Progress Report Of MPA/MPS Consultation on Policing Plan For 2005/06

Report: 7
Date: 26 July 2004
By: Clerk

Summary

This report updates members about the process and initial findings from the consultation with Londoners around the priorities for the policing plan 2005/06.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report

B. Supporting information

1. This report summarises the complementary methods and preliminary results by which the MPA and MPS are seeking the viewpoints of Londoners in informing the 2005/06 Policing Plan. For the MPA this includes the input from Community Police Consultative Groups, analysis of surveys undertaken by the GLA, ALG and other relevant recent studies and research as they pertain to policing issues; the results of the first round of consultation with the MPA’s own Citizen Panel; focus groups with equality groups; as well as the results of research undertaken for the MPA by the London Civic Forum.

2. The MPS are implementing an approach that includes online consultation, youth consultation, the findings of the Public Attitude Survey and early results from Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP) audits.

3. In complementing the consultation process being undertaken by the MPS for the 2005/06 Policing Plan the emphasis of the MPA’s own consultation activities is to stress a pan-London perspective in gathering Londoners view on overall strategic priorities. The results will be submitted jointly to the Planning Panel and the Commissioners Planning Seminar in September 2005.

4. One of the major findings from the 2004/05 consultation process was that policing priorities should be founded upon and be responsive to the diversity of local needs at the borough level. To attain this goal the array of local arrangements need to be further strengthened to increase both the capacity and quality of community engagement. This conclusion suggests that the framework by which police priorities are established in a way that truly reflects Londoners’ needs can only be determined through a policing service that is ‘diversified’ and ‘localised’.

5. This conclusion reinforces the changes that are already underway through such major initiatives as the Step-Change programme, the introduction of Police Community Support Officers, the Reassurance Strategy, etc. These changes also support the Home Office objective of enabling local communities to have much more involvement in local policing decisions and solutions, within the strategic context of community engagement and civil renewal.

6. In devolving greater consultative responsibilities to the local and BCU level, the MPA will be concerned to ensure that these are fully reflected and incorporated in this bottom-up police priority setting process. As part of this years’ consultation process, the MPA will seek input on the appropriate standards for police consultation, partnership and engagement arrangements and, thereby, serve as the basis for increasing the MPA’s capacity for properly scrutinising against these standards.

7. Another objective of the MPA consultation activity is to attempt to further pinpoint what Londoners actually expect from having a more visible local policing presence and what they expect from closer consultation with the Police.

8. The methodologies that are being employed by the MPA include, firstly, compiling, analysing and bringing forward the results of consultation and survey work undertaken by other agencies and institutions such as the GLA, ALG, local authorities and other relevant recent studies and reports. In determining the policing priorities for 2005/06, the MPA needs to be informed by as many different sources as possible.

9. Secondly, one of the major sources of knowledge about Londoners’ views on policing is the result of the discussions of Community Police Consultative Groups (CPCGs).

10. The third source of public involvement that the MPA will pursue in informing the 2005/06 Policing Plan is through a Citizens Panel.

11. The fourth avenue of seeking Londoners viewpoints on the 2005/06 policing priorities that the MPA is pursuing is building on the partnership developed last year with the London Civic Forum. This includes the development of a ‘knowledge bank’ for the MPA, and a mapping of all the channels that would be most effective in getting information to and from communities, to assist it with future community engagement activities and as a platform for working with different communities for future rounds of consultation. In addition it includes the identification, compilation and analysis of recent reports, briefs, studies and research carried out by and for ‘hard to hear’ groups about community safety and policing issues.

12. The final method that the MPA has started to employ to seek public input into the 2005/06 police priority setting process is to enter into partnership with community umbrella organisations to undertake consultation with specific target groups. This year it includes working with Greater London Action on Disability to undertake the necessary background research and a one-day community conference to establish the strategic policing directions and priorities for the disability communities in London that will be presented to both the MPA and MPS. A similar approach will be explored, with other groups including the LGBT, faith and BME communities.

13. In addition to the methods that are being employed by the MPA, the approaches taken in partnership with the MPS include first an online consultation. This is the second year the on-line consultation on policing priorities has been run. It is run as a three session process. The MPA and MPS invited 1613 community, local government and other public sector organizations in London to participate in a consultation to identify policing priorities. The first session ran between 26 April and 21 May 2004. 251 people answered a question about the key issues for the 2005/06 policing plan.

14. During session one participants were asked to identify up to 10 issues and explain why they were of concern. 1116 responses were received. Following closure of session one, the consultation facilitators collated all the responses into groups with appropriate headings. Where a number of issues were raised in a single response, that response was placed in more than one group. During session two participants were asked to prioritise the groups identified in session one and award a score out of seven for each of the groups they felt should be a priority. This second session ran between 24 May and 25 June 2004.

15. The initial top thirteen results of the prioritisation process was as follows (these are the issues that received a significant vote): -

1. Anti social behaviour and low-level crime.
2. Visibility, numbers of police and reassurance.
3. Drugs and drug related crime.
4. Partnership with communities and key partners.
5. Alcohol and alcohol related crime.
6. Crime reduction and prevention schemes.
7. Racial, homophobic and other hate crime.
8. Reporting and response times.
9. Youth crime and other youth issues.
10. Street crime.
11. Violent and gun crime.
12. Terrorism.
13. Fear of crime.

Session three opened on 5 July and runs until 24 July. The final report from the facilitators is due around 9 August.

16. In addition to the on-line consultation, a youth consultation is being led by the MPS. This builds on last years consultation run thorough the Safer Schools Partnership.

17. The Public Attitude Survey (PAS) is being led by the MPS. The PAS has been further developed and refined to provide much richer data on local policing needs.

18. CDRP Audits are being led by the MPS. As the CDRP Audits are due for their 3-year strategy plan, there exists the possibility of combining this Audit process together with the planning process. While the results from the CDRP audit process are unlikely to be completed to feed into the August deadline, the MPS Partnership Unit will ensure that any results that are available within the time span are fed into the process.

19. Preliminary findings from the consultation process already appear to confirm and reinforce the directions identified in last years consultation process that Londoners want a more visible policing service that is founded upon and responsive to the diversity of local needs at the borough level.

C. Race and equality impact

The consultation processes being undertaken by both the MPA and MPS pays attention to the particular policing issues and needs of London's diverse communities and will help to strengthen community, access to and increased impact upon the police priority setting process.

D. Financial implications

There are no direct financial implications of this report. Funding for the consultation process described is included in the MPA and MPS 2004/05 budget.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Tim Rees, Head – Community Engagement Unit

For more information contact:

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

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