Acting Commissioner’s Report

Report: 5
Date: 15 September 2011
By: Acting 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 a report on MPS performance against the 2011/12 Key Performance Indicators 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 available for four months of the new 2011/12 financial year (April to July 2011). Comparisons are therefore made against the same period in 2010 (except for Confidence and Satisfaction and KSI results).

At the Full Authority meeting, the Commissioner will be able to update members on performance in August 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 20011/12, 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 latest confidence data for the rolling year to June 2011 is now available. Confidence for this period, measured through the question ‘the percentage of people who think the police in their area are doing a good job’ increased by 4% to 67% compared to the same rolling year to June 2010. This increase can be attributed to improvements in all of the four driver areas of confidence; engagement, effectiveness, fair treatment and alleviating ASB with the biggest contribution coming from the engagement and fair treatment drivers. This performance also equals the target for this financial year and is a 1% improvement on the last quarterly data (66% for the RY to March 2011).

3. In addition we have also just received the latest satisfaction data from the USS. Satisfaction is measured by ‘the % of victims satisfied with the overall service provided by the police’ and is also split between white and BME users. The Road Traffic Collisions (RTC) user group are now removed from the satisfaction data as a result of revised Home Office Guidelines and as a result the MPS target has been revised down to 78%. Data for Q1 of this financial year 2010/11 showed that overall satisfaction was 76%, the same as Q1 in 2009/10 but 1% lower than the last quarterly data (77% for Q4 2010/11) and 2% under the revised target. Satisfaction for White users was 78% and 74% for BME users and we continue to work towards improving our victim satisfaction, having seen successful initiatives in areas such as rape victim satisfaction, through the Confidence and Satisfaction Board.

Violent Crime

4. Overall violence offences continue to fall and are 10.6% lower than for the corresponding period last year (5,682 offences from 53,854 to 48,172). Within this reduction, violence with injury offences reduced by 10.2% (2,517 fewer offences from 24,785 to 22,268) over the 4 month period April to July 2011 versus 2010. In addition common assault also reduced by 4.9% (771 fewer offences from 15,792 to 15,021) over the same period and harassment reduced by 17.5% (2,133 fewer offences from 12,167 to 10,034).

5. Overall gun crime fell by 11.6 % or 121 offences (from 1,045 to 924 over the 4 month period) and within this crimes where a gun was discharged fell by 19.4% (53 fewer offences from 273 to 220).

6. Overall knife crimes over the period April to July 2011 increased by 17.5% (761 additional offences from 4,346 to 5,107 offences). It is pleasing however that offences where a knife was used to injure fell by 4.9% (73 fewer offences from 1,504 to 1,431).

7. There have been eight fewer victims of homicides in the four months to July, a total of 41 compared to 49 for the same period last year. The number of victims aged 1-19 went down by five from 10 to 5.

8. However the overall number of victims of Serious Youth Violence increased by 16% (382 more offences from 2,391 to 2,773 over the 4 month period). We continue to tackle serious youth violence as a priority for the MPS.

9. Reported domestic violence offences reduced by 5.9% over the four month period (1,036 fewer reported offences from 17,495 to 16,459) as did racist and religious crimes, down by 23.1% (819 fewer offences from 3,547 to 2,728). In addition homophobic crimes have also decreased significantly by 22.3% (126 fewer offences from 566 to 440 offences).

10. Data in relation to people Killed & Seriously Injured in road traffic collisions lags three months to our financial year data. The monthly average number of KSIs in the 12 months to April 2011 decreased to 218 compared to 251 during the same period last year. This represents a 4% reduction and meets the 2% reduction target against last year.

Property Crimes

11. Property crime includes robbery, motor vehicle crime, burglary, shoplifting and criminal damage. The number of overall offences in the four month period April to July 2011 increased by 3.2% (5,777 more offences from 181,399 to 187,176 offences) over the same period in 2010. Behind that increase, the component offence types are showing different trends.

• Criminal damage is down by 12.9% (3,882 fewer offences from 30,126 to 26,244 offences).
• Motor vehicle crime increased slightly by 0.9% (307 additional offences (from 34,841 to 35,148 offences)
• Robbery offences have also increased, by 18.4% (2206 additional offences from 11,959 to 14,165) driven by the increase in personal robbery offences (+20.5%) which account for 90% of all robbery offences. Theft from a Person, which comprises of snatches and pick pocketing, is up by 23.5% (2,610 additional offences from 11,089 to 13,699). Burglary offences are up by 7.1% (2,048 additional offences from 28,707 to 30,755 offences).
• All other thefts, which make up 35% of the offences in the property portfolio, increased by 9% (+3,517 offences). These offences include shoplifting, theft of pedal cycles and motor vehicle interference and tampering.

12. The MPS continues to keep a sharp focus on acquisitive crime and violence offences through a combination of enforcement, education and prevention activities:

• Enforcement activity, coordinating assets and operations under the Operation Target umbrella, is helping to stop the increase in robbery, while achieving reductions in overall crime and violence.
• Operation Connect links diversion, education and prevention activity to ensure that resources are targeted in the appropriate places. In Waltham Forest, Operation Connect has been working intensely with partners to deliver early years education and family intervention plan and has seen significant decreases in serious youth violence, knife enabled crime and gun crime. Further boroughs have been identified as we look to roll this out further.
• Operation Blunt activity continues across London, disrupting offenders and taking knives of the streets and we have also enhanced officer deployments as we look to reduce victimisation of school children at the start of the new school term.
• The MPS Street Robbery campaign commenced on the 5 September and will run throughout September. It coincides with young people returning to school with valuables they may have purchased over the summer and young people starting secondary school who may be particularly vulnerable. The campaign involves radio, online and poster advertising across key boroughs and encourages the public to think about when and where they use valuables such as MP3 players and mobile phones.

13. Following the disorder in London between 6 and 8 August 2011 all available resource was assigned to prevent further disorder under Operation Kirkin and to arrest and prosecute offenders involved in the disorder. From 15 August, Operation Target was partially resumed using and directing the significant additional resource deployed under Operation Kirkin to impact upon volume crime in London. Since 15 August 2011 we have seen lower levels in personal robbery, violence with injury, serious youth violence, knife crime, knife robbery and residential burglary which is a continuation of the slight downward trend we had seen prior to when the disorder started on 6 August 2011.

Public Order

14. The sequence of events that started on Saturday 6th August and continued on into the following week were unprecedented in respect of the impact they had on London as a city, its people, police service and other emergency services.

15. What started out as a highly localised peaceful protest in Tottenham on Saturday 6th in response to the death of Mark Duggan quickly moved to a spontaneous highly violent response attacking the police.

16. In the days that followed this disorder was typified by sporadic, multi-site, commercially motivated disorder that occurred at a number of ‘town centres’ across London and was loosely organised in its nature. This pattern of behaviour was distinctly different to that which we had seen on the Saturday.

17. We have never seen such levels of multi-site disorder in the capital before. Over the course of Sunday and Monday, 22 out of the 32 London boroughs saw serious disorder; the number of 999 calls increased by 400% in a 24-hr period; at one stage we were receiving more than one piece of information per second; the Fire Brigade received over 1,700 to reports of fires burning.

18. Under the Operation Withern investigation well over 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the disorder, with over 1,300 charged. Officers are currently working through around 20,000 hours of CCTV footage, forensic and crime scene examiners are working on more than 1,100 crime scenes and more than 300 forensic submissions have already been made to labs. The MPS is working closely with the CPS to ensure that cases are processed quickly. Our investigations are far from over; we will continue to find those responsible. Officers across the Met are carrying out great police work, day and night, to gather the kind of evidence which has led to these charges.

19. As at the beginning of September figures show that there were over 3,500 reported total notifiable offences linked to the disorder that occurred across London between 6 and 9 August. Of these, the most common offences were burglary (35%), criminal damage including arson (30%) and theft of personal property (12%). In addition there were two homicides as a result of the disorder.

20. We want to thank everyone who has shown such immense support for the police. Individual officers have proudly told stories of being offered cups of tea, meals, rest facilities or being applauded as they walk down the street. We have seen record numbers of people applying to be police volunteers and Special Constables in the last week. The MPS will continue to support the people of London by keeping the street safe and finding those responsible for the appalling violence.

21. As an organisation we are in the process of reviewing what happened; asking ourselves if we could have done anything differently and questions such as why did disorder take place in some locations and not others and what our model should look like in response to multi-site disorder. This is being carried out by a Strategic Review Group reporting to AC Lynne Owens.

Delivering a safe and secure Olympics

22. The top tier of the London Command Team has now been established. Gold London will be Commander Bob Broadhurst, supported by Commander Michael Johnson as Silver. Both are now working full-time on the Olympics, as is Bronze Park, C/Supt Andy McKechnie. The other two principal bronzes will be C/Supt Adrian Roberts (Central Zone) and C/Supt Michael Wise (River Zone).

23. LOCOG held a range of sporting test events throughout August, including beach volleyball in the purpose built stadium in Horse Guards Parade, the marathon swim in Hyde Park and the Classic Cycle Race between London and Surrey. These events tested the effectiveness of plans and structures relating to the Command teams and links between the Special Operations Room at Lambeth and the National Olympic Coordination Centre (NOCC) at New Scotland Yard. They also utilised the Media Issues Group (MIG), the strategic communications coordination hub which sits alongside LOCOG’s Main Operations Centre (MOC), for the first time.

24. The Metropolitan Police Torch Relay Security Team will accompany the Torch throughout the UK, and is closely involved in ongoing discussions between LOCOG, local authorities, police forces and partners. A network of regional Gold commanders has been agreed, with command teams tasked to manage the safe movement of the Torch.

25. The Olympic Safety and Security Testing and Exercise Team (OSSTET) conducted a cross-domain table-top event in July (Blue Alpha) and intend to hold two cross-domain Command Post exercises between 21st-23rd September and 30th November - 2nd December. The exercises will allow all Olympic venue and football forces to participate at the strategic level (Gold to COBR).

26. The National 2012 Strategy for Counter Terrorism and Domestic Extremism policing, in the context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was formally agreed on 4th July 2011. A draft CONOPS has been written and circulated to MPS Management Board, members of ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters (TAM), Olympic ‘Golds’ and the Security Service.

27. The Directorate of Information’s (DoI) Olympic ICT team ensures that the ICT required for Olympic safety and security is delivered for the MPS, other venue forces and national agencies. Significant progress has been made on Airwave radio site acquisition (97% complete) and the capacity of the two Special Operations Rooms (SOR) at Lambeth and Hendon has been increased to facilitate the management of the large-scale Olympic events. The newly configured Lambeth SOR was used in the days following the riots and for Notting Hill Carnival.

28. The International Liaison Unit (ILU) has launched a series of security briefings for police and security attaches from UK Embassies in the 204 countries competing in the 2012 Games. In total, 130 delegates from UK Embassies in 114 of the 204 countries have participated in two Security Liaison Group meetings. Presentations have been given on public order and protection aspects of security at the Royal Wedding, the NOCC, the Olympic Strategic Threat Assessment (OSTA), the Olympic Intelligence Centre (OIC) and Operation Podium. Feedback from the events was positive with high levels of confidence demonstrated in UK plans for London 2012 safety and security.

Better for Less

29. The Commissioner has previously outlined his vision of a balanced policing model with safety, confidence, and value for money at its core. Within that vision the MPS is committed to delivering excellent policing from tackling ASB and other crime in neighbourhoods through to dealing with terrorist and the most serious criminals often ‘behind the scenes’. However it is doing that within a financial climate of an expected reduction in its spending (compared to 2010/11 budget) of some £600m by 2014/15.

30. To do that the MPS is:

• Reducing its inanimate costs
• Delivering an effective business and operational model including:
  • Undertaking process improvement activity
  • Sharing services with and across the MPS
  • Exploring a range of outsourcing and joint ventures
• Only then reducing operational officers and PCSOs.

31. The Policing London Business Plan (PLPB) 2011-14 has identified significant savings that will balance the budget for 2011/12 but additional economies need to be found for 2012/12 and 2013/14. The scale of the challenge is:

32. About three quarters of the MPS’s revenue expenditure is on pay. The approved establishment, pending decisions on further savings in future years as reflected in the PLBP is:

33. Action underway to achieve savings include:

• Major change programmes are now well established and being progressed with appropriate corporate infrastructure in place to track progress and identify and manage interdependencies and risk.
• Early departure schemes have been developed and are in operation using earmarked reserves established for this purpose.
• Star chambers have been established to monitor and control staff vacancies and officer deployment.
• Financial monitoring is being amended to manage and control capital and revenue budgets more effectively with increased focus on major change programmes.
• Development of the 2012-2015 Policing London Business Plan is already underway:
  • An informal scrutiny session was held with the Deputy Mayor on 27 July to discuss the latest position.
  • Business Group budget scrutiny will take place throughout September.
  • A report will be presented to the joint MPA SOP/F&R meeting on 22nd September outlining the current budget position.
  • A submission will be made to the Mayor by 30th September that will outline how the organisation will balance the budget in 2012/13.
  • A full budget submission to the Mayor will be made by 18 November.

34. The risks to achieving the necessary savings are as follows;

• The non-delivery of major change programmes and/or double counting of savings. Budget includes some resilience to cover such costs;
• The additional pressures placed on the service both operationally and financially e.g. Royal Wedding, State Visits, increased public order/protest events, withdrawal of partnership funding;
• Enactment of the Police and Social Responsibility Bill which will result in additional in year costs for which there is no specific provision;

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

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.

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

Consideration of MET Forward

3. 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.

Financial Implications

4. The financial challenges facing the Service are highlighted under the ‘better for less’ section of this report.

5. 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 £5.6m. The MPA Finance & Resource Committee on 23 June was asked to approve a transfer to Reserves of £5.6m to support the 2011/12 budget. This compares to the anticipated £11m previously reported to committee. The variation reflects the notification by the Home Office that the PCSO grant for 2010/11 would be reduced in light of the average numbers over 2010/11. The 2011-14 Business Plan anticipated funding of £6m in 2011/12 and £5m in 2012/13 from underspending in 2010/11 and there will therefore be additional budget pressures of £0.4m in 2011/12 and £5m in 2012/13, which the MPS will seek to address.

6. 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.

7. The monitoring report as at Period 3 (June 2011) shows the forecast revenue overspend for the 2011/12 financial year to be £14.3m which is 0.5% of budget. However this does not take into account the resilience provision of £25.1m built into the budget due to the uncertainties relating to the delivery of planned savings.

8. In addition there are a number of other potential pressures to be managed which have not been included in this forecast. These include early departures, discretionary pension costs, change programmes and public order events. The Service’s aim remains, if possible, to retain the budget resilience provision in order to support the delivery of major change programmes in 2012/13 and beyond.

9. However, the budget pressures arising from the policing response to recent public disorder within London (Operation Kirkin) and the ongoing police investigation (Operation Withern) are not included in this position but will be included as part of future updates. The estimated total cost of staffing the public disorder since Saturday 6 August to Sunday 21 August 2011 is £74m. This breaks down to the additional costs of Operation Kirkin represent £34m and opportunity costs (i.e. the benefit loss to the MPS of an officer being deployed away from their normal duties to these duties) for Operation Kirkin are estimated at £40m. The Authority is also working with the Home Office to deal with significant claims under the Riot Damages Act. The current planning assumption is that these costs will be met by the Government. If this proves not to be the case, then further pressure will be put on MPA/MPS resources. The Period 4 forecast position will be presented to F&R committee on 22nd September.

10. Capital expenditure at the end of June 2011 is £29.5m which represents 15.8% of the Programme budget. Progress will be closely monitored to ensure expenditure remains within budget.

11. As a significant proportion of our costs are people related, in making our business and operational support model as lean as possible like many other organisations we are having to reduce the number of staff we have working in some areas. The MPS remains committed to avoiding compulsory redundancy as far as possible and we will continue to work closely with our staff and the trade union side in delivering this programme of change. Since November 2010 the Service has run a number of focused Early Departure Schemes and, through these schemes, 1,020 members of staff have chosen to leave the service under a voluntary early departure package.

Legal Implications

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

Environmental Implications

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

Risk Implications

14. 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: Head of Strategic Relationships, Judith Mullett, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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