MPA support of community – police consultation arrangements in Greenwich

Report: 14
Date: 14 October 2004
By: Clerk

Summary

This report provides recommendations for supporting community police consultative arrangements in Greenwich.

A. Recommendation

That the recommendation to undertake a two-year review and active research evaluation of the integrated, three-tier community police engagement process that is being established in Greenwich be adopted.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA inherited from the MPS the statutory and fiscal responsibilities for the support of Community-Police Consultative Groups (CPCGs), which had their origins in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

2. With the support and endorsement of the local statutory partners, the MPA suspended operations of the Greenwich CPCG in March 2002. Not only were its meetings increasingly dysfunctional but also its activities had been superseded by significant statutory changes and a broad array of other local community police consultative arrangements.

3. A consequent review of consultative arrangements in Greenwich undertaken by the MPA concluded that a more appropriate role for the MPA would be to focus its efforts on strengthening community capacity in the Local Strategic Partnership and the structures of the Greenwich Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. Such an approach addresses the ‘democratic deficit’ apparent in the CDRP process and more directly links a local citizen scrutiny role with the MPA’s wider police governance duties and police oversight responsibilities.

4. Such an approach also reinforces the direction for the MPA of being less the provider of community engagement and more on setting the framework and focus by which to ensure the MPS, particularly at the local level, fully integrates and mainstreams community engagement in all its activities. Through its responsibilities for monitoring, for scrutiny, and for testing exemplary projects and promoting best practice, the MPA is better positioned to strengthen the capacity of the MPS to involve and be influenced by the viewpoints of Londoners.

5. The nature and level of community engagement in crime and safety has been evolving rapidly over the last number of months in Greenwich as a result of initiatives undertaken by the Borough Commander, the Borough Community Safety Unit and the CDRP. Greater clarity and coherence is being established through a three-tier system from the neighbourhood level, to the sector level, to the borough wide level.

6. At the neighbourhood level there are numerous relationships being developed with community groups, ethnic and faith organisations and the like, as well as more direct involvement with groups such as Neighbourhood Watch. In addition, the Safer Neighbourhoods initiative is rolling out from the present three, depending on budget approval, to every neighbourhood in the borough over the next three years. These Safer Neighbourhoods teams are responsible for carrying out a significant array of both formal and informal community engagement activities.

7. The second tier involves the recent establishment of four area Community Safety Panels. These are based upon each sector of the borough; they are open to all members of public, chaired either by a local Councillor or Sector Inspector, and hold bi-monthly meetings. Their purpose is to identify and bring forward community crime and safety issues and at the same time inform community members of progress made, of crime trends and wider partnership issues. Problems are also referred to an Officer Group of practitioners at the Area level who are responsible for developing short, medium and long-term sustainable solutions to issues identified and have the power to commit resources across agencies.

8. At the borough level, those issues that cannot be resolved at the Ward or Area level are channelled through the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership structure. In addition, the Greenwich Borough Commander has expanded the Independent Advisory Group, and plans are underway to hold further bi-annual borough-wide community forums to allow the Borough Commander and other stakeholders to present on performance and discuss current borough issues and priorities.

9. As a potential model of a borough based, multi-faceted community-police engagement process it is the intent of the MPA to support this process by contracting expert evaluators to document, monitor and assess its development over the next two years. Within the present consultation budget, it has been allotted £30,000 per annum for this task. Through regular reviews it will identify weaknesses, gaps and areas requiring improvement as well as those areas that can be identified as best practice. It is the purpose of the MPA to identify how these evolving arrangements will strengthen, reinforce and add value to community police consultation at the local level. It will identify the effectiveness of community engagement within the borough at a local delivery level, at a tactical level and a strategic level.

10. The findings of this participatory evaluation process in Greenwich will make a significant contribution to the MPA’s strategic priority of transforming community engagement to help Londoners secure more responsive policing at the local level. At the same time it will support and complement the developmental work being undertaken by the Greenwich CDRP.

C. Race and equality impact

Particular attention is already being given to ensuring that the awareness and participation of Greenwich’s diverse communities are an integral part of the Area Panel meetings. Equality and diversity implications will be a performance criteria by which the external consultant will be required to assess arrangements. By broadening the community engagement mechanisms and more effectively using the results and outcomes of consultation, the capacity to respond to diversity issues will be strengthened.

D. Financial implications

The funds required to undertake this initiative are already contained and budgeted for in the Community Engagement consultation allocation.

E. Background papers

The following sources have been used for this report on operational priorities and service delivery:

• ALG Survey of Londoners 2003
• Annual London survey for GLA 2003
• Online consultation (Dialogue by Design)
• MPS Youth Consultation
• MPS Public Attitude Survey (PAS) 2002/3
• Police Reform: Update 3 (MPA internal briefing paper)
• Policing for London Survey
• Telephone Investigations Bureaux (report to CE Committee)
• Safer London Panel (report to CE Committee)
• London First survey on crime affecting business in London 2004
• London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s ‘London Against Crime’ Business Survey (2004)
• Report of the MPA survey on MPS Stop and Search Practice (2004)
• London Civic Forum: Report on Policing Priorities (2003)
• Home Office Research: Involving the Public: The Role of Police Authorities (2003)

F. Contact details

Report author: Tim Rees

For more information contact:

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

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