The role and work of Central Operations

Report: 7
Date: 5 July 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Central Operations on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

The MPA’s Business Management Group has requested twice-yearly reports on the work of Business Groups. This report, the first such submission from Central Operations, provides an overview of the structure of the business group and the role it performs in providing specialist policing, how it supports front line policing, and how it contributes to the corporate strategic priorities. It introduces Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur’s Blue Print for the Future of Central Operations, which sets out the vision and direction for the business group.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Central Operations structure and functionality

1. Central Operations (CO) was formed in April 2005, in response to the need to create a Business Group that could provide specialist policing services direct to Londoners and in support of neighbourhoods, boroughs and communities. In effect a Capital City policing response for the future.

2. It was formed through an amalgamation of pan-London units that previously came under the command of Territorial Policing and Specialist Operations and currently has over 3,500 police officers and 4,000 police staff. It was set up to provide a broad range of policing functions, all brought together to effectively discharge our Capital City responsibilities. Central Operations has subsequently been given responsibility for delivering the security arrangements for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012.

3. CO provides the tactical arm of the Service, working collaboratively with other MPS Business groups, to deliver a pan-London response and leadership in specific areas. These include:

• Natural disaster and terrorist attacks
• Security and protection of people and buildings
• Command and control of major events and incidents
• A safe transport infrastructure
• Tackling low level crime and disorder
• Planning for the security of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and events
• Provision of 24% of the MPS annual training, including firearms and public order

4. This support currently comes in the form of the following resources:

• Aviation Security
• Clubs & Vice OCU
• Diplomatic Protection Group
• Emergency Preparedness OCU
• Olympic Security Directorate
• Palace of Westminster
• Public Order Branch, including:
  • Air Support Unit
  • Dog Support Unit
  • Marine Support Unit
  • Mounted Branch
  • Specialist Firearms Command
  • Territorial Support Group
  • Traffic Criminal Justice Unit
  • Traffic OCU
  • Transport OCU

An organisational chart is shown at Appendix 1.

Capital City policing

5. Capital City Policing, one of the eight corporate priorities, is delivered through Central Operations and is committed to delivering a more effective and efficient service to the people of London. This is a complex, challenging and diverse area of business and, as well as covering the functions listed in paragraph 3, focuses on the policing of dangerous boundaries, iconic events, command and control of events, and the safety of London’s airports and transport infrastructure, to ensure public confidence.

6. Our vision for Capital City Policing is founded on putting the needs of individuals and communities first and is articulated fully in the document ‘Central Operations A Blue Print for the Future’. ‘Blue Print’ expresses Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur’s vision of the future to focus on ‘Capital City Policing’ and demonstrates how Central Operations direction will be developed. It provides the strategic framework against which the Business Group operating profile will deliver and gives clarity around the expectations, roles and responsibilities of the Command Team, how we will treat each other and how we will all engage with the MPS Values. To this end the Blue Print has six priority outcomes:

1. Londoners have confidence in everything that we do
2. The people we serve are fully satisfied with the quality of the services we provide
3. We achieve excellent results in a holistic and innovative way using the problem-solving triangle (Targeting offenders / hotspots / victim/casualty profiles / underlying causes)
4. We are suitably structured to be responsive, flexible, smart, cost-effective and capable of getting things right first time and understanding risks
5. We are working towards the delivery of a safe and successful Olympic and Paralympic Games
6. We become a truly inclusive and representative element of London’s communities and the MPS

7. To deliver Capital City Policing, Central Operations needs to be proactive, responsive and have a flexible business approach that clearly identifies roles and responsibilities. Further more we are committed to engage with its stakeholders, have robust planning and tactical capabilities to ensure the Business Group is fit for purpose. Set against the backdrop and strategic vision of the policing of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, reshaping the CO Business Group, developing its identity and building capacity is a key challenge.

Central Operations modernisation

8. There are several key drivers impacting on the future direction of Central Operations:

• The MPS Modernisation Programme
• The specific transfer of security responsibility for the Palace of Westminster, Aviation Security and Diplomatic Premises to CO
• The widening agenda of public order and police use of firearms
• Securing a wider community mandate for our policing style
• Developing the security framework for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012
• The increasing focus on Capital City Policing
• The Morris Inquiry
• These drivers have also impacted on the structure of Central Operations. The MPS has undertaken a comprehensive review of its current structure and decided to merge certain Specialist Operations units - Palace of Westminster, Aviation Security and Diplomatic Protection - into Central Operations.

10. The addition of this new security responsibility we will provide a more integrated and effective response to Capital City Policing. At the same time, the appointment of the Assistant Commissioner Central Operations as Olympic and Paralympic Security Director and the formation of the Olympic and Paralympic Security Directorate, has similarly impacted on the workload of Central Operations.

11. This increased workload has led to the requirement for a new organisational structure for Central Operations. However, it is important that this change is introduced in a structured and incremental way. The organisational chart at Appendix 1 represents the current proposed structure, but this is subject to continual review and improvement, as the modernisation work progresses.

12. In particular we have placed a heavy emphasis on improving the following aspects of our business:

• We will consistently treat our people with dignity and respect
• The way we manage our budgets
• The diversity of our workforce
• Documenting our operational tactics and mapping our processes
• Managing our reputation and risk through visible leadership and effective command and control
• Marketing our successes
• Measuring our performance in all aspects of our work

13. A modernisation Programme ‘Change Team’ has been implemented to support a range of projects and provide a programme framework for CO Modernisation. These projects are:

• Developing our vision and identity
• Performance Management Framework
• Mapping operational processes
• Managing the marketing and communication of CO
• Developing CO as a continually improving organisation
• Deployment Bases
• Business Plan for CO
• Community Engagement
• Tasking and Coordinating
• Workforce Modernisation

Supporting corporate priorities

14. Central Operations provides significant support to front line policing and assists other business groups and directorates in delivering their corporate priorities. This work is managed through our OCUs themselves in their day-to-day business and also through the Central Operations Coordinating and Tasking Office (CaTO). This ensures that CO resources are efficiently tasked against corporate and Central Operations operational priorities. The CO CaTO is now the single point of contact for access to CO resources and provides tactical advice and resources to (B)OCU’s requiring assistance from Central Operations via the corporate co-ordinating and tasking process.

15. Our operating profile is broad based, with a commitment to supporting each other and our partners and stakeholders.

16. Policing this widening agenda of pan-London issues in the 21st Century is both complex and challenging, particularly as we prepare for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. CO has fully engaged with the National Intelligence Model and focuses on Intelligence – Prevention – Enforcement and this is the basis upon which the CaTO is utilised to task pan-London CO resources.

17. Last year, the Armed Response Vehicles responded to over 14,000 calls relating to firearms. In addition, the Specialist Firearms Officers / Tactical Support Teams were involved in over 900 Pre-Planned Firearms Operations in 2006.

18. Significant support is also provided to Boroughs by units from Central Operations in the form of patrolling and tasking. Last year the Territorial Support Group (TSG) made 14,000 arrests and the Dog Section made over 3,700 arrests across London, many for priority crimes such as robbery and burglary. In addition, TSG conducts approximately 41,000 stops and searches annually, 13% of the MPS total, resulting in 12,000 arrests (one in every four stops, twice the MPS average).

19. In addition, officers from the Transport OCU made over 8,500 arrests within London’s transport infrastructure.

20. The Air Support Unit flew over 3,000 hours last year and was involved in over 10,000 incidents, resulting in nearly 1,200 arrests and locating 88 missing persons. In addition, the Marine Support Unit has undertaken nearly 1,000 targeted ‘anti-terrorist’ patrols, dealt with more than 300 marine ‘critical’ incidents and more than 150 searches by the underwater search unit.

21. The Mounted Branch has assisted with more than 7,500 BOCU & TP ‘taskings’, provided nearly 2400 officer days at football matches in addition to a myriad of other security and ceremonial events throughout the year.

22. Amongst its work, the Clubs and Vice Unit has conducted 6 covert operations against drug dealers in nightclubs and 25 covert operations against organised brothel keeping, rescuing 50 women who had been trafficked into prostitution and confiscating £1.3million in criminal assets.

23. Traffic provided extensive support across London, including responding to just under 5,000 personal collision accidents and 216 fatal collisions last year. In terms of traffic prosecutions, the Traffic Criminal Justice Unit processed over 500,000 cases with 48,500 cases taken to court, involving 88,000 summonses. The OCU is also responsible for tackling criminals in cars and helping to make the roads a crime free environment, conducting proactive operations against the travelling criminal.

24. The Palace Of Westminster OCU has been working closely with both Houses and the Parliamentary Security Co-ordinator to protect the Parliamentary Estate and ensure a safe and secure environment. Over 900,000 people visited Parliament last year and a key improvement objective was to improve the service provided to visitors by our front line staff so as to improve the "Westminster Experience". Working in partnership with the House, Customer Care training was introduced for all staff and Visitor Assistants. The OCU has improved its system of budgetary monitoring and has achieved or exceeded all its budgetary targets with savings reaching £500,000.

25. The Aviation Security section polices both Heathrow and London City airports which have a combined passenger throughput of over 68 million with another 12 million visitors. Last year the unit completed over 34% of the MPS total number of Sec 44 Terrorism Act stop & searches with no complaints received, deployed 43,000 Counter Terrorism security patrols, 87,000 Manpad denial searches and over 3,000 prisoners were processed through the Heathrow custody suite. Currently the MPA is working with the MPS on a strategy for cost recovery for airports policing and following HMIC inspection a fully developed security plan is being developed.

26. The Diplomatic Protection Unit over the year attended over 95% of alarm activations at diplomatic missions within the target time of six minutes and there were no successful intrusions into diplomatic or Government locations protected by the DPG. We were on patrol within Central London for over 90,000 hours. The DPG provided overnight armed residential protection to 163 visiting VIP's and provided armed protection in London hospitals to 53 people for a combined total of 625 days.

27. Over the year, Central Operations dealt with over a thousand planned events, including Notting Hill Carnival and the New Year’s Eve celebrations, as well as 22 major ceremonial events, including Trooping of the Colour and numerous State Visits. TSG, Dogs and Mounted Branch extensively supported these events. The ability to police an increasing number of events whilst at the same time building in efficiencies and reducing resource abstraction from across the MPS without compromising safety and security remains a constant challenge, one that is being successfully managed within events planning; there were 5% more events in 2006/07, but through expert planning and tactical improvements the abstractions of officers was actually reduced by 14%. As 2012 draws closer every major event in London will become a showcase for the Olympics and Paralympic Games.

28. In addition, the Emergency Preparedness OCU has had assisted with the Service response to the London Bombs in July 2005, as well as planning for a broad range of other resilience issues, including business continuity.

29. These figures give an idea of the sheer volume of work that is undertaken by CO in delivering Capital City Policing. Research and analysis reveals that the demands on us are likely to increase in the future and we need to pre-empt and create capacity and capabilities to deal with it, particularly having regard to the Olympic and Paralympics. We are committed to providing cost-effective and efficient services and no new major business will be undertaken without there being a full cost-based appraisal.

30. A profile of the types of operational activity engaged in by Central Operations units can be found in the examples of success found at Appendix 2.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur is Chair of Central Operations Strategic Diversity Group and is personally committed to ensuring that CO is reflective of the communities that we serve and that our policing activities are designed and carried out with community impact foremost in our minds. The last year has seen small but significant progress in operational areas that have been historically under represented. For example, for the first time MPS Public Order cadre has a complement of female officers; and the proportion of female officers (50% (13 officers) of female officers who applied passed final selection) accepted on to the Armed Response Vehicle (ARV) course has increased through a support and development programme run by CO19.

2. Following the structural changes to Central Operations in April as a result of MPS Modernisation police officer strength has grown by 48% (BWT by 44%) and police staff strength by 17% (AWT by 12%), compared with April 2005 when Central Operations was set up. There has been an underlying increase in female officer numbers of 48%, up from 294 to 414. Similarly, the proportion of BME officers has increased from 3.4% to 4.3%, representing an increase of 90% in BME officer numbers, up from 294 to 414.

3. The proportion of female police staff in Central Operations has fallen from 59% to 52%, which equates to a 17% decline (30 fewer). BME strength has remained at 21% but in real terms the number of BME staff has increased by 12%, an additional 92.

4. Public confidence in the police is improved when our services reflect the communities we serve. Furthermore, we benefit from the creativity and dynamism a diverse workforce will introduce such as language skills and an understanding of the communities we serve. Despite progress, women and BME officers are under represented in Central Operations and we are committed to achieving a more representative workforce.

5. A substantial part of Central Operation’s work involves high visibility policing and public order policing. In addition to delivering our core day-to-day activities, our resources are allocated through the intelligence-lead corporate and business group tasking processes to meet corporate and business group policing priorities. Consequentially our visibility, policing activities and tactics can have differential impact on communities. We are developing our performance framework to improve monitoring of community impact and we perform equalities and community impact assessments for our operations and learning is also captured via debriefing processes.

6. The visibility of our work rightly generates community interest and directly impacts on communities’ trust, confidence and satisfaction in our policing methods which in turn impacts on policing outcomes. Without communities’ confidence our ability to effectively police London and ensure Londoners feel safe is diminished. We are engaging with communities to explain our role and operations, and are working in partnership with our colleagues, communities and partners to build trust and confidence. An excellent example of this engagement is provided by Territorial Support Group, which, as previously stated, conducts a significant proportion of MPS stop and search. The current TSG policing plan shows an action under the ‘Together’ priority to work with all our citizens, all our partners and all our colleagues to put the needs of individuals and communities first. This objective led to the following action: Each of the TSG bases to engage with a local priority borough, Community Police Consultative Group - Recommendation 61 group to explain the use of TSG tactics, especially stop and search/stop and account. To date significant and positive engagement has taken place with the boroughs of Ealing, Barnet, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth.

D. Financial implications

1. Central Operations operates on an annual budget of £261 million, in effect, the operating costs of all the OCUs plus the business support function. This comprises £405m expenditure and £144m income. Of this £405m 48% (£194m) is funded externally, that is with funding not directly provided by the MPA. The funding is provided by either direct grants from the Home Office, as is the case for counter terrorism funding, dedicated security posts and the Olympics grant. The majority of the income (£141m) is from our strategic partners as is the case for Transport OCU which is funded through Transport for London, Palace of Westminster OCU funded by the House of Lords and the House of Commons and Aviation Security OCU which is part funded by BAA.

2. The business challenge in managing Central Operations is unlike most of the MPS in that the identification of efficiency savings across the board must be cognisant of the fact that significant areas of business are externally funded. Making savings in these OCUs simply means that the money will not be forthcoming from the external source, although that does not prevent us from being more efficient with what we do have within these areas.

3. In making the best use of our resources our approach to finance will be based on a clear financial strategy. The key elements of this strategy include: effective budget control at all levels (we ended 2006/07 within 1% of budget), developing our financial capability, rigorous financial planning, identifying and implementing cost effectiveness and best-value and monitoring consistently our financial position, forward planning & development, and improving productivity and efficiency.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Graeme Keeling, Performance and Planning Manager, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 2

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback