MPS Response to the Mayor’s Time for Action

Report: 10
Date: 8 January 2009
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on how the MPS is responding to the Mayor’s Time for Action Strategy to tackle youth crime and improve opportunities for young people. It outlines work already in progress across the MPS under the MPS Youth Strategy.

A. Recommendation

That

1. the MPA notes the MPS response to the Mayor’s Time for Action
2. the MPS work with the Mayor and other partners to deliver a joined up approach to developing and delivering the Mayor’s “Time for Action” Strategy.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPS supports proposals brought forward in ‘Time for Action’ and recognises the support and added value the strands make to the many other areas of work being progressed through the MPS Youth Strategy. In particular the MPS welcomes the leadership role being taken by the Mayor and the focus on a small number of programmes of work rather than a series of disparate projects.

2. The MPS Youth Strategy and the MPA Youth Scrutiny have already led to significant change in the approach towards young people being developed by the MPS but working within partnership frameworks. The partnerships are complex with many new structures having recently been introduced as part of reforms from the Children Act 2004. At a local level the MPS is represented by officers from Boroughs and from the Child Abuse Investigation Teams on each local Safeguarding Children Boards. In addition Borough staff are actively engaged in the developing Children’s Trusts who will become responsible for commissioning services at a local level. Across London we have played an active part in the London Youth Crime Prevention Board and the London Safeguarding Children Board. These structures together with the work of the London Community Safety Partnership have no statutory basis and whilst influential they have had to overcome a degree of resistance to creating a pan London approach. The Mayor has a unique opportunity to galvanise this debate and to build a wider strategy to bring London closer together on this important issue. It is the MPS view that the consultation following on from ‘Time For Action’ will provide an opportunity for the many stakeholders to be engaged and this will enhance the proposals being made.

3. Whilst we have concerns about some of the detail we see the strands of work as important areas. The MPS will take an active part in working with partners to help develop and deliver the projects being proposed but in our feedback have formerly raised the issues set out below.

Project Brodie – keeping young people in education

4. The MPS welcomes the Mayor’s priority to keep young people in education and recognises in its current work with schools through Safer Schools Partnerships and other local borough policing that it has a role to play in supporting local authorities in reducing the risks to young people associated with truancy. There is the longer-term issue of under achievement through non-attendance that can be a factor in offending in later life and also that truancy is one of a number of indicators that a child may be at risk of harm.

5. Where dedicated Safer Schools Partnership Officers are in place there have been reductions in truancy and improvements in behaviour. While the commitment of resources would be too great to provide dedicated officers to every school, the intention is that the 181 highest priority schools have dedicated officers and there are currently 158 in place, with 237 across the remaining secondary schools and pupil referral units. Each school now has a named police contact.

6. Safer Schools Officers have engagement, problem solving and enforcement roles at schools and on routes to school enhancing the confidence and safety of pupils whilst reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. Together with other resources they coordinate after school patrols and support safer routes to school.

7. While the MPS welcomes proposals to focus on truancy, it is concerned that a requirement for the police to “intervene in serious cases of non-attendance and truancy” has no statutory basis. This activity would require significant additional resources beyond those currently dedicated to Safer Schools Partnerships and local policing. Police taking the lead could undermine the role of local authorities, which is seen as key in addressing the truancy issue. The MPS believes effective information sharing and joint activity should provide the model for police involvement in local authority-led activity to reduce the risks to young people involved in truancy and are developing this through Operation Staysafe.

8. Operation Staysafe is being developed with local authorities as a means of supporting Directors of Children’s Services in tackling truancy. Operation Staysafe will focus on young people most at risk of becoming victims and/or offenders and will use the youth safety assessment framework to identify the most at risk young people. Operation Staysafe breaks down into three distinct parts in that it provides a specific approach for highest risk and most vulnerable young people. A targeted approach for the areas where young people are most at risk and vulnerable including places where young people are absent from school, and using intelligence to support truancy patrols led by local authorities. Intelligence could also be used to identify persistent truants and police could have a role to play in developing partnership strategies to tackle the issues leading to persistent truancy.

Daedalus – first time custody

9. The MPS supports proposals to provide training and employment programmes for young people who are in custody are welcomed, particularly proposals these be linked with the Diamond Districts initiative to provide resettlement and support for offenders in specific geographic areas. This includes ensuring physical and mental health needs are addressed, local businesses and employers are bought into the scheme and that training is appropriate to vacancies or placement when they are released.

10. The MPS believe the Diamond Districts initiative provides a strategic platform upon which this work could build. Many of the key partner agencies, through the London Criminal Justice Board, are already engaged and committed but it is key that there is capacity in the system or it may fail to meet expectations. One potential way forward is the opportunity to engage the third sector and to commission appropriate charitable organisations. The opportunity for greater focus on youth engagement, challenging peer contagion and broader social influences on youth, through the Diamond Districts teams would be welcomed.

11. The MPS is currently working with partners at the London Criminal Justice Board to develop the triage approach to young people in custody. This is where young people arrested for the first time have an immediate assessment from Youth Offending Team staff in consultation with police and in some cases the Crime Prosecution Service. Young people can then, where appropriate, be diverted through restorative approaches. Where this approach is not possible there are enhanced intervention projects to try and prevent re offending without sending young people into custody. The MPS supports the proposals in relation to young people entering the secure estate, but these should be seen as one element of the initiatives to target youth offending.

12. The MPS acknowledges that with the triage system in place there will be more detailed information about young people going into custody to inform those assessing the needs of young people. This should reduce the time from sentence to support.

Mayor’s Scholars, London Academies and Apprentices

13. The MPS recognises the need for developing this area of work and will work with partners delivering on this project to identify opportunities for positive engagement and support in this area of work. Where sponsorship is considered and a specialist form of training it is important that the labour market can support graduates from these establishments.

14. The focus on Looked After Children is a key area of work for the Mayor, as the research shows that these young people are the most vulnerable in London, and most likely to be come victims and perpetrators of crime. Investment in a coherent programme of work to support these young people would yield significant savings for Local Authorities, as the costs for supporting these young people can be in excess of £100,000 per year. The Vulnerable Children and Young People Group within the MPS Youth Strategy Board would be in a position to support this programme, by taking forward support already given by the MPS to Barnados to help looked after children by providing intensive support packages where current provision has not met individual need.

Titan– Building character and responsibility

15. The MPS welcomes the acknowledgement of the exciting opportunities being developed by the police service with partners under Project YOU to bring together uniformed services across London and offer uniformed diversionary and volunteering opportunities for young people. Work will need to be undertaken to establish how this work, which involves a number of national agencies outside the GLA family, can be linked to the Mayor’s new Responsibility programme and to ensure that there is capacity to engage the increase in young people. The stakeholders within Project You are anxious to be clear to the Mayor that there can be no compulsion towards membership imposed on young people to participate in any of these organisations. The Mayor could add significant support to Project You, by encouraging volunteers to help to engage with the youth organisations in London, and give particular support to adult volunteers who work within the GLA group of employers.

16. The MPS welcomes the recognition of success accorded to its Volunteer Police Cadets programme inherent in the proposal that it should be used as a model for an extension of similar opportunities across the GLA family, including the London Fire Brigade. At present there are over 1,200 Volunteer Police Cadets and the MPS is identifying funding sources to aim to significantly increase this number as we are convinced that they provide a significant opportunity for young people vulnerable to crime and those who wish to volunteer positively for the community to be involved in positive activity and support policing operations.

17. The MPS is particularly interested in references to enhancing mentoring opportunities for young people, and how this might relate to existing MPS diversionary activity in providing mentoring support for young people already engaged with the MPS through positive activities.

18. The wide scope of this area would benefit from greater focus in terms of activities and outcome. There is some concern about compelling young people to take up such activities. Furthermore where there is a waiting list for young people to join such organisations it could raise issues if those without an offending history were passed whilst those who were badly behaved were rewarded by immediate access.

Sport and music for all

19. The MPS welcomes proposals to expand sporting opportunities and positive activities for young people across London, and would interested to explore with the Mayor how this might provide additional resources for its existing Kickz (football) and Metrack (athletics) diversionary programmes. Met Track is a sports engagement programme for schools to participate in athletics and other sports, developing their ability to keep safe and avoiding violent crime. It operates in 16 Boroughs at present and with the support of the Mayor could expand to all Boroughs. The KICKZ project is a partnership between the Metropolitan Police Service, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Football League, the Football Foundation and local authorities to provide youth inclusion and diversion opportunities. Kickz operates 3 days a week, 48-50 weeks of the year with coaches from the professional football clubs providing three, two-hour sessions per week at times that have been identified with high levels of crime or anti-social behaviour. There are presently about 6000 young people engaged in Kickz projects every week across all 32 London Boroughs.

20. This successful model delivers sport to communities where young people are at risk and vulnerable. It also provides a platform for education, crime prevention and awareness messages while providing interests to young people diverting them from crime. Expanding and developing this already successful delivery model to reach a wider group of young people has already started and should continue with the aid of volunteers.

21. Expansion of these projects requires sustained support and growth. This can be most valuable and have the biggest impact when coaches are developed from within, as with Kickz where young people take Level 1 coaching qualifications as part of the programme. This has the potential of then delivering role models. This should be considered and expanded across all engagement activities, not just sport.

Project Oracle – Disseminating best practice

22. The MPS fully supports the proposal to establish a youth violence prevention best practice and evaluation unit for London. Key to the success of this unit is the need to ensure that the list of core members of such a unit include the police service and those whose involvement would surely be critical to the work proposed. The MPS Strategic Research and Analysis Unit would be in a position to offer valuable support to this work stream.

23. There also should be opportunities to gather information about successful and evaluated local projects that could be expanded across London.

Engaging with young people and communities

24. Further work needs to take place on the impact of serious youth violence on communities, including any disproportionality in relation to black communities whether as victims, offenders or as the subject of intervention. Clarification on the use of the term ‘serious gang related violence’ would be beneficial, as it is not recognised as a term used widely in the MPS. It should be noted that when talking of gangs the report needs to be clear on its intentions and outcomes and the use of language if it is to avoid wider public concern.

25. The proposals in the framework, and in particular the emphasis on bringing agencies across London together to tackle the causes of serious youth violence, are welcomed by the MPS. As is the acknowledgement throughout the draft of the extensive and successful work being undertaken by the MPS, both in terms of robust enforcement and of engaging with young people themselves, to prevent them becoming involved in violence, whether as victims or offenders.

26. There must be a clear purpose to engagement and clear feedback loops to ensure that young people remain engaged. Engagement works best through two-way communication so channels must be found to feed back the results of engagement/consultation and how feedback has been taken forward.

27. Development of current MPS enforcement and prevention frameworks (‘dangerous people, dangerous places, dangerous times’ for enforcement, extended to incorporate multi agency problem solving, and ‘specialist, targeted and universal’ prevention/diversion) support fully the wider aims of this document. They provide the focus for harnessing and the efforts of all parties in a coherent and co-ordinated way.

28. The MPS considers it vital that young people themselves play a key role in defining and shaping the proposed projects. During the MPA Youth Scrutiny Consultation young people and adults that work with young people told us that in order for young people to engage fully in projects they needed to have a sense of ownership and the ability to shape and direct projects. This was particularly relevant in regards to youth provision that young people should be involved in the development of youth provision in their boroughs. Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the SSPs can support this through their problem solving approach

Key Areas Not Covered in the Document

Young Victims of crime

29. One group not considered within the proposals are victims of crime. Research shows being a victim of crime, especially violence, is often a pre-cursor to offending. Provision for victim support, whether reported to police or not, would ultimately help reduce offending. The London Criminal Justice Board has started enhancing support through work with Victim Support and the Courts, and the opportunity exists for the Mayor to take this work further forward.

Language/Cultural barriers

30. Analysis of the recent young homicides in London shows that a large number of both victims and offenders are not British-born, and provisions should be made to provide language/cultural specific services and activities to ensure all communities are engaged.

Criminal Role Models

31. Many young people become involved in crime through loose associations in their neighbourhood, often with those already entrenched in crime, whether through fear or fashion. There is a gap in London to encourage young people through the Mayor’s leadership to look away from these criminal role models and towards the activities being offered to young people.

Drugs & Alcohol

32. The report makes limited references to drugs and alcohol, however research suggests a significant link between youth offending and the use of drugs and alcohol, which are not addressed in the proposals.

Funding & Prioritisation

33. The Mayor states that these proposals will use the resources of the GLA family, especially the MPS and LDA. Any financial contributions by the MPS will need to be taken from existing funds and resources: it is not clear how these proposals will be co-ordinated with current MPS strategies, prevention plans and funds ensuring that we are still able to focus on existing priorities. Financial implications for the MPS must be clearly defined and the subject of detailed discussion.

34. In conclusion the MPS welcomes the focus brought to key areas of work that will contribute to reducing youth offending and providing support. It is important that the strategy does not duplicate or detract from work that is already being done or seek to duplicate work that is already underway. The MPS would therefore hope that the Mayor will deliver leadership and orchestration of this proposed strategy so that the most benefit can be derived from it in delivering the Every Child Matters outcomes for young people in London. The view of the MPS is that the Mayor holds a key role in London in having the ability to co-ordinate and lead for London. The opportunity to co-ordinate an effective early intervention and prevention strategy to reduce the victimisation of young people in London is an opportunity that should not be missed in revising the Mayor’s ‘Time for Action’ in the coming months.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Significantly research has highlighted that those young people who are from the most deprived backgrounds or who live in the most deprived areas where there are significant levels of unemployment and low levels of educational attainment are most likely to be affected by crime either as an offender or victim. This is recognised within the ‘Time for Action’ plan. 2007 and 2008 saw a development in youth crime, with a small number of young people being more likely to respond violently to incidents and who were prepared to use serious violence and weapons.

2. Data indicates that there is an ethnic disproportionality in teen homicide victims with young males from BME background over represented as victim or offender. It is vital when developing the Mayoral projects that young people who are most at need the support are effectively targeted. Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) should be undertaken on each project to identify: Young people who would gain most from each project; how strands will be adapted to meet the needs of individuals, (for example female gang members); and how people will be encouraged to, and benefit from, taking part.

3. The plan’s implementation and impact should be closely monitored to ensure that those young people who are most impacted on by youth crime are being involved in or taking part in projects and to ensure the right focus for delivery.

D. Financial implications

The Mayor’s ‘Time for Action’ plan has been consulted on and a final version of the plan to be published next year will provide more detail on each project strand, including how they are likely to be resourced. A paper outlining resourcing implications and how these will be met by the MPA will be discussed at the May 2009 meeting of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee. The contributory youth engagement activity contained in this submission is a combination of funded and mainstreamed work and the financial implications on the MPS will not be known until the resourcing for the “Time for Action “ plan has been confirmed.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Commander Rod Jarman, MPS

For information contact:

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

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