Criminal Justice update

Report: 15
Date: 13 October 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. Recommendation

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. WCUs are now in place on each of the 32 boroughs and Heathrow.

2. The national No Witness, No Justice (NWNJ) project requires co-location of MPS and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) WCU staff. Camden Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) became the first collocated BOCU within the MPS in March 2005. The London Prosecution team has been unable to collocate any additional WCUs due to the levels of security clearance of CPS staff. All MPS BOCUs should be collocated 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 resolution as it represents a major threat to the success of the project.

3. The national NWNJ Project Board has agreed a contingency plan for CPS co-location. This entails the CPS staff providing a single point of contact based at their branch to progress any victim or witness issues.

4. The national team have completed their initial reviews on all the MPS WCUs. Findings are generally positive and areas of best practice have emerged. Negotiations with the national team regarding the second ‘sign off’ reviews are underway.

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.

6. The MPS are now piloting ‘Report to Court’ care in four BOCUs. The aim of the pilots is to take back witness/victim care to point of reporting rather than at present at point of charge. The units will test different methods of delivery of the Victims Code of Practice and the Quality of Service commitment and extend the ethos of NWNJ back to point of allegation.

7. The second ‘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. London was not included in the first ‘sweep’ due to contractual issues with MORI.

Statutory charging - CPS lawyers at the point of charge

Delivery

8. The National Team carried out a Final Assurance Check on the shadow charging scheme. The findings were positive and the MPS met all the criteria set for ratification. In November 2004, the statutory charging scheme in London went live.

9. In the MPS, charging stations now have a duty prosecutor available for advice and charging decisions between 9 am – 5 pm and out of hours cover from CPS Direct.

Inspection

10. In July 2005, the National Post Implementation Review of Statutory Charging Arrangements Team visited the MPS. The team were very impressed with the level of progress made since the implementation of statutory charging since November 2004. Benefits were being seen in terms of performance against key indicators.

11. There had been a concerted effort to implement actions identified in the action plan that followed the Final Assurance Check

MPS Identified Areas of good practice

12. The MPS received a positive report and The National Team identified many areas of good/best practice within the MPS. These included:

• A robust supervision process
• Early attachment of officers to CPUs to expand their CJU knowledge.
• Very positive prosecution team approach.
• Duty prosecutors having dedicated days allowing for continuity in consultation.
• Youth cases always bailed to a day when youth-specialised duty prosecutor was available.
• Effective bail management regimes in place.
• Effective joint supervision of MG3 by both the CPS charging administrator and the CPU supervision

Effective Trial Management Programme (ETMP)

13. The Effective Trial Management Programme Frameworks for all twelve Crown Court areas in London have now been authorised by the London Criminal Justice Board.

14. The second edition of the Criminal Case Management Framework has now been distributed and the twelve Local Implementation Teams have been asked to review and amend their frameworks accordingly. It is not anticipated that this will involve a significant amount of work.

15. On 5 September 2005, a meeting of the ETMP Central Team was held where the status of the ETMP processes across the various Crown Court areas was examined and the plans for the Post Implementation Review process discussed. It is envisaged that this process, which includes interviewing practitioners from the various criminal justice agencies, will commence at the end of 2005 and will continue through the early months of 2006. This will have resourcing implications for the criminal justice agencies from whom the members of the Central Team are derived and who will be conducting the review.

16. Each MPS BOCU now has members of staff performing a Case Progression function or role. The first seminar and training day for MPS Case Progression Officers was held at Empress State Building on 23 August 2005. It is intended that a joint MPS/CPS seminar for Case Progression Officers will be held in the near future.

17. A Fast-Track Listing Project is currently taking place on Hounslow and Haringey BOCUs. This scheme aims to list cases for trial at magistrates’ court within 42 days from the date of first appearance. The pilot scheme at Hounslow concludes in October 2005 and the scheme at Haringey in February 2006. Work is underway with the CPS in relation to evaluating the effectiveness of these schemes.

National Strategy for Police Information Services (NSPIS) custody and case preparation

18. The MPA has agreed to commit to the national NSPIS Programme and the MPS has subsequently signed a contract with the supplier of the system applications. Consequently, a procurement strategy has been developed incorporating staged contract awards in order to meet the intended rollout date of summer 2006.

19. In order to ensure that the MPS is prepared for the rollout, a business change manager has been appointed and a business change strategy drafted to ensure that all appropriate business change issues are identified and addressed.

20. It is the intention of the MPS to introduce both NSPIS Custody and Case applications in a single phase, subject to certain conditions being met. These include agreement between the CPS and MPS as to what constitutes an electronic case file ‘fit for purpose’, the transfer process for such files, the agreement amongst CJ partners of common business practices and the integration of the MG Wizard system (currently used by MPS staff) into NSPIS Custody and Case.

21. In October 2005, Version 4 of NSPIS Custody will be launched at Newham. This will allow the MPS to then test the Case system and file exchange between police and the CPS in a live environment in order to identify key issues prior to roll-out, and will also allow the pilot of the use of Custody by FMEs.

Performance

Table 1: Offences Brought to Justice (OBTJ) in London (see supporting material)

22. The above chart shows that London has achieved 159,469 Offences Brought to Justice (OBTJ) during the past 12 months. This confirms that London area is currently above the desired trajectory in order to achieve the 31% target increase for financial year 2005/6.

23. The 2005-2006 target of 160,250 OBTJ will require London to achieve 13,065 OBTJ a month for each of the remaining eight months.

Breakdown of OBTJ

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

24. During the last 12 months (8/04 to 7/05) London’s OBTJ are being accounted, approximately 55% by convictions, with the remaining 45% being comprised of the other five categories.

Sanctioned Detections

25. There is an upward trend in the Sanction Detection rate from 14% (August 2004) to 16.6% (July 2005). Performance year to March 2005 the MPS recorded a rate of 16.6%. However, the Sanction Detection rate fell in July 2005 by 2% (18.6% to 16.6%).

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

Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs)

27. Since January 2005, MPS officers have issued over 1500 for offences of theft, and over 500 for offences of criminal damage.

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

Table 2: Penalty notices for disorder (see supporting material)

Data source Marlow House CJU

Table 3: Penalty notices breakdown by offence type contributing to OBTJ (see supporting material)

Ineffective trials - Magistrates Courts

Table 4: The Chart shows red performance against blue target line.  (see supporting material)

29. The above chart shows London’s performance against the targeted 25% ineffective trial rate for 2005/06. Latest Joint Performance Information Team London information is 27.6% for June 2005. Her Majesty’s Court Service information for July 2005 show a 2.2% improvement with a rate of 25.4% (July 2005).

30. Crown Court ineffective trials for July 2005 was recorded at 18.1%. The terrorist actions in London (7/7/05 and 21/7/05) may have contributed to this, as the previous months performance was 13.6%.

31. The primary emphasis for the MPS and criminal justice partners remains 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

32. The percentage of MPS cases discontinued by the CPS in London in the 12 months to July 2005 has flat lined at approximately 10%.

Persistent Young Offenders

• The national arrest to sentence figure for PYOs for this month was 65 days.
• The average arrest to sentence time for PYO cases in the MPS currently stands at 80 days.
• This is a reduction in the average of 15 days compared with last month.
• This was based upon 151 cases

33. In May 2005, senior MPS and Court staff met to review their commitment to PYOs, focusing on police boroughs processes and the court tracker system. An overarching action from the meeting was to address four key areas:

Conduct a scoping exercise of systems, processes and performance

34. The South West cluster of London was selected as a pilot as being typical of performance in the London region.

Consult and inform police and court staff managers of the pilot with the intention of PYOs being re marketed

35. A short presentation was given on the 28 June at the CJU Managers corporate meeting with supporting e-mails to give a situation report on progress of the pledge.

Establish a PIE steering group for London

36. Emerald are currently in the processes of establishing a one-day workshop which will consist of strategist and tacticians who can help re-shape and guide the way London tackles PYOs.

To provide an up date presentation to police and court managers on developments

37. Police CJU managers will be updated at their next monthly meeting on 16 September. This will include an agreed action plan from the above group to maintain momentum and provide a performance update.

Custody Directorate

Operation Beacon

38. Operation Beacon proposes a fundamental change in the way that custody suites are staffed by providing professional, permanent police staff undertaking custody duties to assist the Custody Officer and freeing up operational sergeants to return to front line policing. Two trial sites have been agreed as Hackney and Westminster.

Cell availability

39. There are currently 53 fully operational designated (section 35 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act) custody suites operated on a full time basis. A further 21 stations are operated on an overflow/specialist operation basis, providing the MPS with a combined total of usable detention spaces of 797 cells and 153 detention rooms. This is an increase of seven cells and two detention rooms since March 2005.

40. An up to date picture of current cell availability continues to be developed by close, well-established working ties with Property Services and Finance and Resource unit. This ensures that usage is controlled and conflicting closures prevented.

41. Wood Green Police Station remains a viable location for consideration into building a large (thirty cell) complex. This project is subject to a paper to the Investment Board, to be submitted in November 2005. The Custody Directorate and Property Services are proposing a long-term strategy to provide borough-based custody facilities based on individual requirement for now and the future.

Bail management

42. The Custody Directorate published the Bail Management Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in August 2005 as part of the existing Custody Policy. This Bail Management SOP has now provided a corporate approach to dealing with persons released on bail. By specifying procedures, it now effectively links the custody process with the crime recording process to ensure that sanction detections are not missed due to administrative errors. It will also provide a robust mechanism for monitoring the number of persons currently on bail for offences and those who fail to return, and will ensure that offences where statutory time limits exist do not expire through inaction. The Bail Management SOP has provoked a lot of interest from other forces in particular Sussex and South Wales.

Custody Forums

43. The London Custody Forum is now established and continues meeting quarterly to bring together key agencies and partners working within the Criminal Justice System in London with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Custody Directorate.

44. Work continues to develop and progress the role of the Independent Custody Visitor. Regular meetings are being established and current work being undertaken includes community reassurance enquiries regarding terrorist detainees being held at Paddington Green.

45. The Custody Directorate are involved in the Independent Custody Visitor (ICV) Programme Board. ICV protocols are currently being devised and the Custody Directorate are providing information to support this process. Continued work to improve Appropriate Adult Services within London and establish a more formal structure continues with the National Appropriate Adult Network (NAAN).

46. The Custody Directorate has undertaken work with Diversity Directorate (DCC4) and established an Independent Guidance Group with members taken from various Independent Advisory Groups. The inaugural meeting will take place in October 2005. Terms of reference are currently being written and will cover the diverse requirements of individuals whilst in police detention.

Custody Standard Operating Procedures

47. The Custody Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were established in December 2004. They were updated in August 2005 (Custody SOP Version 2) to ensure organisational learning from near miss information and deaths in custody across England and Wales.

48. Additional advice has been added to guide MPS staff, particularly in relation to risk management. The Custody Directorate continues to consult internal and external practitioners about custody procedures through the London Custody Forum and Practitioners' Forum. The Safer Detention Working Party was also established in July 2000. This working party brings together multi-skilled strategic partners to progress the issue of detainee safety and will provide a direct link to implement national guidance that is currently being developed.

49. The inaugural Custody Guidance Group meeting will take place in October 2005. This group is made up from central Independent Guidance Group (ICG) members, its purpose being to provide diverse community feedback on custody procedures.

Emerald Warrants Management System (EWMS)

50. As of the 1 September 2005, the MPS has 12,421 outstanding fail to appear (FTA) and bench warrants. This represents a 9.3% reduction since the beginning of the financial year and the MPS is currently on course to meet the reduction target of 20%. In August 2004, it was estimated that the MPS owned 18000 warrants about 27% of the outstanding warrants for England and Wales. The latest figures represent a 31% reduction.

51. The MPS have introduced a London Defendant Attendance Forum and have been examining proposals for a National Enforcement Service and how it could affect London.

52. Halifax V (an Operation relating to the execution of warrants) begins in tandem with Payback3 for a seven-week period beginning Monday 19 September 2005.

CCTV evidence in courts

53. The pilots at Camden, Islington and Waltham Forest Boroughs were started on schedule, and are working well with all staff in place. The few teething problems with equipment have been dealt with. Additionally, Emerald have loaned an AWARE terminal to Camden to enhance the capacity of the Evidential Images Officer (EIO).

54. Talks with the Independent Custody Group (ICG) have gone well and a draft Project Initiation Document has been delivered.

55. Two more Boroughs, Southwark and Lewisham, are willing to adopt EIOs.

56. A pilot training seminar day was held at Empress State Building for EIOs, with ten other practitioners attending. The feedback demonstrated a clear training need in this area.

57. Work continues on the National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies (NCALT) training package, expected in September.

58. Emerald continues to receive enquiries on a raft of CCTV issues, and is acquiring a reputation as a centre of excellence in this field.

Increasing detection rates

59. The Detection Team continues to build on its recent success. The MPS has achieved a current (9 September 2005) Sanctioned Detection Rate of 16.6%, at one stage reaching 16.8%.

60. It has been identified that the Wipe-The-Slate-Clean (TIC) initial success needed invigorating, the scheme has had the publicity and documentation updated and reproduced. All TP Boroughs received a ‘Refreshed Package’ on 7 September 2005.

61. The graph below illustrates the 'upward' trend in the month-on-month TICs obtained, achieved from April 2003 to July 2005.

62. The Detections Team will deliver training in 'Achieving an Increase in Sanctioned Detections' to approximately 300 Station Reception Officers, between 5-15 September. (SROs account for 40% of initial CRIS entries place on the MPS’s system.) It is therefore imperative that staff have an understanding of ‘when and where is it necessary to record a crime’ in line with Home Office Counting Rules. Over-recording of ‘unsolvable and unnecessary crime records’ significantly impact on the MPS Detection Rates.

63. This exercise will be repeated for Telephone Investigation Staff between 26 September and 6 October.

Table 5: Wipe-The-Slate-Clean (TIC)  (see supporting material)

Sanctioned detections for domestic violence and hate crimes

64. A data sheet is attached as Appendix 1.

London Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) update

65. The latest meeting of the LCJB took place on 15 September 2005. The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith attended. The Criminal Case Management Framework was discussed in relation to the vetting of CPS Staff within Police Stations. The Attorney General agreed to look at this issue.

66. The Board received feedback from Bexley and Westminster Boroughs in relation to Court Observers. The Board agreed to look at the best practice and promulgate the process effectively.

67. A Presentation was delivered on the ‘Proceeds of Crime Act’ after which the Board agreed to consider the next steps required to recover the outstanding £70M.

68. The Prime Minister’s Development Unit had examined the process of London Criminal Justice Service (LCJS) and intended to report their findings to the Prime Minister on 13 September 2005, but this was postponed. However, the board agreed to implement a six month action plan based on their findings, which will be led by its new Chair, Andrew Morley.

69. The Victims Code of Practice was discussed and the main agencies agreed they would take it to the national Board before implementing any actions due to tight time frames and no clear action plan.

70. A presentation was made to the Board on ‘Diversity for Justice website’, by Ramesh Kallidal from the Hindu Forum emphasising the diversity portal.

List of abbreviations

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

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

SRO

Station Reception Officer

FME

Force Medical Examiner

TIC

Taken into Consideration

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure

ICG

Independent Custody Group

LCJB

London Criminal Justice Board

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 confidence manager.

D. Financial implications

The finance issues are highlighted in the NSPIS and update.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Benbow, Territorial Policing.

For more information contact:

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

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