Equal opportunities and diversity management information report

Report: 13
Date: 7 July 2005
By: Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

This report provides equal opportunities and diversity management information. The main trends are highlighted and figures that are more detailed are provided in Appendix 1.

A. Recommendations

That members note the attached management information report and any emerging trends.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The report aims to supply committee members with information relevant to equal opportunities and diversity, and highlight any emerging trends. The main trends to be noted are:

Hate crime

2. There have been 24 homicide crimes recorded between April and May 2005, 25 fewer than the same 2 months in 2004. Of those crimes recorded, 50% of victims were female and 70.8% of victims from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. 26 homicides have been detected between April and May 2005, 5 fewer than for the same period in 2004.

3. The detection rate for rape offences stands at 26.2% this financial year to date. This is a reduction of 1.4 percentage points on last financial year. The rape detection rate target for 2005-06 is 38%.

4. The sanction detection rate for rape offences is 22.5%, an increase on the same period last year of 2.2 percentage points. The sanction detection rate target for 2005-06 is 27%.

5. The actual number of female rape victims has increased by 16.5% year on year, and male victims reported has more than doubled (37 victims compared to 18), indicating that although still the minority, male victims reporting rape offences are increasing. Female rape victims make up 92.3% of all victims of recorded rape offences.

6. The percentage of BME victims of rape has reduced, dropping from 38.1% recorded between April 04 and May 04 to the current level of 32.4%.

7. The number of racist offences recorded in the first two months of 2005-06 has dropped by 12.8% when comparing with the same two months the previous year.

8. The proportion of female victims has reduced by 14.7% year on year with the current level of 48% showing little gender disproportionality. The number of victims of racist crime that are BME has increased, with 77.5% of victims BME compared to 76.4% in the previous year.

9. The current detection rate for racist crime is 28.9%, below the 2005-06 target of 36%. The sanction detection rate for racist crimes is much lower, at 15.2%, below the 21% target set for the 2005-06 financial year.

10. The number of domestic violence crimes recorded has increased by 7.6% year on year. The sanction detection rate has also increased, rising by 4.1 percentage point to 22.1% recorded between April and May 2005. The total detection rate for the current financial year 2005-06 is 53.1%.

11. The proportion of victims of domestic violence that are female remains at a similar rate of 76%, with the actual number of female victims increasing by 6.5% year on year.

12. The proportion of BME victims is 39.2%, with an increase of actual numbers year on year of 10.2%, a higher increase than domestic violence offences as a whole.

13. There has been a 10.9% decrease in homophobic crimes recorded between April and May 2005 when comparing with the same period the previous year. Latest data available shows victims of homophobic crime who are female have increase from 18.5% to 20.8%, although the actual number of female victims is the same (44).

14. The proportion of victims who are BME has also increased, rising from 8% to 17.5%.

15. The current sanction detection rate for homophobic crime is 13.2% the same rate recorded for the period last year.

16. The recording of faith hate crimes in London has decreased by 24.3% year on year, with 70 crimes recorded between April and May 2004-05 and 53 recorded between April and May 2005-06.

17. The proportion of female victims of faith hate crime is 26.4%, and BME victims represent 52.8% of all victims of faith hate crime.

Strength

Police Officers

18. Police officer strength has increased by 2.9% up to the end of May 2005, reaching 31,095. The percentage of police officers that are female is 19.3% and 7.0% are from BME communities.

19. The number of police officers at sergeant and above ranks has increased at a greater rate than total strength. There are 10% more officers at these ranks this year than last. Despite the increase, the percentage of male to female officers in this group is disproportional. There are 14.6% female officers at sergeant and above ranks as a proportion of all female officers compared to 26.6% of male officers as a proportion of all male officers.

20. BME officers at sergeant and above ranks as a percentage of all BME officers are 12.1%. This percentage is significantly disproportional to the percentage of non-BME officers at the same rank (25.2%).

21. The recent recruitment drive to increase the strength of female and BME officers will have an impact in time on the number of officers that have reached these higher ranks.

Police Staff

22. Police staff strength has risen by 9.4% year on year with 13,609 staff at the end of May 2005. The proportion of female staff is higher than male staff at 59.3% and 40.7% respectively; where as 21.0% of staff are BME.

23. The number of PCSOs has risen by 24.9% year on year with the current strength at 2,108. The percentage of female strength is 30.1%, where as BME staff makes up 34.2% of total PCSO strength.

Recruitment

24. The number of police officers joining the MPS is relatively low in comparison to strength, with 137 officers joining in 2 months. Of those officers joining, 33.6% were female and 17.5% Black & minority ethnic. Both proportions are higher than the current total strength figures.

25. The number of police staff joining the MPS has decreased by 6.3% year on year with 331.7 persons joining at the end of May 2005. The proportion of female and BME staff joining is similar to the current strength (57.5% and 20.0% respectively).

26. There has been a slower intake of PCSOs this year compared to last, with only 33 staff joining this year compared to 241 in the same period last year. Of those staff joining, 42.4% were female and 36.4% BME staff.

Retention

27. Retention rates have remained high, with the overall police officer rate of 95.6%. Female officer retention rate is better than male officers, with rates of 96.8% and 95.4% respectively. The retention rates for BME officers and non-BME officers are 96.3% and 95.6% respectively.

28. Police staff retention rates are slightly lower, but remain at a high level. The overall police staff retention rate is 93.3% with male and female retention rates of 93.0% and 93.6% respectively. The retention rate for BME staff is 93.8% and non-BME staff 93.2%.

Stop and Search

29. The number of stop & searches recorded in the past 12 months has reduced by 6.4% year on year. There are currently 31 stop & searches per 1,000 residents recorded in London. The number of stop & searches varies by ethnicity groups. 21 stop & searches recorded per 1,000 white population, 92 per 1,000 black population and 28 per 1,000 Asian population. Stop & searches recorded for all groups show a year on year reduction, with the largest for Asian persons, reducing by 9.0%.

30. The proportion of stop & searches on male persons is 97.8% (219,935 rolling year), with just 12,118 women being Stop & searched.

31. The actual number of arrests made from stop & searches has reduced by 17.8% rolling year on year. The reduction is spread across all ethnic groups, with fewer arrests of white persons stopped this year than last (-20.8%). The overall arrest rate stands at 10.3%.

MPA personnel data

32. Total strength continues to rise at the MPA, with the figure at the end of May 2005 at 90 full time staff.

33. Female staff represents 48% of the total workforce and BME staff represent 41%. Female staff hold 41% of management posts within the MPA and BME staff hold 39% of management posts.

34. There have been no further appointments to the MPA this financial year.

C. Race and equality impact

None, other than included within the report.

D. Financial implications

None.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Gemma Walters, Performance Analyst, MPA.

For more information contact:

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

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