Equality and diversity in kidnap investigation

Report: 10
Date: 6 December 2007
By: the Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines the work undertaken by the Kidnap and Specialist Investigation Unit (SCD7(1) - the Unit), provides details of its relationship with the Diversity and Citizens Focus Directorate (DCFD) and describes equality and diversity initiatives being carried out by the Unit and with the communities it serves. This report also provides details of the diverse communities who get drawn into kidnap investigations and the challenges in ensuring that hostages are recovered alive in all cases.

A. Recommendations

Members note the contents of this report

B. Supporting information

Introduction

1. This report outlines the work of the MPS Kidnap Unit and how its work is bringing it increasingly into contact with London’s diverse communities. It also provides details of its equality and diversity initiatives and how it seeks to embrace diversity in its working practices.

2. The Unit is one of twelve units within the Serious and Organised Crime Group (SCD7) and this report will on occasions relate to SCD7 activity as a whole as opposed to specifically the Unit.

3. The Detective Superintendent who heads the Unit is also the SCD7 Diversity Co-ordinator and it is his responsibility to ensure that action taken by individual units is co-ordinated so that the proposed Diversity Strategy is driven forward and the three year Action Plan, through its key strands, is progressed and ultimately achieved. Once the Strategy and Action plan are finalised they will be published on the SCD7 Intranet site.

An overview of the role of the Kidnap Unit

4. The Unit Kidnap & Specialist Investigation Unit is responsible for the investigation of kidnaps within London of any person, irrespective of nationality, where the hostage remains outstanding and where demands are being received. In reality it is a ‘low volume, high risk’ crime and the report will later address the challenges that that equation introduces.

5. The Unit comprises forty police officers and one member of police staff. It is an exclusively operational unit with a 365 days a year immediate on-call commitment. It is responsible for leading and co-ordinating the proactive response in order to recover outstanding hostages and in addition to progress the subsequent investigation.

6. Indeed the Unit is the only dedicated specialist kidnap unit in Europe and that reflects the importance that the MPS attach to the seriousness of kidnap and the impact it has on the lives of individuals and families. In addition it is essential that every effort is made to secure the safe release of hostages and whenever possible to prosecute offenders otherwise the latter will deem the deterrent to be insufficient.

7. Over the last four years the Unit has dealt with on average sixty ‘live’ kidnaps a year. The Primary Objective in every kidnap is the safe return of the hostage irrespective of the motivation for the kidnap or the background of the hostage. The operational response is prompt, covert and has, where required, access to all the assets that the MPS has available.

8. Kidnapping in the United Kingdom is not an industry as is the case in certain countries where organised criminal networks target families with actual or perceived wealth. It is, in the vast majority of instances, a crime born of a criminal vendetta where hostages are seized to introduce pressure in order to recover criminal debts. However, innocent family members or friends can and do become involved either as hostages or through the receipt of demands. Demands are invariably financial and the size of the demand is no indicator of risk. The risk assessment is determined by the motivation and the individuals involved, and often the degree of risk only becomes clear once the hostage is recovered.

9. The increasingly cosmopolitan nature of London has in recent years been reflected in the kidnaps investigated. In the last two years numerous nationalities have been involved either as kidnappers, hostages or victims of the demands, and certain nationalities have been involved in several cases. Neither is it unusual for more than one nationality to become involved in the same kidnap thereby potentially introducing cultural or national tensions that may impact on the risk and thereby the welfare of the hostage.

10. Kidnaps in London run from a few hours to several days. In many instances involving criminal vendettas the kidnap is brought to the attention of the police only after the victims of the demands have failed to resolve the kidnaps themselves. With criminal vendettas the victims often find themselves in a ‘Catch 22’ situation. They want the hostage released safely but going to the police for help threatens to expose their criminal activities or those of the hostage. As a result police often become involved when the kidnap is already well advanced and when certain commitments have already been made.

11. Whilst such circumstances involve additional challenges the MPS has responded and adapted to the challenge and in every instance has recovered the hostages alive. However the risks are increasing and in recent years there have been examples of extreme violence being inflicted to reinforce the demands for relatively small amounts of money. The making of informed risk assessments can become complex especially when the protagonists are young and on occasions from countries ravaged by civil war, human rights abuses and where atrocities may have been witnessed.

12. Due to the number of criminal vendettas involved hostages and victims of the demands are on occasions unwilling to support prosecutions for fear of divulging their own criminal activities. There is ongoing liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service to see how prosecutions can proceed without the support of significant witnesses.

13. What is unclear is the degree of unreported kidnaps taking place in London. In a recent incident a man from a South Asian community was arrested in possession of a sword and a large amount of money. When he was later placed in a cell he informed an officer that he was in fact on his way to pay a ransom. The hostage was subsequently released unharmed; however the issue is that this was a kidnap that was never going to be reported to police and the challenge is to ensure that through enhanced community engagement, either directly or more practically indirectly, that such incidents are reported immediately. This is particularly important where communities may be suffering in silence.

14. In a recent development, where there have been a number of kidnaps within a certain community, the Unit is working closely with the Embassy concerned to ensure that young men and women who come to the UK to study are ‘educated’ regarding the risks and what can be done to minimise them on arrival. In addition there is going to be a forum with student representatives to provide further reassurance and guidance.

15. The operational response to a breaking kidnap is very much an MPS team response. It will include numerous Units from the Covert Policing Branch (SCD11), officers from the Specialist Firearms Unit (CO19) where a hostage rescue capability is required and officers and police staff from the Cultural and Community Resource Unit (CCRU) database who are increasingly used to support the covert kidnap response.

16. There are no particularly ‘hot spot’ boroughs from a kidnap perspective, although some may be considered to be somewhat warmer than others. Irrespective of the borough the Unit does, where kidnaps are reported at local police stations, require the immediate support of local officers and we describe later in the report how we prepare them for such an instance.

17. As part of the ongoing in-house training strategy OCU Commanders from a small number of diverse boroughs are to be invited to address the Unit staff as to their priorities when a covert kidnap is being investigated on their borough, as well as giving an insight into community dynamics and points of contact within those communities. Such an insight will reinforce the importance of community impact assessments (CIA).

18. The Unit maintains ongoing liaison with the Serious and Organised Crime Agency Anti Kidnap & Extortion Unit to ensure that identified trends and lessons learnt elsewhere in the UK are reflected in the MPS kidnap response.

The Unit’s relationship with the MPS Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate

19. In order to ensure that the Unit keeps abreast of developments there has been ongoing liaison with the Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team (CTSET) within the MPS’ Diversity & Citizens Focus Directorate (DCFD) and work has been commissioned by the Unit regarding the development of community and country profiles. In addition the Unit has access to CTSET’s Community Contact database should appeals and focused community engagement need to take place. The development of country profiles will provide officers with an insight into individual countries and communities from a religious, cultural and social perspective that in turn will assist in building trust and rapport in both the covert and reactive phases of an investigation.

20. Through its liaison with CTSET and other law enforcement agencies, the Unit is looking ahead to the Olympics to try and anticipate the potential threats that such a huge influx of people might involve and whether certain criminal groups may seek to exploit potentially vulnerable individuals.

21. On a weekly basis the full Community Tension Report is received from the CTSET and this is circulated to Senior Investigating Officers (SIO) and their deputies to inform their strategy and risk assessments in the event of a ‘live’ kidnap, and also any subsequent investigations where co-operation is essential. In addition it is made available to all officers through the intranet so that community issues are incorporated into the thinking of all. In addition the Unit is aware of the availability of incident specific ‘tension assessments’ should circumstances warrant one being commissioned.

How the Unit takes the six equality strands into consideration and what equality and diversity monitoring is undertaken

22. It is acknowledged that resources are finite and the Unit has to compete for a share of such resources with other Units within SCD7 and SCD as a whole. An increase in staffing levels for the Unit would allow greater opportunity in the short term to meet target levels for BME and female staff and allow for a more flexible on-call rota that might for instance encourage female officers with children to apply.

23. An additional reality in a high risk business such as kidnap is that the needs of the individual need to be balanced with the organisational need to be best prepared to meet the plight of the hostage. Finite resources, fast time operational responses, team cohesion and the need to develop staff through operational deployments may limit individual opportunities. However ongoing discussions are planned within the Recruitment and Retention strand of the Diversity Strategy, including the recently formed SCD7 Women’s Forum, which will seek to identify solutions to existing barriers. In other words meeting both organisational and individual needs without undermining the Primary Objective.

24. The Unit is fully aware of the MPS’ obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended 2005) and the Equality Act 2006 and seeks to promote these duties through the SCD7 Diversity Strategy. So what is the SCD7 Diversity Strategy?

25. The mission is…. ‘To defeat Serious and Organised Crime through a diverse and talented workforce focussed on delivering the highest possible quality of service to all individuals and communities’.

26. The vision is…. ‘To create a workforce based on meritocracy that demographically represents London and promotes a fair working environment for that workforce’

27. In order to translate the above Mission and Vision into a practical and achievable working context where staff not only understand the Strategy but subscribe to it willingly SCD7 has developed a three year Action Plan where the priorities are:

• increasing the diversity of the workforce through effective recruitment and retention
• increasing our community engagement to improve our performance.

28. Whilst some activity is in place and is actively working in support of the above strategy the overall strategy is progressing through the consultation stage and awaits ratification.

29. SCD as a whole monitors the profile of its staff on an OCU and directorate basis in both its Monthly Delivery Report and the new Quarterly Diversity Report. At present, SCD can only present information on the age, ethnicity and gender of its staff. While faith, disability and sexual orientation can be recorded through the confidential MetHR Self Service facility, there is currently insufficient data for analysis. However, it is intended that the ethos of the SCD Diversity Strategy "uniquely different - equally valued" will create a working atmosphere that will foster confidence and openness. SCD's progress on improving its diversity is monitored during the Assistant Commissioner's regular performance visits.

30. The ability of SCD7 and in turn the Unit to recruit staff that are representative of the communities of London as a whole is to a large degree influenced by the MPS’s wider ability to recruit female and BME officers in the first instance. In addition, because of the highly specialist nature of kidnap work it will take time for those in the wider pool to become eligible in greater numbers through the gaining of experience.

31. Age. The Unit in terms of age covers officers in their late 20s through to early 50s and the vast majority are in their thirties and forties; indeed officers are now recruited on the combined criteria of experience and potential. As a result the average length of service for officers within the Unit has dropped considerably. This trend contrasts sharply with the profile of a decade earlier when Specialist Crime was seen very much as a ‘closed shop’ where the same officers tended to circulate within a range of specialist units.

32. In order to retain highly specialist expertise SCD7 has published the MPS policy on 30+ scheme and is processing applications although none currently relate to the Unit. It is acknowledged that successful applications for 30+ scheme will neatly complement and support the positive action drive to recruit BME and female staff.

33. Gender. Does the Unit currently meet the required levels of representation of female officers? In reality the answer is no but it is important to recognise the progress that has been achieved and that there are strategies in place to build upon that progress and meet targets.

34. The Unit currently comprises five female detectives, one black officer and one female police staff colleague. In addition two female officers have recently been on attachment with the Unit and a third attachment has been arranged. These levels represent the highest levels since the Unit was created. Previously there has been a female Detective Superintendent in charge of the Unit as well two female SIO’s on the on-call rota. In addition the Unit has employed two female Detective Inspectors.

35. Ethnicity. In terms of BME officers the Unit’s strength of one officer is disappointing and there are initiatives in place to raise the figure significantly and these include mentoring and using the CCRU database as a means of both focusing positive action as well as identifying barriers and inhibitors.

36. Whilst the Unit does interact extremely closely with specific individuals and families within diverse communities as a result of the kidnaps it investigates, the Unit simply does not have the resources to forge those links on a community by community basis and a pertinent factor is that no specific community attracts a disproportionately high percentage of the kidnaps investigated. For the same reason it is impractical to employ officers who reflect all of the extraordinarily diverse communities we become involved with. That said the Unit is determined to attract more BME officers.

37. Disability. Whilst the Unit is unaware of any officers within the Unit with a disability it is possible that they exist and may or may not have submitted the information under the MetHR Self Service facility. The Unit is receptive to the needs of individuals and for two years an officer with a particularly disabling illness was seconded onto the Unit in a research capacity.

38. Sexual Orientation. At present there is no mandatory requirement to gather such detail. Again details may have been provided under the MetHR Self Service scheme but cannot be allocated on a unit by unit basis.

39. Faith or non-belief. The same reasons that apply to sexual orientation apply to faith or non-belief.

40. In relation to all six equality strands progress will be monitored and more importantly assessed at the quarterly SCD7 Diversity Forum and to ensure best practice compliance testing with the Diversity Excellence model will be undertaken.

41. In terms of disproportionality the work of the Unit is very much responding to specific reports of ‘live’ kidnaps or intelligence and as a result investigations are very focused and intelligence led. Suspects are targeted as a result of assistance from victims of crime as they are occurring. Whilst SCD7 and the Diversity Strategy ensures, through its tasking process, that the priority concerns of the MPS and SCD are targeted and are non-discriminatory it is in a practical sense less of an issue for the Unit due to the very focused nature of the work.

42. Indeed in the ‘live’ stage of any kidnap no action is undertaken that would undermine the Primary Objective, therefore stop and searches of potential suspects are non-existent.

Initiatives and promoting and monitoring equality & diversity

43. It is the SCD7 Diversity Strategy, under the Recruitment and Retention strand, that seeks to progress matters. Initiatives include positive action, mentoring schemes, more imaginative recruitment drives, awareness days in addition to presentations on borough and to the Crime Academy. It is hoped that such initiatives will lead to underrepresented groups being not only recruited but equally importantly retained not only within the Unit but across the whole of SCD7.

44. The majority of our female and BME officers work on borough and they may regard Specialist Crime as somewhat distant and unattainable. They have never been on a specialist unit and do not know anyone they can turn to for advice, guidance and an internal perspective. The mentoring scheme in conjunction with other initiatives will address such hurdles. In addition it is borough officers, particularly those on Safer Neighbourhood Teams who interact on a day-to-day basis with the diverse communities that make up today’s London and who have a greater understanding of these communities. Such an insight is required within SCD 7 and the Unit.

45. Therefore an integral part of the Recruitment and Retention strand of the 3 year Action Plan is the need to identify appropriate and experienced mentors within SCD7 who can provide that advice and guidance so that underrepresented groups are given the opportunity to perform to their best, to be selected and to be retained and thereby become role models and mentors in their own right for future aspiring applicants.

46. Inextricably linked to recruitment and retention is Fairness at Work and SCD7 are to appoint a Fairness at Work champion who will lead and support the eight existing Fairness at Work advisors. In addition the SCD7 Diversity Forum will monitor proposed employment legislation as detailed in the Queen’s speech. Given that an extension of the employment right can be passed using simpler secondary legislation there is an imperative to understand the implications and its application sooner rather than later to ensure that the Unit’s operational capability is not undermined but managed.

47. In addition work is being undertaken to look at a variety of factors that will allow a more informed risk assessment to take place. What are the ages, gender and nationality of the hostages, victims and kidnappers. Why were the hostages vulnerable? What was the motivation? What languages and dialects were used? When did violence take place? What was the catalyst for violence and what was its nature? This is helping to inform risk assessments and strategies.

48. The SCD7 Diversity champion will attend the SCD Diversity Forum and will also chair the SCD7 Diversity Forum and be responsible for ensuring that diversity issues are standing agenda items on all Senior Management Team and Senior Management Group meetings where the SCD Monthly Delivery Report and the Quarterly Diversity Report will be discussed. In addition diversity issues form part of the Assistant Commissioner’s performance visits. The SCD7 Diversity Strategy will also be promoted through the Intranet, other internal communication channels as well forming an integral part of any interview process and annual personal development plans.

49. SCD7 has set up its own Diversity Forum with a lead for each of the diversity strands and in addition Quality of Life. The strand leads will provide updates to SCD7 staff regarding new legislation / emerging issues and will be available as points of contact for any member of staff requiring information on a particular strand issue.

50. At the new premises to which the Unit will be moving to in the New Year there is a multi-faith prayer room where those seeking to pray will have 24 hour access.

51. A real challenge facing SCD7 and specifically the Unit is the fact that the Unit is not a family friendly working environment. In order to obtain a greater insight into why initial interest does not translate itself into applications SCD7 personnel are currently collating both rationale for withdrawals and exit interview data in order to inform future recruitment policy and flexible working initiatives. In addition a quarterly report will be produced whereby the number and percentage of applications from each diversity area will be assessed for successes so that the recruitment process can be assessed against the overall objective. Put simply is it achieving what it was set up to achieve?

52. The Unit took part in the SCD7 Recruitment Day held at New Scotland Yard earlier in the year which has resulted in three attachments to the Unit by female officers. In future such Awareness / Recruitment days will take part bi-annually and under-represented groups will be targeted through Police and Staff Associations as well as through the Cultural and Community Resource Unit (CCRU).

53. In addition whenever kidnap presentations are given across the MPS to inform about the initial response to kidnaps and the cosmopolitan challenges involved (social, cultural, religious and personal needs) every effort is made to encourage officers to consider the Unit as a career move and to promote positive action. In addition the same opportunities are sought when presentations are given to Detective Constables at the Crime Academy.

54. Also every effort is sought to promote the CCRU, not only in terms of encouraging officers to join the CCRU database, but also to emphasise how specific life skills can enhance specialist investigations as well as ensuring that CCRU is a priority consideration in other areas of police activity such as crisis negotiation. In addition officers on the CCRU database will be used within Focus Groups to address the question as to why they are not applying for SCD7 jobs.

55. In terms of training our own staff there is to be bespoke diversity training for all SCD7 staff and a performance needs analysis and ongoing liaison with the Diversity and Citizens Focus Directorate is taking place to identify appropriate programmes

Impact assessment and independent advice

56. Kidnaps are crimes in action and are invariably, if not exclusively, reported to police without warning. Therefore their dynamic and unexpected nature mean that Community Impact Assessments (CIA) are far more relevant on a case by case basis than Equality Impact Assessments. From a CIA perspective what impact will a dynamic recovery of a hostage have on the community, particularly where firearms officers are involved? How might criminal associates respond? What are the options available for recovering the hostage? Does the risk assessment allow other options to be considered? Can the recovery be delayed? What risks are involved in such an option?

57. In any kidnap operation the Primary Objective is always the safe return of the hostage. No action is taken that will undermine that objective but the Primary Objective is not mutually exclusive to other objectives and wherever possible the potential ramifications of police action on local police/ community relations are considered by the SIO. Whilst there are occasions when the dynamic nature of the operation will preclude such considerations these are exceptions as opposed to the rule and will be documented.

58. In relation to Equality Impact Assessments the picture is not so clear as reported kidnaps are very small in number and ‘hot spots’ appear to be non-existent. Kidnaps have never been identified as being a particular concern for the communities at large in any consultation, assuming of course every community has a voice. However planning for an event may inadvertently introduce an unintended fear of crime. Therefore the Unit’s emphasis has been on ensuring that the MPS’s operational response is well informed and reflects an awareness of the potential challenge and the contact points for advice and support.

59. That said all senior ranks within SCD7 will be attending Equality Impact Assessment training courses so there is a clear understanding of what it means in a specialised policing environment and how to identify the potential adverse impact that a policy may have on ethnicity, race or other diverse grouping but equally importantly what it actually means in the specialised world of kidnaps. Can we plan more? Are there research opportunities that we are missing? Going through such process challenges us to think outside the box, to be more innovative.

60. In addition the Race Independent Advisory Group are represented on the MPS Kidnap Focus Group where the member’s independent perspective is welcomed and provides guidance in terms of community engagement. In addition the Unit is aware of and has access to the other Independent Advisory Groups through CTSET and would consult with and co-opt members onto the Kidnap Group when circumstances require.

Measuring progress and tracking its achievements

61. In acknowledging achievements it is important to recognise the success of investigations. Since the inception of the Unit no hostage has been killed, there have been countless successful prosecutions that have resulted in significant sentences and this has been achieved as a result of co-operation shown by many diverse communities.

62. In the last 12 months progress has been achieved in terms of in-house training and in developing links into communities through local officers.

63. A good working relationship has been forged with the CTSET and will lead to a greater understanding of communities through the development of country and community profiles.

64. The involvement of CCRU in approximately 60% of all kidnaps has helped to promote the Unit internally as well as promoting the diversity of the MPS to the victims of kidnaps.

65. The ongoing work around the collating of data to support risk assessments is assisting in developing operational strategies.

66. The SCD7 Diversity Forum has now been established and the Diversity Strategy is soon to be ratified and will hold equality leads and individual units heads accountable for progress and targets

Equality & diversity training carried out across the Unit

67. It is proposed that bespoke diversity training will be developed for SCD7 staff and the training manager will undertake a performance needs analysis and will liaise with DCFD regarding content.

68. All SCD7 Diversity Forum members will undertake EIA training as provided by the Diversity Learning and Development Branch.

69. It is also important to involve those others who may become involved in a kidnap response and give them an insight into what they may encounter in terms of diversity. Kidnap is a ‘low volume, high risk ‘ crime and as a result much effort is focused on training local borough officers who may only encounter a ‘live’ kidnap one or twice in their careers. The training is about providing officers with an insight into the threats, the range of diverse communities who become involved and what needs to be done in the ‘golden hour’ to reassure victims and ensure that the Primary Objective is not undermined prior to the deployment of specialist staff. Much emphasis is placed on the importance of CCRU.

70. Over the last 12 months some 40 bespoke borough presentations have been given on borough to some 800 officers who are most likely to be drawn into an initial response. In order to accelerate the training a smaller number of presentations are now given to substantially larger audiences. As a result a further six three hour presentations were provided to borough staff (CID of all ranks and uniform supervisors) at New Scotland Yard where some 600 officers attended and four further presentations are planned for February 2008.

71. The feedback to the borough-based training has been extremely positive and the ‘golden hour’ operational response on borough has certainly improved. This is measured in terms of the speed of the referral to the Unit, the quality of the briefing and the initial operational response. Also borough supervising officers are referring to the unit more regularly when seeking advice regarding operational options where there is no kidnap but there has been abduction

72. In addition presentations are given to initial Detective and senior Detective courses as well as 999 call handlers. The aim being to ensure that the various stages of the covert response are provided with an insight and understanding of what is practically required of them.

73. There have been a series of Kidnap Awareness Training Days where staff from the Units that respond to a ‘live’ kidnap are brought together for a series of briefings from a representative of each Unit. The rationale being that greater awareness of each other’s roles and the challenges faced enhances mutual understanding and through such understanding comes improved communication and co-ordination.

Community engagement activities

74. One question the unit has to consider is whether it is desirable or beneficial to engage with a wider community as a result of a kidnap. It might be easy to stigmatise a community on the basis of a very small number of kidnaps committed by a tiny percentage of criminals within that community. In addition the anonymity and wishes of the victims and hostages also need to be respected. As a result, a pragmatic approach has to be adopted and the Unit is seeking to forge broader links with diverse communities indirectly through liaison with colleagues throughout the MPS who are conduits into those diverse communities.

75. On an SCD wide basis there has been an ongoing review of community engagement activities. This included a survey of community engagement that highlighted that SCD could better co-ordinate its engagement activity around particular communities and crime types. Improving trust and confidence with our communities should lead to an increase in information, communication, participation and intelligence.

76. The challenge for the Unit, and this has been encountered during the ‘live’ stage of many kidnaps, is providing reassurance about the MPS’ response without divulging the methodology. This is even more pertinent when the motive is a criminal vendetta where today’s victim or hostage may be tomorrow’s kidnapper. There is a limit as to what can be shared.

77. In order to progress this an SCD7 Citizen Focus Plan is proposed to ensure that community engagement activities are compliant with equality and diversity legislation. In the meantime how does the Unit see community engagement?

78. The Unit officers have engaged with specific communities in order to progress investigations and reassure and explain the nature of the investigative progress. In one specific case a supervising officer met a community representative in order to explain the dangers of how a certain individual was involving himself in an ongoing investigation and how, through a lack of understanding, he might inadvertently find himself being arrested for perverting the course of justice. The meeting was arranged through a Safer Neighbourhood Team sergeant, via the local Community Liaison Officer, and the community leader agreed to speak to the individual concerned and explain the inappropriateness of his actions. In addition it has become apparent that since the kidnappers were arrested criminality and anti-social behaviour in the locality dropped considerably and this was fed back by the community representative.

79. There have been examples from many communities where witnesses have shown much courage and resolve to support prosecutions that in turn have led to substantial prison sentences. This is evidence of how the Unit is able to deal both professionally and compassionately with vulnerable individuals from diverse communities and gain their trust.

80. As no one nationality or community is significantly represented in our kidnap statistics it is difficult to go to those communities with a compelling message to impart without quite wrongly stigmatising that community or causing undue fear of crime.

81. The effective use of the media is an area where active consideration is being focused. the Unit needs to be innovative in targeting communities not through the traditional media channels but channels that are watched, listened to and used by the diverse communities and different generations within those communities.

82. We need to target the kidnappers with our successes with a powerful deterrent message based upon convictions and substantial sentences whilst reassuring and engaging with the communities as a whole. We need to see how such messages can be conveyed abroad, again from both an educational and preventative perspective.

83. Whilst the Unit does not have day to day interaction with the communities at large the promulgation of the kidnap message is conducted weekly through presentations to Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT). The message is about reassuring communities, about the professionalism and covert nature of the kidnap response, the need to encourage / build trust so that the community has the confidence to report kidnaps to the police. If kidnaps are not being reported, this approach may take time but it is essential that the seeds are sewn.

84. In January 2008 the Unit have arranged to address all MPS Safer Neighbourhood Team supervisors to ensure that when opportunities do arise to engage with communities then those supervisors will be able to advise and arrange accordingly. It is the Safer Neighbourhood Teams who are policing the ‘London Village’ at ward level on a daily basis and to circumvent them would be foolish and indeed counter productive.

85. A meeting is also to take place in early December, arranged by the Specialist Crime Reduction Unit, with a specialist consultant. Its purpose is to identify the most effective ways to engage with certain South Asian communities in order to explain the MPS’s response to kidnaps. In January 2008 a kidnap input to a community organisation has been arranged.

Conclusion

86. The Unit and the other units that support the dynamic kidnap response are totally committed to achieving the Primary Objective in every case. For everyone involved it is both a personal and professional challenge. It is a responsibility that is taken extremely seriously. The extraordinarily diverse nature of London has impacted on the Unit’s workload in a way that is quite unique and quite frankly unexpected. No Unit has to deal with such challenges in such a high-risk area of business where there is no margin for error.

87. No hostage has died but such a statistic does not allow any hint of complacency to be entertained or tolerated. It is incumbent upon the organisation to meet the challenge, to learn from lessons and to ensure that the operational response keeps abreast of the evolving threat. Trust, co-operation and a willingness to learn is at the heart of any response.

C. Race and equality impact

The challenges for SCD7 and the Unit is to ensure that the Diversity Strategy is progressed. That the initiatives detailed in the report bear fruit. That SCD7 and the Unit begin to reflect more accurately the communities of London. That through the continued success of the Unit and through ongoing community engagement, both MPS and SCD7 driven, that diverse communities increasingly have the reassurance that enables them to report kidnaps that currently may go unreported. The SCD7 Diversity Forum will be robust in ensuring that progress is monitored and in ensuring that the mission and values aspired to are achieved.

D. Financial implications

All the equal opportunities and diversity activity described in this report are incorporated in SCD’s day-to-day operations and there are no additional financial implications from this report.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Detective Superintendent Mark Pepper, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Abbreviations and acronyms

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

SCD7

Serious and Organised Crime Group

SCD7(1)

Kidnap and Specialist Investigation Unit

SCD11

Covert Policing Branch

CO19

Firearms Branch

DCFD

Diversity and Citizens Focus Directorate

CCRU

Cultural and Community Resource Unit

CTSET

Communities Together Strategic Assessment Team

BME

Black and Ethnic Minority

CIA

Community Impact Assessment

EIA

Equality Impact Assessment

SNT

Safer Neighbourhood Teams

SIO

Senior Investigating Officer

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