Mini review of SCD 8 Trident operational command unit

Report: 08
Date: 7 February 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines the work of Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD)8 Trident, which deals with the prevention and investigation of shootings in London. It explains the work of the Operational Command Unit (OCU), which includes overt and covert prevention initiatives, community engagement and the investigation of murders and serious assaults by shooting.

The report describes how the OCU builds relationships with those communities most affected by shootings, including the role of the Trident Independent Advisory Group.

The OCU currently meets the MPS target for black and minority officers and the report sets out the OCU’s plans for further increasing the number of officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in support of its work.

A. Recommendations

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. ‘Operation Trident’ started as a response to several violent shootings that caused immense community concern in the late 1990s. Originally operating in Lambeth Borough, the operation went MPS-wide in 2000, with the formation of the Operational Command Unit (OCU) now designated ‘SCD8 Trident – Shootings Prevention and Investigation’.

2. This report outlines the work of Trident, which seeks to prevent shootings in London, and investigates those shootings that do happen. In the financial year 2006-07, a total of 314 shootings took place in London, in the financial year 2005-06, a total of 353 shootings took place, in 2004-05, 282.

3. Black communities are disproportionately impacted by shootings. In three quarters of all shootings, both the victim and suspect are from black communities. In half of the other shootings, either the victim or the suspect is from a black community.

Trident Independent Advisory Group & other community partners

4. The Trident Independent Advisory Group (TIAG) was born out of a community campaign to have a dedicated police response to shootings in black communities. All the advisors come from black communities within the Boroughs most impacted by shootings, and the Met Black Police Association (BPA) has a place on the Group.

5. Most of the advisors have been involved with the OCU for many years, and are very committed in guiding its work. Several advisors place particular emphasis on murder investigations and regularly shadow senior investigating officers, providing advice on the progress of the investigation, attending Gold Groups, and liaising with bereaved families and communities. Advisors also support the OCU in joint media activity, in observing operations, in community engagement and in developing staff. Chaired by the Mayor’s Director for Equalities and Policing, Lee Jasper, the TIAG has raised funds to employ a part-time Development and Support worker, and has developed its own Workplan.

6. The TIAG has undertaken recently to review its representation of black communities that are starting to be impacted by shootings, most particularly the Somali community which has experienced two shooting murders in 2007. Trident officers from the Murder Investigation and Community Engagement Teams have also been working closely with Greenwich Borough to engage with this community.

7. As well as the TIAG, Trident has strong relationships with a number of external partners, including the Peace Alliance, Boyhood to Manhood Foundation, faith groups, and the UK Youth Parliament.

Murder Investigation Teams

8. Trident’s investigative teams investigate murders and non-fatal shootings committed with ‘lethal barrelled weapons’. In the case of murders, Trident’s four Murder Investigation Teams (MITs) investigate those where both victim and suspect are from black communities; SCD1, the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, usually investigates other fatal shootings.

9. The murder investigations are usually complex, often involve ongoing threats to life, and typically generate good community intelligence. It is frequently difficult to identify people who are willing to give evidence in court, and those that do come forward often require protection. Senior Trident officers are key members of the Borough-based Gold Groups which are set up in response to the murders.

Shootings Investigation Teams

10. In the case of non-fatal shootings (including those of or at police officers), Trident’s three Shootings Investigation Teams carry out the investigations on a geographical basis, divided into North-West, North-East and South. (This change was made at the beginning of February 2008. Before then, Trident North and South Teams investigated those non-fatal shootings where both victim and suspect were from black communities, and the pan-London Trafalgar Team investigated all other shootings. The change is expected to bring the benefits of increasing links with communities and Boroughs, of improving intelligence, and of enhancing the use of resources.)

Proactive Teams

11. Trident’s Proactive teams carry out intelligence-led covert operations to tackle the supply of guns, disrupt and dismantle criminal networks involved in shootings and firearms supply, and deal with threats to life. It is an advantage in terms of both intelligence gathering and operational focus that the Proactive and Investigation teams are within the same OCU. In early February, two further Proactive teams will transfer to Trident, which constitutes a very significant increase in total resources of about 13 per cent, and brings the total number of Proactive teams to five.

12. Trident runs a very large number of firearms operations and its officers play an important part in the Silver and Gold training provided by CO19 Specialist Firearms Command. Much of Trident’s work is high-risk and indeed dangerous, and requires officers and staff who are highly capable and experienced.

Intelligence staff and Enforcement Partners

13. All the teams are supported by Intelligence staff, who monitor emerging threats and research individuals and networks, preparing ‘intelligence packages’ for the operational teams. Members of the OCU also work on a daily basis with a wide range of ‘enforcement’ partners, including the Borders and Immigration Agency, individual Boroughs, the Communities and Cultural Resources Unit, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Operation Alliance, SCD7 Serious and Organised Crime Command, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, the Tackling Gangs Action Programme and the Violent Crime Directorate

Community Engagement Team

14. The Community Engagement Team (CET) consists of an Inspector, a Sergeant, three constables and a member of police staff. The CET delivers hard-hitting presentations on the impact of shootings to schools, Youth Offending Teams, Pupil Referral Units and other youth organisations. The team was set a target of interacting with five thousand young people in the financial year 2006-07; it has already interacted with over eleven thousand. The CET’s Crime Prevention Design Advisors have completed a guide to security in schools, and give security advice to individual schools on their particular needs. They also complete security reviews of Clubs in order to support managers and promoters in providing a safe environment (see further below).

15. Members of the CET regularly speak at conferences, and in 2007 they contributed to all three of the major Party conferences, as part of fringe meetings about shootings. The team and the OCU’s Higher Analyst research a range of issues, including for example the factors prompting young people to carry and use firearms, and have developed a valuable database. Much of this research was submitted to the Home Affairs Committee that inquired into the relationship between young black people and the criminal justice system (House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System, Second Report of Session 2006-7 published June 2007).

16. Trident has secured funding to purchase a van that will be liveried with the Trident logo. This will enable staff to be highly visible at scenes of crimes, and will also assist in community engagement initiatives, supporting Trident’s aim of significantly increasing public confidence and trust through increased engagement.

17. The CET has delivered weekly sessions to CO19 Specialist Firearms Command and the Territorial Support Group over the past year.

18. Trident works very closely with SCD3 Serious Crime Prevention and Partnership, and is involved in the development of mediation and the Pathways initiative (see Gun Crime report).

Involvement of teenagers

19. Trident’s research shows that the proportion of teenagers as victims of shootings has been steadily rising. In 2003, there were 31 teenage victims (16% of the total); in 2004, 39 (19%); in 2005, 82 (27%); in 2006, 79 (31%); and in 2007, 65 (28%). In response to this trend, Trident has for several years run annual campaigns aimed at persuading young people not to carry and use firearms. These have often used non-mainstream media to communicate. The IAG has been involved and highly influential in the design of the campaigns, and young people have been consulted throughout.

20. 2006 saw an innovative internet, radio and schools involvement campaign involving Grime artists Roll Deep, backed up by a poster campaign with a mortuary poster and the strap line “Carrying a gun can get you into the coolest places”. In 2007’s campaign, entitled “Don’t Blow Your Life Away”, engagement was increased, with the construction of a realistic prison cell that was taken into six Boroughs (both on the street and in schools) and supported by Trident staff, TIAG members and other community members. This generated very substantial publicity and provided excellent engagement opportunities. The radio, television and ‘stoptheguns’ website elements of the campaign also all performed very well in terms of promoting young people’s understanding of the key message of ‘missing out’.

21. The OCU has recently reviewed its performance in relation to the completion of ‘Merlin’ reports for those young people coming to notice as involved in shootings or the carrying/storage of firearms. Systems have been implemented to ensure that the OCU plays its part fully in treating these as child protection issues as well as serious crime issues. The OCU will deliver training on the impact and requirements of ‘Every Child Matters’ within the MPS programme.

Crimestoppers post

22. Trident needs information and intelligence from communities in order to prevent and solve shootings. Any significant increases in the information and intelligence given to police will certainly increase safety. The MPS has funded a ‘BME Youth Crime Co-ordinator’ post within London Crimestoppers, designed to promote awareness and trust in the London Crimestoppers Scheme to young people from black communities.

23. Since her role commenced in July 2007, the Co-ordinator has worked very closely with Trident and several Boroughs to run workshops, make presentations, host visits to the Crimestoppers Call Bureau and recruit community champions for Crimestoppers. The Co-ordinator’s early findings are of the need for awareness raising in relation to Crimestoppers but more importantly raising understanding of personal and community responsibility for crime prevention and safe communities.

24. In Southwark, the Borough where this initiative commenced, actionable calls to Crimestoppers in September 2006 compared with the same month in 2007 rose from six to seventeen.

Nightclubs

25. Fifteen per cent of all shootings take place within or close to nightclubs and bars. In order to reduce this, the Community Engagement Team carry out security reviews of licensed premises where shootings occur and work closely with CO14 Clubs and Vice OCU to ensure that Club managers and promoters are supported in providing a safe environment.

26. The OCU led on the delivery of Operation Argon over Christmas and the New Year 2007, usually a period of increased shootings in clubs. In December, CO14 and Trident contacted over 100 Clubs and licensed premises to give advise over security. The live operation, which ran from 10pm to 6am over ten nights, combined a CO14 tactical adviser, with uniformed and plain clothes officers in support, and ‘Neons’ (firearms operations based on Automatic Number Plate Reader information). An IAG member observed the various aspects of the Operation over several nights, working with the Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team (CTSET). There were no nightclub-related shootings during the period of the operation and no shootings at all on the night of New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day.

27. Because it was not known until each evening on which Borough the Neon would be sited, all Boroughs provided a community impact assessment to Operation Argon. As the operation went live each night, the Gold Commander contacted individual Boroughs to ascertain any updates to the assessment. One key piece of learning was the need to increase the numbers of dedicated suitable people – community members and police officers/Special Constables/members of police staff – to be deployed with the Neons to explain the purpose of the operation to members of the community in the vicinity. This is now part of the standard operating procedures for both Neons and Operation Argon.

Uncooperative witnesses and victims

28. In half of Trident shootings in 2005-06, officers encountered either a crime scene only or a victim who was unwilling to assist the investigation. Further analysis shows that 40 per cent of unwilling victims from April 2005 to December 2006 had either been a victim or suspect in a previous Trident incident, had gone on to be a victim or suspect in a Trident incident, or had been the subject of proactive operations.

29. This unwillingness, whether caused by fear or by a wish to take reprisal action, appears to be disproportionately a feature of those from black communities. It continues to be a feature of a large number of cases. It impacts on detection rates, leads to increased threat to life, and is a priority for the OCU to tackle.

30. This analysis has been taken to the TIAG and a working group has been set up to examine ways of tackling it. The ability of the MPS to provide protection for witnesses, both at court and beyond, is key to reassuring communities and individuals.

Composition of officers and staff – black and minority ethnic background

31. The OCU had 24 police officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in December 2007, constituting 8% of its officer strength. This slightly exceeds the MPS target of 7.7%. The percentage of officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds rose gradually in 2007 from 7.2% in April. Two of the eight Detective Chief Inspectors (DCIs) are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

32. It is the often-expressed instinct of both the black community and Trident officers that a further increase in officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in Trident will lead to an increase in trust between police and the black community. The following benefits are expected to arise from this:

• Greater availability of family liaison officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds;
• Greater availability in the number of officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds available to support witnesses;
• Increased willingness of victims and witnesses to co-operate with the police;
• Improved intelligence gathering both in terms of the amount of intelligence and the number of people willing to share it;
• Higher rate of judicial disposals;
• Increase in victim and witness co-operation;
• Increased opportunities to provide role-modelling opportunities to young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds;
• Potential for positive impact on wider recruitment of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds within the MPS.

33. To this end, Trident has negotiated a more ambitious target of 15% for officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, requiring a further increase of 19 officers. Advised by the TIAG, the BPA, SCD’s Diversity Co-ordinator and the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate, Trident’s Diversity Working Group implemented a number of measures during 2007, including submitting all advertisements to the BPA for circulation to members, monitoring of the advertisement and selection process by Human Resources staff, presenting on the work of the OCU to all Detective Constable (DC) and Detective Inspector (DI) development courses, and appointing Diversity Champions in each department. Trident is currently developing an attachments scheme, which will enable substantive detectives from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to spend time in the OCU experiencing a structured programme that includes investigation and community engagement roles.

34. The OCU had 19 members of police staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in December 2007, constituting 29% of its staff strength. This exceeds the MPS target of 25% by three members of staff. The percentage of members of staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds rose gradually in 2007 from 26% in April.

Composition of officers and staff – gender

35. The OCU had 54 female police officers in December 2007, constituting 18% of its officer strength. This falls short of the MPS target of 20% by five officers. However, the percentage of female officers rose in 2007 from 16% in April. Two of the five Superintending rank officers are female and two of the eight DCIs are female.

36. The OCU had 49 female members of police staff in December 2007, constituting 75% of its staff strength. This exceeds the MPS target of 50% by 16 members of staff. The percentage of female members of police staff rose quickly in 2007 from 62% in April.

37. Two members of police staff and one police officer are currently on maternity leave.

Composition of officers and staff – age

38. There are 15 officers in the age band 20-29 years, 116 in the age band 30-39 years, 135 in the age band 40-49 years, 29 in the age band 50-59 years and 1 who is 60 or over.

39. There are 16 members of police staff in the age band 20-29 years, 27 in the age band 30-39 years, 16 in the age band 40-49 years, 13 in the age band 50-59 years and 1 who is 60 or over.

Composition of officers and staff – length of service

40. There are 55 officers with less than 10 years service, 117 in the service band 10-19 years, 112 in the service band 20-29 years, and 11 with 30 or more years service. Officers’ service bands reflect the specialism of the OCU, and the training and experience that officers are required to have. This is also part of the reason why the numbers of black and minority ethnic officers within Trident are not already higher.

41. There are 36 members of police staff with less than 10 years service, 25 in the service band 10-19 years, 8 in the service band 20-29 years and 4 with 30 or more years service.

Composition of officers and staff – flexible and part-time working

42. Nine officers (3%) and three members of police staff (4%) have flexible working patterns. Four members of police staff and three police officers are part-time workers. The OCU runs a 24/7 shift pattern for immediate response to shootings and threats to life. It can accommodate flexible and part-time workers in most of its Units and has not declined a request to date.

Composition of officers and staff – disability

43. Trident has one member of police staff who is recorded as disabled on MetHR. In relation to this colleague, the OCU provides a ground floor work station and nearby parking. It makes various adjustments for other colleagues who are not formally registered as disabled but require support. The OCU can accommodate various disabilities and will always seek to do so.

Acronyms & abbreviations:

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

OCU

Operational Command Unit

TIAG

The Trident Independent Advisory Group

BPA

Black Police Association

MITs

Murder Investigation Teams

CO

Central Operations

CET

Community Engagement Team

BME

Black & Minority Ethnics

IAG

Independent Advisory Group

CTSET

Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team

DCIs

Detective Chief Inspector(s)

DIs

Detective Inspector(s)

DCs

Detective Constable(s)

C. Race and equality impact

In summary, the key equality and diversity issue for Trident in terms of its service is the continued working with black communities to build up their trust in police to such an extent that they are prepared to give large amounts of information, intelligence and – especially - evidence that the police can use to prevent and investigate shootings increasingly more effectively. The key internal diversity issue is to increase the number of police officers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in order to assist the build up of that trust.

D. Financial implications

1. Trident’s full year budget for the financial year 2007-08 is just under £24 million.

2. All the equal opportunities and diversity activity described in this report are incorporated in Trident’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 Chief Superintendent Helen Ball, OCU Commander, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback