Crime Management Best Value Review, implementation plan update

Report: 7
Date: 11 December 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

On 19 September 2002, the Planning, Performance and Review Committee approved an implementation plan for the Crime Management Best Value Review (CMBVR). The progress of implementation has been reported in formal, twice yearly reports.

Prioritisation was given to the establishment of the Central Telephone Investigation Bureau (CTIB), it being the key recommendation of the review. However, at the Finance Committee meeting of 15 September 2003, a recommendation was made to withdraw funding for the CMBVR for the financial year 2004/05, a sum of £6.7 million, as part of the requirement to identify savings of £50 million set by Management Board and endorsed by the earlier Finance Committee meeting of 10 July 2003. A report to this effect was submitted to October’s Planning, Performance and Review Committee meeting.

On 28 October 2003, Management Board agreed that, in the light of the need for budget savings, the preferred option for telephone investigation was borough based bureaux.

This report considers the implications of a borough based as opposed to a centralised function, and in Appendix 1 describes the impact this decision has on the other CMBVR recommendations.

A. Recommendations

That the impact on the implementation of the CMBVR resulting from the requirement to find savings for the financial years 2004/6 be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. The implementation of the CMBVR has been progressed, since the Authority approved the review, by a Project Board chaired by Cmdr John Yates (Commander Crime TP HQ). The Project Board has prioritised the establishment of the Central Telephone Investigation Bureau (CTIB), it being the key recommendation of the review, its potential to provide an enhanced service to the public, financial savings and support for Metcall, when established.

2. Funding has been allocated for the implementation of the review. In the current financial year £1.3million is available and this was set to establish the CTIB. This development would require a further £6.7 million in 2004/05 and £3.5 million in 2005/06.

3. On 15 September 2003, a report was submitted to the Finance Committee (report 7, Medium term financial plan 2004/05 to 2007/08 – interim report). This recommended that in the light of budgetary constraints, the CTIB should not now proceed and that the available finance be used to develop local TIB to support the functioning of the C3i Programme.

4. On 28 October 2003 Management Board approved a paper submitted by Assistant Commissioner Godwin, recommending that, in the absence of funding, the MPS should progress with corporate borough based Telephone Investigation Bureaux (TIB).

5. Territorial Policing is now assessing the standard of service provided by existing TIB and establishing a corporate functionality in preparation for Metcall. This will allow the new Metcall OCU to pass suitable calls to TIB on boroughs according to set criteria and within agreed opening hours.

6. A quality assurance review of existing TIB service has been conducted and will be available by the end of November 2003. This will be used as a benchmark against future service provision.

7. The decision to progress a borough based option for TIB rather than CTIB means that the original implementation plan is no longer relevant to the development of telephone investigation within the MPS. As has been noted, the CTIB was the priority for the CMBVR implementation team. The decision not to progress with it has implications on other recommendations of the CMBVR, some of which were dependent on CTIB development. Others will be progressed as part of Modernising Operations and the development of Integrated Borough Operations. The impact on these recommendations is considered at Appendix 1.

C. Equality and diversity implications

1. The under reporting of crime, in particular by minority ethnic communities and vulnerable groups throughout London, was identified by the CMBVR. The enhancement of internet crime reporting, as part of CTIB development and the utilisation of a language line facility would have directly supported the MPS diversity strategy by providing a positive and responsive police service and by treating individuals and groups according to their needs. The CTIB, through its interfaces with Metcall would have allowed crime reporting by textphone and SMS messaging to facilitate access to the service by people with sensory disabilities.

2. The facilities provided by Metcall to allow people to contact the MPS by means other than a telephone call will still assist vulnerable groups to report an allegation of crime. It is currently not clear, however, that a language line facility can be utilised on the borough based model.

D. Financial implications

1. In the current financial year £1.3million is available for the implementation of the CMBVR. This was set aside to develop the CTIB and obtain the facilities and equipment necessary to allow it to roll out in conjunction with Metcall.

2. In the financial years 2004/05 a further £6.7 million was required and in 2005/06 an additional £3.5 million. This was predominantly for staff costs. This funding has now been withdrawn.

3. The CMBVR identified the potential for significant opportunity cost savings as the result of CTIB development, by reducing the requirement for police officer to attend and record allegations of crime, which were suitable for investigation and recording over the telephone.

4. A significant outcome of the CMBVR has been the expansion in the number of TIB, so that it is now a facility available on all BOCU. In the twelve months ending August 2003, some 274,000 allegations of crime were recorded by TIB. The CMBVR noted that ‘data for the year 2000/01 shows that only 140,000 (approximately 14% of the total) were reported via the TIB’. The number of crimes recorded by TIB has almost doubled in two years.

5. Using the same methodology as the CMBVR (i.e. where a police officer is assigned to record a crime attending the scene and subsequent recording takes one hour whereas TIB staff can investigate three crimes in the same time span) opportunity cost savings in excess of £2 million have been realised by this increase in workload.

6. The existing funding, under the control of the project board, will now be utilised to progress the remaining recommendations, including the provision of twenty four hour support and intelligence to operational police officers, improved service to victims and enhanced telephone investigation functionality.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: John Yates, Commander (Crime) TP HQ, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Crime Management Best Value Review – update on headline recommendations

The CMBVR made a number of recommendations, which, for the purposes of implementation, have been grouped into sixteen ‘headline’ recommendations.

Recommendation 1: A 24-hour central telephone investigation bureau (CTIB) be established, staffed by dedicated civilian operators.

As outlined in the main report, the CTIB will now not be progressed and a BOCU based option developed.

Recommendation 2: A victim focus desk should be established on each borough. A review is undertaken for a central victim focus desk with the establishment of the CTIB.

The original CMBVR recommendation has been extended by Department of Criminal Justice with the aim of improving the service provided to victims within the criminal justice system.

The first victim focus desk was opened on 17 November 2003 at Southwark to provide support to all victims of crime that require assistance, with a rollout programme designed to place a similar focus desk at each BOCU by August 2004. Evaluation will be completed in due course.

Recommendation 3: Improve communication.

The CMBVR identified that the public were uncertain on how best to contact the MPS, specifically when requiring to report a crime, and that information produced by the MPS to clarify this issue should be more comprehensive.

Whilst the CMBVR was aware of the impending changes that the C3i programme would have on communication between Londoners and the MPS, the imminence of Metcall with the changes that it will bring negates any widespread publication of details on how to contact the MPS until the latter part of 2004.

Recommendation 4: A Crime Management System (CMS) is adopted with SOPs throughout the process from initial reporting and investigation to the point where a crime is ‘put away’.

The development of a CMS was the direct result of the creation of the CTIB and the requirement on the part of BOCU to manage the investigation of crime, where required, after initial enquiries made by the CTIB.

Improvements in crime management will be factored into the recommendations on how to enhance the service provided by existing TIB.

Recommendation 5: Civilian investigators be employed in suitable roles within the CMS.

In the light of the work under way by the Department of Criminal Justice to further professionalise the way in which the MPS deals with the prosecution of offenders, case files and liaison with the CPS, there has been no development of the CMBVR recommendation to ‘outsource’ certain functions to neighbourhood watches. However, technology has allowed the further integration of neighbourhood watches into appeals for assistance such as the use of ‘Ringmaster’ on BOCU.

The enhanced use of civil staff has been delayed due to the demands on the MPS to increase its police establishment. However, the increased deployment of Crime Scene Examiners as through ‘Burglary Sole Response’ as opposed to police officers, is being progressed with the potential for better forensic retrieval.

The employment of civilian investigators within the CTIB will now not be progressed.

Recommendation 6: Pre-charge prisoner reception (custody teams) are established with suitably trained staff, operating to appropriate SOPs and supervised from within the CMS.

The creation of Prisoner Processing Teams (PPT) has been progressed by the Investigation strand of the MPS Operational Policing Model (OPM). There is guidance for BOCU to assist in the introduction of PPT to ensure a corporate approach and the realisation of benefits.

The introduction of PPT has also the subject of further development by the Department of Criminal Justice as a result of similar recommendations by the Bringing Offenders to Justice Best Value Review. Called Case Progression Units, they currently exist on four BOCU, with an anticipated roll out across the MPS by July 2004.

Recommendation 7: A training needs analysis (TNA) be undertaken to establish the new level of training required as recommendations are adopted.

As most of the roles requiring a TNA related to the development of CTIB, this work will now not be progressed.

However, work is currently underway to develop the requirements for staff within Integrated Borough Operations, which will provide the 24-hour intelligence provision recommended by the CMBVR when Metcall replaces existing CAD rooms on BOCU.

Recommendation 8: The CRIS refresh project considers improvements to CRIS functionality.

A number of recommendations were made by the CMBVR in relation to improvements to the CRIS system and these were considered in the design of the latest version of CRIS, release 10 (R10), which has been in use since July 2003.

Those recommendations that for technical reasons cannot be resolved, for example the identification of repeat victims, will be considered for future releases of the CRIS system.

Recommendation 9: Improvements to management and auditing practices.

This recommendation has previously been reported on and accepted as completed.

Recommendation 10: Strategies be developed, following consultation, that identify the appropriate response to all crimes taking into consideration the nature of the crime and history of offender.

The investigative strand of the Operational Policing Model is providing an MPS input into the national knowledge mapping of criminal investigation by Centrex at the National Police Training Centre, Bramshill. This will allow for an appropriate response to crime based on experience and good practice, and should in due course assist in the methodical investigation of crime in the TIB. The MPS screening policy was also designed to maximise success and concentrate resources to priority crimes.

Within the Department of Criminal Justice, management information is being developed that identifies areas of good practice to disseminate across the MPS and maximise judicial success.

Recommendation 11: Improvements are made to Crimestoppers.

This recommendation has previously been reported on and accepted as completed.

Recommendation 12: The means of paying CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Sources previously known as informants) be made more efficient and auditable.

The introduction of a credit transfer system has been designed to transfer funds from the centre to outlying authorising officers as recommended by the CMBVR. There has also been progress on the use of the clearing banks as a means of allowing direct payment to CHIS. This is now the norm for new CHIS in circumstances where it is practicable.

Payments made to CHIS against signature and thumbprint is currently being assessed nationally.

Recommendation 13: Improved IT systems, access and partnership for intelligence.

This recommendation is being progressed by the Directorate of Information (DoI) as part of the broader IT strategy of the MPS. Other significant programmes, such as the implementation the National Intelligence Model, has a significant impact on the intelligence processes of the MPS.

The issues raised by the CMBVR have been passed to DoI, and as such the Project Board considers its role complete.

Recommendation 14: Proactive and Tasking Proformas (PATPs) to be redesigned to ensure minimum standards of completion and to include costings and results.

This recommendation has previously been reported on and accepted as completed.

Recommendation 15: A 24-hour BOCU intelligence service is provided either by the Borough Intelligence Unit (BIU) or by the adoption of IT within control rooms.

This recommendation is made more complex due to the transfer of the control room function from BOCU to Metcall, commencing in the latter part of 2004.

It has been identified that the introduction of Metcall will lead to the loss of the intelligence provision currently provided by BOCU control rooms. This will now be addressed by the provision of integrated borough operations (IBO) part of Cmdr Bob Broadhurst’s project team on ‘Modernising Operations’.

The provision of 24-hour intelligence is a key driver for IBO and will be developed in anticipation of Metcall ‘go live’.

Recommendation 16: Implementation of the CMBVR findings is progressed by an implementation team, adhering to recognised project management principles and reporting to a specific project board.

This recommendation has previously been reported on and accepted as completed.

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