Territorial Policing (TP) Thematic performance report

Report: 7
Date: 13 October 2011
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing (ACTP) on Behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

A report providing an overview of current TP performance in relation to key deliverables outlined in the Policing Plan 2011 – 14. It focuses on the strategic outcomes and corporate objectives as monitored through the TP aligned Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

Strategic Outcomes:

Reduce crime and catch criminals; be intolerant of violence

Corporate Objectives:

Reduce victimisation; target most harmful offenders; reduce crime with reference to problem locations

Performance:

KPI 1 Violence – down 10.4% FYTD (- 7,327 offences)
KPI 4 Property – up 2.4% FYTD (+ 5,743 offences)
KPI 5 ASB – Baseline year. ‘Five boroughs’ Pilot for recording protocols.
KPI 6 Police Doing A Good Job – 66% (static on Q1/10)
KPI 7 User Satisfaction – 76% (down 1% on Q1/10)
TNO – down 1% (- 5,558) FYTD (from 379,180 to 373,622 offences).

Activity:

Operation Kirkin
Operation Withern
Operation Target
Operation Connect
Operation Autumn Nights
Integrated Offender Management Programme
Effective Practice
Civil gang injunction
Targeting harmful offenders
Action against cable crime
Weapons sweeps

A. Recommendation

That Members note the content of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. TP Policing Plan KPI Performance Headlines (Sources: TP Scorecard or Strategic Performance Report to 11th September 11)

2. Corporate Objectives: reduce victimization; target most harmful offenders; reduce crime with reference to ‘problem’ locations. What follows is a bullet point summary of the TP aligned corporate performance measures (KPIs within the Policing Plan) in relation to the above corporate objectives.

KPI 1- Violence Portfolio (2% reduction target)

3. The number of offences, financial year to date (FYTD), is down 10.4% (from 70,292 down to 62,942 offences – a drop of 7,327). Over the ‘longer term’ (last rolling 24 months) the reduction is 2.9%. The sanction detection (SD) rate is 27.2% (17,886 offences)

4. The Knife Crime category has shown an increase of 15.7% (892 offences, from 5,690 to 6,582). The SD rate is 22.4%. It is mainly comprised of robbery offences (65%) and assaults (31%). Threats using a knife and intimated knife offences are up 22% and 35% respectively, while knife crimes where a knife is used to injure are down 3%.

5. The largest percentage increase in Knife Crime FYTD (11/9/11) was in Tower Hamlets (56.1%, 105 offences) and the largest decrease was in Sutton (22.7%, 20 offences). The highest percentage Knife Crime SD rate FYTD was in Bromley (42.3%, 58 detections) and the lowest in Waltham Forest (12.7%, 39 detections).

6. The charge rate for people proceeded against for knife crime offences is 94.3% FYTD (2,071 people): for people proceeded against for notifiable offences where a knife or sharp instrument was used, 91.7% FYTD (1,575 people): and for people proceeded against for offences of possession of a knife or sharp instrument, 88.8% FYTD (1,136 people).

7. Serious Youth Violence (SYV) has increased by 11.2% (from 3,053 to 3,394 offences, +341). SYV is mainly comprised of robbery (64%) and GBH (26%). The robbery element is rising and the GBH falling. There have been seven youth homicides FY to 14th August 11 compared with ten in the same period last FY.

KPI 4 - Property Portfolio (1% reduction target)

8. The number of ‘property’ offences FYTD is up 2.4% (from 240,013 up to 245,756 offences, +5,743). Over the longer term the increase is 11.2%. This, and the following figures, includes the spike in offences recorded during the recent serious disorder across the MPD. The SD rate is 10.6%. Camden and Croydon are the only boroughs showing a year on year increase for property crime. Seven boroughs - Bexley, Newham, Harrow, Lewisham, Merton, Greenwich and Wandsworth - are showing a reduction in Violence and Property Crime in the short term, year on year and longer term.

9. Robbery and Theft from Person offences have increased by 18% (from 15,411 to 18,181 offences, +2770) and 18.8% (from 14,787 to 17,555, + 2,768) respectively. However, should the last 4 weeks’ significant reductions in Robbery (2,303 compared to 3,233 in the same 4 weeks last year, reduction of 28.8%) be maintained to the end of the FY, then its level is likely to finish in line with the previous year’s. Commercial Robbery is up 6.5% (82 offences) FYTD against a longer term reduction of 4.6%. The increase is likely to be the result of the recent disorder. The SD rate for Robbery currently stands at 15.3%.

10. Residential Burglary has increased by 8.3% (from 23,902 to 25,893 offences, +1991). The SD rate for Residential Burglary is 10.1%. Non-Residential Burglary is up 5.7% (890 offences, from 14721 to 15,611) against a longer-term increase of 1.1%. Again, the recent disorder will have contributed to the most recent increase. The SD rate for Non-Residential Burglary is 11.2%.

KPI 5 – Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

11. ASB is a new measure currently in its ‘baseline’ year. No comparative performance data is yet available. However, in relation to managing the MPS response to repeat instances of ASB, a five-borough trial is in progress to broaden the capture and analytical use of call demand data. Using the existing Crime Recording Information System (CRIS), the new recording protocols should reveal instances of demand previously invisible to the organization. This will, as a consequence, increase the accuracy and analytical usefulness of the MPS ‘repeats databases’. In addition (as directed by the Home Office), National Standard Incident Recording has reduced the number of ASB recording codes from 14 to three. All boroughs now record ASB as either ‘Personal’, ‘Nuisance’ or ‘Environmental’.

12. A Repeats Dataset Workshop is being centrally hosted by the TP Performance, Policy and Analysis Unit (PPAU) on the 13th October (this was postponed from the 11th August due to the recent civil unrest). The workshop aims to consult borough analysts and police portfolio managers (responsible for managing repeat service demands) in relation to developing a better targeted analytical tool at lower cost than at present.

KPI 6 – Local Police Doing a Good Job (1% increase target)

13. The percentage of people sampled who think the police in their area are doing a good job is 66% (Q1/11). This is a 4% drop from the rolling 12 months ending Q4/10 but remains static compared to Q1/10. At borough level ‘confidence’ ranges from 49% (Lewisham and Greenwich) to 82% (Sutton).

KPI 7 – User Satisfaction (1% increase target)

14. The percentage of surveyed victims satisfied with the overall service provided by the police is 76% (Q1 11). This is 1% down on the last FY. For white victims it is 78%, for those from minority ethnic groups it is 72%, with the gap closing by 1% in comparison with FY 10/11. The satisfaction level for the latest 12 months to July 2011 ranges from 70% (Greenwich and Hackney) to 82% (Sutton).

Crime Reduction – Total Notifiable Offences (TNOs)

15. As at 11th September ‘victim based’ TNOs stood at 332,304 – this is a 0.5% (1,597 offences) decrease on the previous FY. ‘State based’ TNOs stood at 41,711 – a 7.9% (3,571 offences) fall. Total TNOs showed 1% decrease (from 379,180 to 373,622 offences).

TP Activity to Meet Strategic Outcomes

16. Strategic Outcomes: reduce crime and catch criminals; be intolerant of violence. What follows is an explanation of the TP aligned activity, current and/or planned, to achieve the corporate objectives.

17. Corporate performance continues to be examined strategically at the quarterly Chief Officer Group (COG) meeting chaired by the Assistant Commissioner (AC) TP and the four-weekly Strategic Performance Meeting (SPM) chaired by the Deputy AC TP.

18. Mention must be made at this point of the exceptional challenges placed on the organization by the August disorder. The operational burden placed upon the MPS to resource and finance the prevention of further disorder and investigate related offences, whether reported or apparent, should not be underestimated. Whilst the full impact cannot yet be known, there will have been some noticeable effects on ‘business as usual’. Additionally, it will continue to make demands on resources some way into the future.

19. Operation Kirkin. This was the immediate MPS response to the disorder. It focused on the prevention of further unrest and public reassurance of affected communities and was informed by an analytical report into the initial events. The Service was significantly impacted by the need to involve many officers in extended shifts and worked rest days at short notice. A number of other constabularies contributed to the operation.

20. Operation Withern. As an adjunct to Kirkin, this is the ongoing co-ordination and tasking of corporate resources to bring to justice those responsible for the disorder. It has involved the execution of a bespoke investigative strategy, using centrally tasked tactical resources to support local boroughs in their operations to arrest offenders and put them before the courts. Detectives, response officers and police staff have been working together to investigate offences. The close liaison evident between the Court Service, CPS and Police has been instrumental in the swift administration of justice witnessed across the country. As of the 8th September there have now been:

• 2500 arrests
• 1429 charges
• 1229 court appearances
• 180 sentenced
• 70 jailed.

21. Operation Target. Launched on the 8th June its aim is to target robbers, burglars and violent criminals in specific areas. To achieve this it has drawn on the specialist skills and resources from the various business groups across the MPS including Central Operations, Specialist Crime and Specialist Operations to augment the work of boroughs. During the immediate aftermath of the disorder Target’s activities became incorporated with Kirkin. Its focus shifted with the taskings allocated by Kirkin deployments. This resulted in some reduction of its ability to conduct core taskings. However, following its brief ‘suspension’, it is now re-instated and continues its proactivity around robbers, burglars and violent offenders in areas identified as high crime generators.

22. To date (19th August) the number of operations conducted is 5,173 and the number of arrests made 2,781. In one case at Tower Hamlets, 400 items were seized including 200 expensive watches and a decommissioned pump-action shotgun.

23. The continuing success of Target will impact on levels of confidence and satisfaction throughout the MPD.

24. Operation Connect. This operation was initiated to target those ‘identified high harm/risk individuals linked to gang activity’. Informed by the MPS Strategic Intelligence Assessment and Anti-Violence Strategy, it will receive funding from the MPS and GLA over the next two years. Five boroughs are prioritised based on intelligence from the Gang Related Incident Tracking System (GRITS). Initial taskings have been to Waltham Forest.

25. Since the 6th April, 51 ‘gang nominals’ have been arrested for a combination of violent, acquisitive and drug related crimes. Illicit drugs, firearms, and cash proceeds of crime have been seized. The number of ‘gang nominals’ (and in some cases, their families) receiving engagement and/or preventative approaches is 121. The Family Partnership programme is working with 24 families of interest to the operation – with an 80% engagement rate. Although the operation has not yet been evaluated, Waltham Forest’s crime figures for April to July 2011 (period of Op Connect) show the following results compared to the same period last FY:

• Knife Crime……………up 0.4% (from 225 to 226 offences)
• Robbery………………..down 6.2% (from 665 to 624 offences)
• Assault with Injury…….down 9.8% (from 716 to 646 offences)
• Gun Crime……………..down 8.2% (from 61 to 56 offences)
• Violence with Injury…...down 4.3% (from 799 to 765 offences).

26. Connect is currently at Haringey and the other boroughs to benefit from it will be Hackney, Southwark and Lambeth. Focusing on both enforcement and prevention the good practice identified by Connect will be rolled out across the MPS in due course.

27. Operation Autumn Nights. To combat the regular seasonal spike in offending around the Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes night period this operation will be implemented from October onwards. The operation will involve the use of centrally coordinated patrols to address instances of youth violence and disorder.

28. The Integrated Offender Management Programme. This is a programme, following guidance from the Ministry of Justice, intended to better co-ordinate the management of offenders through partnership working between relevant agencies. Designed to facilitate more ‘joined-up’ agency actions, it aims to ‘target offenders of most concern, consistently, using pooled local resources to turn them away from crime, punishing and reforming them as appropriate’. The MPS strategy for implementation of this programme has been agreed at COG and work is currently underway to detail how the programme is to be rolled out. This work is being led by our partners at the London Criminal Justice Board (LCJB).

Examples of Effective Practice

29. Civil Gang Injunctions - on the 31st January this year civil gang injunctions were introduced. This innovative piece of legislation enables both police and local authorities to disrupt gang culture by imposing prohibitions and requirements on gang members. The Hackney Integrated Gangs Unit made use of this power when, in conjunction with the Directorate of Legal Services, it ran a test case. As a result an interim gang injunction was granted on the 19th April and on the 30th August a full injunction was granted, lasting for 18 months. The conditions included geographical and non-association prohibitions and restrictions on public behaviour. This was the first occasion such an injunction had been granted.

The Hackney Integrated Gangs Unit (IHGU) is a single-sited, multi-agency partnership (between the police, local authority and other interested parties), formed to tackle gang activity on the borough. In conjunction with the Directorate of Legal Services, the IHGU obtained an interim gang injunction on the 19th April against a local prominent gang member. A full injunction was granted, for 18 months (the interim was for 4 months), on the 30th August.

There were several factors that had to be proved:

• The subject was a gang member over 18 years of age.
• The gang was a criminal organisation involved in violent activity.
• The subject was involved in violent gang activity by either committing violence or becoming a victim of violence.
• The most evidentially difficult part of the process was to prove the subject’s association with the gang.

The purpose of seeking the injunction was to divert the subject from further gang activity with an order containing both restrictive and empowering conditions.

For example, the subject is ordered not to:

a) enter the borough of Hackney without appropriate permission from the Head of Hackney Gangs Unit,
b) use the internet to encourage or facilitate violence,
c) be in a public place with two or more persons acting in a manner likely to cause a person to fear for their safety,
d) engage in conversation or otherwise associate in a public place with 25 other named gang members.

But the subject was additionally ordered to:

e) Attend meetings with a gang worker from the IHGU as advised by the worker,
f) Apply for and maintain an application for Job Seekers Allowance.

The IHGU have reported that the subject’s gang activity has been ‘curtailed’ as a result of the injunction.

Southwark Boroughs first gang injunction was granted in February by Lambeth County Court. This followed an application from Southwark Council Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, which had been working closely with Southwark Police. The subject was a prominent gang member who had been identified on a number of occasions at the Southwark Police gun and gang meeting. This meeting is held fortnightly and is multi-agency with representatives inter alia from the probation service, the immigration service, Operation Trident and Southwark Council.

A total of eight conditions were imposed by the court including:

a) An exclusion zone
b) Being forbidden from threatening, abusing or assaulting anyone on Southwark borough
c) A prohibition on producing, marketing or appearing in any musical material likely to encourage violence
d) A prohibition on associating with six named gang members
e) A requirement to attend meetings with a gang mentor

Enfield Boroughs application was made in conjunction with Enfield Council, Enfield Police Community Safety Unit and the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, against a prominent gang member. He first came to notice through local intelligence and became increasingly problematic culminating in a robbery against a rival gang member which exacerbated gang tensions. On the 6th April an interim injunction was granted at Edmonton County Court and a full injunction was granted on the 5th May.

A total of 15 conditions were imposed including:

a) Being banned from Haringey, east Enfield and other locations
b) Being banned from associating with a number of named gangs and gang members
c) A prohibition on wearing certain items of clothing such as hooded jackets
d) Being banned from carrying knives and firearms

30. Targeting Harmful Offenders - Operation Chalais - on the 3rd August Hackney Police executed 32 search warrants at addresses in Hackney, Enfield and Waltham Forest as part of Operation Chalais. The operation (which was funded to a significant degree by Hackney Council) was aimed at dismantling middle and higher tier gang members each with a long history of criminal activity. A total of 23 arrests were made for a variety of drug related and firearm offences. Seizures included a large quantity of Class A drugs, an imitation firearm, 45 mobile phones, 60 mobile phone SIM cards and approximately £8,000 in cash.

31. Action Against Cable Crime - on 29th July, during a National Day of action against ‘Cable Crime’, Bexley Safer Neighbourhoods officers and teams from British Transport Police and British Telecom's Metal Theft Task Force, visited a number of addresses and executed search warrants for stolen metals and cable. Over a hundred metres of stolen cable, cocaine in powder and crack form and drug paraphernalia consistent with drug supply was seized. The manager of a local scrap yard was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen cable and failing to keep accurate records of his transactions, something all yards are required to do by law. He was bailed for further enquiries.

32. Weapons Sweeps - these continue to be an effective tactic and are used on a regular basis. On the 19th and 20th August Barking and Dagenham Police (in conjunction with POLSA units) conducted a two day weapons sweep and seized two kitchen knives, a ‘stanley’ knife, a pair of scissors, a screwdriver, a chisel, a made offensive weapon as well as 15 wraps of white powder and three rocks of a white substance.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. There is no equality and diversity impact arising directly from this report, which is submitted for information only.

Consideration of Met Forward

2. This proposal supports the aims of the Met Forward programme, Met Partners and Met Streets strands by highlight police actions around street governance in both proactive and reactive operations detailed above, and the partnership approach to crime reduction highlighted in the work of the operations listed.

Financial Implications

3. This report is submitted for information only. The costs associated with Operations Kirkin and Withern will be identified and reported as part of the regular Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report to the MPA Finance Committee.

Legal Implications

4. There are no identified legal implications arising as a result of this report, which is submitted for information only.

Environmental Implications

5. There are no environmental implications identified by this report, which is submitted for information only.

Risk (including Health and Safety) Implications

6. There are no risk implications arising from this report, which is submitted for information only. All operations and policing activities referred to are subject to full risk assessments compliant with policy and legislation.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: PS Ross Gibbings, MPS

For information contact:

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

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