Operation Athena

Report: 11
Date: 8 March 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

An update on the achievements of Operation Athena, including responses to domestic violence and hate crime and community engagement and support.

A. Recommendations

1. That the contents of this report are noted.
2. That the MPA continues to support Operation Athena and similar Hate Crime targeted operations.

B. Supporting information

Background: Operation Athena

1. Operation Athena was the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) strategic response to the recommendations emanating from the public enquiry into the racist murder of the late Stephen Lawrence. The Racial and Violent Crime Task Force (RVCTF) was set up under the leadership of Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve (now retired), as part of the Central Operations Command (CO24). The task force focused on addressing key areas, including the development of strategic partnerships, Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs), Critical Incident management, the effective investigation of racist and other hate crime with focus on the service provided to protecting London’s most vulnerable community members. This response was replicated across London with the development of Community Safety Units (CSU) in each of the capital’s 32 Boroughs. CSUs are teams who specialise in the investigation of domestic violence and hate crime (racist, faith, homophobic/transphobic and abuse of vulnerable adults). There are approximately 500 police officers and support staff dedicated to this role.

2. The RVCTF developed a number of areas of work, expanding on the original themes from the recommendation with regards to vulnerability of communities, which developed and moulded three facets to the trademark Operation Athena:

1. Operation Athena arrest days;
2. Operation Athena Sport; and
3. Operation Athena Delton.

3. In more recent times and as a result of Service restructuring, the RVCTF was divided with assets being transferred to Territorial Policing (RVCTF Surveillance assets and the Violent Crime Directorate CSU Service Delivery Team) and the Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD). In addition to key areas of service delivery and community engagement across the 6 equalities strands, there is an increased focus on performance. It is to the credit of both the CSU Service Delivery team, local borough units and their partnership arrangements that performance targets have been achieved and surpassed, underlining the commitment to excellence in managing domestic violence and hate crime.

4. There is a performance management framework for CSU service delivery and performance outcomes, which also impacts on how strategic projects and policies are progressed and marketed locally. This framework includes performance reviews at Borough Daily Management Meetings, Borough Senior Management (SMT) Performance and separate Link Commanders meetings, six weekly CSU managers meetings, Crime Control Strategy meetings, MPA DV Scrutiny Board, MPA London wide Race-Hate Forum, and the focussed performance interventions conducted by the VCD Service Delivery Team. This is further evidenced by the local strategic and operational partnerships developed by the CSUs with their advocates, refuges, local courts, prosecutors etc.

5. Overall the impact on service delivery is such that the financial year to date (FYTD) the DV crime sanctioned detection rate (SDR) is 36.9% (Charges = 48.7%, Cautions = 51.3%), Racist crime SDR is 30.2% (Charges = 76.5%, Cautions = 23.5%) and Homophobic crime SDR is 26.8% (Charges = 69.2%, Cautions = 30.8%), which compares favourably against the previous years performance outcomes. In addition, further work has been commissioned through the MPS Performance Information Bureau (PIB) to assess the levels of disability hate motivated offences and performance outcomes – it is anticipated this material will be available for the MPA meeting on 8 March 2007. These current performance outcomes are the highest that they have been for these generic crimes groups in the history of the MPS. A DV and hate crime perpetrator is now more likely to be charged or otherwise brought to justice than at any other time.

6. Operation Athena high profile arrest days have taken place at least once a year since the year 2000. Ordinarily such operations are conducted in the autumn to coincide with International Day against Violence Against Woman (25 November) and other significant anniversaries. Historically, these operations have concentrated on the arrest of racist, homophobic and other hate crime offenders. However, in more recent times the scope of the operation has been enlarged to include DV perpetrators.

7. This year the Operation Athena arrest day took place on 30 November 2006 in the midst of International Day against Violence Against Women (25 November) and the 16 days of activism which followed. Boroughs were encouraged to support and resource multi-agency partnership activity for the full 16 days. The overall day was co-ordinated across the MPS by the Violent Crime Directorate who developed the overarching strategy for the operation. Boroughs developed their own strategic and operational plans which supported the overarching strategy and the strategic intentions. Approximately 500 police officers and police staff members supported by community partners took part in this year’s operation. Territorial Policing provided a £50, 000 budget to support the operational activity.

8. It was clearly evident from the operational plans submitted to the Violent Crime Directorate (VCD) Community Safety Unit (CSU) Service Delivery Team that there was a plethora of high profile co-ordinated activity and initiatives across London targeting Domestic Violence and Hate Crime. Various initiatives were planned with a multi-agency flavour including:

• Arrest operations (Clear instructions given that the arrest of suspects was not to be delayed purely to service the November 30 operation, with active consideration been given to risk assessment matters),
• DV and Hate Crime reporting cars staffed by police and partner agencies,
• Raising awareness, for example leafleting, internal communications, training et al,
• Promotion of third party reporting sites,
• High visibility policing in crime hot spots (linked in with the Dangerous Wards data),
• Linked work with other Violent Crime such as Sapphire, Compass, Jigsaw and Child Abuse Investigative Team (CAIT) work,
• Prevention and Enforcement activities,
• Pan London and local publicity activity e.g. press, community groups, Non Government Organisations (NGOs).

9. The communication strategy for the operation concentrated on specific key messages including;

• The MPS is serious about tackling domestic violence, racist and homophobic crime and will be proactive in its approach to detecting offences, holding offenders accountable and bringing them to justice,
• DV continues to be one of highest volume crimes in London. The number of reported incidents in 2005/2006 was in excess of 108,000,
• Domestic Violence accounts for 24% of all violent incidents and currently around 10% of all murders in London,
• Tackling dangerous perpetrators and protecting repeat multiple victims,
• The MPS will intervene at the earliest opportunity to protect and support victims,
• Such crime is still under reported. The MPS continues to work hard to gain trust and confidence of communities and increase reporting,
• Initiatives to reach hard to reach groups: Third party reporting, Closing the gap initiative etc,
• Crime prevention and reassurance messages to victims and potential victims,
• Deliver clear and unmistakable messages to DV and hate crime perpetrators that their behaviour will not be tolerated.

10. The VCD with the support of Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) and borough colleagues maximised publicity opportunities to effectively communicate and highlight our key messages at a National, Pan-London and local level. The operation was highlighted through various media outlets including TV news (including lunch times news and the BBC’s Crime Watch programme), radio and print media.

11 The arrest operations in the past have proved to be hugely successful ensuring that some of our most vulnerable victims are protected, their safety enhanced and perpetrators arrested and held to account. The recent Athena operation has been the most successful to date – with signs of success being measured in terms of volume of arrests, sanctioned detection outcomes, breadth of publicity (including positive news stories) and the depth and breadth of co-ordinated multi-agency partnership activity.

• Total arrests during the scope of the operation amounted to 323, which equates to:
  • 277 arrests for Domestic Violence,
  • 35 arrests for Race/Faith Hate motivated crime,
  • 3 arrests for Homophobically motivated crime,
  • 1 arrest for the abuse of a vulnerable adult,
  • 7 for other crime types where the perpetrator was known for DV or Hate Crime offending.
• Of these 323 arrests the outputs and outcomes are reflected as follows:
  • 72 were charged shortly after arrest,
  • 72 received a recordable Adult Caution for the offence,
  • 55 suspects were either bailed pending further evidence gathering or CPS advice, received a harassment warning, were subject to civil justice disposal or received a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) [1],
  • 49 cases in which no further action was taken due to lack of evidence.

[NB: It has not been possible to beak these figures down further with regard to offence/generic crime category e.g. domestic violence, race crime etc.]

12. The crime types across the range of hate crime varied from criminal damage, harassment, common assault, actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and sexual assault. Information in relation to the breakdown for crime types across hate crime and DV genres is not readily available and would require tracking each individual case on the CRIS system. This would involve significant resource allocation as it requires manual collation across numerous databases, internal MPS departments and other agencies, i.e. CPS, courts.

13. In relation to pleas and sentencing this information is not recorded as a matter of course on our crime reporting system. Neither is there a database for the purpose of tracking cases through the complete criminal justice system. In order to provide this information it would be necessary to track each individual case, on several separate databases or by accessing the case papers in each case which would require a great deal of resources. This area of work is being assessed by Strand 1 of Project Umbra, and forms a specific part of the strand’s work plan.

14. Information in relation to cases not supported by the victim but continuing through to prosecution would also need to be tracked in this way. Strand 1 and Strand 5 of Umbra are working to improve our ability to track cases through the criminal justice system. Furthermore, this information could also be used to inform aspects of the Hate Crime Strategic project, which is being developed by the MPS in partnership with other London wide key agencies including The Office for Criminal Justice Reform.

15. The MPS agrees that it is necessary to assess the attrition rates of DV and Hate Crime perpetrators and their progress through the criminal justice system, in order to gain an informed understanding of why specific cases fail - at what stage and why. This work needs to be done across the six equality strands.

16. Athena Sport has developed its brand name, over the last seven years and delivered significant value to the policing service across London. The current staffing level of Athena Sport is two full time posts; one Constable and one Band E working within the Race Strand of the DCFD Central Team, which provides some additional support from three other staff members. The staffing therefore militates against long-term direct management and involvement in any individual programme. However, the team has an extensive knowledge and experience of guiding a wide range of sports community engagement programmes. The team engage regularly with all the major UK sports governing bodies, sports charities and anti-discriminatory organisations. The team has the experience and capability to guide MPS BOCUs and OCUs on the design, development, funding, implementation and management of community sports programmes. The skills’ resources of the Athena Sport team also provide for supporting MPS staff in achieving Community Sports Leader Awards.

17. The Athena Sport team has established links with all the major sporting governing bodies of the UK, sporting charities and major anti racist campaigns. In addition, as the 2012 Olympics approaches, an extensive range of sporting bodies and commercial partners are now in the process of aligning themselves to ensure that the UK performance at those games is maximised. The MPS has of course established an Olympics OCU and although in its infancy, it will continue to develop. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) has a product in ‘Athena Sport’ which can play a key role in ensuring that not only the 2012 games is a success but that every community in London can benefit from this once in a lifetime event. This success, of course must translate across to competitors, Games Officials, contractors and visitors to the Olympic Games and those otherwise affected by the Games.

Strategic Drivers

18. The aims of Athena Sport are under-pinned by the Home Office Crime and Drug Strategy Directorate’s ‘Positive Futures’ programme, the most recent iteration of the strategy ‘Be part of Something’ is a national sports and activity based social inclusion programme for young people to help those living in some of the most socially deprived neighbourhoods find routes back into education, volunteering and employment.

19. Positive Futures vision for the programme is that, by March 2008, it will be firmly established as the benchmark sports and activity based social inclusion programme for young people, widely recognised and valued as such by all project partners and providing a blueprint for central Government for the future.

20. Whilst the strategy focuses on the prevention of drug misuse through diversion and intervention, the outcomes are clearly there for the benefit of communities, by more indiscriminate targeting of young people, capturing both the actual and potential offender, the programme has the capacity to address both the immediate crime associated with drug misuse and the wider issues that impact on quality of life, i.e. stronger community relationships and cohesion.

21. Athena Sport is well placed to be the strategic link with this programme and the MPS and can continue to provide the coherent and coordinated support for the MPS in delivering on this central government strategy, supporting both Borough commands and supporting the MPS Drugs Crime Prevention Strategy 2005 to 2010, which currently has no references to the Positive Futures programme.

Legal Framework

22. Athena Sport’s aims are directly linked to our corporate responsibility under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in that the general duties under this legislation direct the MPS as a public body.

23. Athena Sport projects are not restricted to promoting inclusion by reference to race alone. As the 2012 Olympics includes the 2012 Paralympics competition, which will be as big an event as the Olympic Games itself there will be many opportunities through our developing work to advise, initiate and promote work which supports the MPS in fulfilling its duties under the Disability Discrimination Act.

ACPO Hate Crime Manual

24. The Athena Sport team is actively supporting and delivering on the strategic work of the ACPO Hate Crime Manual (A copy of the manual is available in the members room for Board members) and has developed significant experience and knowledge in this area. The following is a sample of the work of the team in this area:

• The team has been and continues to be an influential partner in the FA training programme for match stewards in the professional game.
• The team has assisted with the recent review and development of a national strategy for the grassroots game where the issue of respect and social inclusion were identified as priority areas to address.
• The team has provided timely and valued support to match policing operations to address discriminatory behaviour.
• Athena Sport has worked closely on the third party reporting arrangements both through the FA and anti-racism groups such as ‘Kick it out’ and ‘Show Racism the Red Card’.
• Co-ordinated MPS support for ‘Kick it out’ annual events, including membership of the Millwall Anti-racism Trust, a pioneering group working hard to make a real difference in and around a football club that has had more than its fair share of negative publicity over the years.
• Sponsoring Show Racism the Red Card projects and have established a community engagement link with local police and London professional clubs.
• The FA have set up a hotline in partnership with Athena-Sport FootballforAll@TheFA.com Free phone 0800 085 0508

25. Recent Key Achievements for financial year – 2006/07 have included the following:

• The Athena Sport team has supported summer basketball road shows at Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham, which attracted 586 young people over the three weeks. The team has supported a rugby festival at Regents Park in July in partnership with Westminster Diversity Unit and the Rugby Football Union. Over 150 competitors aged 10 and 11 attended from inner Westminster schools representing a rich mix of communities and where boys and girls were equally represented.
• The team are currently working on an initiative with Safer Neighbourhoods, England Cricket Board (ECB) and Npower on the concept of ‘Urban Cricket’, which is to be rolled out to communities of London.
• The team has been instrumental in the establishment of 'Met Track' at Bexley and Greenwich, which provides opportunities to community to sample track and field, and football, which is targeted at youth diversion and community engagement. This project was short listed for an award at the GG2 awards ceremony. Exact numbers still to be collated but estimated in the region of several hundred.
• Athena Sport has supported the drawing up of the 2007/2009 MPS Youth Strategy. It is expected that community engagement work and further developing of community confidence through sport will feature in the final draft.
• Athena Sport is currently engaged with Islington BOCU and City University on a motor project aimed at local young people from diverse communities. The project offers opportunities in Design and Construction of Racing Karts, Road Safety and Educational Activities through the University. In addition the project will take direct referrals from YOT.
• Work is continuing with the 2007 Urban Cricket Programme in conjunction with England Cricket Board, London Community Cricket Association and NPower. So far Hackney, Westminster, Ealing, Lambeth, Lewisham and the TSG have signed up, with interest also from Harrow. Cricket sets are being distributed to the BOCUs and cricket coaching training will commence in January/February.
• Athena Sport was involved in the successful policing operation of the Chelsea v Arsenal game on Sunday 9 December 2006. This followed on from intelligence reports that Arsenal fans were planning widespread Homophobic abuse towards Ashley Cole. Hammersmith and Fulham Police following advice from Athena Sport and LGBT IAG members put a proactive policing operation including posters and leaflets in place. The poster campaign, designed and supplied by Athena Sport, was integral to the prevention of the abuse and was mentioned in the majority of the Saturday football press.
• Athena Sport has advised and contributed to the training of the Football Association (FA) tutors who will rollout a programme to County FAs to support staff in dealing with the reporting of hate incidents at the grass roots level of the game.
• Athena Sport has already made links with the 2012 Olympics Community team and as a result is in the process of linking into the Olympics Commercial team around future funding for the Met Track project in particular. It is well placed therefore to lead, guide and inform the service along with the Events and Income Development Unit, who the team have been working increasingly close with over recent months, regarding the opportunities and processes that the Olympics 2012 provides. Athena Sport is now working with Met Track, the opportunity for underrepresented communities to engage in athletics, to extend the programme to Lewisham and Westminster Boroughs.
• Athena Sport is already working with organisations that promote and encourage the participation of disabled people in sport. One of our current partners with whom it is planning pan London cricket initiatives is the London Community Cricket Association (LCCA).

26. The LCCA has an established reputation for working with disabled young people promoting confidence and inclusion, working at housing estate level throughout London to bring young people of different ethnic backgrounds together. Their work has also ensured that programmes provide specifically for girls and young women. Our continued relationship with the LCCA, among others, will enable us to support the Equality Act 2006 and the general duties therein.

27. Athena Delton is the operation designed to collate hate crime material with designs, drawings and wording stored on a dedicated database. Intelligence and information gleaned is used to identify trends, pattern, and identify perpetrators as well as monitoring community tensions. The VCD Intelligence Unit maintains this database. There are approximately 2000 entries on this database with at least 10 linked series being identified.

Range of issues affecting responses to DV and Hate crime

28. Essentially the principal ethos of policing domestic violence and hate crime is the same. The MPS intends to continually improve service delivery to victims/witnesses and proactively take on and hold perpetrators to account. The MPS believes that we have to be the best that we can all of the time for the people of London.

29. The primary aims of both DV and Hate Crime investigations are to identify and prosecute offenders to the satisfaction of the victim and the community. The secondary aims are to identify and pursue alternative courses of action, where appropriate, in conjunction with partner agencies. These aims are not mutually exclusive and consideration is given during any investigation to the pursuit of both simultaneously.

30. Within the DV policy there is a requirement to undertake a formal bespoke risk assessment process in all cases. This will include a SPECSS+ [2] risk identification, assessment and management by front line officers. In medium and high-risk cases a Part II risk assessment is undertaken by either a Detective Sergeant or Detective Inspector. With any risk assessment system these processes are regarded to be dynamic, where information and intelligence is essential to make informed and mature (accurate) decisions. At every stage of the investigation the risks to the victims and their families should be managed using the Remove Avoid Reduce Accept (RARA) risk management model. A more generic risk assessment is required for hate crime.

31. The hate crime Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) refers to a 'risk assessment' being conducted in relation to the safety of the victim. It is highlighted that a risk assessment should be carried out which examines the likelihood of any victim being subject to further offences either by the original perpetrator or an associate of theirs etc. There is a requirement that the RARA risk management model is used.

32 There is a proposal that a formal risk assessment process be devised for the management of threat/risks to hate crime victims, however this needs to be scoped further with consideration for academic research work to be undertaken. This aspect will be referred to the strategic hate crime project for the proposal to be developed further.

33. The principals governing the conduct of effective primary and secondary DV & Hate Crime investigations are the same. Investigating officers must make every effort to maximise evidential, witness, intelligence and forensic opportunities, bearing in mind that any investigation is a search for the truth. That said, each crime perpetrated has its own particular signature in terms of the needs of the victim/witness, modus operandi of the perpetrator(s), dynamics of the crime and so forth. There are many influences, which makes every crime unique.

34. In the vast majority of DV flagged crimes the suspect’s identity is known which differs from hate crime offences. In this latter instance the suspect versus victim relationship is diverse and ranges from family, neighbours, un-known and un-identified. Such dynamics then have a direct bearing on the investigative strategies to be employed. However, that said, as stipulated above the core elements are always the same.

35 The domestic violence and hate crime policies both require positive action to be taken by officers. In domestic violence cases one of the measures used is the arrest rate, known as Special Performance Indicator 8a (SPi – 8a) [3]. There is no reciprocal performance measurement for hate crime. That said, the MPS has every expectation that where there is a named perpetrator in a Hate Crime investigation then positive action will be taken in relation to the alleged perpetrator(s) and where necessary held to account and brought to justice (see paras 5 & 10).

36. Performance indicators show that a higher proportion of race hate and homophobic offenders are prosecuted (charged and presented into the criminal justice system) than those of domestic violence. There are many reasons for this but generally speaking the reason lies in the victim v suspect relationship and the power & control dynamics, coercion or perceived intimidation which is/can be brought to bear, which can deter or otherwise de-rail either an investigation or prosecution. The above assessment is based on the Quarter 1 –3 performance data as reflected below:

Apr–Dec 06 

• 18.2% of DV crimes resulted in a prosecution
• 23.9% of Race hate crimes resulted in a prosecution
• 19.3% of Homophobic/transphobic hate crimes resulted in a prosecution.

37. On 1 December 2006 the MPS introduced a ‘DI’ Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) flag to better identify Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender intimate relationship DV. Identified LGBT DV reports from 1 April - 30 November 2006 are being reviewed in order that the flag can be retrospectively attached to appropriate reports in order that we can better scope the depth of reported LGBT DV crimes/incidents. This will then provide a years worth of meaningful data (end of FY 2006/07), which will be shared with strategic partners to inform our thinking around more focused resource allocation to LGBT DV and identify gaps in service delivery and other areas. The VCD CSU team will be working with the Universities of Sunderland & Bristol where research work has been undertaken in this sphere (Dr Catherine Donovan et al).

38. The sexual orientation of domestic violence and hate crime victims is not specifically recorded, however examination of individual crime reports may be able to extract this data in relation to LGBT domestic violence and homophobic allegations. Currently this can only be done as a manual process and will be resource intensive without any guarantee of any meaningful results. This is an area for development and further consideration given the passage of the Equality Act 2006 and the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2006 governing the equality of the provision of goods, facilities and services.

39. The following areas, amongst others have been identified in relation to the reporting of domestic violence and hate crime involving LGBT people:

• Trust and Confidence in the police, including officer’s conduct and use of language/understanding,
• Trust and Confidence in the criminal justice system and its processes,
• Perception that law enforcement agencies (and staff) and other criminal justice agencies (and staff) are homophobic,
• The fear of being deliberately, recklessly or accidentally identified as LGBT when the person wishes to keep this information private and other confidentiality issues,
• Adverse previous experiences either directly or through the experiences of others,
• Minimisation of the crime or incident.

Current activities to address some of these areas include:

• Involvement with Broken Rainbow [4] as a key strategic partner in relation to LGBT domestic Violence,
• Using the LGBT specialised media (incl. Gaydar website) to encourage the reporting of domestic violence and hate crime,
• Recognising and professionalising the role of LGBT liaison officers (LO) including the training of borough based LOs in the investigation of domestic violence and hate crime (currently 7 full time [5] and 168 part time LGBT LO s),
• Development of intelligence products relating to homophobic/transphobic crime hotspots,
• The implementation of tactical options to address threats to LGBT people,
• Promotion of 'true vision' reporting packs,
• Development of third party or non-police reporting sites,
• The Closing the Gap Hate Crime initiative,
• MPS working with partners and LGBT people to inform our thinking, strategy, development and improvements to service delivery.

Domestic Violence arrests

40. The Home Office determined that there would be special performance indicator (SPI) to measure the DV (ACPO defined) arrests against incidents reported. This is known as SPI8a.

41. The definition of SPI8a has been amended for 2006-07 from ‘domestic violence incidents with a power of arrest where an arrest was made’ to ‘domestic violence incidents where an arrest was made’. This is following the implementation of Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) from 1 January 2006.

This indicator requires all forces, including the MPS, to report all ‘domestic violence incidents’ not a subset. An example of an invalid subset would be only those domestic violence incidents, which result in a notifiable offence classification. This supports ACPO guidance, which promotes positive action in all cases where a domestic violence incident is reported.

42. The previous definition only included incidents where there was a power of arrest; it therefore excluded all non-crime incidents and crimes where there was not statutory power of arrest. The current definition includes all incidents whether criminal offences or not.

43. The current ACPO definition of a Domestic Violence Incident is 'Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged 18 and over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender and sexuality' (Family members are defined as mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister and grandparents, whether directly related, in-laws or step-family.)

44. In the first quarter of 2006 there were 26,208 DV flagged incidents of which 15,137 were crimes; therefore only 57.8% of reported DV incidents were crimes. This is representative of crimes v incidents at any given time across the MPS.

45. The arrest rate for this 26,208 figure was 39.0%. This equates to 7,428 arrests, an increase of 2421 compared to the first quarter of FY2005. In this period there were 9,400 Domestic Violence Incidents with a power of arrest. 5,007 arrests were made for these incidents (53.3%).

46. The MPA website shows the following SPI 8a performance targets data:

2004/ 05 – 46%, 2005/06 – 52% and 2006/07 target of 60%.

47. The implication of this was that the MPS had a SPI8a target of 60% at the beginning of this financial year. This figure was determined on the basis that it built in a motivational element to show a clear improvement in performance over the previous financial years final figure. However, last years rate of 52% was achieved using the old definition. The new definition includes all ACPO defined DV incidents, not just crimes with a power of arrest. By arresting the same number of suspects for DV related incidents as last year the arrest rate % will decrease so it was always unlikely that the MPS was ever going to achieve the arrest rate of 2005/6 (52%) let alone the 60% objective set.

48. The MPS has increased the number of arrests for Domestic Incidents for the first financial quarter from 5,007 in 2005/6 to 7,428 in 2006/7 (an increase of 48% = +2421 arrests). This increase is not reflected in the SPI8a rate due to the change in the definition.

49. The current SPI8a performance FYTD (4th February 2007) is 44.4%. Last year for the same period was 32.3%. This indicates performance is increasing significantly but realistically the data set to capture this performance is limited due to the reasons above.

50. At the time of writing the Home Office is considering having two performance indicators, one using the existing SPI8a standard, which includes incidents and crimes and one using only crimes. The MPS awaits this decision and it should be emphasised that the MPS strongly supports the ACPO view that this SPI is not sufficiently robust for comparative use nationally under Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). As all DV incidents, regardless of the ability to arrest, are included in the denominator, there is a risk that performance could fall due to increase in reporting of non-crime incidents.

51. Further performance work has been commissioned which will breakdown data in relation to repeat victimisation across the equalities strands. It was anticipated that the most up-to-date figures would have been included in this report, however due to operational necessities resources allocated to this work have been diverted to support an operation. It is anticipated that this material will be available in early March 2007.

Identified challenges in relation to disability and faith hate crime

Disability hate crime

52. This is a unique and complex area of hate crime that is targeted against some of the most vulnerable members of the community. The main challenges in relation to disability targeted hate crime is helping MPS staff to establish and draw the distinction between hate motivated crime (where the victim is deliberately targeted because of their disability and vulnerability) and a crime committed against a victim who is disabled (e.g. an opportunistic theft from an unattended motor vehicle were the suspect is not aware of the victim’s disability). Other challenges include the identification of the customer’s disability (in order that bespoke support and assistance maybe provided) and the facilitation of communication with some disabled victims and witnesses. In addition, awareness of vulnerability versus disability is an area which police employees need greater awareness and understanding of. The MPS needs to recognise that not every disabled person considers that they are vulnerable – one size does not fit all (see para 57).

53. There are concerns regarding the levels of attacks against disabled people that still appear to be largely unreported. There has been an issue regarding the identification of such crimes, which has been supported by recent research, which highlights the lack of flagging of these reports. There is now work in progress to address this issue and improve flagging levels.

54. In relation to the above the MPS is sighted on and has taken note of previous MPA concerns about the ‘flagging’ capabilities of the CRIS system. This was documented in letter authored by Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Kaye and sent to Cindy Butts, co-chair of the MPA DV Scrutiny Board on 20 January 2007. Part of this letter is highlighted below for ease of reference:

‘To these ends a specific working party has been initiated to constructively identify and address problems, assess and take forward current issues and to scope the horizon around future developments and requirements.

This work will be taken forward by Directorate of Information with other MPS stakeholders e.g. TPHQ Performance and Review Unit, Violent Crime Directorate and the contractor with responsibility – UNISYS.

Separate to this the Violent Crime Directorate has been reviewing the volume of different flags used to monitor DV and Hate Crime matters. There are currently 23 flags in use. Clearly there needs to be a focused review of why all these flags are necessary, what they are to monitor and why, the impact on performance management and service delivery.

In short the project team has summarised their initial findings to address the points that I have raised with them recently;

• These issues are not exclusive to the recording of hate crime on CRIS;
• There is no practical short term IT fix;
• There is a medium term process to resolve these and a number of other issues; and
• The solution is likely to be CRIS R11’.

55. As stipulated above the facilitation of communication with some disabled hate crime victims and witness has presented a challenge, but must not be regarded as insurmountable. The MPS must be in a position to ensure that all members of the public have equal access to goods, facilities and services that it offers to meet both legislative responsibilities and its citizen focus approach.

56. The Disability Strand of the DCFD assisted the organisation of a consultation day relating to the Disability Equality Scheme, where the views and opinions of disabled people were sought in relation to access, services provided and MPS priorities. An action plan for delivery has been developed (The document is in the members room for Board members.)

57. From an investigative perspective the interaction and communication between a victim/witness and the investigating officer is essential so that there is a clear understanding of what exactly has transpired, what impact that crime has had on the victim and witness, identification of suspects/leads and how the investigation is to be taken forward. In addition, recognition of the victim’s/witness’s disability is essential in order that bespoke support and assistance maybe provided to facilitate more effective service provision in line with the social model.

58. The specific needs of the victim and/or witness will determine how effective communication is going to be taken forward. Police investigating officers are trained to conduct video interviews in accordance with Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) guidelines. There is a specific ABE course delivered by the MPS’ Crime Academy for CSU investigators. In addition the details of other support staff e.g. qualified British Sign Language interpreters etc are contained within the Computer Aided Despatch computer (CAD) – this resource is available 24 hours per day. seven days per week. In addition the police investigating officer has a specific responsibility to alert the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as soon as practicable if an application needs to be made to court for the imposition of Special Measures (as determined by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999) in support of a victim and/or witness in the presentation of their evidence.

Faith hate crime

59. London is one of the most international and culturally dynamic cities in the world. In London everyone has the right to be themselves as long as they do not interfere with the rights of others. This creates an environment of respect for cultural diversity. Allied to this there are year on year reductions in race crime and hate crime [6] recorded figures – this has been accompanied by year on year increases in the sanctioned detection rates for racist and homophobic crime (see paras 5 & 10).

60. The MPS recognises that the issues surrounding faith hate are exceptionally complex – most notably given London based, UK and International events, and the news media reporting of such events. Global events can have an impact on hate crime in London and the UK e.g. the recent Middle East conflict involving Israel and Lebanon increased tension within the Jewish community and coincided with an increase in anti-Semitic incidents. The media plays a significant role in shaping public perception and impression with some presenting material, which lack balance and/or highlights negative stereotypes. This media activity can and does have an influence on faith hate crime perpetration rates.

61. The impact of such crimes can have a devastating effect on individuals and faith groups. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) report on the impact of July 2005 bombings on Muslim Communities in the European Union found that individual Muslims experienced fear and feelings of suspicion from other Londoners to the extent that some people curtailed or otherwise changed their routines. Given this backdrop it is essential that when a faith hate incident is committed, then an effective and meaningful bespoke service is provided to the victim/witnesses and consideration should be given to whether an incident is a critical incident. A critical incident is defined as:

"Any incident where the effectiveness of the police response is likely to have a significant impact on the confidence of the victim, their family and/or the community."

62. The MPS is aware that faith hate crime is likely to be under-reported (see paragraph relating to third party reporting). The EUMC report clearly provides a brief insight into why this is the case.

63. Officers should always be open minded as to whether incidents are, or have the potential to become critical incidents. We have seen in recent times that matters of faith and religion are as important now as they have been throughout history. Any incident that is motivated or aggravated by reasons of faith must be taken seriously and be effectively investigated.

64. Given that London is one of the most culturally dynamic cities in the world the MPS (and other statutory and NGOs) face the challenge of assessing and achieving an accurate understanding of London’s diversity, faith and cultural characteristics in order for us to develop and deliver effective, qualitative and supportive policies and services.

65. To assist with the matters of faith and policing communities the MPS has produced a Policing Faith Communities guide that considers and addresses the following matters:

• Tactical considerations, definitions and menu of options to prevent and investigate faith crime
• Policing places of worship
• Policing faith communities involved in criminality
• Critical Incident
• ACPO guidelines to enable staff to observe their faith
• Draft Advert for internal appointment Faith Communities Liaison Officer
• Definitions
• What is a faith?
• What is religion?
• What is religious?
• What rights do individuals have?
• What is the definition under legislation?
• What is religious motivated crime?
• How do these definitions assist the police service to formulate policy for faith communities?
• Challenges with engagement
• How can we build trust and confidence in policing diverse faith communities?
• How can we reduce hate crime including religious crime to the satisfaction of diverse faith communities?
• How can we assist in creating better understanding of diverse communities?
• How can the police service encourage innovative solutions to policing problems and critical incidents as they effect faith communities?
• Further considerations

66. In addition to the above the MPS is critically supported by Independent Advisory Groups (strategic and local), MPA London Wide Race-Hate Forum, Muslim Safety, Hindu & Sikh Forums and other statutory and Non Government Organisations in shaping its policy development, service provision advice and the management of high-risk operations/investigations and critical incidents.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Hate Crime

67. LGBT hate crime (Homophobic and Transphobic) is also recognised to be under-reported with recorded crime and incident rates declining as well. However, the homophobic crime sanctioned detection rate has notably improved, with more hate crime perpetrators being held to account (see para 5). Negative perceptions still exist in relation to the legacy of MPS engagement with LGBT people. To overcome these barriers the MPS has a dedicated partnership programme of work that builds trust and confidence both locally and from a pan London perspective. Examples of those partnerships being MPS LGBT Advisory Group, London Consortium (LGBT Youth), Age Concern, Galop, Broken Rainbow, Terence Higgins Trust etc.

68. In addition to the above the MPS has established a pan London LGBT strategic group, which is serviced by 3-sub group with the following themes:

• The recruitment, selection, training, development and support (strategic and local) of LGBT liaison officers,
• To assess the MPS Critical incident response to incidents involving LGBT matters and identify, develop and introduce a response structure to enable effective and professional management of LGBT related critical incidents, and
• To develop a strategic, operational menu of options for the multi-agency management of public sex environments.

69. An important strand of how the MPS consults, engages with LGBT people and investigates LGBT hate crime is in the deployment of 7 full time and 168 part time LGBT liaison officers across London (see Appendix 1 [briefing note relating to LGBT LO s] and Appendix 2 [roles and responsibilities of LGBT LOs] ). Similar liaison roles are being reviewed and established across the 6 equalities strands (Briefing Note as per Appendix 3).

Community Organisation involvement and consultation

70. The MPS has an extensive network of excellent key community and organisation contacts, which it actively engages and consults with. The MPS is committed to being a listening organisation, which readily accepts that community and partnership involvement is the only meaningful way forward amongst other reasons to effectively tackle and eradicate hate crime.

71. Work is underway with the MPS Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team to develop a corporate community engagement infrastructure to support the MPS Community Engagement Strategy.

This will enable the MPS to introduce a more systematic approach to understanding London’s communities, so that an environment of trust and confidence is built. It is by taking these steps, that communities will feel more confident about reporting hate crime to the MPS.

72. As previously highlighted the Operation Athena high profile arrest day touched all 32 London’s Boroughs. It was clearly evident from the operational plans submitted that there was an abundance of co-ordinated community partnership activity and involvement in the planned activity. A common theme throughout each Borough’s plans was the involvement partnership agencies and other key stakeholders to support primary and secondary victims.

73. Below are some examples of the work done and various good practices seen.

• Westminster- A member from the partnership agency women’s trust was on hand at the police station to assist victims of crime with 3rd party advice and a representative from victim support to assist with referrals.
• Barnet - Raised the profile of Operation Athena between 25 November and 11 December 2006, by providing a Hate Crime reporting car run on each late turn and staffed by a uniform officer, a member of CSU and a volunteer from partner agencies e.g. Jewish Women’s Aid, Safer Communities Team, CST and DVS. This vehicle was to respond and investigate all hate crime allegations of crime reported to Barnet borough, and to identify high risk repeat victims, offering advice and assistance and ensuring positive action is taken against repeat offenders. In liaison with the Community Safety Team, a Partnership Trailer was set up at one of the Borough’s shopping centres in order to raise the profile of Operation Athena on the day itself. In order to increase public confidence and raise the profile of the fortnight, the Safer Neighbourhood Teams closely linked in with areas particularly vulnerable to repeat hate crime. These areas were Edgware, Hale, Golders Green and Childs Hill. They provided reassurance patrols in the areas that were identified through their local knowledge as being at risk, and at the times required.
• Haringey - LGBT Liaison Officers conducted patrols in public sex environments (PSE) and provided crime prevention and safety advise to the PSE users. An LGBT Liaison Car was deployed for the duration of Operation Athena to fulfil the above. This car was staffed by other front line officers (in addition to the LGBT liaison officers) to further educate them and raise awareness around LGBT matters. This also provided an opportunity for LGBT people to engage with other borough officers. Conducted door to door leaflet drops in areas to raise awareness of hate crime and to highlight Haringey Police’s commitment to tackling it. An officer from the CSU was appointed as designated liaison officer for the Athena week in order to facilitate initial contact between victim’s and the Victim Support Service (VSS). By actively encouraging appropriate victims to speak with the VSS it is hoped that the number of repeat victims is reduced and that victims will feel supported during any subsequent investigation and Court proceedings.
• Havering - the local VSS had a DV trained worker available daily throughout the operation in order for victims to speak to an experienced caseworker immediately. At the conclusion of the Operation a ‘de-brief’ meeting took place to inform future engagement and improve service delivery. Safer Neighbourhood Teams were tasked with visiting Doctor’s Surgeries within their Wards to establish whether approved posters are visible within waiting areas detailing support groups for victims of Domestic and Hate Crime. Where necessary such posters were made available to the surgeries and leaflets offering the victims of crime Third Party Reporting services (Tell Us Campaign).

74. The Refugee & Asylum Seeker (RAS) Listening Group is now 14 months old having been launched on 1 December 2005. There have been 4 Listening Group (LG) meetings including 2 community-based meetings in Lambeth and Bloomsbury. There are currently approximately 110 organisations on the Listening Group Database. The diversity within organisations is vast in terms of geography, nationality, gender, age and other circumstances. Thus, while there are organisations that represent refugees and asylum seekers from specific countries or regions of the world, there are also those catering for or representing Women as well as children and young persons.

75. Most of these organisations have welcomed the Listening Group as an opportunity to present their views and concerns directly to the MPS. For the MPS the Listening Group presents an opportunity to hear views directly from communities on a regular and timelier basis. The Listening Group has also provided an important communication portal between the MPS and communities. Several MPS units e.g. Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team, TP Immigration Policy Review, Violent Crime Directorate, needing to access specific community groups have attended Listening Group meetings, provided information and responded to the many questions from the community representatives. MPS partners such as the Immigration & Nationality Department and Show Racism the Red Card have also attended meetings.

76. From within the community organisations, support for the MPS has come in various formats e.g. two organisations, the Children’s Society and the Latin Front have co-hosted Listening Group meetings in their local community areas.

77. The Listening Group’s engagement has also resulted in active responses by the MPS to address the concerns of the communities. Last September the Race Strand at the DCFD published a set of ‘Guidance Notes’ for police officers and staff when dealing with Refugees and Asylum Seekers. In addition to the RAS community, the Race Strand (DCFD) also works with Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW) support organisations and is planning a MDW briefing day for police officers and key units in May. The key partner organisations in this project are Kalayaan and the Centre for Filipinos UK.

78. As highlighted in paragraph 59 the MPS has a dedicated partnership programme of work with LGBT focussed organisations that builds trust and confidence both locally and from a pan London perspective. Examples of those partnerships being MPS LGBT Advisory Group, London Consortium (LGBT Youth), Age Concern, Galop, Broken Rainbow, Terence Higgins Trust etc.

79. Meaningful and regular dialogue has been established with umbrella organisations representing specific faiths. Meetings take place at frequent intervals with senior members of the MPS, where current issues around faith hate crimes are discussed. Examples of these organisations are the Muslim Safety Forum, Community Security Trust (representing Jewish interests) and the Hindu Forum of Britain. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate is also building relationships with external multi faith forums such as the Three Faiths Forum, a registered charity representing Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

80. Mosques and other identifiable religious premises are susceptible to crime. The Directorate are working with the National Communities Tensions Team of ACPO to develop advice and guidance for the trustees, owners and managers of such buildings. In conjunction with Crime Reduction Officers guidance, information will be issued on how these premises can ‘target harden’ and make themselves less vulnerable to crime.

81. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate has worked with the Imperial College London to help identify safety issues around faith for its students and dialogue continues with the college to progress specific issues. In addition the DCFD is also supporting a Hindu student conference this month to help identify and resolve safety concerns of Hindu students across London.

82. The DCFD Diversity Strand consults with a range of internal and external organisations including the following:

• RNID for Deaf issues and deaf awareness training,
• British Deaf Association as above,
• RNIB. The purchase of documents in alternative formats,
• People First developing some areas of work in relation to people in the community with learning disabilities and service delivery,
• MENCAP alternative formats,
• BSL (British Sign Language) groups relating to issues experienced by DEAF BSL Users in the community

83. This strands partnership work and consultation processes continue to develop and mature.

Third Party Reporting

84. Recommendation 16, Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report (published February 1999) states:

That all possible steps should be taken by Police Services at local level in consultation with local Government and other agencies and local communities to encourage the reporting of racist incidents and crimes. This should include:

• the ability to report at locations other than police stations; and
• the ability to report 24 hours a day.

85. The MPS fully supports and is committed to the concept of third party reporting, non-police reporting, assisted reporting and self-reporting of racist and other hate crimes. The MPS recognises the need to provide different mechanisms from that of traditional reporting of crimes/incidents direct to police. It is essential that victims are provided with a wide range of choice of third party reporting service providers to that they feel comfortable and confident in safely disclosing some sensitive and distressing information. These mechanisms are published regularly via the Communities Together bulletins.

86. At times of crisis, communities need to feel confident enough to report crimes and incidents, particularly hate crimes. Such crimes are often seen as an indicator of community tensions and enables police and multi-agency partners to react and deploy resources more effectively.

87. Third-party reporting and its derivatives are an alternative to monitoring hate crimes, particularly where the crimes/incidents have been minimised by the victim and do not want to involve police but, however, do want someone to know what has occurred. The MPS encourages hate crime victims and witnesses to report all occurrences so that the police (and partners) have a clearer picture of what has transpired, monitor community tensions and crime pattern and intelligence analysis to better inform proportionate but effective resource allocation and deployment.

88. Many communities and individual victims appreciate different reporting mechanisms, which are offered by local authorities or community-based groups. Minority-ethnic communities members, whether established or ‘newly arrived’, have had a diverse range of positive and negative experiences with law enforcement and other statutory services and have sought and support alternative crime reporting arrangements being made available. This problem is exacerbated for ‘newly arrived’ communities who have escaped from war/conflict zones and/or oppressive regimes where law enforcement and other statutory agencies were their oppressors. This problem is further exacerbated, as in some cases English is not their first language. It is essential that such community members upon their entry into the UK are fully sighted on the support services and mechanisms available in the UK.

89. The MPS conducted an audit of third-party reporting initiatives to identify good practice. There was no consistency across boroughs and often the most effective third party reporting was where strong partnerships were developed with community groups e.g. GALOP monitor/record homophobic/transphobic crimes/incidents and the Community Security Trust monitor/record anti-Semitic crimes/incidents. Protocols have been established between those groups and the MPS to share information and encourage victims of hate crime to report the incident to police. The MPS is working closely with the Muslim Safety Forum (MSF) to develop similar protocols to monitor Islamophobic incidents.

90. The most recent audit of third party reporting (from CRIS data) revealed that in Calendar Year 2005 there were 493 reports compared to 424 for the Calendar Year 2006. This data is subject to the vagaries of the CRIS system including data input errors (omission of flags etc.), which are being addressed separately.

91. Two schemes worthy of documentation here are the True Vision Self Reporting Scheme and the GALOP assisted reporting scheme.

92. The True Vision scheme is based on self-reporting packs that victims or witnesses of crime can obtain from public venues. True Vision is a national initiative managed by the Staffordshire, West Mercia, Warwickshire and West Midlands Police Forces. There are currently 40 UK police forces including the MPS that operate the scheme. The MPS adopted this scheme in August 2005 replacing the previous MPS Report It Scheme.

93. Two reporting packs are currently available through True Vision, one for reporting race and faith crime and the other for reporting LGBT hate crime.

94. The packs are purchased centrally by the DCFD and made available to Borough at no cost. Boroughs are responsible for distributing the packs at suitable venues across their Borough. The self-reporting packs contain a return envelope and these are all received by the DCFD. All information is entered on the MPS CrimInt intelligence system for research and analysis purposes. Where a correspondent requests police action the report is forwarded to the relevant Community Safety Unit on Borough [or relevant Force Intelligence Bureau if outside London] for further action.

95. Posters marketing this scheme have been printed in English, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Cantonese, Polish, Farsi, Arabic, Kurdish Kirmanji, Kurdish Sorani and Somali.

96. The GALOP Assisted Reporting Scheme provides an assisted crime reporting facility for homophobic and transphobic crime in partnership with the MPS’s DCFD. GALOP is an LGBT charitable organisation.

97. GALOP operates a telephone reporting line and any reported crimes are forwarded to the DCFD who manage the report as with True Vision reports. GALOP provide the MPS with business cards advertising their assisted reporting facilities and these are provided to Boroughs. Boroughs are encouraged to advertise the GALOP scheme with LGBT people.

98. If the schemes are measured solely on the return rate [i.e. number of reports received] then the return is around 1% of packs distributed. This rate has risen with the introduction of the True Vision scheme, which benefits from a nationally recognised brand name.

99. When considering success it is worth noting the following points:

• That the True Vision packs contain a large amount of information and should be considered as a community engagement mechanism and reassurance methodology beyond the focus on return rate. Anecdotal evidence supports this positive impact on the trust and confidence of BME and other minority communities,
• We have no way of measuring how many people having picked up a True Vision pack then go onto report a crime through another route, such as direct to police or through other agencies, and
• That both corporate schemes have provided the opportunity to report serious crime that otherwise would not have come to the attention of the police.

100. Further schemes operate in the MPS to reassure BME, faith group members and other community members including the Communities Together Advice Line and the Mobile Reassurance Unit.

101. The MPS launched the 24-hour free advice line to offer reassurance, particularly to communities feeling vulnerable after the July 7 terrorist attacks. The aim of this service is to increase understanding and build community confidence and to take note of community issues and tensions.

102. The Mobile Reassurance Unit is a MPS liveried motor vehicle/van, which is essentially a small mobile police station. Merton and Kensington & Chelsea boroughs obtained partnership funding to develop this concept, which is resourced and supported by their Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT).

103. Both boroughs’ SNTs have used it successfully for Street Briefings, which are publicised by leaflet drops to an area, thus allowing members of the public to take part in the briefing and share information and community intelligence. They have also been used as a deterrent in crime prone locations, crime prevention events, at underground stations, and at major crime scenes/critical incidents.

104. Both boroughs have found the deployment of the unit as extremely beneficial and have received good feedback from the public.

105. This is an example of good practice on these two boroughs, which merits further research.

Staff Training

106. There is comprehensive staff training in place encompassing the subject areas discussed in this paper. Details of previously submitted reports are included in the Background Papers section of this report.

Staff support / Promulgation of good practice

107. The MPS is committed to ensuring that its staff has the best supporting information relating to DV and Hate Crime, to enable them to make informed decisions when it matters most.

108. To service this objective the VCD CSU Service Delivery Team and DCFD have comprehensively populated their intranet sites, which offer staff with meaningful advice and guidance to allow to them to make informed decisions and provide a meaningful/qualitative service.

109. The MPS recognises that when interacting with DV and Hate Crime victims and witnesses it is essential to get it right, first time, all of the time. An inappropriate and ineffective service can cause irreparable damage to relations, negatively impact in trust and confidence, put the victim’s safety at risk and allow perpetrators to continue offending.

110. Each borough has a SMT and senior detective officer on-call 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to offer advice and guidance to front line staff and managers. This borough response is further supported centrally by the Violent Crime Directorate, Critical Incident Advisory Team, Cultural and Community Resources Unit and the Special Crime Directorate – each of these specialisms provide an on-call facility which is available 24 hours per day.

111. Knowledge and information are imparted to operational delivery teams, be that at a strategic or tactical level via a variety of sources, which includes the following;

• Senior Management Team meetings,
• CSU managers meetings (32 BOCU CSU Detective Inspectors attend),
• CSU seminars,
• CSU Intranet site,
• VCD and DCFD intranet sites,
• E- communication,
• Special Interest Groups,
• Tri-monthly visits conducted on all borough CSUs by the VCD CSU Service Delivery team,
• Strategic Gold review meetings,
• Strategic reviews of individual boroughs response to DV and Hate Crimes/incidents,
• Crime Control Strategy Meetings
• Show Case events (the most recent was held on 14 December 2006),
• The MPS Diversity Board monitoring framework includes an oversight of hate crime performance both in terms of detection rates and victim satisfaction levels. [7]

List of abbreviations

ABE

Achieving Best Evidence

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

BME

Black and Minority Ethnic

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

BSL

British Sign Language

CAD

Computer Aided Despatch

CAIT 

Child Abuse Investigative Team

CO24

Central Operations Command

CPS 

Crown Prosecution Service

CSU

Community Safety Units

DCFD

Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate

DCI 

Detective Chief Inspector

DPA

Directorate of Public Affairs

ECB

England Cricket Board

EUMC

European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia

FA

Football Association

FYTD

Financial Year To Date

HQ

Headquarters

IAGs

Independent Advisory Groups

LCCA

London Community Cricket Association

LG

Listening Group

LGBT

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender

LO

Liaison Officer

MDW

Migrant Domestic Worker

MENCAP 

charity which campaigns for equal rights for children and adults with a learning disability

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

MSF 

Muslim Safety Forum

NGOs

Non-Government Organisations

OCU

Operational Command Unit

PND

Penalty Notice for Disorder

PPAF

Policing Performance Assessment Framework

RARA

Remove Avoid Reduce Accept

RAS

Refugee & Asylum Seeker

RNIB

Royal National Institute for the Blind

RNID

Royal National Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People

RVCTF

Racial and Violent Crime Task Force

SDR

Sanctioned Detection Rate

SMT

Senior Management Team

SNT

Safer Neighbourhood Team

SOP

Standard Operating Procedures

SPECSS

Separation/Pregnancy/Escalation/Community/Stalking/Sexual Offences etc

TP

Territorial Policing

VCD

Violent Crime Directorate

VSS 

Victim Support Service

C. Race and equality impact

1. The MPS is mindful of any adverse impact or disproportionality that may occur as a result of the delivery of its services. In the delivery of its services the MPS fully embraces the need to engage with and consult with the communities and their representatives, which is illustrated in various sections of this report.

2. An equality impact assessment has been commissioned for the work of project Umbra (delivery arm of the Mayor’s response to domestic violence) will be completed as part of the review work being led by DCI Campbell. It's essential to recognise the impact of equality and diversity and ensures that such considerations are threaded throughout the Umbra work strands.

D. Financial implications

1. Territorial Policing funding of Athena high profile arrest operation. On 30 November 2006, £50, 000 financial support provided to the 32 BOCUs.

2. To date the expenditure has been expressed in terms of opportunity costs for police staff and police officer for Operation Athena operational planning, Delton database maintenance.

E. Background papers

• MPA report of 5 January 2007 detailing Domestic Violence (presented to the MPA DV Scrutiny Board on 6 February 2007)
• Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate’s paper to the MPA entitled ‘Relationship between SLIR training recommendations and Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme 1A’.

F. Contact details

Report author: Gerry Campbell, Detective Chief Inspector

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Liaison Officers

LGBT Liaison Officers are police officers and police staff members committed to improving the service provided to LGBT people by the Metropolitan Police Service.

Liaison officers first came into being when gay and lesbian police officers responded to the tragic events at the Admiral Duncan public house, targeted in 1999 by nail bomber David Copeland. They offered advice and guidance to senior investigating officers and those working with the families and local communities.

The combination of professional and life skills improved the way the Metropolitan Police Service communicated with victims and witnesses of the tragedy and with LGBT people in London and across the UK.

Since then, the role has grown to include seven full time and 168 part time officers drawn from across the organisation. The officers advise, support and guide their MPS colleagues and in partnership with LGBT focussed organisations and statutory groups, work to improve the investigation of homophobic/transphobic hate crime and policing in general for LGBT people who live, work and visit London.

LGBT liaison officers are deployed to incidents and investigations both pan-London and at a local level. They were an active part of the investigations into the tragic deaths of David Morley and Jody Dobrowski. Beyond London, these officers advise colleagues from other UK forces and non-police organisations.

Liaison officers are a vital part of delivering the best quality police service for Londoners. These officers help us build trust and confidence among LGBT people so that together we can bring hate crime perpetrators to justice.

To find out more about the role of the LGBT Liaison Officer, please visit: www.met.police.uk/contacts/LGBT.htm

Working together with Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered people to tackle homophobic and transphobic hate crime.
Don't tolerate it.
Report it.
Stop It.
Speak to your local LGBT Liaison Officer.

Appendix 2: Recognising and professionalising the role of LGBT Liaison Officers

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Liaison Officer Role Profile

Investigation

• Liaison officers are first and foremost hate crime investigators. They are a fundamental part of homophobic (HO) and transphobic (HT) hate crime investigations – that doesn’t mean they take the lead role in all HO/HT motivated crimes and/or incidents.
• To assist and advise units (e.g. CSUs) in proactive/reactive operations that involve or impact on LGBT people
• To act as a resource for Hate Crime investigators with regards to liaison with victims, witnesses (who identify as LGBT) and referrals to appropriate support agencies.

Liaison both internally and externally

• To actively develop links with local borough based LGBT groups and venues
• To assist the setting up of LGBT forums
• To provide advice, guidance and information to internal and external agencies
• To encourage and facilitate LGBT representations on borough IAG’s , Consultative Groups etc.
• To aid linked community stakeholder awareness with local LGBT contact organisations.
• To ensure the list is kept up-to-date and relevant, and is immediately accessible to MPS staff, LGBT People and community service assets e.g. voluntary agencies.

Promoting awareness of LGBT matters

• To promote the role of the LGBT LO internally and externally
• To raise the profile of their role (at stations) across their borough to ensure that police officers and police staff are conversant with their roles and the service available e.g. refer suitable
• Incidents
• To develop an understanding of general LGBT matters with colleagues and the diversity which exists amongst LGBT people
• Highlighting LGBT matters for consideration in developing local crime and disorder strategy and boroughs strategic plans e.g. hate crime strategy.
• To have monitoring systems in place that raise awareness of LGBT crimes/incidents within the borough – including sharing PIB statistics with community partners.

To increase the trust and confidence of LGBT People

• To develop initiatives to encourage the reporting of LGBT crime/incidents
• To facilitate effective two way communication between LGBT people and the MPS (including BOCU command teams and investigating officers. LGBT L.O.s are not FLOs unless otherwise trained to perform this role – they could however be co-deployed or otherwise act as an advisor to the FLO).

Continuity

• To ensure that the LO keeps a record of all work conducted on the borough in a format that is accessible to all colleagues and for those who are taking on the role as LGBT LO.

Appendix 3: Diversity strategy for territorial policing

Report by Commander Rod Jarman

Summary

This report is written to provide an overview of the Territorial Policing strategy to develop diversity and highlights progress made to date.

Supporting information

The MPS has a Race and Diversity Strategy (2006-2009). A crucial element of this strategy is the development of local action plans. This diversity strategy has been developed to progress the diversity agenda within TP through the key themes of delivering locally, building trust and developing direction. This strategy was put to the MPS Diversity and Citizen Focus Board in October 2006.

1. Service Delivery at the local level

To deliver the plans we will put in place a network of borough liaison officers who will create local links, provide expertise and tactical advice to borough commanders.

We will

• Appoint a borough liaison officer for each diversity strand (this would not be a full time role and Boroughs will decide how to meet the role requirement)
• Develop a role and support material for the liaison officer
• Provide expert advice and professional development to the liaison officers
• Develop practice advice for borough staff.

2. Community Engagement to build trust

To deliver a policing service we need to build trust. We will do this by forging relationships with the groups identified in the MPS strategy (6 strands of diversity).

We will

• Develop our borough network of contacts for the strands through our staff, staff groups, national groups and other contacts
• Invest in building trust by setting up borough forums for each strand involving the specific community, police and local authority.
• Develop an engagement plan that incorporates the counter terrorism (7 point plan)

3. Leadership to develop direction

To deliver the MPS strategy we need to develop plans and actions. We will do this by putting in place supporting structures.

We will

• Appoint a lead TP commander
• Appoint a borough commander to lead each diversity strand and within their link command
• Develop borough direction by putting in place TP strategic groups for each strand involving community members
• Include community/IAG in the strategic groups
• Develop a performance management framework
• Identify key priorities within each strategic group
• Develop work plans within each strategic group.

Outcomes

The TP diversity strategy will lead to a range of service outcomes including PPAF performance but in particular:

• Hate crime reporting. As trust in the police service increases we would hope to see greater confidence in reporting hate crime and a consequential increase in this type of reported crime and ultimately equality of outcome.
• Gold group members. At the time of critical incidents the involvement of community members to provide advice and feedback provides significant benefits. We would hope to see individuals working with us in gold groups.
• Organisational learning. By developing contacts and networks with communities feedback to the MPS will increase and so will our learning.
• Differential outcomes. Equality of policing outcomes across diversity eg: detecting a burglary.

Progress made

The following outlines the progress made:

• Commander Rod Jarman appointed as the TP ACPO lead
• Strand leads appointed from each TP link:

• Through previous work undertaken borough LGBT and Mental Health Liaison Officers are in place with supporting infrastructure.
• An MPS Mental Health development programme has been in place since November 2005.
• TP have identified an officer to develop Immigration policy within the race strand.

Report author: Simon Corkill Superintendent

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