Central operations management information

Report: 10
Date: 8 December 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides a summary of Central Operations (CO) performance against key objectives from 1 April 2005 to 30 September 2005. Details of performance can be found at Appendix 1.

A. Recommendation

That members receive the report.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides management information on the Central Operation Command’s performance against its objectives and targets for the period 1 April 2005 to 30 September 2005 inclusive.

2. A continuous process of review and development of performance measurements for Central Operations helps ensure that these pan-London units continue to support the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) mission of making London the safest major city in the world by delivering appropriate support to operational policing, be that at a Neighbourhood level or Operational Command Unit (OCU) level.

3. It should be noted that the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005, together with the further attempted terrorist crimes of 21 July 2005, led to unprecedented demands being placed on the Central Operations Command. Considerable expertise and resources were provided by officers of the command in direct response to these incidents and to the subsequent and ongoing investigations.

4. entral Operations provides operational support to boroughs and OCUs through the provision of specialist policing services. The Together Tasking process has been established and provides Borough Operational Command Units (BOCUs) and OCUs with additional resources to tackle local crime issues. This enables the delivery of proactive operations in a coordinated way to ensure that tactical resources are delivered to the right place at the right time in support of MPS control strategies. These Central Tasks are funded and delivered by Central Operations OCUs and units in addition to their core objectives.

5. Since the Together Tasking process was established in May 2005 Central Operations OCUs and units have performed 510 centrally funded tasks, the majority of which have been in support of BOCUs. Two thirds of these tasks (331) have been in support of robbery/street crime initiatives on boroughs. A further 20% of tasks were in support of gun crime initiatives. Chart 1 of Appendix 2 shows the priorities against which Central Tasks were allocated.

6. Boroughs in receipt of Central Tasking assistance have been those with specific priority crime issues. Chart 2 of Appendix 2 shows the fifteen boroughs in receipt of the most Central Tasks. It can be seen that the top five boroughs (Southwark, Lambeth, Haringey, Newham and Westminster) have received half of all taskings and the top ten (additionally Brent, Wandsworth, Ealing, Waltham Forest and Lewisham) have received three quarters.

7. Chart 3 of Appendix 2 shows utilisation of Central Operations OCUs and units. It can be seen that CO20 Territorial Support Group has delivered one third (175) of all taskings. CO15 Traffic (including Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) operations) has delivered one quarter (140) and CO19 Specialist Firearms on sixth (78). These three OCUs have delivered three quarters of all Central Tasks so far this financial year.

8. The following section provides a summary of Central Operations OCU performance against individual business plan objectives.

9. The Character Enquiries Centre (CEC), part of CO4, Disclosure Service, has significantly underperformed so far this year. The objective “Under responsibility for the disclosure process (Part V of the Police Act), deal with 90% of applications within ten working days” has not been met during any month.

10. In April 2005 the MPS already had a backlog of cases for processing. The computer system for searching lacked both capacity and capability. This was compounded by the fact that the MPS was being sent more checks than it was funded for and the computer processing potential became critical, in that it was only capable of batch searching at one per minute. The search system itself had weaknesses, with the search "failing" on 75% of cases requiring manual intervention.

11. The only realistic solution to process 12,000 applications a week is:

• A properly constructed batch search
• A processing speed of two per minute (three per minute to clear the backlog)

12. Disclosure Service has been working towards these improvements since April with a supply date of August. The solution provided by ATOS was not suitable for the live environment as it processed less than one batch per minute.

13. After further improvements the operational system can now:

• Search at three per minute
• Provides 64,0000 less false traces a week
• Finds 1,000 more correct matches a week
• Has significantly reduced the ad-hoc search requirement
• Has increased operator productivity from 19 cases a day in April to 40 by November
• Will give a realistic average return rate of 18,000 a week (double the previous).

14. This means the risk of the MPS failing to identify an offender is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the Criminal Records Bureau expect, at the current rate, that MPS will be achieving the Service Level Agreement total by the end of December and have a work in progress total in the region of 20K (the rate required to keep the production line turning).

15. Public Order Branch (CO11) objectives include the safe and efficient delivery of public order events. This is measured by the abstraction to Aid rate of borough OCU officers and the amount of Aid sourced from non-borough OCUs. Although rates fluctuate according to the demands placed on the MPS, prior to the terrorist events of 7/7 and the attempts of 21/7 significant headway had been made in bringing borough abstraction rates below target levels (five per cent reduction on the previous year). However, during July abstraction rates significantly increased, not only as a result of demand created by Operation Theseus, but also as a result of the MPS's commitment to police large public order events. Aid sourced from non-BOCUs just meets target levels (2.5%), notwithstanding the unusual demand levels since July. This is a testament to CO11 Public Order planning and the commitment of BOCUs and OCUs to support public order policing.

16. Clubs and Vice financial investigators have identified some three million pounds worth of criminal benefit since April 2005. This is as largely as a result of investigations into vice and pornography. The Street Offences Unit spends significant patrol time on Safer Streets boroughs, in street prostitution enforcement and kerb crawling operations.

17. Traffic OCU (CO15) is largely responsible for delivery against the government’s ten year target to reduce the number of killed and seriously injured road casualties by 40% and 50% for adults and children respectively. Data to date suggest that the projected reduction for 2005/06 is 43% for adults and 54% for children, within target limits. To date there have been 112 fatal and 519 serious collisions. The seriously injured total is likely to rise significantly as records are updated.

18. The OCU is further responsible for making the roads a crime free environment and has enjoyed considerable success in contributing to MPS effort to bring offenders to justice. Traffic OCU has issued over 3,500 fixed penalty notices for both endorsable and non-endorsable offences, made over 500 arrests for notifiable offences and a further one thousand arrests for non-notifiable offences. Total arrest rate per officer, at 2.2 is half that of the MPS overall (4.7).

19. Drink/drive enforcement is currently running at the same level as last year with 525 cases recorded so far, an average of 87 per month.

20. Centralised Traffic Criminal Justice Unit (CO16) continues to provide high quality support to operational units through the processing of traffic offences.

21. The Serious Casework Unit has almost two thousand cases laid at court this year, with a further 4,700 summonses laid. The bulk of cases are processed by the Criminal Justice Unit (CJU), which has laid almost seventeen thousand cases at court, plus an additional 35,600 summonses. Rates remain stable with no discernable trend.

22. Camera deployments are above target rates. Some 73k Automatic Traffic Signal (ATS) offences and 241k speed offences have been detected so far this year, giving a total of 314k camera offences detected. On average there are 77 offences detected per camera deployment (58 ATS and 75 speed). Almost one third of detected offences are discarded. Over half of these offences are discarded for procedural reasons, one third for technical reasons and the remainder (9%) because the statutory time limit for prosecution has been exceeded.

23. CO17 Transport OCU (TOCU) are responsible for ensuring that the public and staff feel safe using the bus infrastructure on agreed routes and corridors and other agreed priority locations. Passenger perception of safety and security on-bus, although remaining relatively high (79%), fell in the second quarter (July to September) and is five percentage points lower on TOCU routes than on non-TOCU routes. A likely explanation for this result is the terrorist attack of 7 July contributing to reduced feelings of safety.

24. Perception of safety at bus stops/shelters remains unchanged at 79%. This is the same rate for both TOCU and non-TOCU routes

25. TOCU are further responsible for ensuring the efficient movement of buses on agreed routes and corridors on the London Bus Network, much of which is facilitated by the work of TOCU's traffic wardens and Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Whilst satisfaction with the reliability of bus services on non-TOCU routes has fallen slightly, satisfaction on TOCU routes has improved by three percentage points in the second quarter. Satisfaction with journey times has fallen four percentage points on TOCU routes (down to 79%), but is at the same level as non-TOCU routes.

26. Observed levels of offending – the issuing of “tickets” on Red Routes has fallen in the second quarter. This is largely as a result of staff shortages for Traffic Wardens and Transport PCSOs. However, the number of penalty charge notices issued per Traffic Warden/Transport PCSO has improved over the last three months, with Traffic Wardens achieving 29 per warden per month and Transport PCSOs achieving 23 per Transport PCSO per month for September. This is the highest rate so far this year.

27. Operational Support OCU (CO18) provides air, marine and dog support to the MPS. The Air Support Unit (ASU) is narrowly missing its target to attend 85% of requests for attendance. The current rate is 83%. ASU has completed 3,500 activities, both pre-planned and spontaneous, on behalf of boroughs at an average of 587 per month. The total for September was 523.

28. The Dog Support Unit (DSU) is exceeding all targets to provide specialist dogs and handlers (explosives, narcotics, narcotics-passive, firearms recovery, dangerous dogs and public order). The DSU has completed 21,586 pre-planned activities on behalf of boroughs so far this year, an average of 3,600 per month. The total for September was 3,873. A further 18,913 spontaneous activities have been completed over the same period, at an average of 3,152 per month (3,169 in September).

29. The Marine Support Unit (MSU) is exceeding response time targets this year with 98% of responses being made within target time. High visibility searches of vulnerable security sites have increased significantly from July, with the target of 407 per month being comfortably exceeded. The MSU continues to provide support to boroughs, with 13,279 pre-planned and 1,381 spontaneous activities completed. Riparian boroughs are the main recipients of MSU activity.

30. Specialist Firearms OCU (CO19) have provided 8,051 Armed Response Vehicles (ARV) responses on behalf of boroughs April to September 2005, averaging 1,340 per month. 80% ARV calls are responded to within twelve minutes, with an average response time of just over eleven minutes. So far, 686 firearms have been seized.

31. Territorial Support Group (CO20) provide considerable resource input to the Together Tasking process whilst sustaining core responsibilities. Part of this responsibility is to maintain an effective response to suspected and actual terrorist incidents by allocating 17% of Territorial Support Group (TSG) resources to counter terrorism. The average for the year to date is 23%. In addition, TSG is committed to providing increased support to BOCUs, with near achievement of target levels.

32. From April to September 2005 TSG has performed 22,050 stops, resulting in 6,956 arrests. 634 of these arrests were for priority offences (robbery/street crime, burglary, vehicle crime). The TSG stop rate is 27 per officer, compared with five per officer for the MPS overall. The TSG arrest rate from stops is 30% compared with 12% for the MPS. TSG performs almost one fifth of all MPS stops and can be credited with almost half of all MPS arrests from stops. These data highlight the tactical effectiveness and efficiency of the TSG as a specialist unit.

33. Significant operations – Operation Absecon. In September 2005, Central Operations ran a coordinated proactive operation in conjunction with the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Brent and Ealing. These boroughs were selected by Territorial Policing as having rises in priority crimes at the time; furthermore, the proximity with Lambeth to Southwark and Ealing with Brent enhanced the logistical process of sharing pan-London resources. During this operation, Central Operations deployed 1,150 officers, with Territorial Policing contributing 1,475. All operational Central Operations OCUs supplied support for this operation. The deployments lasted for one week.

34. Each borough submitted performance objectives for the operation:

• Lambeth: reduce street, crime forensic dockets and outstanding warrants all by 10%
• Southwark: reduce street crime by 3% compared to the same period last year
• Ealing: reduce robbery by 3%; to identify and arrest offenders for the supply of controlled drugs; to reduce anti social behaviour in the controlled zones
• Brent: reduce robbery, burglary and motor vehicle crime all by 10%; execute three search warrants on crack houses; arrest warrant enquiries to result in a 20% arrest rate.

35. Available results show that:

• Lambeth showed a 25% reduction in robbery, 4% reduction in residential burglary, 32% reduction in motor vehicle crime and a 33% reduction in commercial robbery, when compared with the same period last year.
• Southwark showed a 6% reduction in total notifiable offences, the first in twelve weeks. Robbery levels did not increase, whereas the previous week they had risen by 69%.
• Ealing reported that patrols in their crime generator hotspots caused them to disappear during the week. They report limited change in street crime and burglary levels, but the units deployed made 46 arrests for 54 offences including; ten for possession with intent to supply, fifteen for possession and eight wanted on warrant.
• Brent reported a 26% reduction in motor vehicle crime, 24% reduction in violence against the person, 35% reduction in burglary and a 4% reduction in robbery. Six warrants on crime nominals were executed.

36. Over the course of the week 379 arrests were made; 28 of these were for street crime, 22 for burglary, 22 for motor vehicle crime and 25 for violence. Two thousand Section 1 stops and account were conducted.

37. Other significant successes include the arrest of a firearms nominal following an ANPR operation; the recovery of a handgun during the execution of a search warrant in Brent, which in turn led to further arrests and the recovery of a significant amount of stolen property, drugs and cash, and finally, a separate ANPR operation led to the recovery of a sawn off shotgun and ammunition.

38. Post event analysis has highlighted areas of good practice that can be adopted in subsequent tasking, plus areas where improvements could be made when making similar tactical deployments. The general feedback from borough operational Superintendents on the effectiveness of Operation Absecon was extremely positive.

39. Significant operations - Operation Halifax. This is an ongoing operation managed by Project Emerald aimed at targeting and arresting offenders who have failed to appear at court and are attempting to evade justice. By arresting offenders and bringing them before the courts, victims of crime will have increased confidence in the criminal justice system. Offenders are wanted for a range of offences including assault, public order, robbery, motor vehicle crime and traffic offences.

40. Since the current phase of Operation Halifax started on 19 September, 2,500 people have been arrested. Over seven hundred officers from Central Operations and the boroughs of Hackney, Haringey, Newham, Enfield, Waltham Forest, Southwark, Lewisham, Lambeth, Croydon, Greenwich, Wandsworth, Islington, Ealing and City of Westminster worked together in a day-long operation to execute a series of warrants. Eighty wanted offenders on outstanding warrants were arrested on a single morning.

41. Central to the ongoing success of Together Tasking is the continued development of the process itself and a project is under way to review its current value. It is intended that improvements be designed to enhance the process at a strategic level, ensure compliance with the National Intelligence Model and to ensure a greater involvement of MPS resources to meet the problem profiles of OCUs and BOCUs. The proposals seek to change the dynamic between the receivers of MPS tasking resources and those that provide the resources. The current dynamic is that the requesting OCU/BOCU completes a tasking proforma detailing the resources required; the proposal is that an OCU/BOCU present a problem profile and that the taskable resources available consider how they can assist in resolving the particular problems raised. A significant mind set change, which will ensure that all Business Groups are engaged in thinking of how they can assist other Business Groups resolve issues. In effect, there will be a more collaborative problem solving approach to the issues brought to the group.

C. Race and equality impact

1. There are issues of disproportionality arising from the tasking and deployment process that require further examination. One such example would be around the stop and account activity of Territorial Support Group. On the surface it would appear that there is very little disproportionality in the way in which CO20 conducts stop and account activity. The outcomes (or success rates), in terms of arrest rates arising from stop and account activity are very similar for White (29%) and Black and minority ethnic community members (32%) and although greater, proportional to MPS rates. However, on closer examination of the process there is a skewing to both the stop data and the arrest data, with black and minority ethnic communities being over-represented in both sets. The reasons for this are not immediately apparent but may lie in the location, nature and focus of the taskings and more detailed analysis would need to be conducted.

2. A project group to address internal diversity issues has been established within the command and will be looking ways to develop a diversity and equality strategy, working with OCUs to enhance our diversity profile where required.

D. Financial implications

As of 11 November 2005, £1.2 million has been spent from the Together Tasking fund. Further funds have been allocated and it is expected that the full £4m will be spent by the end of the financial year.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Graeme keeling, Senior Analyst, Central Operations HQ

For more information contact:

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

List of abbreviations

• MPA – Metropolitan Police Authority
• MPS – Metropolitan Police Service
• OCU – Operational Command Unit
• BOCU – Borough Operational Command Unit
• TOCU – Transport Operational Command Unit
• ANPR – Automatic Number Plate Reader
• TSG – Territorial Support Group
• CO – Central Operations
• CEC – Character Enquiries Centre
• PCSO – Police and Community Support Officer
• DSU – Dog Support Unit
• MSU – Marine Support Unit
• ASU – Air Support Unit
• ARV – Armed Response Vehicle
• ATS – Automatic Traffic Signal

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