Response times

Report: 6
Date: 22 April 2004
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report follows upon that produced by the MPS and presented to the PPRC on 12 February 2004.

It provides information on the MPS emergency response times and examines reasons for varying performance. This report indicates action being taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the MPS in responding to calls from the public.

An index of borough codes is attached at Appendix 1.

A. Recommendations

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. In producing this report data has been used from the period from December 2002 until January 2004. It considers management information from the following areas of performance:

• Telephone demand made upon the MPS.
• Police assessment of the telephone calls received from the public and of the graded response.
• Performance against published targets.
• Other demands possibly impacting upon police response times, namely national demands to provide extra security to central London, corporate demands to reduce the number of police collisions and HR factors.

2. The monthly number of CAD entries for the whole of the MPS (including non-borough units) between December 2002 and January 2004 varied between 50,337 and 60,248. That equates to around 22 extra calls every day for each borough during the highest month. The summer months attracted the highest number of CAD entries with November to January the lowest.

Chart 1: % of immediate response calls within 12 mins (MPS) against total volume of CAD calls - see supporting material

3. The MPS performance in reaching the 12-minute target to arrival on scene at a call graded ‘I’ varied on a monthly basis. The best performing month was December 2002 when the MPS achieved 75.2%. The lowest percentage performance was 69.45% in September 2003.

4. In the same 14-month period performance for individual boroughs in reaching the scene of an immediate call within the 12-minute target varied considerably. The best performances were around 86% (inner boroughs of Westminster and neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea) and worst performing around 60% (outer boroughs).

Chart 2: % of immediate response calls arrived at within 12 minutes, by borough - Dec 02 to Jan 04 - see supporting material

5. Data was also analysed and shows MPS performance in relation to the average response times when dealing with calls graded as requiring an immediate response. The lowest time was recorded at 12min in December 2002 and the highest at 14min in September 2003.

Chart 3: Average response times for immediate calls against total volume of CAD calls - see supporting material

July 2003

6. Similar to performance against the 12-minute target the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea performed best when looking at their average response times to calls graded as requiring an immediate response with a 14-month performance of around an average of 9-minutes. The greatest time was again associated with larger outer boroughs at 17-minutes.

Chart 4: Average response times, by borough Dec 02 to Jan 04 - see supporting material

7. Throughout this period the monthly number of CAD calls recorded on the whole system as requiring an immediate response varied between 15.94% and 16.96%. During that 14-month period there was a clearer divide when comparing those calls graded by boroughs as only requiring an immediate response where the percentages varied between 16.49% and 25.23%.
Other considerations and factors.

Chart 5: % of borough created calls requiring immediate response, by borough Dec 02 to Jan 04 - see supporting material

8. A major commitment by the MPS this year has been to respond to the increased terrorist threat. London’s position as a major capital city has involved greater numbers of police staff being employed on high visibility patrols in Westminster. Figures have shown that the demand upon all boroughs to provide additional officers for high visibility patrols in response to the growing terrorist threat grew between March and May 2003. Two further operations requiring increased police staff were the DSEi exhibition in September 2003 and the State visit of President Bush in November 2003.

9. In addition, the MPS is committed to reduce the number of collisions involving police vehicles. The objective includes increasing public confidence and safety while reducing injuries and financial costs. The recently completed Demand Management Best Value Review indicated a correlation between the numbers of emergency calls attended and police collisions. Data obtained shows that the highest number of police collisions in responding to emergency calls occurred during the summer of 2003. However, there is a marked reduction in the figures when comparing December 2002 and January 2003 with the same period in 2003 and 2004.

Chart 6: Aid requests made of boroughs - see supporting material

Chart 7: Police collisions against MPS 12-minute response performance - see supporting material

9. As the MPS moves towards Metcall centres police staff availability to work in police control rooms has been a factor during the last 18-months. During this period the MPS has recruited an average of 44 Communication Officers a month. The result has been that experienced police officers employed in borough control rooms have been replaced with police staff that are new to the MPS. The new staff do not initially have the knowledge and experience of assessing calls from the public, as those they replaced tended to be the officers with 5-years operational experience.

10. It is felt that this factor has resulted in new police staff lacking the knowledge and confidence to always assess the urgency of an individual call, to or take firm control when directing units to respond. The recently completed Demand Management Best Value review indicated that too many units are being sent to some calls, which impacts upon availability of all units to deliver sustained performance against response targets.

11. It is considered that it takes 12-18 months for a new member of staff to become fully proficient in the Command and Control environment. It is also considered that the new technology within Metcall centres will assist in commanding units, monitoring their activities and thereby assisting in directed dispatch.

12. With regard to the increasing number of probationers that have joined the police service the reality is that they concentrate on learning core operational skills in the first two years. They have limited knowledge of the area they work and concerns for the larger outer boroughs is that probationers unable to drive police vehicles.

Public satisfaction

13. During the December 2002 and January 2004, public satisfaction with regard to police response times has been collated on a quarterly basis. The chart shows satisfaction levels as follows:

Chart 8: Public satisfaction - see supporting material

Findings and conclusions

14. The monthly performance data for December 2002 to January 2004 shows that the MPS performance against the 12-minute target is returning towards the January 2003 level. There was a distinct dip in performance between June and September, which coincided with a peak in the numbers of calls received.

15. There was no correlation between the percentage of CAD calls graded as requiring an immediate response MPS performance in achieving the 12-minute target or attaining a lower average response time. Likewise there appears to be no correlation between the demands upon boroughs to provide non-borough aid and the MPS performance as a whole in achieving the 12-minute target.

16. The best performing boroughs in meeting the 12-minute target and achieving low average times in arriving at the scene of calls were the boroughs of Westminster and neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea. Excluding Westminster, the three best performing boroughs in responding to calls from the public are three of the four smallest London boroughs (square miles).

17. Westminster is a small borough compared with the majority, and is the recipient of much aid in anti-terrorist and security operations. It is reasonable to assume that the increased numbers of officers patrolling Westminster will have a preventative effect.

18. The poorer performing boroughs tend to be the larger non-‘Safer Street’ outer boroughs. Hounslow in particular suffers by its geography in covering a long narrow area between Hammersmith and the Middlesex/Surrey borders. The borough of Bromley covers 58.5 square miles whereas Kensington and Chelsea is 4.6 square miles. As boroughs tackle crime and public safety objectives, the conflict between growing numbers of new recruits not trained to drive response police vehicles impacts upon larger boroughs.

19. It has been identified that an absence of police drivers at a borough level has impacted upon police response times. Particularly the larger outer boroughs. Eight boroughs have indicated that they are 50% below the level of drivers required to meet their demands. Across the MPS it has been identified that there is a need for around 1000 additional borough based drivers.

20. The other key finding is that over the last 18-months the MPS has increased the number of police staff communications officers from 862 to 1458. Staff new to both the organisation and the policing environment, they have generally replaced experienced officers who had been employed in borough control rooms and they do not yet have the experience and technical resources to ensure effectively directed dispatch.

The way forward

21. The key to the MPS improving its response time to emergency calls is as follows:

• Improved call handling technology.
• Increased experience and confidence of staff assessing the calls.
• Enhanced technology to manage and monitor directed dispatch.
• Improved understanding of demand and the causes of demand.

22. In meeting these requirements the MPS is developing new structures, systems and management information. A key commitment is to move towards directed dispatch. Encompassing all specific projects, the MPS is currently developing a demand resolution strategy. Integral to that strategy is a requirement to effectively resolve demand through the best use of resources.

23. The C3i Programme, through its three Metcall centres will deliver a more corporate and consistent response and efficient call handling. It will be a system with the capacity to survive in the long-term and have the ability to resolve calls at the first point of contact with the caller. It will provide more information, assistance and prioritise the directed dispatch of response of police officers. All Metcall centres are in transition to open in the autumn of 2004.

24. The Modernising Operations programme is developing Integrated Borough Operations Offices (IBO) for each borough, which is being delivered in line with the roll out of Metcall centres. The IBO will deliver total borough management through enhanced integrated intelligence and resource management, supported by new technologies. It will embrace aspects of the National Intelligence Model (NIM), make best use of new technologies, develop unprecedented visibility and control of resources, facilitate the step change to ward based policing and provide a seamless interface between BOCU resources and the Metcall service.

25. Leadership and Supervision is an integral part of delivering an improved police service. To help in delivering an improved response to calls from the public Operational Leadership and Supervision Model is being developed. The purpose of the Operational Policing Leadership and Supervision Project is to provide a framework for the Metropolitan Police Service that defines the relative roles of managers within Metcall, the IBO, the Borough senior management team and other operational partners. This clarity is essential to ensure that the roles identified are complimentary rather than conflicting and that there is an effective and transparent transition of accountability throughout the management of operational demands and incidents.

26. With the introduction of Metcall a new resource of a patrol supervisor’s vehicle has been established on boroughs. The patrol supervisor’s vehicle is designed for critical incident management, intrusive supervision at incidents and crime scenes and providing essential assistance to Metcall enabling improved deployments.

27. To assist mangers to manage staff and their skills a new duties management package is being developed, namely Metduties 2. This system will build upon existing duties systems and is intended to allow better monitoring of resource availability.

28. Mobile Data Terminals are also being fitted to each operationally marked vehicle. Dispatchers will have visibility of available resources and allows silent dispatch of non-urgent CAD calls. Importantly it will in the future provide enhanced management information about the deployment of resources.

29. By November 2004 the MPS will be employing 1550 police staff as Communication Officers from a total of 862 on 1 April 2004. These people will be developing new skills and experience to deliver improved deployments in meeting public demand.

30. In support of Priority for Excellence within the MPS Policing 2003/4 the MPS is developing new performance information to monitor average response times. At this time it supports the current target to reach calls graded requiring an immediate response within 12-minutes, although the objective is to move away from speed of response towards total qualitative performance measurements. New performance measures will be introduced to show performance with regard to improved directed dispatch.

31. To address the shortfall of Immediate Response Vehicle drivers on Boroughs we have introduced the Basic Plus scheme, although such drivers cannot respond in emergency mode. It is felt, however, this will allow boroughs to increase their performance against response times. We are seeking to increase driver-training capacity by recruiting more driver trainers in introducing satellite training sites and modular courses. The aim is to increase the number of borough based drivers by 50% to directly impact upon response times.

32. In order to better understand the quality of service being provided to calls from the public the MPS is also working with the Home Office to develop the new Police Performance Assessment Framework. As a result from 1 April 2004, a new crime victim survey will be introduced that asks new questions about MPS service at a borough level. This survey will build upon a public attitude survey already introduced to look at performance at a ward level as part of safer neighbourhoods.

C. Race and equality impact

The purpose of this paper is to propose better service in relation to response times that will serve all of London’s population. As a result no one ethnic group emerges as receiving a better/poorer service.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from this report.

E. Background papers

• Demand Management Best Value Review Final Report 2003.
• Corporate Performance Group Data - Response Time Data, Police Collision Details,
  Public Satisfaction Levels and Metstats Report.
• Public Order Branch Data - Aid requirements placed upon BOCUs.
• C3i Programme Plan.
• Modernising Operations Programme Plan.
• Territorial Police consultation with BOCU's - Driver Requirements.

F. Contact details

Report author: Chief Inspector Steve Wisbey, TPHQ, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

MPS borough codes

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