Youth crime report

Report: 6
Date: 7 December 2006
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on youth crime within the MPS and sets out how this work comes together in a new MPS Youth Strategy. It specifically addresses questions asked in the commissioning brief and provides details on youth crime initiatives, levels and types of youth crime, youths as victims, and levels of youth on youth crime. It also looks at the issue of youth crime on buses and anti-social behaviour. The level of inter-agency work was also requested and specifically, Operation Chicago 2.

A. Recommendation

That Members are asked to note the contents of this report and continue to support the work currently taking place.

B. Supporting information

Definitions

• A young victim is defined as any person under eighteen years of age.
• A young offender is defined as any young person aged between ten and seventeen years.

MPS Youth Strategy 2003 – 2008

1. The MPS has a current Youth Strategy for 2003 -2008. However, that document was developed before the 2004 Children’s Act, before the development of Safer Neighbourhoods and more significantly, before the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda came into being.

New MPS Youth Strategy 2007 - 2009

2. Therefore a new Youth Strategy, ‘it’s never too early, it’s never too late’ is being developed to take recent legislation into account and to address the youth issues affecting London. A draft has been completed and it is in the process of being circulated for consultation. The new strategy gives clarity to the work undertaken in the youth field and identifies four work strands. Those are, Youth Justice, Safer Schools, Youth Engagement and Training. These strands bring together the various departments within the MPS and all incorporate the common goal of the Every Child Matters outcomes working closely in partnership with both statutory and voluntary agencies. The Every Child Matters (ECM) key outcomes are to be healthy, stay safe and to make a positive contribution.

3. The Youth Justice strand of the strategy details how with our partners we will focus our work on those young people most at risk, of being both victim and offender, and will prioritise our response accordingly with the aim of reducing youth crime. Sharing relevant information with our local partners will be key to success in this area.

4. The Safer Schools strand demonstrates that through Neighbourhood Policing, every school in London will have a link with it’s local community officer which includes many Police Community Support Officers actively working in and around the primary school environment. Safer Schools Partnership (SSP) officers will play a key role in the Prevent and Deter strand of the Prolific and Priority Offender (PPO) strategy, working alongside partners and colleagues in Youth Offending Teams (YOT) with a common aim of diverting young people from a path of criminality.

5. The Youth Engagement strand details how the MPS will use Safer Neighbourhoods as a platform for engagement, providing officers with the opportunity to break down barriers between police and young people. The Black Police Association (BPA) Voyage programme, Operation Athena, Kickz football project and the Volunteer Cadets are all examples of the MPS interacting with often-marginalised young people.

6. The training strand ensures that police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) receive appropriate and adequate training to work with young people from the foundation stage of training through to specialised areas of work.

Youth initiatives

7. There are a plethora of youth initiatives that the MPS are engaged in across London and every borough has their own bespoke initiatives developed and delivered with partners. Sometimes these are short term initiatives aimed at specific times of need such as school holidays but often these are long term projects aimed at diversion, leadership, engagement or trust for example.

MPS wide initiatives

8. The Metropolitan Black Police Association’s Young Black Positive Advocates (YBPA) scheme currently operates in the Trident boroughs (Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Lambeth, Newham and Southwark) and workshops have been presented to more than 3,600 young people in schools across the six boroughs. The BPA have also developed a programme to ensure that the voice of young people are heard and listened to, VOYAGE, this includes a leadership programme with eighty young people attending the residential course in August 2006 and thirty taking part in a modular programme delivered over three months. Additionally the BPA are developing a Peace Pledge to encourage young people to support their local community, schools and families and promising to a live of non-violence and a commitment not to abuse alcohol or drugs. Through their pizza evenings provide a forum for young people to comment on their views of police policy and strategy.

9. The Kickz project in partnership with the FA, Premier and Football Leagues is an estate based youth diversion project providing three, two-hour football training sessions per week run by professional coaches. These sessions are delivered at times when crime and anti-social behaviour is at its height. This project aims to reach a wide spectrum of youths aged between 11 – 18 years and will also target local young people believed to be involved in anti- social behaviour. This project is in addition to the work done in boroughs such as Islington, Kingston and Westminster that have introduced their own football based initiatives to divert young people away from crime and anti social behaviour.

10. The Junior Citizenship Programme is aimed at promoting better citizenship and is lead across London by the MPS with children of primary school age. It provides education and advice about drugs, alcohol, mobile phone theft, fire safety and transport. This initiative specifically contributes to the Stay Safe and Make a Positive Contribution outcomes of the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda.

11. The Safer Schools Partnership (SSP) was set up in response to the Prime Ministers Street Crime Action Group initiative to combat youth crime and has been in operation since April 2002. There are currently 187 SSP officers working in approximately 310 schools across London.

12. The SSP police officer works within the school, in partnership with teachers, other education services and related agencies, to identify, support and work with children and young people regarded as being at high risk of victimisation, offending and social exclusion. This is the full time role of these officers and they cover the full spectrum of prevention, education, engagement and awareness as well as enforcement when required.

13. Youth Offending Teams (YOT) currently employ 70 police officers and 8 police support staff working within every one of the 32 boroughs. The staff through the YOTs are involved in numerous divisionary schemes, including educational packages, (e.g. substance misuse, parenting, sport, citizenship) and various reparation projects including restorative justice. These officers are often the main point of contact with young crime victim and witnesses and work in partnership to prevent re-offending and develop trust and confidence. Again, police officers and staff in these teams are employed full-time in these roles.

14. Restorative Justice (RJ) is available across London as an option to deal with youth crime. This provides a means of reparation to the victim or whole school community by the offender. An example being, by repaying money stolen or repairing damaged property. Offenders are expected to make amends for the harm and to acknowledge the distress they have caused. Training in RJ techniques is delivered across London and supported by a central team within the Safer Neighbourhoods portfolio. Twenty SSP and YOTs officers received RJ training in October for example and an additional 20 SSP officers are due to attend a course in January 2007.

15. The Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) are community volunteers aged between 14 and 21 years wanting to make a difference to their local community. The VPC is supported centrally and delivered locally and there are currently 1000 cadets in 29 boroughs. Local VPCs are engaged in partnership, diversion, education and crime reduction initiatives on boroughs and each has a protocol in place to accept referrals from YOTs providing another opportunity for diverting certain offenders away from re-offending.

16. The Prevent and Deter strand of the Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPO) strategy is delivered in partnership with local boroughs, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and Government Office for London (GOL). This involves partnerships working together to identify, through a matrix of risk indicators, those young people most at risk of becoming prolific offenders. This indicators looked at will include not only where criminal acts have been committed but also include family make-up, friends, parents, schooling issues and partnership intelligence. Once youths are identified and agreed as being ‘at risk’ a partnership action plan is developed to address the risk factors.

17. Miss Dorothy.Com is but one educational resource that is used in schools across the MPS. The Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) are engaged with Territorial Policing and the Safer Schools Partnerships in developing a number of crime prevention and education resources for schools. This includes a ‘moving on pack’ aimed at nine to eleven year olds, and ‘Watch over me’ series 2 and 3 that are holistic programmes addressing violence, safety, use of drugs and alcohol, weapons and building confidence. These resources are currently being used in 16 London Boroughs. 40,000 key stage 2 workbooks, teachers training and training packs were purchased by SCD and provided to primary schools in 8 priority gun crime boroughs. A further resource is currently being developed to address the transition period between primary and secondary school.

18. Safer Neighbourhoods Officers are engaged in many local youth initiatives and best practice is shared as to successful projects. One example of a project being developed on several boroughs is the Safer Neighbourhoods 4 People (SN4P) project. This involves local children and young people walking around their area and taking photos of the things and places that make them feel safe, unsafe or affect how they feel about their local neighbourhood. The photos are then used to start discussion between children and young people, police and the ward panel, about how they can all work together to make the area a safer and better environment to live in. The project is designed to help local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams engage with and develop positive relationships with local children and young people and to Identify key actions in partnership with these young people to help improve their neighbourhood, feeding their opinions into the ward panel.

19. Safer Neighbourhoods Youth Panels are being developed in some London Boroughs as part of the engagement strand of the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme that aims to respond the issues of local communities, which of course, includes youths.

A few examples of other MPS initiatives

20. Gym based projects have been developed in Camden and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea aimed at diverting young people away from crime.

21. Metrack is a sport inclusion programme run by the MPS and Charlton Athletic FC, offering 1000 young people in Bexley and Greenwich an opportunity to take up sport as a healthy alternative in life.

22. Diversion through the arts, with a film project being run in Bexley, a Connect scheme in Bromley that allows young people aged between 11 – 19 access to free activities including sport, art and other events. The Kingston SN teams arrange four youth discos per year to promote well-being and positive citizenship and Lewisham have established a design and technology workshop for young people, which includes aerosol art for graffiti artists.

23. Immobilise, in partnership with the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit boroughs are distributing posters and flyers advertising the free registration of mobile phones, Ipods, MP3 players etc, through both the Safer Schools Partnership and the Safer Neighbourhoods teams. Schools and youth clubs are being encouraged to assist pupils to register their property during Information Technology lessons and related activities. This initiative makes portable electrical items less of a target for thieves and therefore young people having them in their possession less of a target.

24. 500,000 ‘Z’ cards are being distributed across the MPS to provide young people with personal safety messages informing them of the law and consequences in terms of guns, knives and drugs. They also offer crime prevention advice particularly around mobile phones and other personal electrical equipment. The ‘Z’ cards will underpin the existing Junior Citizens schemes that operate the throughout the MPS.

25. Operation Sphere is an MPS initiative to tackle the persistent patterns of offending related to the immediate after school period. It involves the deployment of police officers whose primary role is not patrol and police staff MSC in operational duties to both support BOCUs at the point of Service delivery and to ensure that the MPS is more flexible and better prepared in times of greatest demand. The first day of the operation was 21 September when 60 officers from Directorate of Information (DOI), Territorial Policing (TP) and Human Resources (HR) undertook operational duties at Wandsworth, Harrow and Redbridge. It is continuing to increase the operational capacity of the MPS, to reduce school time-related robbery and increase public reassurance.

Levels of crime committed by young people

26. The numbers of recorded crimes committed by youths, (Youth accused) increased significantly between 2003/04 (32119), 2004/05 (40,707) and 2005/06 (44,454). In the first half of 2006/07 (April – September), a total of 16,849 youths are recorded as accused on the Crime Report Information System (CRIS).

27. It is important to note that levels of youth accused are not necessarily a reflection of increasing youth crime, as the number of accused may be a result of policing efforts, engagement and confidence in reporting.

28. The key statistic is perhaps the ratio of youth accused to adult accused. This has remained stable and so there is no indication of any significant shift in the volume of youth crime on Total Notifiable Offence (TNO) levels. Using this indicator, levels of youth crime have remained stable over the past 3 years and remain so when examining 2006/07 data to date. In 2005/06, 18.4% of accused were aged 10-17 years old and in 2006/07 (year to date), this has fallen slightly to 17.3%.

Types of crime committed by youths

29. The breakdown of crime types has changed between 2005/06 and 2006/07. The Performance Information Bureau (PIB) method of counting and recording youth accused relies on arrest and proceedings codes. For this report, arrest codes have been disregarded but the change in Detections counting rules (namely that non-sanctioned Detections are no longer counted) has resulted in a shift in the proportions of Home Office Crime Categories for youth accused. Table 1 illustrates the difference between 2005/06 and 2006/07 (albeit the latter is based on year to date data).

Table 1 – Types of crimes committed by young offenders

30. The main result of the change in counting rules is a proportionate reduction in Violence against person (VAP) youth accused. There has been a 4.4% rise in robbery. Drugs youth accused has also increased, possibly an ancillary result of the street crime initiative.

Victims of youth crime

31. Youths report that they are most commonly the victims of violence. 42% of youth victims reported Violence Against the Person (VAP) offences; a further 26% are victims of Robbery. Breaking down the VAP reports shows that almost half are Actual Bodily Harm (ABH) and a further third are Common Assault.

32. Numerically, there were 58045 youth victims of crime in 2005/06 (this figure is a count of victims, and not the number of offences committed against them. Table 3 illustrates the crimes committed against young victims

Table 3 – Crimes committed against young victims

Proportion of offences committed by youths on young people

33. Examination of crime reports with a youth victim and a youth suspect reveals 24454 such offences. Youth on youth violence constitutes 83% of these reports (41% VAP, 39% Robbery, 3% Sexual Offences). Table 4 illustrates the crimes committed against young victims.

Table 4 – Youth victims of crimes committed by young offenders

Issue of youth crime/ASB on buses crime

34. Analysis by Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) does not suggest that there has been transference of youth crime from the street to buses. There has been an increase in youth suspects and victims of bus related allegations from September 2005 to March 2006. The increased activity, awareness and training with Transport for London (TfL) staff must be considered in this respect.

35. Analysis indicates that youth suspects represent 18,275 (44%) of all ‘bus crime’ suspects. 10,287 (24%) are for robbery theft incidents, 4037 (10%) for violent offences and 3206 (8%) for criminal damage.

36. There are difficulties in further bus crime analysis as far as there is a lack of reliable historical data, the TOCU and TfL partnership arrangement being relatively new. However, the understanding and development of this data is now proceeding positively.

Anti Social Behaviour on buses

37. There is no specific data on incidents of anti social behaviour on buses by young people as this relies on instances being reported by bus drivers and staff.

38. Operation Chicago 2 led by the British Transport Police, targeted groups of criminals or individuals who use the transport infrastructure to commit crime, reducing the ability of criminals to move freely around the transit system. Chicago 2 was not youth oriented, and ultimately the vast majority of those prosecuted were adults. There was no emphasis on youth crime as part of this initiative, nor were any issues regarding juvenile offenders considered.

Abbreviations

BPA

Black Police Association

DOI

Directorate of Information

ECM

Every Child Matters

GOL

Government Office for London

HR

Human Resources

PIB

Performance Information Bureau

PPO

Prolific and Priority Offender

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

SN4P

Safer Neighbourhoods 4 People

SSP

Safer Schools Partnership

TP

Territorial Policing

VAP

Violence against person

VPC

Volunteer Police Cadets

YBPA

Young Black Positive Advocates

YJB

Youth Justice Board

YOT

Youth Offending Teams

C. Race and equality impact

1. Specific initiatives through the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate and Black Police Association, seek to increase engagement among traditionally ‘hard to hear’ sections of the community. Innovative approaches are being tried to engage with young people and gain a greater understanding of their issues.

2. Through the training programme and YOT / Schools conferences, officers and partners involved with the Safer Schools Partnerships and Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are receiving diversity training input on areas such as identifying young people at risk, as well as supporting victims and witnesses of crime. Additionally some London Safeguarding Children Boards are developing multi agency training programmes which borough based officers will be attending. Such training is enabling officers to gain a better understanding of how to work and interact with young people and understand how young people view the world, in particular those from different communities.

D. Financial implications

The resource and financial implications of each initiative are considered separately.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Inspector Alan Hodges, Safer Neighbourhoods, MPS.

For information contact:

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

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