DPS – Strategic Intelligence Assessment 2008/09

Report: 10
Date: 4 December 2008
By: Director of Professional Standards on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

The Strategic Intelligence Assessment provides the framework for professional standards, identifying key areas and addressing developing issues.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report

B. Supporting information

Strategic Intelligence Assessment / Control Strategy process

1. The Directorate of Professional Standards produce a Strategic Intelligence Assessment (SIA) to provide an overview of the professional standards issues that face the MPS and the challenges in the years ahead. The SIA was previously produced on an annual basis but the reporting cycle has now changed to every three years to align with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) equivalent process. The SIA recommends the Control Strategy Priorities which are:

• DPS support for Taylor (leadership and supervision)
• Reforms to counter information misuse
• Business Interests
• Theft from police premises
• Substance misuse
• Vetting
• Internal fraud.

2. The Control Strategy recommendations were identified through a workshop of MPS stakeholders and approved by the Professional Standards Strategic Committee (PSSC). Once priorities have been set the Control Strategy is published separating activity within Intelligence, Prevention and Enforcement in line with the National Intelligence Model protocols. This ensures activities are owned by the people who can have greatest impact upon delivering the relevant outcomes and focuses business group activity on the key priorities.

3. The SIA is managed through a bi-monthly meeting of the PSSC. This meeting is attended by senior representatives from all business groups and has the following remit:

• To assess the ongoing risks to the MPS, relating to unprofessional, unlawful and unethical behaviour of our staff;
• To drive the MPS Professional Standards Strategy and the Control Strategy; and
• To develop, agree and ensure the implementation of the MPS Professional Standards policy and SOPs.

4. The development of the control strategy is an organic process to allow practitioners the opportunity to use their expertise to refine recommendations and if necessary introduce new areas of concern as new information becomes available.

Collection and use of management information

5. The Directorate of Professional Standards have a dedicated Management Information Unit (MIU). This unit collects professional standards information from all Metropolitan Police business groups.

6. The Prevention and Reduction Team (PART) review recommendations from professional standards investigations, misconduct reviews, IPCC reports and Coroners’ Courts. The unit provides a corporate memory and central MPS point of reference for recording and progressing issues of organisational learning. PART is also responsible for the Professional Standards Support Programme (PSSP.) This programme monitors complaints relating to officers’ conduct across the MPS and engages with the B/OCU Senior Management Team to discuss emerging issues and trends. The PSSP then create a bespoke training package for individual OCUs.

7. The Taylor reforms to misconduct will impact directly on the quantity and quality of data passed from OCUs to DPS. The quantity of data will increase post 01.12.2008 when responsibility for all conduct issues that do not amount to gross misconduct is managed locally. OCUs will provide monthly updates on disciplinary matters including written warnings, final written warnings and management advice. It is anticipated that this will increase the ability of PART to identify trends and concentrate support to OCUs that may require greater attention.

8. The DPS also operates an Intelligence Development Group (IDG) this unit is responsible for the collection and dissemination of intelligence data.

Overview of corruption trends

9. Due to the low volume of intelligence regarding high-level corruption statistical analysis is problematic. There has been an increase in corruption intelligence but that can be attributed to structural changes within the DPS. The DPS have instigated a number of systems to encourage and capture additional intelligence regarding corruption, which include: Right Line On-Line (an anonymous system for reporting wrongdoing via the MPS intranet); Right line anonymous telephone reporting system and a DPS intelligence liaison team to increase reporting from within the MPS and from partner agencies.

10. A continuing area of concern is information misuse and this is a problem replicated nationally; this area is included as a strand within the Strategic Intelligence Assessment. This subject raises particular concerns from general misuse, such as the inadvertent or naive mishandling of MPS information (inappropriate use of social networking sites) to those that deliberately leak MPS information to criminals to subvert law enforcement activity. The increased accessibility of police intelligence to improve operational effectiveness has increased the ease with which that information can be accessed and passed on. Professional Standards recognises the potential for this area and the need to have rigorous and effective audits on IT systems. The DPS have worked closely with DoI to ensure that these issues are considered at the design stage of new systems. The PSSP has had an important role in educating staff on what police intelligence can be legitimately and lawfully accessed.

11. In assessing the ethical risk to the MPS of this strand of the control strategy it is necessary to differentiate between the different types of information misuse. For instance, the perception that information has been leaked to the press will impact the police’s standing with partners and the public generally, while the most serious type of corruption direct leakage to Organised Crime Networks (OCN) can have serious long term consequences both internally and externally. The mere knowledge that there is active police interest in an OCN can undermine traditional methods of evidence gathering.

12. It is a relatively simple task to identify who within the organisation has accessed police information and in the majority of cases to establish a relationship between that person and someone outside the organisation who would benefit from that knowledge. It is however extremely difficult to prove that the information was passed from one to the other.

C. Race and equality impact

DPS are aware that the impact of misconduct, corruption and criminal investigation can have a significant impact on all communities should there be a perception that they are being unreasonably focused on. The DPS have established an Equalities forum to assist with any issues of disproportionality and seek to engage with staff associations at senior management level on a case-by-case basis. The SIA and associated work is based upon previous activity that has been reported and is part of a wider proportionality-monitoring programme that seeks to ensure that equality and fairness issues are considered and respected.

D. Financial implications

The SIA is an internal process that does not have any separate financial implications.
 

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Maguire, MPS

For information contact:

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

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