How equality and diversity will be delivered through Safer Neighbourhoods

Report: 07
Date: 24 May 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report, following a wide ranging brief, highlights and deals with the delivery of equality and diversity through the Safer Neighbourhoods programme. This is addressed first by dealing with the teams themselves, their membership, training and work practices. Then dealing with wider issues of recruitment and retention, before presenting an overview by way of a series of examples showing how this programme is delivering equality and diversity across London. The report contains quantitative data, which is of necessity in summary form.

A. Recommendations

Members are invited to:

1. note the content of this report
2. receive a progress report on equality and diversity in relation to the composition of Safer Neighbourhood Panels in 12 months time.

B. Supporting information

Overview

1. The first and most crucial point is that equality and diversity are central to the delivery of the Safer Neighbourhood programme. It is essential to the success of the programme that it offers a service to all based on the ethos of visibility, accessibility and familiarity. Officers are required to engage with their local communities in order to deliver a policing service that meets the needs of the community in all its variety. The Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNTs) are specifically trained to operate according to a particular policing model comprising seven stages. The stages ensure that the teams have identified the priorities of local people within any given neighbourhood and then ensure that these priorities are tackled effectively by the SNTs and by other partners. The seven stage model is as follows:

• research the local neighbourhood
• engage with the local community
• identify public preferences for action
• investigate and analyse public preferences
• identify priorities for action
• plan and act
• review.

2. This model represents a continuous cycle that requires the SNT to revisit each stage on a regular basis to ensure that progress is being made in tackling local community issues. Equality and diversity is the golden thread that runs through each stage, not just at the community engagement stage. Each of the seven stages is an important step in delivering a service that meets the needs of all communities.

3. The commissioning brief for this report asks that it address the issue of how diversity and equality will be delivered through the SN programme. The report responds to this by drilling down through the make up of the teams themselves, then covering the issues of recruitment, training and retention. It contains further sections identifying ways in which the programme is being embedded into the MPS, for example through the training given to all recruits – not just members of SNTs. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, the report offers an overview of community engagement through SNTs including a number of specific examples drawn from across the teams.

Safer Neighbourhoods staff

4. The MPS has now delivered 630 SNTs across all 624 Wards across London. These teams consist of at least one Sergeant (Sgt), two Constables (PCs) and three Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Eighty-seven wards across the MPS with a population in excess of 14,000 are receiving an additional 3 PCSOs. In addition to these resources some boroughs are investing in additional PCSOs through Local Authority/Partnership funding.

5. There are currently over 4000 officers (police officers and PCSOs) working within SNTs. These teams themselves represent a diverse mix whether viewed on grounds of cultural experience, insight, ethnicity or gender. The following breakdown serves to illustrate the diversity of the teams:

• 17% Police Officers female (compared with 20% in the MPS as a whole)
• 35% PCSOs female (compared with 34%, MPS)
• 9% Police Officers from BME background (compared with 8%, MPS)
• 30% PCSOs from BME background (same for MPS)

The age profile of SNTs is as follows:

• 106 SNT members aged under 20
• 1621 SNT members aged between 20 & 29
• 1282 SNT members aged between 30 & 39
• 1074 SNT members aged between 40 & 50
• 207 SNT members aged between 50 & 59
• 6 SNT members aged 60+ (all PCSOs)

There are at present 33 members of staff within Safer Neighbourhoods Teams that are recorded as having a disability. However, current recording methods preclude the provision of a more detailed breakdown of this figure. Appendix 1 offers further information regarding SN staff resources.

Attrition rates for Safer Neighbourhoods staff

6. During the last year 279 members of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams have moved on. Of this total, 218 are PCSOs. However, it should be noted that of this total, 117 left in order to become police officers. Of the 279 leavers, 61 are police officers. The ethnicity breakdown for the officers is as follows:

For PCSO leavers the breakdown indicates that 20% were from a BME background and 44% are female.

7. The 630 SNTs across the MPS are now at full basic strength (1 Sgt, 2 PCs and 3 PCSOs). The rapid roll out of the programme and the need to post officers to bring teams to full strength means that we now enter a period during which we will work closely with the Human Resources (HR) Directorate and Work Force Planning to monitor closely the diversity breakdown and reasons behind staff leaving the teams, in order to inform future recruitment policies.

Police Officer recruitment

8. It is the goal of the MPS to ensure that officer recruitment mirrors as closely as possible the ethnicity and gender profiles of economically active Londoners. Extremely focused marketing activity is carried out and there is support provided for members of under-represented groups throughout the selection process. This support is to ensure that potential recruits are able to reach the standard, which remains the same for all applicants. Diversity is more broadly promoted throughout recruitment by the ongoing monitoring of the performance of candidates with respect to each of the “six strands” of diversity.

9. The past year has seen the introduction of an “admissions criteria” system that is used to prioritise successful candidates when allocating training places. This ensures that candidates with skills for which there is an operational need are delivered to front-line policing as soon as possible. Such candidates may have language skills, knowledge of communities or specialist experience or abilities that enable them to perform their role more effectively in diverse communities.

PCSO recruitment

10. The figures shown at para. 6 indicate that the most common reason why PCSOs left the role was to become a police officer. This is support by recent research by the MPA. This research also identified three overarching reasons for the greater diversity amongst PCSO recruits compared to police officer: the community focused nature of the role; the opportunity that the role offers to increase understanding of the MPS; and the alternative option that the role offers to previously unsuccessful police officer applicants.

11. A recent MPS marketing and advertising campaign for PCSOs, 'Make a Visible Difference', was targeted through Black and Minority Ethnic press and radio outlets including Ethnic Media Group, Choice FM and Sunrise Radio. In addition, there were local press packages for areas that proved harder to recruit from such as: North West London [Hillingdon, Hounslow etc]. Furthermore, specific adverts (outdoor media) were placed in areas with a high population of under-represented groups. It should also be noted that mainstream press such as the Evening Standard and Metro generated high numbers of expressions of interest from under-represented groups.

12. The Met Careers Team undertook on average one PCSO event per day and the recruitment bus was utilised to go into the heart of key communities, actively targeting boroughs with significant populations of under represented groups. The Careers Team held several large-scale recruitment events, which were located across the capital, enabling the MPS to reach all sections of the community. In addition, the Team worked with staff associations to set-up recruitment activity in specific communities. Overall the campaign generated thousands of enquiries and secured over 10,000 completed applications between April and December 2006. A key outcome has been to enable the MPS to recruit sufficient PCSOs to roll out the Safer Neighbourhoods teams across London in a short time frame.To date, 4050 applications for the role of PCSO have been received from members of BME communities and a total of 3584 applications have been received from females.

13. As noted above, through a specific support programme, HR has supported PCSO candidates though the selection process, thereby raising pass rates from 54% to 61% at day 1 of the selection process. This support was also facilitated through Welfare to Work initiatives such as Job Centre Plus and Kennedy Scott, the latter which provides customised training to both public and private sector. The support programme consists of coaching sessions, familiarising candidates with the competency based selection process, guidance on how to prepare for an assessment centre, how to prepare for the written test, and an explanation of the role-play process together with the provision of some role-play practice scenarios. The clear objective was to increase the percentage of candidates reaching the required standard. This has contributed to making the PCSO workforce the most diverse of all employee groups within the MPS in relation to ethnicity, although other factors are relevant to the imbalance with police officers.

14. Diversity targets (ethnicity and gender) will be set for PCSO recruitment 2007-08 that generally reflect the profile of the economically active community within the metropolitan population. The MPS will implement the national selection process for PCSOs, which has been subject to Equality Impact Assessment and monitored according to standards set by the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA - formally Centrex). While this relates to broader MPS recruitment policy, there is clearly a relevance for SN team recruitment, which is the particular focus of this paper.

15. The MPS is continuing to work within the umbrella of the London Employers Coalition (LEC) – which includes Job Centre Plus, to co-ordinate with their applicant pre-employment support programmes. Generally, the diversity population on the pre-employment courses is at or over the economically active levels for ethnicity and gender in the general metropolitan population. The organisation will also continue the newly introduced procedures for the individual assessment of prospective PCSO applicants with a disability to support inclusion in employment. Marketing and advertising programmes will include focused advertising for under represented groups. There are medical and other physical standards for PCSO appointment that are specific and relevant to this role. In compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act individual assessments are undertaken of applicants and an appropriate work place adjustment put in place where relevant. The overall approach - in respect of DDA and work place adjustments - in HR recruitment is one of inclusion. Through these arrangements individuals with a range of disabilities have been appointed. These have included sensory disabilities as well as epilepsy, diabetes and physical conditions e.g. restricted limb movement. The Met Careers Team has employed a dedicated disability recruitment manager to oversee the work in this area.

Part time and flexible working

16. At present, the systems are not in place to provide a breakdown of flexible working for Safer Neighbourhoods staff. Work Force Planning are looking to ensure that such mechanisms are put in place for the future.

Safer Neighbourhoods training

17. All Safer Neighbourhoods officers undertake a 5-day course to provide them with an understanding of the programme and specifically the policing model (see Para. 1 above) that they will be required to operate under.

18. The aims and objectives of the 5-day course incorporate the principles of diversity and equality in respect of the six diversity strands. Although these principles act as a thread running through the whole of the course, each student receives specific information at the beginning of the course, making the issue of equality and diversity an explicit aspect of the training. The course was recently reviewed to ensure that it meets the needs of the students and SN programme. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) was part of the review and complimented the staff on the design, content and structure of the course in terms of diversity issues. The following figures provide relate to attendance on the course over the past three years:

• 448 officers attended during 2004
• 877 officers attended during 2005
• 1568 officers attended during 2006
• 600 officers attended during 2007(to date)

19. The MPS has a training programme to meet its obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act and the Disability Discrimination Act as part of the MPS implementation of the Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme (PRDLDP), understanding of individual obligations and awareness raising for new police recruits and new PCSOs. Additional plans to train staff in the four remaining strands of diversity (gender, age, sexual orientation, and religious belief) are also in place.

20. All Sergeants are given training on the role and responsibilities of PCSOs as part of the Sergeants Foundation Course. This provides them with the necessary knowledge around working practices and how to deal with welfare and discipline issues.

Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP)

21. Learning and development is an integral part of the MPS Equalities Scheme 2006 – 2010. IPLDP is a national project designed to modernise police probationer training in England and Wales. The aim is continually to test the ability of police recruits to perform the role in the actual environment in which they will operate after training. In addition to testing their theoretical knowledge in a classroom, the officers will be assessed against 22 National Occupational Standards (NOS) and work towards achieving a qualification of NVQ standard level 3 or 4.

22. The curriculum for the IPLDP course includes a large input on Safer Neighbourhoods teams and their role within the community. To meet fully our commitments within the MPS Equalities Scheme, the course is designed around officers’ learning and will take place close to the community in which they serve. This will allow members of the community to help officers put the role, ethos and values of policing in a localised context. Student officers will discover very early in their service what Safer Neighbourhoods is all about. This will enable the programme to continue to develop in the future by ensuring staff have a knowledge of Safer Neighbourhoods regardless of the career path they choose to take. The Central SNU will continue to work with the IPLDP implementation team to ensure that the needs of the students and community are met.

Safer Transport Teams (STT)

23. It is perhaps a mark of the early success achieved by SN teams, that the approach is now being adapted for travel networks and transport hubs through the establishment of Safer Transport teams (STTs). The STTs are now being rolled out across 21 Boroughs. Each team will consist of 2 Sgts, 1 PC and 18 PCSOs. The roll out is being carried out on a quadrant basis – South East by end February 2007; NE by end April 2007; SW by end May 2007 – the process will be completed with SW quadrant by the end of June 2007. See Appendix 2 for details of the 21 boroughs.

24. The current system of recording staff has not been updated with the details of the Safer Transport Staff. We anticipate this information will be available once the final set of boroughs launch their teams at the end of June 2007.

Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary (MSC)

25. Special constables are embedded in SNTs. Due to the sheer number of the MSC (1647- Mar 2007) and the sharp growth of over 78% in the last 18 months, Borough Command Units (BCUs) have taken two broad positions in posting their MSC officers: either posting officers directly to an SNT, under the supervision of the SN Sgt; or creating tasking units which are deployed locally to support SNT and BCU priorities. The following breakdown relates to MSC:

• 31% of the MSC are female.
• 29% are from a BME background.

Metropolitan Volunteer Programme (MVP)

26. The MPS is committed to ensuring equality of access to high quality volunteer opportunities. By managing volunteers professionally, the needs of the individual, the MPS and the communities we serve will be met. Corporate standards will clarify roles and accountability. This framework will enable volunteers to contribute directly towards the priorities of the MPS in working for a safer London. Monthly performance figures are collated by the MVP Central Team from information contained within individual borough returns. These highlight volunteer numbers, volunteer hours, diversity in ethnicity and age, together with types of activities performed and local recruitment activity.

27. Volunteers increase the diversity blend of the MPS and within the MVP, BME representation currently stands at 31%, 2% above that of the London Census. Although data on disability is not currently collected, a new procedure is in development and if approved will enable boroughs to encourage wider inclusivity. The outcome of this project will be to link volunteers with learning disabilities etc to the borough’s Occupational Health Team via the Borough MVP Manager (BVM).

28. Borough MVP Managers (BVMs) receive specialist training on risk assessments, together with health and safety guidance, to make best use of all potential volunteers according to the volunteers’ individual skills and needs. When first setting up the Met Volunteer Programme on boroughs, BVMs are tasked to ensure that the recruitment of the volunteering team reflects the diversity of that borough’s local community, which may require positive action recruitment. Of course, hard to reach communities can be accessed by Safer Neighbourhoods contacts and volunteers recruited through this means.

29. A key deployment for volunteers has been the Safer Neighbourhoods team support roles which have risen by 18% to 78. These roles now exist on 20 boroughs. This does not include the hundreds of other volunteers in front counter roles who may also provide additional support to SN teams.

Accommodation and equipment for Safer Neighbourhoods Teams

30. By the end of March 2007, 451 SNTs were permanently accommodated. The remaining teams are to be in dedicated accommodation by the end of March 2008.These neighbourhood bases comprise office space, a tea-point, locker room, shower and toilet facilities. All sites comply with the relevant legislation and are designed and constructed in accordance with building regulations. All premises, which allow public access, are compliant with disabilities legislation. Where SN accommodation for 'operational officers only' is provided and public access is not permitted, wheelchair access and disabled toilet facilities may not be available. Although these would be provided if the premises permit, it is assumed that officers are operational and therefore disabled facilities are not essential. Those premises with front counters provide 2-level facilities (entry points, counters), wide doors and turning circles, and DDA toilets. In addition, induction loops are now installed in meeting rooms.

Budget supporting Safer Neighbourhoods

31. The following finances are in place for 2007/08 to help support the work of Safer Neighbourhoods across the MPS:

Safer Neighbourhoods community engagement

32. In researching their local communities SN officers are required to find out what is already known about a particular neighbourhood. In particular, it is essential to identify any potential difficulties in engaging with local people. Therefore it is vital that officers should use all available demographic data coupled with local and community intelligence to identify the different groups/communities that exist within the neighbourhood.

33. SN teams are also required to develop Key Individual Networks (KINs). These networks are composed of individuals across the neighbourhood who have a significant insight and are well connected within that neighbourhood. Examples of such individuals may include, schoolteachers, faith leaders, shopkeepers and postmen/women. KINs should be representative of the local community and each team has a responsibility to ensure that everything is done to establish a KIN network that meets the local need. At the present time there is no central recording of KINs with regards to the diversity strands as this is an issue for local BCUs to monitor. However, through our supportive visit programme to BCUs we look to ensure that local KINs are fit for purpose. Any issues identified are brought to the attention of the SMT lead.

34. The next step is to engage with local communities in forums where police and partners can listen carefully to views and concerns. It is important to note that these issues, preferences and priorities may not reflect the traditional volume crime or basket of 10 British Crime Survey Crime issues. To enables the community engagement process, officers are often given 'Micro Beats' which enables individual officers to get to know the local communities within a small part of the neighbourhood, thereby building links and generating public involvement in the whole process, as well as increasing the amount of community intelligence being obtained.

35. The joint MPA/MPS Community Engagement Strategy was launched on the 7th December 2006 of which Safer Neighbourhoods is an integral part. This strategy sets out how ‘actively engaged communities’ make policing sense; how they contribute significantly to the improvement of policing services, the reduction of anti-social behaviour and solving crime at all levels. Communities can only make these contributions if our engagement work is undertaken with a genuine desire to listen and learn. Working together with the MPA on the strategy demonstrates the MPS commitment to have an approach to engagement that benefits all involved.

36. Once the various subsections of the community have been identified, the SN team will consider and adopt a range of community engagement activities in order to identify the main issues of concern. In essence, local people decide what is most important to them. There is a number of tactics available at this stage, including different forms of meeting or consultation together with activities such as environmental visual audits (EVAs), which can assist in identification of local issues. There have been 12,647 meetings since April 2006 in which 188,763 people have attended. In addition, initiatives such as “ Have a say day” - offer a drop-in opportunity for the public to meet their local team and partner agencies. Various mapping exercises are also used for people to pinpoint locations where they feel vulnerable or where they have observed or identified problems. There have been 1560 such events since April 2007.

Additional examples of community engagement methods

37. The KIN has been outlined; it is at the heart of the Safer Neighbourhoods programme as a community engagement tool. The emphasis here is on a short face-to-face interview conducted by SN officers that will promote contact with local residents and provide an opportunity to collect up-to-date community intelligence.

38. Street Briefings – The local police team will advertise in and around a small area (one or two streets) that they will be attending at a given date & time to discuss local issues. The street briefing can also include partners from the Local Authority, councillors etc. It can also be used in identifying issues from communities/groups that have been identified as not previously engaging with the police. There have been over 1,364 street briefings across the MPS since April 2006.

39. Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs) – operating as critical friends are often consulted on current issues at a local level to ensure that all communities have been identified, engaged with and encouraged to get involved.

40. Faith leaders and other Intermediaries – can be introduced in assisting the local team to communicate with certain groups. There is a considerable amount of work being carried out in partnership with faith communities. The central SNU has a multi-faith forum which offers advice and guidance as well as assisting in the delivery of training; this is discussed further, below.

41. Surgeries – a number of boroughs advertise locally where and when they will hold a surgery in order to discuss local issues. The places at which these surgeries are held include, hospitals, schools, shopping centres and places of worship, such as mosques, churches and temples. Boroughs are also using mobile police stations and vans to get right into the heart of local communities.

42. There is an obvious expectation that SNTs have an understanding of the crime and disorder issues which are impacting on their wards. Their work in this area includes visits to victims of crime to offer reassurance, to pick up community intelligence and to look at resolving the issues as part of a problem-solving process. There have been 40,904 visits to victims of either burglary or robbery recorded on EPIC. We do not currently monitor centrally the visits to victims of other crime types. However, it must be recognised that individual boroughs are carrying out their own reassurance patrols/visits in accordance with local intelligence and demand.

Examples of community engagement

43. In June 2005, as part of a series of conferences, the Central SNT organised a conference at NSY attended by 130 representatives from the LGBT communities on each of the 32 boroughs. The one-day event included presentations on Safer Neighbourhoods and workshops to discuss opportunities for joint working between LGBT groups and the SN teams. The ongoing work arising out this event is being carried out by the boroughs, the event being designed to encourage networking within and between borough representatives.

44. The Sergeant for Woodhouse Ward (Barnet Borough) is also the borough’s LGBT liaison officer. He has coordinated activity to ensure the views of the LGBT community are heard by attending several of their meetings at a local public house. Several SNTs on the borough organised a coffee morning for all community groups, which included the LGBT community, to discuss how Safer Neighbourhoods and all community groups can come together to discuss local issues.

45. The Edgware Safer Neighbourhoods team (Barnet) and the Edgware United Synagogue have launched a "Stop Anti-Semitic Crime, Report It" campaign. The campaign was developed in consultation with the Jewish community to encourage people who have suffered verbal or physical abuse because of their Jewish faith to report it to police and the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST). It is funded and backed by the Barnet Safer Communities Partnership and the CST.

46. Officers from the Cray Valley West Safer Neighbourhoods team (Bromley) are working with members of the Nurani Cultural Centre, Sevenoaks Road, and St Paul's Cray. The premises are used as a cultural centre for a small Muslim community located in Orpington. Members of this community are committed to providing various services for the residents of Orpington. A member from the group has joined the local neighbourhood panel.

47. The East Ham North SNT, together with other teams, has built up a level of trust with the local Tamil community that allowed enough evidence to be accrued to obtain an ASBO against two leading members of an organised criminal gang, banning them from entering Newham for the next five years.

48. ‘Safe and Sound’ (Bromley) was initiated in response to community concerns about extended drinking hours and the possibility of increased anti-social behaviour became more apparent. Safe and Sound was established to address the wider aspects of Bromley's night-time economy in relation to crime, anti-social behaviour and public perceptions of safety. Police engaged with the general community and local groups, including Pub Watch and Churches Together. Pub Watch facilitated a number of positive changes within licensed premises including a positive challenge policy, whilst Churches Together developed and implemented the Street Pastor scheme.

49. Plumstead Safer Neighbourhood officers attend the local Mosque on a regular basis to hold community surgeries in order to meet and discuss issues that are raised within the Muslim community.

50. Erith and Belvedere SNTs, hold surgeries at the Belvedere Sikh Temple. These valuable meetings were put in place as a direct result of the Temple being petrol bombed on the evening of the 7/7 attacks on London. The meetings are open to the whole community and are proving to be an effective method of communicating with members of the Sikh community not just in the immediate locality but from across London.

51. The Central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit, working with the SN multi-faith forum, has recently piloted a faith community workshop which involved visiting a series of places of worship with about 50 police officers, predominantly Safer Neighbourhoods inspectors. The visits involved discussion with members of the faith communities, tours of the premises and advice on effective engagement, including timing approaches and understanding some basic courtesies that need to be observed. The feedback was very positive and future events are planned. It should be noted that this venture involved collaboration between the SNU, the MPS faith-based staff associations and the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate.

Youth engagement/initiatives

52. Seventy police officers and eight police staff are permanently attached to borough-based Youth Offending Teams (YOTs). These officers are often the main point of contact with young crime victims and witnesses. The police officers participate in varied diversion and prevention schemes operated by YOTs.

53. Safer School Partnerships (SSPs) were set up in response to the Prime Minister’s Street Crime Action Group initiative to combat youth crime and have been in operation since April 2002. Police officers are working in secondary schools to reduce crime and victimisation amongst young people. The officers help create a safer school community; reduce truancy; encourage more students to remain in education; and improve attendance, behaviour and academic attainment. There are currently 193 Safer School Officers working in 307 schools across London. These SSP Officers work very closely, often alongside Safer Neighbourhood officers. All are encouraged to contact their local schools, introduce themselves to head teachers and assist with projects within their remit.

54. Approximately 80% of London boroughs engage with primary school pupils by way of Junior Citizen Schemes. These initiatives are multi-agency, aimed at Year 6 pupils (aged 10 and 11 years) and address personal safety, drugs and alcohol, travel safety, the danger from utilities, use of emergency services and victim support awareness.

55. VOYAGE is a series of programmes created by the Metropolitan Black Police Association (MBPA) to ensure that the voices of young people are heard and listened to; and that they are seen as contributors to healthy and successful community life. VOYAGE aims to create and nurture young leaders from local communities, who in turn will help local communities combat issues of crime, improve environments within schools, assist the improvement of services from local public and private sector providers to the community. The following identifies the range of programmes under VOYAGE:

• Leadership Programme (Residential & modular)
• YOT Leadership Programme (modular)
• International Leadership Programme
• Know Your Rights Seminars
• Peace Pledge
• School and College workshops
• Pizza Evenings
• Peer mentoring

56. The KICKZ project is a football-related pan London project of youth inclusion and diversion run in partnership with the MPA, the Football Association, the Football Association Premier League and the Football League. There are currently twenty-five projects running nationally with premier league and football league clubs taking part. These extend from Newcastle in the northeast to Portsmouth on the South coast. There are twelve London based clubs delivering a total of 17 schemes. These clubs are:

• Arsenal in Islington Borough
• Brentford in Ealing Borough
• Charlton in Greenwich Borough
• Chelsea in Wandsworth Borough
• Crystal Palace in Croydon Borough
• Fulham in Lambeth Borough
• Millwall in Lewisham Borough
• Orient in Hackney Borough
• Queens Park Rangers in Brent Borough
• Tottenham in Haringey Borough
• Watford in Harrow Borough
• West Ham in Newham Borough

57. KICKZ aims to involve all professional football clubs in London and a host of partners, taking football onto targeted estates across all London boroughs. Local facilities will be used for local provision. Throughout the year coaches provide three two-hour sessions per week at times that have been identified with high levels of crime or anti-social behaviour. By also targeting local individuals, believed to be involved in anti-social behaviour, the schemes also aim to reduce crime. The project aims to reach a wide spectrum of youths aged between 11-18 years.

58. Another initiative to divert young people from crime and anti-social behaviour and to promote engagement is MET-TRACK. This is a Metropolitan Police and Charlton Athletic FC community scheme aimed at offering young people the chance to take up sport as a healthy alternative in life and take responsibility for their future. The current scheme operates in Bexley and Greenwich boroughs. Young people from local secondary schools attend the event and participate in five different coaching stations of running, shot putt, long jump, “citizenship” and football. The “citizenship” station gives the participants the chance to discuss the impact of disorder and crime on their borough with police officers and staff. Professional football coaches and international athletes give enthusiastic and knowledgeable advice at the other stations.

59. Youth Survey - Launched on 5 February 2007, the Safer Neighbourhoods on-line youth survey was completed by over 12,000 secondary school pupils who told the police about areas on their school journey and in the neighbourhood that cause them concern or make them feel unsafe. Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will use the information, working with their Neighbourhood Panel; will be required to select a priority that has been identified through the engagement process with the young people.

Community engagement with people with disabilities

60. Although materials are not produced in different formats as a matter of course the MPS aims to ensure that staff are aware of the need to find ways to reach people from all backgrounds. This includes ensuring that teams know that they can get assistance and advice in obtaining information in a different format from the Directorate of Public Affairs Publicity Branch. As a result of this we have recorded information, normally presented in leaflet form, into an audio format. We have also copied and pasted the document and the logo onto a Word document in a large font size to reach a group of sight impaired people. Several teams have also produced work in different languages in order to engage with certain communities in their ward.

61. Each Safer Neighbourhoods Team will take into the account the views of people with disabilities through the seven-stage model detailed previously within this report. There is a number of disabled people on the many Neighbourhoods Panels and they are contributing to the selection of priorities for our teams to work on. Further work is required to monitor numbers and ensure that groups are not missed.

Examples of good practice

62. The Central SN unit collate examples of good practice, which are made available by publishing them internally on the SN web site. A few examples are highlighted below.

63. A Hammersmith & Fulham SNT has recently worked with Hammersmith And Fulham Action On Disability (HAFAD). This is a centre where people can come for advice and information services for disabled people, as well as a place to come to meet friends and socialise. The SNT will normally call in every week to speak with people there.

64. The West Finchley SNT has been working closely with the Barnet Borough Self Advocacy Group for people with learning difficulties. This group aims to give people with learning disabilities and learning difficulties a voice within the community to make decisions in conjunction with the police and local authority that affect their quality of life. Our team is working closely with this group in order to improve relations and increase understanding between the local disabled community and police.

65. St Peters Ward (Islington) had a problem with artifice burglary and identified that many victims were elderly and partially sighted. They could not read the normal crime prevention advice due to print size. One of the PCSOs created a new leaflet and arranged a meeting with their association. This has been successful in not only reducing crime but also in building links with this group. Representatives of the group they have now volunteered to become ward panel members; one of the team picks them up and drops them off after the meetings (due to walking difficulties).

66. Glyndon SNT in Greenwich are working with a group called Key Ring where a number adults with learning difficulties meet together and have the support of a key worker who also lives on the ward. The Key Worker has been invited to join the ward panel to represent those with such difficulties.

67. Chief Superintendent Bloomfield, Head of Safer Neighbourhoods, attended a workshop with the Disability Independent Advisory Group on 19th April 2007. The issues discussed included how deaf and/or disabled people were included within NH Panels, how they receive information from SNTs, what training do SNTs get around disability, how do disabled people contact their SNT, what finances are made available for meetings to be more accessible for disabled people and how are the SNTs addressing hate against disabled people.

Neighbourhood Panels

68. Neighbourhood Panels form an essential part of the seven stage-policing model that is delivered by Safer Neighbourhoods teams and are now being developed in every neighbourhood in London. The specific function of these panels is to use available community intelligence and analysis in order to identify local priorities for action. In addition, they monitor and review progress to tackle these priorities. There have been 2921 Neighbourhood panel meetings since April 2006.

69. The Central SNU has provided guidance on setting up and maintaining NH Panels to all SN Sgts. This guidance is reinforced within the SN 5-day training course and covers in detail the rationale for a NH Panel constitution and how to deal with challenging individuals.

70. The panel should be made up of local people who live and/or work in the area or are involved in charitable work or business and have a close connection with the area. NH Panel members can be identified through consultation activities carried out on the ward i.e. public meetings, ‘have a say events’ or questionnaires. We advise our Sgts to try to attract a wide range of people to ensure that the group is representative of the community. The panel chair and panel members should be people who have the respect of the community and are trusted to voice their concerns. The panel members need to understand community concerns from a variety of perspectives and be able to feedback the results of police/partner activity and the reasons for priorities being set. This is why the panel needs to be as representative as possible. The panel should be a mixed group of men and women of various ages and be drawn from all parts of the neighbourhood to prevent focus on one area at the exclusion of others. Representation should be sought from significant race or faith groups in the area and people from different sections of the community i.e. those living in private dwellings and people from social housing. Consideration should also be given to the panel having a representative from any group forming a large section of the community such a students, young people, lesbians or gay men. Each team must also make plans to involve people with disabilities in community engagement and make the panel accessible to this section of the community.

71. The Central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit does not currently monitor the composition of Neighbourhood Panels in terms of the six-equality/diversity strands. However, every borough has a dedicated Safer Neighbourhoods analyst and researcher to ensure that ward profiles identify all community groups for the team to engage with. The Unit has provided guidance through regular meetings with analysts and researchers.

72. A recent audit of Neighbourhood Panels revealed the majority of boroughs do not record the details of their Neighbourhood Panels around the specific equality/diversity strands. The main approach is to identify their communities as detailed above during the research and engagement phases and then to find a participant who is able and willing to represent the community. A number of boroughs have identified this as an issue and are looking to put systems in place to effectively monitor them. The majority of boroughs are now setting appraisal objectives for their sergeants to ensure that panels are representative of their community.

73. Within our MPS Equalities Scheme Strategy we are looking at ways to improve community engagement to cover such issues as how we engage, be they individuals or groups from diverse communities. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) is the lead for the MPS in adopting the Equality Standard for Local Government (ESLG). This is to ensure that activity is driven consistently and that progress is measured effectively across the MPS. This is in use across local government and demands that all functions should provide a fair and accessible service for all Londoners. This will be rolled out to every BOCU for them to determine where they are against the standard (which encompasses all six diversity strands) and monitor progress through a BCU action plan. Neighbourhood Panels that are representative of each of the diversity strands will be good evidence of progress by the BCU. The central SNU and DCFD will continue to work closely together to monitor and provide advice and guidance to boroughs.

74. Advisory visits by the MPS central SNU focus on the quality and functionality of BCU panels. Visits to date have highlighted that this remains a challenging area for SNTs. Panels are at different stages in development and experience suggests that it takes significant time to develop effective panels. There is a variable understanding of the purpose and function of panels amongst SN officers themselves and this is reflected in differing expectations amongst panel chairs and panel members.

75. On 28 October 2006, the MPA sponsored a community engagement conference, which was attended by 180 Londoners involved in borough-based Community Engagement Groups and Safer Neighbourhood Panels. The purpose of the conference was to share good practice and looking for areas for improvement. The report from the conference has made a number of recommendations, which we are now looking at in delivering effective Neighbourhood Panels across the 630 SNTs.

76. In response to the conference on 28 October 2006, the MPS together with the MPA and Safer London Foundation (SLF) are working on a Community Engagement project that will address a number of training issues for Neighbourhood Panel Chairs. The desired outcome of this project is to improve the way that the police and all communities work together to resolve local priorities. This project will:

• enable neighbourhood panels and other groups within the neighbourhood / borough to fully understand their roles and responsibilities.
• provide practical training to neighbourhood panels and other groups in order to improve their ability to effectively engage with the police and the community.
• provide opportunities to integrate neighbourhood panels and other groups into the wider portfolio of SLF activity. For example, mentoring schemes, links to the corporate sector, grant funded local projects etc.
• provide a practical, electronic framework for linking up neighbourhood panels and other groups at borough level.

565 out of 630 teams currently have panels in place. Members of the community lead 382 of these panels. Those SNTs currently without a NH panel in place are being supported by the Central SN in providing help & guidance in identifying any blockages and proposing solutions. We will continue to monitor progress very closely.

Performance

77. The overall Safer Neighbourhoods programme is steered by a Programme Board attended by representatives of all relevant MPS directorates (including DCFD) along with the MPA, GLA and an Independent challenge rep.

78. The Enforcement, Prevention, Intelligence and Communication (EPIC) performance management system has been established to provide information on teams outputs and activity. The outputs selected are those that the Home Office (National Reassurance Policing Programme) and MPS research have suggested are the most likely to drive improved outcomes.

79. EPIC data does allow key outputs (e.g. arrests, community engagement activity, ASB activity) to be monitored at both ward and BCU level. This alone allows close monitoring of those BCUs who are examples of good practice and those where more work is to be done. The Central Safer Neighbourhoods support regime uses EPIC data (a) where performance might need to be improved and (b) to identify good practice. In terms of evaluation some recent research has confirmed, through EPIC data, some key drivers of success for SN teams. In this instance the relationship was examined between two keys sets of data (a) EPIC data on SN community engagement and (b) MPS Public Attitude Survey data on residents' concern over ASB. The research showed that those BCUs where there was a lot of community engagement activity were also those with low concern over ASB. Contrastingly, where there were very low EPIC levels of community engagement -concern over ASB was typically high.

80. EPIC categories do not include information around the diversity strands. However, local Borough Monthly Management reports do capture this information.

81. Current performance against Safer Neighbourhoods Outcomes is as follows (All figures from the MPS Public Attitude Survey - figures are for the first three quarters of the year only).

• 74 % of people feel safe walking alone in their local area after dark
• 61% say that police are doing a good job
• 12% of people worry about violence in their local area
• 47% of people feel informed about local policing
• 44% of people see a uniformed police presence at least weekly

82. It should be recognised that a very broad range of priorities are being addressed by SNTs across London. ASB (“youth” and “in general”) are the top SN priorities across the MPS. In response to this information the Central SNU implemented the Pan London ASB Control Strategy. The purpose of this strategy is to ensure that key themes of community concern are identified and tackled and also that work at a local level is, where appropriate, co-ordinated to gain increased impact across the Capital. Theft from M/V, Burglary and Drugs are the next highest ranked (and are priorities in 176, 162 and 127 neighbourhoods respectively). However, through local consultation other issues of strategic importance are also being addressed (i.e. road safety, prostitution, alcohol related ASB, licensing and youth diversion). Decentralised, local decision making may not always fit comfortably with fast-time performance pressures on a Borough but current local priorities suggest that communities are indeed identifying substantive issues that have a local and a London-wide significance.

83. An emerging issue is that of identifying and tackling those local priorities that develop a pan-borough significance (i.e. where the overwhelming majority of wards have the same local priority). In many areas, Community and Police Consultative Groups (CPCGs) provide the borough forum for Neighbourhood Panels – but the mechanism by which these more strategic issues move from this or similar forums to a position in which they influence policing plans is subject to wide local variation.

Safer Neighbourhoods impact on hate crime

84. Headline figures based on current MPS Performance - 2006/07, show the following:

• Racist Crime down 11.9%
• Domestic Violence down 9.4%
• Homophobic Crime down 8.5%

85. As noted at several points in this report, one of the primary roles of the SNTs is to maintain a working knowledge of crime within the neighbourhood and provide a visible reassurance activity within that area. SNTs have a clear role to encourage the reporting of hate crime and it is therefore vital that detailed research is carried out at an early stage to identify the various communities within the neighbourhood. This includes victims of all types of hate crime. The policing style for SNTs is problem-solving based and working in partnership to deliver long-term sustainable solutions. SNTs are encouraged to work closely with Borough Community Safety Units to identify emerging issues / trends in order to be part of the solution around issues of hate crime.

86. The following offers a summary of the ways in which SNTs make an impact on hate crime:

• identification of community groups and effective engagement
• improving access for the public to the SNTs, increase openness, transparency and accountability of the police to the public
• identification of crime trends
• increased Community Intelligence
• victim/reassurance visits
• problem solving - in partnership.

Effective use of the seven-stage model is a key tool to ensure that all sections of SNT Neighbourhoods are able to voice their concerns and see these concerns dealt with. Ensuring that minimum standards are maintained is critical, as is ensuring that this highly skilled work is supported and that continuous development and improvement takes place. Co-ordination of activity at BCU level to ensure that the issues of non-geographic communities are dealt with in an effective way is an important area of development – and one in which several boroughs are making significant developments.

87. A Community Cohesion & Tension Monitoring Project has been set up and is chaired by Chief Superintendent Ian Thomas of the MPS Public Order Branch. The central SNU is a part of this project along with the Department from Communities and Local Government, several BCUs & DCFD. The project is designed to look at a joined up approach to identifying and responding to community tension. Safer Neighbourhoods Team will play an integral part of the process, as they will be at the forefront of meeting the community on a day-to-day basis. By gathering community intelligence this will allow the MPS/BCUs and partners to effectively gauge community tension.

Geographic issues

88. The Metropolitan Police Service will ensure, at both borough and pan-London levels, that structures are in place to support and co-ordinate the work of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams. This will include the further development of partnership tasking and co-ordination systems and the consistent adoption of the seven-stage Safer Neighbourhood policing process at borough and pan-London level.

89. Safer Neighbourhoods activity will focus, at every level, on working with those communities that are strategic priorities for the Metropolitan Police. These communities will include young people and those who are vulnerable to organised crime and extremism.

90. Whilst maintaining primary focus on tackling local priorities and on doing so in a proactive, problem-solving manner, the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams will be further mainstreamed within the Metropolitan Police. This will principally involve the following:

• increasing focus on identifying and tackling the issues that affect cross-border or non-geographic communities.
• the increased use of community networks to support action to tackle terrorism and organised crime
• increased community intelligence gathering to support the investigation and reduction of crime
• an enhanced role in tackling those involved in all sections of the Priority & Prolific Offenders Programme (including Prevent & Deter)
• increased support for the work of Multi Agency Public Protection Panels in managing high-risk offenders in the community
• development of Tasking & Co-ordination systems that are able to link and prioritise those community priorities that impact upon other areas of performance
• specific focus on dealing with the issues of young people and on reducing youth crime through work in schools and the community
• increased focus on managing locations that generate high levels of demand for response teams

91. To enable teams to deliver this, we will continue to develop leaders and staff so that they can engage effectively with all sections of the communities they serve and so that they can work within and across partnerships in a problem solving way. They will be provided with the support and resources to enable them to deliver the results that our communities expect and deserve. All Insp and Sgts attend the 5-day safer neighbourhoods course, which is outlined in paragraphs, 17 & 18 and provides them with the knowledge and skills to lead their teams confidently and competently. In addition to this training the Central SNU hold quarterly meetings for SN Sgts to update them on progress of the programme, identify emerging issues and provide advice and support for them.

92. As part of the management of the programme, 76 Safer Neighbourhoods Inspectors have been introduced. They will be responsible for a cluster of wards and look to ensure that those cross border issues on BCUs are identified and tackled appropriately. They are also there to provide support for their Sgts in dealing with personnel/welfare issues.

Links into other corporate programmes

93. The following list simply provides an indication of some of the obvious linkages between the SN programme and other major programmes within the MPS:

• Safer Neighbourhoods is being managed and driven as a major strand of the Met Modernisation Programme
• the Central Safer Neighbourhoods Team are members of the Citizen Focus Programme Board
• Counter-Terrorism (CT) work is being supported by SN through training and awareness as part of the SN Training for SN team teams
• close working with Modernising Operations to ensure that an effective call allocation policy is in place
• the Met is the lead agency within the Olympic Security Directorate, which is responsible for delivering a safe, secure and peaceful Olympic and Paralympic Games in London during 2012. We are in the early stages of linking the work into Safer Neighbourhoods

Current challenges to the further development of Safer Neighbourhoods

94. Whilst significant work is already being conducted to integrate SN with other policing functions, it is apparent that this remains a challenging area. Mainstreaming involves further developing and communicating the ways in which SN can support response policing and the investigation of crime along with mechanisms to assist in tackling terrorism and serious and organised crime. However, it is also essential to further develop ways in which other policing functions can contribute to the work of SN. (This is a priority area for SN during 2007/8).

95. Given the maturity of the programme, continuity and succession planning have not so far been barriers to the development of the programme. However, due to the typical length of tenure for SN posts (usually two years), will become increasingly challenging during 2007/8 and will need to be closely monitored.

Abbreviations

ASB

Anti-Social Behaviour

OCU 

Borough Command Unit

BM

Borough Manager

CCRU

Cultural and Communities Resource Unit

CST

Community Safety Team

DPA

Directorate of Public Affairs

EPIC

Enforcement , Prevention, Intelligence, Communication

IPLDP

Initial Police learning and development programme

MSC 

Metropolitan Special Constabulary

MVP 

Metropolitan Volunteer Programme

NSY

New Scotland Yard

PCSOs

Police Community Support Officers

PRDLDP

Police Race & Diversity Learning & Development

PC

Police Constable

SGT

Sergeant

SMT

Senior Management Team

SN

Safer Neighbourhoods

SNT

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams

STT

Safer Transport Teams

C. Race and equality impact

It is the specific requirement that this report should address the issues of equality and diversity specifically in relation to the Safer Neighbourhoods programme. As such, the issues normally addressed in this section have been dealt with throughout the body of the report.

D. Financial implications

During the course of this report, in line with the commissioning brief, some financial data has been included. However, as is clear, this data is only a small part of what is a major change programme with a budget of around £220 million pa. It would seem most appropriate to deal with the issues relating to funding in a different paper.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Chief Inspector Gary Fryer, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Safer Neighbourhoods staff

Appendix 2

MPS Safer Transport Teams

• Barking and Dagenham
• Barnet
• Bexley
• Brent
• Bromley
• Croydon
• Ealing
• Greenwich
• Haringey
• Harrow
• Havering
• Hillingdon
• Hounslow
• Kingston upon Thames
• Merton
• Newham
• Redbridge
• Richmond upon Thames
• Sutton
• Waltham Forest

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