Minutes - draft

These minutes are agreed.

Minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 16 Jun 2011.

Present

Members

• Reshard Auladin (Chairman)
• Tony Arbour
• Chris Boothman
• Jennette Arnold
• Cindy Butts
• Jenny Jones
• Joanne McCartney
• Caroline Pidgeon
• Valerie Brasse

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Jane Harwood (Deputy Chief Executive)
• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Siobhan Coldwell (Head of Policing Policy Scrutiny and Oversight)
• Jane Owen (Head of Policing Planning and Performance Improvement)

MPS officers

• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• Ian Percival (Director, Group Finance)
• Phil Woolf (Director of Business Performance)
• Stephen Kavanagh (DAC, Territorial Policing)
• Steve Rodhouse (Commander, Territorial Policing)
• Steve Bloomfield (Commander, Territorial Policing)
• Adrian Baxter (Directorate of Professional Standards)
• Richard Heselden (Directorate of Professional Standards)

137. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

137.1 Apologies were received for Toby Harris.

138. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

138.1 No declarations were received.

139. Minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee 12 May 2011

(Agenda item 3)

139.1 Members agreed the minutes for the above meeting.

Resolved - That the minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee held on 12 May 2011 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

140. Urgent actions and operational issues

(Agenda item 4)

140.1 No urgent actions or issues were considered.

141. Report on the sub committees of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee

(Agenda item 5)

141.1 Members noted the report without further comment.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

142. Headline performance report

(Agenda item 6)

142.1 The MPS introduced this paper, noting that it was the first Headline Performance report of the new financial year and included new indicators as outlined in the MPA/MPS Policing London Business Plan. The report has been updated to include a greater amount of detail and to cite good practice and areas of improvement from across London.

142.2 The MPS informed Members that there had been 7.5% fewer violent crimes recorded over the previous three months than the same months last year, including a 6% reduction in homicide. Operation Connect and other prevention programmes may have contributed to these positive figures. They noted that sanction detection for rape had increased. In relation to child fatalities on the roads they stated that whilst this had increased to 15 the numbers remain relatively small and that this figure is very similar to previous years. Property crimes are up 0.5% on the three month period to April 2010, mainly due to increased burglary. Members were informed that confidence in the police had increased to 66% of Londoners, up from 62% over the previous year.

142.3 Members asked if increased fatalities on the roads could be explained by diminishing enforcement action, noting that the Mayor of London had reduced the GLA road safety budget – in relation to education and engineering. The MPS responded that these increases were very small – with one incident having a significant statistical affect - and that in many instances it lies in the balance whether someone will be injured or killed in such accidents. Members also asked if reduced pound space had impacted numbers of vehicle seizures. The MPS responded that more vehicles than ever were being quickly destroyed. They agreed to prepare a full response to be provided in a briefing note to Members.

142.4 A number of Members thanked the MPS for this report, noting that it was encouraging to see greater narrative detail and analysis. They asked for further information on the increases in homophobic hate crime and increased gaps in user satisfaction between white and BME citizens. The MPS responded that the increase in homophobic crime was over a relatively short period (three months) and that a reduction has been recorded for the whole year. They noted that was an area of significant underreporting and the MPS had been seeking to address this. Noting challenges in Soho and the West End and Members concerns regarding nominally religiously motivated hate crime in Tower Hamlets, they agreed to provide members a geographic breakdown of hate crimes data. In relation to the confidence gap the MPS replied that they have a good grasp on the issue and will take this into consideration during the TP Development process. They noted that confidence is generally lower amongst young people and that BME communities are relatively youthful.

142.5 The MPS informed Members that there had been a reduction in instances where knives were used to injure and that the rise in weapon carrying will be targeted by a campaign later in the year. They stated that gun crime in London is very low in comparison to like cities and that the MPS employ a full range of tactics in countering it – including forensics, intelligence, control of supply, and targeting individuals and high risk communities. A Member cautioned that whilst the figures for gun crime are encouraging, it seemed that in some areas you hear of fresh violence each day. The MPS replied that homicides were concentrated in some boroughs – they cited Lambeth and Hackney – but that they had successfully targeted criminal markets – reducing automatic weaponry on the street and increasing the price of bullets.

142.6 A Member noted that MPS performance in the use of victim impact statements was low. The MPS agreed, and stated that their use was now included in training for all officers and PCSOs and that victim impact is now a mandatory field in the digital recording of crime. They informed Members that historically officers had seen these reports as a bureaucratic process as opposed to a useful tool in sentencing perpetrators and offering assistance to victims.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

Members to be provided with a briefing note to answer the question ‘has reduced pound space impacted the numbers of vehicles seized?’ [MPS]

Members to be provided with a breakdown (by borough) of homophobic hate crimes data. [MPS]

143. Thematic performance report

(Agenda item 7)

143.1 The MPS informed Members that this report contained an update on performance over the previous financial year and outlined future developments. They noted that change programmes were considered by the MPA’s RAP Committee and had been appended to the report, and included a summary of the TP Development Programme, a significant change project.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

144. Update on virtual courts

(Agenda item 8)

144.1 The MPS noted that this had been a challenging project, ensuring that criminal justice partners were committed culturally and financially. They informed Members that significant headway had been made, including the roll-out of fixed time slots and extended virtual court sittings. Developments include that the project board now sits within Her Majesty’s Courts Service and not the Ministry of Justice and that only in-custody cases are now considered.

144.2 The termination of contract with Collaboration Space has generated savings of £35,000 to the MPS per month. Virtual courts is now being rolled-out over three court buildings in London – in Westminster and Bromley, to supplement the existing court in Camberwell.

144.3 The MPS reported that the virtual courts project has produced a number of incidental benefits including the ‘Live Link Courts’ pilot. This builds on evidence showing that of 1500 officers called to give evidence last year, only 800 were then required to attend, and only 500 actually gave evidence. Live Links enables officers (and perhaps, in the future, witnesses) to give evidence from their home stations at 20 minutes notice.

144.4 The MPS concluded that areas of real potential savings would be in the creation of electronic case file documentation and through longer prison and court operating hours (enabling arrest, sentence and incarceration to occur quickly). MPS costs to date have been £3.5 million, with capital costs at 15 sites. Last year’s capital costs had been reduced to £136,000 and revenue costs to £700,000. This project is currently funded to March 2012.

144.5 The Chair asked what financial commitments had been made by partner organisations, whether the benefits of the project are currently quantifiable, and if this project was achieving value for money. The MPS responded that each organisation took the expense of equipping their own sites and for the use of Collaboration Space (25% each). They noted that, whilst it is a challenge to quantify the benefits, costs of bail have been reduced by a total of £2.2 million as more suspects are sentenced within a matter of hours rather than weeks. However, it is costing more to process each case at this time. The report on the first pilot suggested that full benefit realization may not occur until after seven years. The MPS informed Members that from January 2012 they will be engaged in challenging discussion with partners as to whether the project should be continued.

144.6 Members noted with interest that the use of virtual courts seemed to elicit a greater number of guilty pleas. The MPS suggested that this may be an effect of not having an opportunity to talk to friends and relatives prior to a hearing. The Chair noted that studies had suggested that people feel their guilt more keenly at arrest and are therefore more likely to plead guilty if a hearing follows in close proximity.

144.7 A Member cautioned that night courts had been discussed previously but never implemented due to cultural and institutional obstacles.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

145. Update on the MPS Safer Neighbourhoods Review

(Agenda item 9)

145.1 The MPS introduced this report, noting its synergy with the findings of the MPA Safer Neighbourhoods scrutiny. They stated that both followed the themes of increasing flexibility, the promotion of good practice in SNTs, and the need to consider community priorities in policing. The review encompassed engagement with borough commanders, staff panels and an online survey which attracted over 12000 responses. 82% of respondents identified that SNTs should operate during evenings, 73% suggested that priorities should be set in consultation with local communities, and 85% and 81% stated that SNTs should tackle crime and anti-social behaviour respectively.

145.2 The MPS argued that Safer Neighbourhoods has transformed the way policing and confidence is delivered across London and that this success should be built upon. As such, wards are proposed to remain the default geographical model, teams will continue to work on the basis of intelligence led community priorities, and will continue to work in partnerships to manage offenders. Borough Commanders will retain the operation lead on SNTs and TPHQ will only be involved on issues of essential policy.

145.3 One area of change identified by the review is the reduction of 150 Sergeants. Where these reductions fall will be calculated on the basis of ward demand and risk. Whilst flexible deployment across wards will be encouraged, a minimum team strength of one PC and one PCSO is guaranteed. This model is built upon a recognition that Borough Commanders and Inspectors are already deploying assets flexibly and that regularity and accountability to ward panels should be built into this. TPHQ will recommend actions to Borough Commanders, but they will have ultimate responsibility to implement these changes in a way that is responsive to local needs. Whilst local control is maintained, crime reduction and anti-social behaviour will become explicit objectives.

145.4 A number of Members requested that this report be considered at the next meeting of the Full Authority on Thursday 30 June 2011. The Chair agreed, suggesting that Members ask questions at present and that the MPS provides responses prior to that meeting, in order to inform a full debate. Members agreed to this course of action.

145.5 One Member requested more information regarding the seeming move away from civilianisation and the use of PCSOs – and how this relates to the value for money agenda. He also asked how IT improvement would support SNTs in recording the necessary information.

145.6 Another Member asked what ‘temporary flexing of resource’ would mean in practice, asking if this amounted to a revised and less rigid abstraction policy. She asked what the new abstraction policy was and what ‘temporary’ meant. She noted that the fact of a dedicated and visible resource was very important to Londoners and expressed concern that teams would be targeted for long periods of abstraction.

145.6 A Member expressed concerns that the review findings seem to have been predetermined (by reductions in Sergeants outlined in the Mayoral budget). She suggested that good practice (in Sutton for instance) had not seemingly been picked up by the Review for development and future roll-out. The MPS were asked to respond to these concerns.

145.8 A Member asked if reductions in officer numbers (102 PCSO reduction, 70 PC increase) in the Safer Schools programme would mean that some schools which did have a dedicated resource would no longer have one. She also asked for findings of the current ASB pilots (and ASB more broadly) to be considered at a future meeting of SOP.

145.9 The MPS were then asked for more information on how the findings of the consultation were utilised to inform the review. A Member also expressed disappointment that Panels not looked at as part of this process.

145.10Members sought further information regarding the ongoing review of 1:2:6 teams, and regarding changes to Safer Schools. A Member asked whether teams augmented by council-paid officers - thus with increasing officer numbers – would also be required to share Sergeants.

145.11Finally, a Member noted that whilst he saw sense in the proposed changes, the fact that safer communities are more likely to lose officers would cause some constituents to see this as punishment for being law-abiding. Another Member followed this up, asking how these changes will be communicated to Panels and Londoners more broadly.

Resolved – That the report be resubmitted for decision at the Full Authority meeting of 30 June 2011.

Safer Neighbourhoods review to be referred to the Full Authority meeting of 30 June, with answers to Members questions to be provided by 24 June. [MPA/MPS]

A report regarding ASB and the ASB pilots to be scheduled for consideration at SOPC. [MPA/MPS]

146. Update on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

(Agenda item 10)

146.1 Jane Harwood reported that the MPA were still basing plans on the assumption that the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill would receive Royal Assent by the parliamentary recess in July.

146.2 A Member asked for a briefing note outlining progress on how this transition is being used to contribute to the GLA’s shared services agenda.

Members to be provided with a briefing note outlining how the transition to MOPC will be used be contribute to the GLA’s shared services agenda [MPA]

147. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 11)

Resolved – That members of the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting.

Part 2

148. Minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee 12 May 2011 (Part 2)

(Agenda item 12)

148.1 Members agreed the minutes for the above meeting.

Resolved - That the minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee held on 12 May 2011 were agreed and signed as a correct record.

149. Application for funding to settle a claim

(Agenda item 13)

149.1 Members agreed a sum of money following a discussion within which a number of conflicting views were expressed.

Resolved – That an amended level of funding be agreed.

Meeting closed – 4.00 pm

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