MPS and UK Borders Agency joint working arrangements

Report: 13
Date: 16 September 2010
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

SCD 9 is a specialist MPS OCU providing guidance and operational support to the MPS around a number of key areas of criminality. The key areas of responsibility for the OCU are:

•  tackling organised immigration crime
•  human trafficking for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labour
•  the policing of the night time economy of nightclubs, licensed premises and casinos
•  on-street and off-street prostitution
•  obscene publications including the investigation of the electronic sharing of indecent images of children.

SCD 9 has pan-London responsibility but also operates both nationally and, at times, internationally within these key areas.

Since May 2007 70 MPS officers have been deployed to work alongside the UK Borders Agency (UKBA) to target Level 1 criminality. They are based within the UKBA Local Enforcement Offices (LEOs) and have a pan-London remit. The purpose of Operation Swale was to create a strategic alliance between the police and UKBA in order to work towards the UKBA Strategic Objective 3. This is to ensure and enforce compliance with our immigration laws, removing the most harmful people first and denying the privileges of Britain to those who are here illegally.

Operation Maxim was another MPS and UKBA partnership designed to deal with the Level 3 organised immigration criminality. This MPS proactive syndicate is supported with UKBA staff and located within UKBA premises. They have developed key partnerships with a variety of enforcement agencies and external businesses to tackle high level organised immigration crime.

In April 2010 these MPS resources were aligned to SCD9. This report seeks to update the panel on the effectiveness of the working relationship between the MPS and UKBA.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the progress made to date and continue to scrutinise the working relationship of these organisations.

B. Supporting information

The overall governance structures nationally between the police service and UKBA

1. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and UKBA signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2007. In brief this set out the need to work together to combat organised immigration crime. The Deputy Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, Christopher Eyre, is the ACPO lead on migration. DCC Eyre holds quarterly meetings with senior representatives from UKBA to monitor progress. In addition to this DCC Eyre also chairs Home Office programmes 14 and 15. This is the national response to combating organised immigration crime and includes as key partners UKBA, SOCA, UK Human Trafficking Centre, Gangmasters Licensing Authority and the MPS. There is currently an ongoing piece of work on behalf of the program board chair to map all activity in the arena of organised immigration crime. This is a joint exercise between the key partners and aims to identify any gaps in our work and group activity to assigned leads.

The governance structures locally between the MPS and UKBA (e.g. Memorandum of Understanding)

2. The MPS ACPO lead on migration is Commander Allan Gibson. There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the MPS and UKBA. This is under review in light of this new working relationship between the two groups. There is also an information sharing protocol in place to ensure that relevant intelligence is shared between the organisations. Operation Swale staff working within UKBA were aligned with SCD9 in April 2010. However, despite this new arrangement it must be made clear that as a resource they are tasked and managed operationally by UKBA. There are links in place to negotiate on the tasking process of resources from both organisations but there is no direct control of the prioritisation of use of this MPS asset by the SCD9 OCU Commander.

How immigration crime is co-ordinated across the MPS and what monitoring arrangements are in place?

3. The primary function to monitor and respond to immigration crime within the MPS is managed by the SCD9 tasking and co-ordination process in accordance with the National Intelligence Model (NIM). By the very nature of immigration crime the main source of information is documented on intelligence reports rather than crime reports.

4. The daily intelligence meetings held within SCD9 and UKBA form the agenda for the Weekly Intelligence Meetings (WIM) where actionable intelligence is reviewed and tasked. To ensure that relevant intelligence is tasked appropriately SCD9 officers attend both the SCD9 WIM and the UKBA meeting. The attendance of SCD9 officers at all such meetings reduces the risk of duplicated activity and allows for a wider source of taskable assets to be used.

5. All tasked intelligence is developed and monitored through this tasking process thereby tracking the action and outcome in each case.

Details of the full range of work undertaken in partnership with UKBA (within specialist crime units and at borough level) including:

a) Immigration Crime Teams (ICTs) and Local Immigration Teams (LITs), including borough level working arrangements with LITs/ICTs and the arrangements for joint working between LITs and ICTs.

6. The ICTs are jointly staffed by MPS police officers and UKBA immigration officers. Together they are focussed on disrupting and dismantling organised immigration crime networks. The ICTs are tasked through the UKBA tasking process.

7. Police officers from Operation Swale manage the intelligence cell that act as the conduit between the MPS and UKBA. It is known as the Harm Focus Team (HFT). They have access to the MPS intelligence system, crimint plus and the UKBA intelligence systems. The HFT develop intelligence that is then taken to the UKBA tasking meeting for appropriate allocation.

8. In addition to this, SCD9 conduct a tasking process and weekly intelligence reviews. Officers from Operation Swale attend these meetings to ensure that information is shared and tasked as required between the two organisations.

9. The ICTs have approximately 83 staff although this number is likely to reduce with the impending budget reductions for 2011. The work undertaken by the ICTs include the investigation of sham marriages, bogus colleges, counterfeit document factories, corrupt Home Office officials, corrupt immigration lawyers and controlled deliveries of counterfeit documents.

10. The joint crime teams based at the police stations within the London boroughs of Hackney, Islington, Waltham Forest and Westminster are planned to be withdrawn by the 30th of September 2010. This is part of a national realignment program to manage a 20% budget reduction. Despite this the immigration crime affecting those communities will still be dealt with by the regional immigration crime teams. Where appropriate an effective immigration solution will be used to remove harmful offenders. It is planned to develop the local immigration teams to further enhance the response to local policing issues relating to immigration.

11. There are also Police Operational Support Units (POSUs) that support UKBA in their removal of individuals from the UK and similar core business. The POSU’s work often results in prosecutions for single identity document abuse offences. These are uniformed MPS officers that are deployed jointly with UKBA teams and come within the Operation Swale structure.

12. Operation Maxim have 22 MPS police officers and two UKBA staff with the remit to disrupt organised criminal networks involved in immigration crime as per the ACPO definition. They are based with UKBA premises in Croydon but this resource is tasked and directly managed by the SCD9 senior management team.

b) Data sharing arrangements between the MPS and UKBA.

13. There is an information sharing agreement between UKBA and the MPS that was initially created in July 2008. This remains the relevant protocol document for the sharing of information between the two organisations. This is complemented by a strategic partnerships agreement between ACPO and the then named Borders and Immigration Agency (Created in October 2007).

14. Throughout this document you will see other references to operational working practices that serve to enhance these formal information sharing agreements.

c) How the equality and diversity implications of immigration crime work are identified and addressed, including engagement with communities affected by this type of crime.

15. The assessment of the equality and diversity implications of immigration crime enforcement are part of the core functions of any MPS investigative activity. Those MPS officers engaged directly with UKBA staff offer support and guidance on conducting equality impact assessments and/or a community impact assessment. UKBA senior management have been introduced to this practice and work is ongoing to embed this within their operational activity.

16. An example of such work was a major UKBA operation in 2008 concerning the immigrant workers illegally employed within Chinatown. Prior to any overt activity taking place there was consultation with MPS Independent Advisory Group (IAG) members from the Chinese community. Trusted local representatives were identified through the local borough partnerships lead to inform the impact assessments and advise on tactical options that were most sensitive to the community views. This liaison was conducted before, during and after the operation had taken place.

17. More recently officers from Operation Maxim have engaged with the Brazilian community in London with a number of presentations and community meetings. The principle aim is to educate them around the issues of human trafficking and human exploitation. This is a preventative measure that also serves to build trust in vulnerable and hard to reach communities. This work is ongoing.

d) Stakeholder engagement and wider partnership working in immigration crime (e.g. SOCA, IAGs)

18. Partnership working within SCD9 around sexual exploitation and those individuals trafficked into this situation are well advanced. Much of this work overlaps with the immigration crime element but is yet to be fully co-ordinated across all areas of the immigration crime arena. Our non governmental organisation partners within the trafficked sex workers include The Poppy Project and Eaves. Local authority children services remain responsible for assessing and providing for the needs of all vulnerable children. Additional support for adult victims of trafficking for forced labour is provided through the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC).

19. Forming a dedicated SCD9 IAG has been considered but due to the extreme diversity of the work streams and those concerned (both victims and suspects) it was not a viable proposition. However, specific IAG representatives are engaged on a case by case basis.

20. DCS Martin (SCD9 OCU Commander) also sits on the national Home Office Programme Boards 14 and 15. The trafficking element is chaired by DCC Chris Eyre (ACPO lead) with Tony Walker (UKBA) chairing the immigration, facilitation and smuggling strands.

e) Communication strategy within the MPS in respect of immigration crime work (i.e. awareness levels of immigration crime throughout the MPS)

21. We regularly publicise the work of SCD9 utilising the internal forums (intranet) and through media releases externally. Our website on the intranet has become a reference library for all elements of SCD9 working remit. It is a one stop shop for all of the related legislation and protocols for immigration crime. We offer advice and guidance on a 24 hour basis through an on call system. This includes a fast time response for trafficking investigations where a victim or the perpetrators are identified.

f) Use of police custody for immigration detainees - how this is monitored by the MPS and, if available, data on the average length of detention.

22. Current pricing for the use of MPS custody services for immigration prisoners is set out below. However, this is being renegotiated nationally and there are discussions on a fixed price system. The monitoring process of usage will still be auditable down to the individual prisoner but the claiming process will be streamlined. In 2009 there were 1393 immigration prisoners detained within MPS custody facilities. On average there were four immigration offenders detained per day and on average they were detained for 10.5 hours. The details monitored by the MPS include precise timings of detention and detailed costing of the process including interpreter fees. The attachment at Appendix 1 reveals some of the detail monitored by the MPS on this issue.

Table 1 – Pricing of MPS custody services

23. There is no further information available on the new Government proposal to create a National Crime Agency or the impact this will have on UKBA. All of the key partners concerned in immigration crime enforcement await the details of the government spending review due in October 2010. The challenge for all concerned will be to deliver the same level of service within a reduced budget. 

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. It is clear that the work that both the UKBA and SCD9 conduct predominantly affects minority communities. SCD9 is fully engaged with key partners and stake holders involved in the trafficking and immigration areas and a recent consultative process took place involving NGOs that represent migrant communities in order to ensure the collective and accurate development of the equality impact assessment for the OCU. This type of engagement is standard practice for the OCU which is also seeking to engender the culture within the UKBA as outlined within the report.

Consideration of MET Forward

2. Consideration has been given to implications for the delivery of Met Forward. The work of SCD9 and the UKBA works towards fighting crime and reducing criminality and also towards increasing confidence in policing. This partnership arrangement provides value for money under Met Specialist and Met Partners.

Financial Implications

3. The Operation Swale unit within SCD9 is externally funded by the UKBA c70 posts. The 20% budget reduction mentioned in Paragraph 10 equates to the loss of funding for 11 Officers posts (c£600k annual costs). This would have to be found from existing budgets within SCD if the same level of operational activity is to be maintained. However a decision on whether SCD should continue to support Operation Swale needs to be made in the context of potential future funding reductions and the overall financial position facing the MPA/MPS. Continuation of the function would require reductions to be made elsewhere in the Service. Returning secondees will also have to be managed within the overall redeployment plan and will increase the overall pressure on the Service’s finances.

Legal Implications

4. There are no direct legal implications associated with this report.

Environmental Implications

5. There are no direct risk implications associated with this report.

Risk Implications

6. There is a risk that the abolition of the Policing Pledge could lead to a reduction in focus on standards of customer service. The strong lead from the Commissioner, the strategic priorities of improving confidence, safety, and value for money contained within Met Forward, and the current drive of the MPS to a customer service ethos mitigate against this.

Background papers

None.

Contact details

Report author: Detective Chief Inspector Nick Sumner, SCD9, on behalf of OCU Commander, Richard Martin

For information contact:

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

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