MPA Management information report

Report: 06
Date: 3 April 2008
By: on behalf of the 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.

This meeting is focusing on how equality and diversity will enable the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to deliver a representative workforce.

A. Recommendations

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

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

2. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Career Management Unit supplied data for this report. Data illustrating career progression between ranks compares strength position between February 2004 and February 2008. Police officer and staff strength figures are to January 2008. Stop and Search figures are for 12 months to January 2008. Crime, detection, victim and accused data is for April to January 2007-08 financial year.

3. The main trends to be noted are:

Career progression of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) officers

4. The overall strength of BME officers increased by 32% between February 2004 and February 2008. This equated to 629 more officers. This was compared to only a 2% (440 officers) increase in the number of non-BME officers over this period.

5. The data shows a notable increase (both volume and proportion) in BME strength at detective constable and police sergeant ranks (73% and 78% respectively). This was proportionately higher than their non-BME counterparts (16% and 30% respectively).

6. Although there were higher percentage increases for BME officers at all levels up to Superintendent compared to their white counterparts, the volume increases of BME officers between the ranks of Inspector and Superintendent were small (ranging from 1 to 14).

7. In February 2008, there were four BME officers at Chief Superintendent level and above. There had been no change in this figure from February 2004.

8. Although the proportion of female BME officers has increased at a higher rate than both their BME and non-BME male counterparts and female non-BME counterparts, this is largely concentrated in the lower ranks. In February 2008, there were no female BME officers above the rank of chief inspector.

Career progression of female officers

9. The overall strength of female officers increased by 21% between February 2004 and February 2008. This equated to 1,172 more officers. This was compared to a reduction of 103 male officers over the same time period.

10. The data shows increases at every rank (with the exception of superintendent, -25% or 2 fewer officers). Volume increases in female officers were more notable at lower ranks (Constable and Sergeant).

11. In February 2008, there were 15 female officers at chief superintendent level and above, an increase of four compared to February 2004.

Career progression of disabled officers

12. Disabled officers constitute a very small proportion of all MPS officers. In February 2004 there were 28 disabled officers recorded (0.09% of total officer strength). By February 2008, this had increased to 122 officers (0.4% of total officer strength). This may reflect improved recording practices.

13. In February 2008, the majority (83 or 68%) of disabled officers were police constables. The highest rank of recorded disabled officers was chief inspector (2).

Research into career progression of under-represented groups

14. Research into career progression of under-represented groups within the police service is still limited. A Home Office study (1999) into career progression of BME police officers found that progression through the promotion process was on average slower for BME officers than their white colleagues. For example, compared with white officers, Asian officers took on average an additional five months to reach the rank of sergeant while black officers took on average an additional 18 months.

15. The Home Office study found a general dissatisfaction with career management expressed by all officers, however some BME officers felt that they faced additional problems as a result of reactions to their ethnicity from other officers. Please note that this research was conducted some time ago. Issues may have changed significantly since this time, however the research has not been revisited in more recent years.

16. Holdaway and Parker’s (1998) study of both male and female police officers found that seventeen per cent of women interviewed (compared to just 5% of men) cited potential conflicts with domestic commitments as their reason for not applying for promotion. Female respondents to this study also felt that they had to work harder than their male counterparts to achieve a ‘parity of acceptance’ and that they received significantly less encouragement than men from their colleagues and supervisors. Females interviewed in Silvestri’s study (2003) also mentioned limited opportunities for mentoring or ‘sponsorship’ from a senior officer for promotion. Pogrebin et al (1999) felt that the limited number of black senior officers who could assist in the promotion process made lack of sponsorship even more relevant for black female officers.

17. Concern that BME women employed in the MPS are concentrated within lower bands with very few in management positions was the focus of MPS commissioned research in 2005. The study found that one of the reasons that BME women joined the MPS was for the career progression and opportunities it offered, however, for many this did not transpire to be the case. This was often related to lack of training to progress to other roles (particularly an issue for catering staff), lack of promotion opportunities (cited most notably by PCSOs and catering staff), unclear career pathways, uncertainties about how the promotion process works and lack of flexible working opportunities.

18. Research into career progression of disabled and Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual (LGBT) people is even more limited that other diversity strands. A project led by Diabetes UK (2006) investigated the experiences of diabetic officers within the police service. Only two (of 102 officers who responded to a survey) felt that they had been discouraged from promotion because of their diabetes. No respondents reported being turned down for promotion due to their condition (although some were unsure). However, almost a quarter (24) of respondents felt that diabetes had affected their treatment in the service in some way. For example, a Police Constable in the MPS with Type 1 diabetes felt that he had been prevented from response and advanced driving, firearms and dog handling.

19. The National Disabled Police Association have been contacted regarding further research into career progression of disabled employees within the police service. The Planning and Performance Unit will forward details when these are available.

20. The Gay Police Association have been contacted regarding further research into career progression of LGBT employees within the police service. The Planning and Performance Unit will forward details when these are available.

References

Bland, N., Mundy, G., Russell, J and Tuffin, R. (1999) Career progression of ethnic minority police officers Police Research Series Paper 107 London: Home Office
Holdaway, S. and Parker, S.K. (1998) Policing women police: uniform patrol, promotion and representation in CID in Westmarland, L. (2001) Gender and policing: sex, power and police culture Devon: Willan Publishing
Silvestri, M. (2003) Women in charge: policing, gender and leadership Devon: Willan Publishing
Pogrebin, M., Poole, E and Chatman, H. (1999) A negotiated identity: African-American policewomen’s duel marginalisation cited in Silverstri, M. (2003) (see above)
Internal Consultancy Group (2005) Double glazing and sticky floors: How sticky are the floors for non-managerial black and minority ethnic women in the MPS? A report for the Metropolitan Police Service Diversity Directorate
Diabetes UK in collaboration with the Disability Rights Commission, the National Police Diabetic Association and the National Disabled Police Association (2006) Diabetes and the police officer: a survey report Diabetes UK

Hate crime

21. Domestic Violence: The volume of domestic violence offences recorded by the MPS during FYtD 2007-08 has decreased by 2,901 or by 6.2%. Despite the decrease in crime recorded, the sanction detection rate increased by 4.2 percentage points to 43.2%.

22. The proportion of female victims of domestic violence has increased by 1.6 percentage points to 80.9% when comparing April to January 2007-08 with 2006-07.

23. The proportion of BME victims has remained at a similar rate of 44.7%.

24. Homicide: There have been 128 homicide crimes recorded for the financial year period between April 2007 and January 2008, 20 fewer than the same 10 months in 2006-07.

25. 120 homicides have been detected between April and January 2007-08, 1 less than for the same period in 2006-07. The financial year detection rate stands at 88.9%. This is up by 7.1 percentage points from the previous year (81.8%). The homicide detection rate target set for 2007-08 is 85%; the current figure is exceeding this target.

26. Rape: The financial year sanction detection rate recorded for rape offences is 33.7%, a 1.8 percentage point increase on the rate recorded for the same period last year.

28. The percentage of recorded BME victims of rape has remained at a similar rate year on year at 41.2%

29. The proportion of female rape victims has risen by 1.8 percentage points to 93% compared to 91.2% in the previous year.

30. Racist Crime: The volume of racist offences recorded by the MPS in the latest financial year period has fallen by 14.2% or 1,209 crimes.

31. The proportion of female victims of racist crime has stayed at the same rate of 37.3%. The proportion of BME victims of racist crime has risen slightly to 73.4% from 72.1%.

32. The current sanction detection rate for racist crime is 38.1%, a 2.5 percentage point increase from the rate recorded for the same period last year.

33. Homophobic crime: There has been a 10.5% decrease in homophobic crimes recorded between April 2007 and January 2008 when comparing with the same 10 months in 2006-07. This equates to 106 fewer homophobic crimes recorded by the MPS. Data for 2007-08 shows the proportion of victims of homophobic crime who are female remaining stable at 22.3%.

34. The proportion of homophobic victims who are BME has also remained stable at 23%

35. Faith Hate Crime has decreased by 6.7% or 23 offences between April 2007 to January 2008 and April 2006 to January 2007.

36. There has been an increase of 1.4 percentage points in the proportion of female victims of faith hate crime with the 2007-08 rate at 36.1% compared to 34.7% for previous year.

Police officer strength

37. Police officer strength has increased by 1.3% when comparing strength at January 2008 which January 2007. Current police officer strength is 31,257. The percentage of police officers that are female is 21.2% and 8.2% are from BME communities. Targets set for the 2007-8 financial years for female and BME strength were 21% and 8% respectively. Both targets are currently being exceeded.

39. The number of police officers at sergeant and above ranks has increased at a greater rate as overall police officer strength (+1.6% or 132 more officers). Despite the increase, the percentage of male to female officers in this group remains disproportional. There are 16.1% female officers at sergeant and above ranks as a proportion of all female officers compared to 28.8% 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 13.6%. This percentage is significantly disproportional to the percentage of non-BME officers at the same rank, which is 27.2% in January 2008.

Police staff strength

43. Police staff strength has remained at a similar level when comparing January 2008 with January 2007. There was 14,021 staff at the end of January 2008. The proportion of female staff is higher than male staff at 58.6% and 41.4% respectively; where as 23.1% of police staff is from BME communities.

44. PCSO strength has risen by 29.3% year on year with the current strength at 4,119. The percentage of female PCSO strength is 34.8%, where as BME PCSO staff makes up 31.0% of total PCSO strength.

Recruitment

45. The number of police officers joining the MPS has increased by 57% year on year, with 2,211 officers joining in the 10 months to January 2008. This was largely due to a high volume of officers recruited in December and January (418 and 667 respectively). Of those officers joining, 27% were female and 13.6% from Black and Minority Ethnic community. Both proportions were higher than the current police officer strength figures.

46. The number of police staff joining the MPS in the 10 months to January 2008 is 1,128. Of those staff joining, 55.1% were female and 22.7% from Black and Minority Ethnic community.

47. There has been a much higher intake of PCSOs over the last 10 months compared to the previous year, with 1,436 PCSOs joining compared to 1,169 in the comparative period. Of those staff joining, 39.3% were female and 27.1% BME.

Retention

48. Retention rates have remained high, with the overall police officer rate of 95.5%. Female officer retention rate is higher than male officers, with rates of 96.9% and 95.2% respectively. The retention rates for BME officers and non-BME officers are 96.0% and 95.5% respectively.

49. Police staff retention rates are slightly lower, but still remain at a high level. The overall police staff retention rate is 93.2% with female and male retention rates of 93.6% and 92.6% respectively. The retention rate for BME staff is 94.1% and non-BME staff 92.9%.

Stop and Search (PACE only)

50. The number of stop and searches recorded in the 12 months to January 2008 has increased by 16.5% year on year. There is currently 50.2 stop and searches per 1,000 residents recorded in London. The number of stop and searches varies by ethnicity groups. 33.5 stop and searches recorded per 1,000 White population, 141.7 per 1,000 Black population and 51.7 per 1,000 Asian population. Stop and searches recorded for all groups show a year on year increase, with the largest for Asian persons, increasing by 20.0%.

51. The proportion of stop and searches of male persons is 94.8% or 340,743 stops rolling year, with just 18,622 women being stopped and 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 10.7% with a slightly higher arrest rate for Black persons at 12.2%. The overall 12-month rolling year arrest rate currently stands at 11.1% to January 2008.

53. Data for Stop and Search under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act is now published by the MPS on a monthly basis. This data is currently only available for a single month and it was not thought that analysis by diversity groups would be beneficial and statistically robust. Once more Section 44 data becomes available, analysis will be presented in future EODB management information papers.

MPA equality and diversity data

53. Data to March 2008 for the MPA shows that there is a total of 100 staff, of which 48% are female and 45% are BME.

54. The proportion of Women in the top 20% of earners (top 4 MPA grades – SMT, 1, 2 and 3) is 33.3% or 5 people. The proportion of BME staff in the top 20% of earners is 13.3% or 2 people. Both proportions are significantly lower than the proportion of Women and BME staff overall in the MPA.

55. The age range of staff at the MPA is between 24 and 64. The smallest proportion of staff are aged between 60 and 64 at just 4%, where as the highest proportion of staff is aged between 50 and 59, at 31% of all MPA staff.

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(s): Melissa Wagstaff and Gemma Deadman, MPA Planning and Performance Unit

For more information contact:

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

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