better for Less

25. The 2011-14 Budget & Business Plan was approved at MPA Full Authority on 31 March. The document identifies that the MPA/MPS now has a balanced budget for 2011/12 on the basis that agreed reductions of £163m are delivered.

26. A great deal of excellent work has already taken place to make savings - in 2008/09 the MPS saved £72m; in 2009/10 it saved £194m. In 2010/11, the MPS saved a further £315m.

27. The MPS remains committed to continuing to deliver a better policing service for less by streamlining business support and making best use of operational assets. A significant part of this includes reducing the cost of inanimate objects and making efficiency savings in business support services resulting in the following profile of identified savings.

	2011/12 Budget (Gross Spend)		Saving on 2010/11 Budget %
	£m	%
Police officer pay	1,852	52	2
Staff pay	756	21	10
Overtime	127	4	4
Premises	196	6	8
Transport, supplies and services	495	14	9
Other	113	3	-
	3,539	100

28. The Commissioner has made clear to all MPS officers and staff that his focus is on protecting operational capability as far as possible. That means delivering a policing service that recognises the importance of both the visible uniformed presence on the street and the specialist policing services the MPS provide - often working largely unseen but affecting people’s lives significantly, such as tackling organised crime, firearms, drugs and child trafficking.

29. The Service still faces a very challenging financial environment. The Mayor's Budget Guidance for 2012-15 was published on 27 May 2012 requiring the MPS/MPA to present savings proposals for 2012/13 equal to £92.8m to balance the budget by the end of September 2011, earlier than in previous years.

30. In line with the MPS planning assumptions included in the Policing London Business Plan 2011-14, the Mayor requires the identification of further savings of £81.5m in 2013/14 and £79.7m in 2014/15 by 18 November 2011. Overall the Service will have to remove some £600m from its budget in 2014/15 as compared to 2010/11. Work has already started on meeting this challenge.

Public Order

31. The state visit of the President of the United States and the First Lady took place over a three day period towards the end of May. 4,600 officers were involved in the policing operation. The resilience of the MPS was tested when the President and his entourage arrived in London a day early because of the volcanic ash cloud. Despite this change of schedule occurring with only a few hours notice, a comprehensive policing plan was in place by the time the President and his entourage arrived. A number of protests were held and were monitored with proportionate police resources. The visit passed without any significant incidents.

32. The UEFA Champions’ League final took place in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. A carefully planned policing operation ensured that the day passed off peacefully. Resources were in place to ensure that when small pockets of disorder broke out in central London, any trouble was swiftly quelled - 44 arrests were made, predominantly for public order offences.

Counter Terrorism

33. The Home Office launched the new Prevent Strategy on 7 June 2011. The MPS, together with ACPO (TAM) colleagues, have contributed to the development of the strategy. The MPS has also been reprofiling operational deployments and refining the Prevent toolkit to match the new approach. This has already seen an increase in approved disruptions (17 so far this performance year, compared with 13 for all of 2010/11).

34. In the Protect domain, the Specialist Protection Command (SO1) together with colleagues in the broader policing operation, successfully managed the protection operation for the State Visit of the President of the United States. This major operation came swiftly after the Libya Conference in March and the Royal Wedding in April. Counter Terrorism Command made a significant contribution in support of the protection operations in respect of managing identified and emerging potential threats. All of this activity is feeding the ongoing planning for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

35. Following the verdicts of unlawful killing in the inquests of 52 people killed in the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005 the coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, praised the dedication and professionalism of Counter Terrorism Command officers. In a letter to the Commissioner she paid tribute to officers from the inquest team (Operation Ramus) who reviewed the vast quantities of evidential material, prepared reports about what happened to each of the deceased and supported witnesses. She also recognised the work of officers involved in the original investigation (Operation Theseus) which allowed a comprehensive range of information to be available for the inquest proceedings.

36. On 7 June, the MPS held a live multi-agency exercise in two locations in central London - one a tall office block on the South Bank and the other a 200 metre long surface-level tunnel in the City. It involved approximately 400 people from across police, ambulance and fire brigade. The objectives of the exercise specifically included the testing of (a) casualty evacuation techniques from a range of environs, including from a scene that still contains an active threat such as from a gunman; and (b) inter-control room communications. The approach to the later includes a process where the three control rooms (MPS, LAS and LFB) and, indeed the City of London Police and British Transport Police, have a conference call when an incident is suspected so that the individuals in charge of each control room can agree a coordinated response and adjust it quickly as required.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1.1 This report is concerned with overall MPS performance, but a number of equalities issues are highlighted, notably measures to encourage the reporting of domestic violence.

1.2 Throughout all the operational activity detailed in this report, the MPS strives to improve the quality of service provided to victims of hate crime, ensuring that a consistent and effective service is provided to London’s diverse communities; to improve performance against domestic violence, ensuring a consistent level of service across all communities and minimising disproportionality issues; to increase community trust and confidence in the police; to develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of London.

2. Consideration of MET Forward

2.1 This report fully reflects how the MPS is delivering the three key outcomes of Met Forward: fighting crime and reducing criminality, increasing confidence in policing, and providing better value for money.

3. Financial Implications

3.1 The financial challenges facing the Service are highlighted under the ‘better for less’ section of this report.3.2 Reports on the progress against the current business plan and budget are submitted on a regular basis to the MPA. The provisional outturn for 2010/11 is for an underspend of £13.9m. The MPA Finance & Resource Committee on 23 June was asked to approve a transfer to Reserves of £11m to support the 2011/12 and 2012/13 budgets as per the MPS Business Plan and to consider options for use of the remaining underspend (£2.9m).

3.3 The provisional outturn for the 2010/11 Capital Programme is £188.2m, which is £88.1m (31.9%) below the revised budget of £276.3m. As part of the measures to bridge the revenue expenditure funding ‘gap’ in 2011/12 & 2012/13, it was agreed by the MPA that £20m of capital expenditure planned to be financed by way of revenue contributions (RCCOs) during 2010/11 would be funded by additional borrowing. The revenue savings achieved will be ‘centrally held’ pending use during 2011/12 and 2012/13.

4. Legal Implications

4.1 As this report is a summary of operational performance data, no legal implications arise.

5. Environmental Implications

5.1 This report contains no direct environmental implications.

6. Risk Implications

6.1 The risks and opportunities are reflected in the content of this report and controls are in place where appropriate.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report authors: Director of Business Strategy, Michael Debens, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback