Criminal justice update

Report: 9
Date: 14 July 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the work being carried out by the Department of Criminal Justice with the ultimate aim of bringing more offences to justice.

A. Recommendations

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Victim and Witness Care

1. Witness Care Units (WCU) were set up to deliver excellent victim and witness care. They currently support victims and witnesses involved in the Criminal Justice process from the point where a defendant has been charged with an offence. Witness Care Units are now in place on each of the 32 Boroughs and Heathrow.

2. The National No Witness, No Justice (NW, NJ) requires collocation of Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) WCU staff. Camden Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) became the first co-located BOCU within the MPS in March 2005. The next site to achieve collocation will be Havering BOCU. This is due to be completed by 4 July 2005. All MPS BOCUs should be co-located by December 2005. At present the London Prosecution Team are in negotiation regarding levels of security clearance for CPS staff to gain access to police premises and computer systems. This issue needs early resolution as it represents a major threat to the success of the project.

3. Site evaluations for Health and Safety and Information Technology (IT) requirements have been carried out.

4. The second phase of the CPS London recruitment campaign for WCU staff has commenced.

5. The Witness Care Managers training package has now been amended in accordance with Operation Emerald staff guidance and will now be delivered nationally. Operation Emerald staff will jointly deliver the training package with national NWNJ staff. This training will take place in July 2005.

6. The London Prosecution Team have secured £230,000 for the National NWNJ Programme Board. This is to conduct two pilots for ‘Report to Court’ in victim and witness cases. The aim of the pilot is to take back witness/victim care to the point of reporting rather than at present at charge. The two pilots will be conducted in Lambeth and Southwark Boroughs.

7. The first ‘sweep’ of victims and witness interviews for the Witness and Victim Experience Survey (WAVES) has now taken place. Results and outcomes are expected in the coming weeks. WCUs are responsible for identifying victims and witnesses to participate in the survey and each WCU will provide the details of 15 victims and 15 witnesses on a monthly basis.

Statutory Charging - CPS Lawyers at the point of charge

8. Best practice, identified during site visits to charging centres, was circulated by Operation Emerald to MPS and CPS colleagues involved in the Statutory Charging Scheme

9. Operation Emerald staff investigated the use of one Unique Reference Number (URN) that would be allocated at the start of each case. The URN would then remain in use throughout the life of the case. Usage of a single URN would allow the CPS/MPS to improve their performance management. Implementation of this system is now being introduced throughout the MPS.

10. The national Statutory Charging project team are currently undertaking Post Implementation Reviews (PIRs). The feedback from the West sector PIR was positive. The South sector and North sector PIRs have been completed by the end of June 2005.

Effective Trial Management Programme

11. The aim of the Effective Trial Management Programme (ETMP) is to reduce the number of ineffective trials by improving case preparation and progression from point of charge to the start of the trial or earlier disposal.

12. Local implementation teams have been established for each of the 12 London Crown Court areas and feeder Magistrates’ Courts. All of the Local Frameworks have been presented to and agreed by the London Criminal Justice Board Executive Secretariat.

13. London has been granted £466,000.00 funding for Prosecution Case Progression Officers. It has been agreed CPS London will receive the funding to enable the CPS to provide a Case Progression function. CPS London is currently appointing Case Progression Officers.

14. Magistrate Courts and Crown Courts are also currently identifying staff to perform the Case Progression role. The MPS have a Case Progression Officer function or role in each of the BOCU CJUs.

15. In addition to ETMP, two BOCUs, Haringey and Hounslow, are piloting a fast track ETMP scheme. The fast track scheme aims to list cases from first appearance at court, to court trial date within 28 days to 42 days. The mechanisms are all in place at Hounslow which went live with the fast track scheme on 29 April 2005. Haringey will go live with the scheme in August 2005.

National Strategy for Police Information Services (NSPIS) Custody and Case Preparation

16. The MPA agreed to commit to the national NSPIS Programme and the MPS has subsequently signed a contract with the supplier of the system applications. Replanning work is underway to define two main strands of work. The first is a procurement strategy; to secure the hardware and data centres needed to house the hardware. The second covers the rollout preparation approach e.g. strategies for business change, implementation, training, business benefits and communications.

17. An approach plan is being formulated in consultation with the Custody Directorate to define the custody suite refurbishment work needed to accommodate the NSPIS Custody application workstations and peripherals. A custody site survey has been completed, so the scope of work is known. The plans are now taking into account the current Custody Directorate initiatives, which are expected to directly impact on the operation of the NSPIS Custody system.

18. A team has been set up to manage the NSPIS software technical upgrade from version 2 to version 4 at Newham. Upgrades are currently taking place on the test and training systems, to be followed by a period of security checking and acceptance testing. Once the testing is reviewed and signed off, the upgrade will be applied to the live Newham system at a suitable time around operational constraints.

Performance

Offences Brought to Justice (OBTJ) in London

19. In the last week, the Home Office has reviewed and agreed London's OBTJ performance for year ending 31 March 2005. London achieved a total of 150,959 against a target of 138,373.

20. The 2005-06 target of 160,250 OBTJ will require London to achieve 13,333 OBTJ a month. The OBTJ total for April 2005 of 12,807 falls slightly below this target figure but indications are that the Sanction Detections (a key indicator of likely OBTJ performance) for May have shown a significant improvement.

Figure 1: Offences brought to justice London:

View a larger version of figure 1

Sanctioned Detections

21. There is an upward trend in the Sanction Detection rate from 11% (April 2004) to 17% (March 2005). Performance year to March 2005 the MPS recorded a rate of 14.6%.

22. The latest data available for performance year 2005/6 (to 8 May 2005) shows the MPS Sanctioned Detection rate at 16.4% against a target rate of 16.6%.

Breakdown of OBTJ

23. OBTJ is comprised of six categories of case disposal:

• Convictions
• Cautions (including reprimands and final warnings for young offenders)
• Offences taken into consideration by a court
• Cannabis formal warnings
• PNDs issued for offences of Theft, Criminal Damage, and Section 5 Public Order Act.
• TICs (Taken into Considerations)

24. Currently, approximately 58% of London’s OBTJ is accounted for by convictions, with the remaining 42% being comprised of the other five categories.

Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs)

25. Since the introduction of PNDs for offences of theft (retail) and criminal damage in November 2004, there has been a steady increase in their use. Since January 2005, MPS officers have issued over 1000 for offences of theft, and over 300 for offences of criminal damage.

26. The following charts show the quantity of Penalty Notices for Disorder issued per month and what is the OBTJ contribution.

Figure 2: Penalty notices for disorder

View a larger version of figure 2

Penalty notices breakdown by offence type contributing to OBTJ

Figure 3: Penalty notices for disorder (by offence type)

View a larger version of figure 3

Ineffective Trials - Magistrates Courts

27. The Chart shows red performance against blue target line.

Figure 4: Magistrates court % of ineffective trials

View a larger version of figure 4

28. London achieved its target of 25% during April 2005.

29. Crown Courts are currently within the 16% target for ineffective trials, and primary emphasis for the MPS and criminal justice partners is on reducing the magistrate’s courts ineffective trials rate as these courts account for the large majority of ineffective trials across London.

Discontinuances of MPS Cases

30. The percentage of MPS cases discontinued by the CPS in London in the 12 months to May 2005 was 10.3% (target 10%). In the three months to May 2005, the percentage was 10.2%, and the rate in April and May was 9.8% and 9.6% respectively.

Persistent Young Offenders

31. The latest information available from the Department for Constitutional Affairs is for March 2005. London results are:

• MPS Arrest to Sentence – 89.5 days. Ten cases caused the MPS to miss the 71-day target.
• The MPS has 59.7% of its Magistrates Court cases being dealt within 60 days.
• The Crown Court average is 244.3 days for the thirteen cases. This is 26.6 days increase against February 2005.

Custody Directorate

32. The Custody Directorate was formed in November 2004, concentrating on three main areas:

• New build for Custody
• Re-opening closed cells
• Improved processes

Operation Beacon.

33. This project aims to introduce new and radically improved custody systems (into pilot MPS boroughs) in order to ascertain if efficiency gains can be achieved if rolled out across the whole MPS. This will address areas of efficiency around how and who conducts the initial booking in process, the introduction of nurses to support the care to detainees, reduce the risk of a death in custody, and provide a higher public confidence agenda to the community. Additional elements will potentially include better use of forensic services and case progression units to link into securing more sanction detections, increase in through put by making the process quicker.

34. Pilot sites being discussed at the present time are Islington, Stoke Newington, Westminster (to better utilise and improve on the service provided by the nurses employed by the MPS) and Redbridge/Havering. A business case has been submitted for the funding of this project and we are currently awaiting a response to this paper.

Cell availability

35. An assessment of available cell capacity at that time revealed that there were 894 cells available for use across the MPS. Since that time the Directorate, in conjunction with Property Services Directorate, has managed to raise that capacity to 937. This figure includes those cells that are temporarily out of use for repairs and Safer Cells Works.

Police bail

36. A new policy and procedure for ‘police bail’ has been formulated and distributed by the Custody Directorate. It is anticipated that this will have a positive contribution to achieving additional sanction detections and offences brought to justice. The purpose is to enable the MPS to monitor, manage and improve poor or ineffective performance through active interventions, further aiming to resolve outstanding cases with results and to focus on positive outcomes and raising performance. The launch of this policy was on 6 July 2005 at New Scotland Yard.

Custody Forums

37. The Custody Directorate has established a number of new forums. They include the London Custody Forum with John May as the current MPA representative.

38. The Safer Detention Working Party (formally called the Death in Custody Working Party) has been re formulated and now comes under the chair and guidance of Commander Hitchcock.

39. The Custody Estate Programme Board, chaired by Superintendent Morgan and involving the Directorate of Property Services, is making selection decisions around suitable properties for identifying and securing properties for new builds, such as the proposed new cluster sites at Wood Green and Merton. A custody complex at Carey Way in support of the new Wembley stadium has also been agreed.

40. A Custody Practitioners’ Group has also been formed to seek out views and ideas for new ways of working, to test and consult potential change in policy and to form at grass roots level consultation processes.

Custody Standard Operating Procedures

41. The Custody Standing Operating procedures (SOP) was established in December 2004 and ratified in January 2005. However, it is acknowledged that further work is required to be completed around monitoring the disproportionality and compliance aspects to ensure that the benefits stated in the policy are being addressed and achieved. To this end, an internal workshop is being held (22 July 2005) by the Custody Directorate and policy-clearing house to establish safeguards and structures to ensure that this objective is achieved.

Emerald Warrants Management System (EWMS)

42. As of 23 June 2005, the MPS had 13,237 outstanding fail to appear warrants.

43. Since the introduction of the EWMS in November 2004, the MPS have executed 12,870 fail to appear warrants and applied for 4,908 to be withdrawn. The table below outlines MPS warrant activity for the period between November 2004 to April 2005.

* Note Back record conversion took place.

44. Operation Emerald is working in partnership with other Criminal Justice agencies in order to improve existing warrant processes, increase the number of offenders brought to justice and ensure that new criminal justice targets are met.

45. Liaison with Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the OCJR is ongoing to evaluate the national process for warrants within both the police service and the Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS). From October 2005, the courts will retain the paper copy of the warrant and will notify police of issued warrants via email, which will significantly improve efficiency and allow the police to target individuals more quickly.

CCTV evidence in courts

46. The London Criminal Justice Board have approved a project to research and develop this, the MPS having identified that the wide-ranging and increased use of CCTV evidence in London in the criminal justice process may be causing delays and contributing to ineffective trials and attrition.

47. Waltham Forest Magistrates Court, Highbury Corner Magistrates Court and Snaresbrook Crown Court are being equipped to run a trial beginning 22 July 2005, along with the three Boroughs that feed into these.

48. Each Borough will have an Evidential Image Officer (EIO) whose role will be to ensure that the CCTV images received in the courts is of the highest available quality.

49. Where possible the use of the image in its original format will be used, however if required it will be transferred to VHS. There is no standard format that can be adopted due to the complexities of the systems being used.

50. The next meeting of the Project Board is set for 15 July 2005 where all the stakeholders will be represented. These include the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, the Home Office, legal advisors from the Crown Prosecution Service and Defence, the Government Office for London, the Association of London Government, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, and MPS Video Laboratory Services.

51. Commander Hitchcock is the ACPO lead for the MPS, Detective Chief Superintendent Benbow is the Chief Executive and Police Sergeant Steve Hubbard the Project Manager.

Increasing Detection Rates

52. A Detections Team has been set up at Operation Emerald. It has devised an action plan to enhance performance. This has included the ‘Wipe the Slate Clean’ initiative in relation to offences taken into consideration, better use of penalty notices for disorder and housekeeping measures to increase detections. The latest sanction detection figure is 16.4% (12 June 2005); this represents the highest-level increase that the MPS has achieved since the Home Office rules changed in 1997/98.

London Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) update

53. The LCJB held their last meeting on 16 June 2005. The main topic of discussion was the Prime Ministers Delivery Unit (PMDU) and Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) joint review into the capacity of London’s criminal justice system. The team’s findings were:

• Despite greatly improved performance in 2004/5, for ineffective trials in magistrates’ courts and most other indicators performance remains significantly lower than elsewhere in the country.
• The time lag in bringing cases to court should be reduced by managing current capacity better, and listing cases differently.
• Prisoner delivery should be more actively performance managed.
• The provision of probation reports to court should be speeded up.
• The attention paid to performance should be increased by agencies, Borough Criminal Justice Groups and the London Criminal Justice Board.
• There should be more cross-agency working at the sub-regional level (within London), and serious consideration should be given to aligning agency boundaries at the sub-regional level, as in the rest of the country.
• Cross-CJS governance arrangements and the support available to Borough groups should be strengthened.
• Urgent work is required to understand current and future capacity better, within individual agencies and across the CJS.
• By the end of this spending review period (2007-8) London should be performing close to the average of the other Metropolitan Areas (Most Similar Forces), on a range of CJS indicators.

It was agreed by the LCJB to accept the report, and its recommendations, and to form a small team to write and co-ordinate the implementation of the plan. It was recognised that it would require the support of the judiciary for this to succeed. The chair has met with OCJR and has secured extra funding for the LCJB performance team.

55. Other issues

• Support for the ‘report to court’ concept of witness care;
• Urgent work is being undertaken by Emerald and performance team to improve the Persistent Young Offender (PYO) pledge
• Independent Advisory Group (IAG) members will now be paid for attendance at meetings and to give presentations on behalf of the LCJB
• A review to be undertaken to assess most effective way of holding Borough Criminal Justice Groups (BCJG) to account for their performance.

C. Race and equality impact

It is acknowledged that there is a variation in confidence in the criminal justice system across black and minority ethnic communities/people. In order to address this the London Criminal Justice Board have set up an Independent Advisory Group to look at the issues and how confidence can be improved. They are also considering employing a full time evidential advisor.

D. Financial implications

The finance issues are highlighted in the NSPIS and update.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report authors: Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Benbow, Territorial Policing

For more information contact:

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

List of abbreviations

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

NWNJ

No Witness No Justice

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

EWMS

Emerald Warrant Management System

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

WCU

Witness Care Unit

WAVES

Witness and Victim Experience Survey

NSPIS

National Strategy for Police Information Services

ETMP

Effective Trial Management Programme

OBTJ 

Offences Bought to Justice

CJU

Criminal Justice Unit

PNDs

Penalty Notices for Disorder

CCTV

Closed Circuit Television.

ICVA

Independent Custody Visitors Association

MPD

Metropolitan Police District

IAG

Independent Advisory Group

PYO

Persistent Young Offender

URN 

Unique Reference Number

PIR

Post Implementation Review

LCJB

London Criminal Justice Board

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