MPA management information report

Report: 06
Date: 4 October 2007
By: Chief Executive

Summary

The MPA management information report gives further detail on the EODB focus item and other equality and diversity information for hate crime, strength, recruitment and MPA staff figures.

The EODB committee on 4 October 2007 is focusing on disability equality and diversity as a function of policing.

A. Recommendations

That

1. Members note the report

B. Supporting information

Summary

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

2. For the purposes of this report crime data is given for the latest financial year to date (FYtD) April to July 2007 compared with April to July 2006. Police officer and staff strength figures are to July 2007. Stop and Search figures are for the rolling 12 months to June 2007.

3. Data for victims of crime who are recorded as having a disability are for the rolling 12 months August 2006 to July 2007 compared with August 2005 to July 2006.

4. Data from MetHR showing officers and staff declaring themselves as having a disability is for the rolling 12 months August 2006 to July 2007 compared with August 2005 to July 2006.

5. The main trends to be noted are:

Victims recorded as having a disability

6. There were 21,349 victims recorded as having a disability by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) between August 2006 and July 2007. This represents a 0.7% reduction or 147 fewer victims compared to the same period the previous year.

7. Over a third of crimes (36%) committed against victims recorded as having a disability between August 2006 and July 2007 were theft & handling offences. A quarter of crimes for this same period were violence against the person. The next largest proportion of crimes against victims with a disability was residential burglary.

8. The largest group of victims recorded as having a disability are those where mobility was recorded as the disability type. This group of victims represented a third of all victims recorded during August 2006 to July 2007. Victims where the disability type is recorded as ‘other’ is the next highest proportion at 16%. ‘Psychiatric or mental disorder’ and ‘learning and understanding’ both represent 9% of all victims recorded with a disability.

Research into disabled victims of crime

9. Research into disability and crime is quite limited. The Disability Rights Commission’s Attitudes and Awareness Survey (2003) found that almost a quarter (22%) of disabled respondents had experienced harassment in public due to their disability. This was more acute amongst younger disabled people with a third (33%) of those aged 15-34 year olds experiencing harassment.

10. A more recent poll conducted for the Disability Rights Commission between December 2006 and February 2007 found that a third of disabled adults do not feel safe in their locality with almost a quarter also stating that they have difficulties accessing police services. Almost half (44%) of adults surveyed with a mental health problem disagreed when asked if they felt safe from harm in their local area (for further details see www.drc-gb.org).

11. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published a policy on disability hate crime in February 2007. This policy ensures that all elements of the criminal justice system, most notably supporting victims, are accessible and equitable for disabled people. In addition, the policy covers cases of offences against disabled people that are not necessarily regarded as a disabled hate crime but where the victim may have been selected due to their vulnerability. The policy also reaffirms the Disability Equality Duty to ensure that disabled defendants are treated fairly within the context of their disability (CPS (February 2007) Disability hate crime: CPS policy for prosecuting cases of disability hate crime London: CPS Equality and Diversity Unit and Policy Directorate).

12. Analysis of the MPS Crime Victim Survey (January to March 2007) indicated that respondents who stated they were disabled were significantly more satisfied with the overall service they had received from the police than respondents who stated they were not disabled (55% vs. 49%)

13. However, between January and March 2007 the sanctioned detection rate for victims of all offences who stated that they had a disability was consistently lower than the rate for victims who stated that they did not have a disability.

Police Officers and staff

14. Data from the MetHR database shows that 289 officers and staff within the MPS are recorded as disabled (data up to July 2007). This has increased from 245 (data up to July 2006).

15. MPS officers and staff now have the ability to update their personal details on a confidential self-service screen linked to MetHR. The screen allows staff to identify themselves as disabled without having to inform anyone else. It is hoped in time that this facility will lead to a more accurate picture of disability within the MPS workforce.

Hate crime

16. Domestic Violence: The volume of domestic violence offences recorded during FYtD 2007-08 has decreased by nearly 2,000 or by 10.0%. Despite the decrease in crime recorded, the sanction detection rate increased by 7.3 percentage points to 42.1%.

17. The proportion of female victims of domestic violence has fallen by 1.9 percentage points to 80.8% when comparing April to July 2007-08 with 2006-07.

18. The proportion of BME victims has remained at a similar rate of 44%.

24. Homicide: There have been 61 homicide crimes recorded for the financial year period between April 2007 and July 2007, 3 more than the same 4 months in 2006-07.

25. 47 homicides have been detected between April and July 2007-08, 1 fewer than for the same period in 2006-07. The financial year detection rate stands at 77%. This is down by 5.8 percentage points from the previous year (82.8%). The homicide detection rate target set for 2007-08 is 85%.

26. Rape: The FYtD detection rate for rape offences stands at 32.5%. This is an increase of 6.7 percentage points on the previous 4 months.

27. The financial year sanction detection rate for rape offences is 32.3%, a 7.2 percentage point decrease on the same period last year.

28. The percentage of recorded BME victims of rape has remained at a similar rate year on year at 42%.

29. The proportion of female rape victims has risen by 4 percentage points to 93% compared to 89% in previous year.

30. Racist Crime: The number of racist offences recorded in the latest financial year period has fallen by 14.9% or 556 crimes.

31. The proportion of female victims of racist crime has stayed at a similar rate. The current proportion for April to July 2007-08 is 38.2% compared to 38.7% for 2006-07; where as the proportion of BME victims of racist crime has risen slightly to 73.2% from 71.1%.

32. The current detection rate for racist crime is 36.4%, of which all relate to sanction detections.

33. Homophobic Crime: There has been a 15.7% decrease in homophobic crimes recorded between April 2007 and July 2007 when comparing with the same 4 months in 2006. This equates to 71 fewer homophobic crimes recorded. Data for 2007-08 shows the proportion of victims of homophobic crime who are female rising by 7-percentage point to 30.0%.

34. The proportion of homophobic victims who are BME has risen by 6 percentage points to 29.3%.

35. Faith Hate Crime: has decreased by 3.2% or 7 offences between April and July 2006 and April and July 2007.

36. There has been an increase of 10 percentage points in the proportion of female victims of faith hate crime with the 2007-08 rate at 42.2% compared to 31.9% for previous year.

Police Officer strength

37. Police officer strength has increased by 0.9% when comparing strength at July 2007 which July 2006. Current police officer strength is 31,047. The percentage of police officers that are female is 20.8% and 8.0% are from BME communities. Targets set for the 2007-8 financial years for female and BME strength were 21% and 8% respectively.

39. The number of police officers at sergeant and above ranks has increased at a greater rate as overall police officer strength (+2.4% or 192 more officers). Despite the increase, the percentage of male to female officers in this group is disproportional. There are 15.9% female officers at sergeant and above ranks as a proportion of all female officers compared to 28.7% of male officers as a proportion of all male officers.

40. BME officers at sergeant and above ranks as a percentage of all BME officers are 14%. This percentage is significantly disproportional to the percentage of non-BME officers at the same rank, which is 27.1% in March 2007.

Police staff strength

43. Police staff strength has risen by 1.5% year on year with 14,081 staff at the end of July 2007. The proportion of female staff is higher than male staff at 58.5% and 41.5% respectively; where as 23.0% of police staff is from BME communities.

44. PCSO strength has risen by 65.7% year on year with the current strength at 4,094. The percentage of female PCSO strength is 33.8%, where as BME PCSO staff makes up 30.7% of total PCSO strength.

Recruitment

45. The number of police officers joining the MPS is relatively low in comparison to strength, with 474 officers joining in the 4 months to July 2007. Of those officers joining, 31.6% were female and 16.5% from Black & Minority Ethnic community. Both proportions were higher than the current police officer strength figures.

46. The number of police staff joining the MPS is also relatively low in comparison to strength, with 437staff joining in the 4 months to July 2007. Of those staff joining, 55.1% were female and 21.1% from Black & Minority Ethnic community.

47. There has been a much higher intake of PCSOs over the last 4 months compared to the previous year, with 737 PCSOs joining compared to 269 in the comparative period. Of those staff joining, 34.5% were female and 26.6% BME.

Retention

48. Retention rates have remained high, with the overall police officer rate of 94.9%. Female officer retention rate is higher than male officers, with rates of 96.3% and 94.6% respectively. The retention rates for BME officers and non-BME officers are 95.9% and 94.8% respectively.

49. Police staff retention rates are slightly lower, but still remain at a high level. The overall police staff retention rate is 93.4% with female and male retention rates of 93.9% and 92.6% respectively. The retention rate for BME staff is 93.7% and non-BME staff 93.3%.

Stop and Search (PACE only)

50. The number of stop & searches recorded in the 12 months to June 2007 has increased by 14.4% year on year. There is currently 45.4 stop & searches per 1,000 residents recorded in London. The number of stop & searches varies by ethnicity groups. 29.9 stop & searches recorded per 1,000 White population, 131.6 per 1,000 Black population and 46.3 per 1,000 Asian population. Stop & searches recorded for all groups show a year on year increase, with the largest for Asian persons, increasing by 25.1%.

51. The proportion of stop & searches of male persons is 95% or 309,573 stops rolling year, with just 15,795 women being stopped & searched over the 12-month period.

52. The total stop and search arrest rate has remained at a similar rate year on year. The arrest rate for White persons is 11.2% with a slightly higher arrest rate for Black persons at 12.6%. The overall 12-month rolling year arrest rate currently stands at 11.4% to February 2007.

MPA equality and diversity data

53. The most up to date data for the MPA shows that there is 102 staff at the MPA, of which 45% are female and 44% are BME.

54. There is 58 staff at management grade, of which 40% are female and 29% are BME.

55. The age range of staff at the MPA is between 20 and 64. The smallest proportion of staff are aged between 60 and 64 at just 6.9%, where as the highest proportion of staff is aged between 50 and 59 at 30.4%.

C. Race and equality impact

All equality and diversity information has been incorporated within this report.

D. Financial implications

None

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Melissa Wagstaff & Gemma Deadman, Planning and Performance Unit, MPA

For more information contact:

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

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