Transport Safer Neighbourhoods Teams

Report: 6c
Date: 5 October 2006
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing for the Commissioner

Summary

This report relates to the proposal that 375 Police Community Support Officers are deployed to work alongside existing Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in a joint initiative between Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police Service. TfL will purchase approximately 220 PCSOs and the MPS will support the initiative with a further 155 PCSOs. The Transport Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will work to similar principles and methodology as the existing 630 Safer Neighbourhoods teams across London except they will focus on transport links and communities as opposed to local residents.

A. Recommendation

1. That members note and support the proposal for a joint initiative between TfL and the MPS for the purpose of increasing confidence and satisfaction in the policing of transport interchange locations across London.

B. Supporting information

1. The principle of the role of Police Community Support Officers within the MPS is to support Neighbourhood Policing. That is to provide a visible, accessible and familiar presence on the streets of London and to engage with and respond to the needs of communities. Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are responding to the needs of local residents in their local wards but individuals who travel across wards and across London on a daily basis have different needs which are challenging to respond to within the current model of Safer Neighbourhoods.

2. The Metropolitan Police Service aims to recruit 4486 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) by the end of April 2007. The full roll out of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams requires 2151 PCSOs. Additionally, there are PCSOs employed and allocated to TfL, Heathrow, Government Security Zones, Royal Parks, as well as a number of borough partnerships who have invested in local purchases. This means that out of the total of 4486 PCSOs, approximately 1348 are available for further allocation and deployment within London. It is from this figure that the 375 PCSOs will be deployed.

Currently, TfL resources focus on the main transport termini and routes across London and the daily tasking of resources is dictated by reported crime patterns and ‘problem’ routes. This means that the smaller outer London transport links get infrequent coverage. Bromley borough for example has a number of transport hubs and none of them feature on any crime or hot-spot maps and therefore get limited coverage by TfL uniform resources. If the stations are not raised as a local priority by the local residents then they will not feature in activity by the local safer neighbourhoods teams and their partners either.

3. Events such as the recent murder at Kensal Green underground station have highlighted the fears and insecurities of Londoners as they travel across the Capital using relatively quiet transport links which do not feature on local residents priorities. The Mayor of London, TfL and the MPS as well as transport groups are agreed that there is a need for the visibility and reassurance that this initiative will provide through highly visible uniform presence and problem solving.

Structure

4. The proposal therefore is that the 375 PCSOs work in teams focussed on the outer London transport links. They will work alongside and with the support of the ward based Safer Neighbourhoods Teams, thus sharing and exchanging intelligence and offender descriptions. The neighbourhoods of ‘Transport Safer Neighbourhoods Teams’ will be all transport links in a borough and they will be mobile within the borough according to intelligence, need and priorities.

5. The exact boroughs where the teams are to be based are yet to be defined and agreed but it is anticipated that the focus will be the outer boroughs which are not subject to regular presence currently. At this time it is estimated that approximately 20 boroughs may be recipients of this initiative.

6. On this model, when this initiative is fully rolled out there will be a team of approximately 18 PCSOs on 20 boroughs. Each team will work to the same principles as current Safer Neighbourhoods Teams. That is they will be ring-fenced from abstractions and work to the seven stage model of engagement. Stakeholders for this process are not yet fully defined but will include, local residents, transport user groups as well as TfL.

Supporting resources

7. The funding for PCSOs provides for uniform and supporting infrastructure but is not sufficient to provide accommodation and transport. These items are therefore subject to ongoing negotiations but it is intended that these teams are able to be accommodated on the neighbourhoods they patrol on a co-located site with TfL. Transport will be negotiated separately according to the needs and geography of each borough.

Training

8. At this time it is anticipated that the training course will be that which is delivered as standard to Safer Neighbourhoods PCSOs with an additional input to cover track safety by British Transport Police.

Further planning

9. Ongoing meetings are taking place between Territorial Policing Safer Neighbourhoods Unit, TfL and Transport OCU. There are many issues which are being worked through in detail that include how to integrate the two types of neighbourhood policing, the appropriate supervision model including welfare support, the appropriate contractual arrangements in addition to those matters mentioned above.

C. Race and equality impact

1. There are no negative implications anticipated in the progression of this initiative.

2. Across the MPS as a whole, 9.6 % of Police officers and PCSOs are from minority ethnic communities. However, within Safer Neighbourhoods teams, 20.3% of police officers and PCSOs are from minority ethnic communities. In terms purely of PCSOs within the teams, this figure rises still further to 32%. In terms of officers on the street interacting with local communities, this initiative is anticipated to continue to provide a workforce that increasingly reflects the communities it serves.

D. Financial implications

1. TfL will provide £7.5m towards the cost of this joint initiative. The remainder of the funding comes through the neighbourhood policing fund.

2. The income generated through this initiative will part fund the cost of putting police staff into the integrated borough operations functions at boroughs, so that police officers can be released back to front line policing duty.

3. There will be an additional two days training for each PCSO in respect of trackside safety. BTP have verbally agreed to deliver this at no cost.

4. Supervision arrangements, accommodation and transport are still to be finalised.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Stephen Bloomfield, Chief Superintendent, TPHQ, MPS

For information contact:

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

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