Professional Standards performance indicators

Report: 11
Date: 9 July 2009
By: Director of Professional Standards on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

• Public complaint allegations have rise by 26% the end of 2008/09 continuing the trend of recent years and similar to the majority of forces within England & Wales in 2007/08.
• There has been a reduction in the proportion of allegations made that relate to incivility and oppressive behaviour in 2007/08 although the latter is predicted to rise in 2009/10 particularly as a result of allegations made at the G20.
• The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) Performance Management Framework will be rolled out to forces nationally over 2009/10.
• Early indications are that, following the introduction of the Taylor Recommendations; the MPS is embracing the concept that this legislation brings with a greater readiness to use the Unsatisfactory Performance or Unsatisfactory Attendance procedures as opposed to the misconduct process, where appropriate.

A. Recommendation

That the Authority notes the current performance as indicated in the Appendices and any areas of exception, risk or good practice and potential issues as outlined in the text.

B. Supporting information

1. Appendix 1 – contains the Public Complaints & Conduct Matters Performance Indicators

2. Appendix 2 – contains Public Complaints data by Link Command by BOCU by Allegation Category

Performance information

3. The performance indicators relating to the work of the Directorate of Professional Standards appear in Appendix 1. The following points relate to areas of exception, areas of risk, good practice and potential issues requiring further investigation.

Public Complaints (Appendix 1 – Table 1)

• Please note that the data for 2009/10 (quarter 1) was not available in time to meet the deadline of this report. Therefore, any comments have been confined to 2008/09 plus any exceptions already noted to date for 2009/10.
• The numbers of allegations recorded have increased from previous years. At the end of 2008/09, allegations had increased by 26% over previous financial year, from 9,464 allegations to 11,925 allegations (including Direction & Control matters and complaints ‘not recorded’ under the Police Reform Act 2002).
• This rise continues the upward trend in complaints since 2004; however the MPS number of allegations per 1000 officers has always been consistently lower than the average for England & Wales. Furthermore, when using the per 1000 officer comparator, the MPS are lower that their next most similar force, Greater Manchester Police.
• As outlined in previous reports, the introduction of the IPCC sought to create a more open and transparent complaints system. With this change the following are acknowledged to have contributed towards a general rise in complaints within England and Wales, the MPS included:
  • Widening of the definition of who can complain
  • Increase in type of Police employees that can be complained against (such as PCSOs)
  • Increase in access points that people can complaint through and associated marketing.
• Consistent with previous years, the number of allegations arising from public demonstrations/protests continues to contribute significantly to the rises. In 2008/09, the Israeli/Gaza protests brought in an additional 24 complaint cases.
• The complaints currently being received in relation to the protests at the G20 summit will, in the main, reflect in data for 2009/10. At the time of writing 340 cases have been recorded, of which 204 have been recorded as public complaints, under the legislation, 79 as direction & control, 7 as conduct matters and the remaining 50 as contact with the DPS Customer Service Team.
• During the 12-months to end March 2009, there have been reductions in the proportion of complaint allegations made in respect of oppressive behaviour and incivility, the latter being the focus of the Professional Standards Support Program (PSSP). However, in the first two months of 2009/10, whilst the proportion of incivility allegations has continued to reduce, oppressive behaviour allegations have risen, fuelled by the G20 allegations from 26% of the total to 32%.
• There have also been increases in the proportion of allegations about malpractice and discriminatory behaviour in 2008/09 but the number and percentage difference for the first two months of 2009/10 are too small to ascertain whether the trend continues.
• A greater proportion of allegations suitable for local resolutions is now being handled at (B)OCU level and follows the ethos of the Taylor recommendations. Furthermore, at year end the percentage of allegations locally resolved in 2008/09 has increased slightly compared to the previous year. Up to 34% (3863) compared with 33% (2885) in the previous year. Whilst the percentage change may seem small the actual numbers locally resolved show the effort being expended to put things right locally.
• Ideally a comparison ought to be made with other, most similar, forces but this data will not be available until later in the year when the IPCC produce their annual report. The availability of timely comparison data for other forces is one of areas that the IPCC Performance Management Framework seeks to address, further details of which appear later in this report.
• In view of recent high profile cases appearing in the national press about allegations of ‘failure to investigate’, DPS has taken the opportunity to review all current cases of a similar nature to ensure that themes are identified and opportunities sought to promulgate and lessons that can be learned at the earliest opportunity.

Conduct Matters (Appendix 1 – Table 2)

• There has been a small decrease in the numbers of allegations recorded in 2008/09 (1291), down from 1326 in 2007. Potentially this reduction could be due to a greater number of matters being dealt with locally as management actions or through the unsatisfactory performance procedure, as per the Taylor recommendations.

Measuring the impact of the “Taylor” reforms

4. There is currently a ‘twin-track’ system running for misconduct whilst old legislative cases are being dealt with alongside new Taylor cases. However, a greater proportion of cases are now being dealt with under the new procedures but we are still in post-implementation phase as people become accustomed to the changes.

5. Early indications are that the Unsatisfactory Performance or Attendance Procedure (UPP/UAP) is being used as BOCUs embrace the new options available to them. Where the behaviour is misconduct though, BOCUs are using management action or misconduct meetings as appropriate. To date there have been 27 officers appearing at local misconduct meetings, for a conduct matter and 1 officer on a gross-misconduct hearing.

IPCC Performance Management Framework (PMF)

6. The Independent Police Complaints Committee (IPCC) Performance Framework Joint Project Board has determined that there would be a phased implementation plan commencing in April 2009 by ACPO force regions.

7. The MPS is due to report in quarter 4 of 2009/10 along with the remainder of London and South Eastern Regions. Data will be collected on a quarterly basis using the electronic process already in place to support the annual data collection by the IPCC.

8. Performance results contained in the framework will be compared to one of the following:

• The average performance results for the most similar forces
• Direction of travel (i.e. changes in performance result since the last quarter)
• The national average
• An existing performance target or standard

Professional Standards Support Programme (PSSP)

9. The public compliant data (June 2008 – May 2009), presented in Appendix 2 by Link Command, is used during the PSSP Strategic Professional Standards Monitoring Meeting to ascertain which (B)OCUs will receive support. Both the actual volume of allegations and the number per 100 officers are taken into consideration in determining where to direct resources. The current strategic direction for PSSP is incivility and this decision is reviewed quarterly.

10. Those are highlighted in blue in Appendix 2 have received, or currently receiving additional support. The remaining Boroughs are all scheduled to receive support during 2009/10.

11. Due to the availability of training sessions on BOCU, on occasions the scheduled PSSP delivery program has needed to be altered to accommodate alternative BOCUs. In some instances BOCUs may have received support/training prior to those previously identified as needing it.

12. Those currently who have received support or are scheduled to receive it, through PSSP are:

• East Command - Enfield, Hackney, Camden, Haringey and Tower Hamlets
• West Command - Ealing
• South Command - Southwark, Lewisham and Merton

13. Whilst DPS do not have the locus for dealing with PCSOs, that being vested within the HR Directorate, we have expertise in dealing with uniformed staff in public facing roles and as such are supporting PCSOs through the PSSP delivery. A specific targeted program of assistance has seen the DPS Prevention and Reduction Team working with Community Support Officers in Westminster.

14. DPS will be working in partnership with both TSG and Borough senior management teams to jointly engender a greater understanding of complaints system and the impact complaints have on each group of officers and the communities they serve.

C. Race and equality impact

1. DPS is contributing fully to the Authorities Race and Faith Enquiry, chaired by Cindy Butts. The DPS Diversity Co-ordinator has attended the enquiry and given evidence.

2. There is no impact to race and diversity within the current Professional Standards Performance Indicators, however the PSSP process includes analysis of the demographic information for both complainants and officers/staff. Additionally, the proposed IPCC PMF indicators will contain a similar element.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications concerning the Professional Standards Performance Indicators.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Michael Clark, Higher Performance Analyst and Andrew Campbell, A/Detective Chief Superintendent, Directorate of Professional Standards, MPS

For information contact:

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

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