Criminal justice update

Report: 4
Date: 13 February 2006
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 contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

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

1. Contract negotiations between Sunguard Vivista (SGV), Police Information and Technology Organisation (PITO) and the MPS are currently ongoing. A Request For Proposal was issued to SGV on 16 December 2005 and a response was received from SGV on 10 January 2006. The SGV response is currently being reviewed by both PITO and the MPS with contract sign-off targeted for February 2006.

2. Roll out of NSPIS Custody and Case Preparation across the MPS is anticipated to commence in September 2006 and will take account of particular constraints caused by the roll out of C3i across the MPS and that of the new Libra computer system to magistrate’s courts across London. The implementation schedule will aim to minimise the impact on boroughs, taking into account borough specific needs wherever possible.

3. A communications strategy has been developed in support of the NSPIS Custody and Case Preparation roll out plan, and as a first key step Commander Hitchcock briefed all borough commanders on 1 February 2006.

Performance

4. Offences Brought to Justice (OBTJ)

• 167,269 figure achieved in November 2005 against a 2005-6 target of 160,205.

5. Ineffective Trials

• 24.5% figure achieved in November 2005 against a 2005-6 target of 25% for Magistrates Courts.
• 13.5% figure achieved in November 2005 against a 2005-6 target of 16% for Crown Courts

6. Sanction Detections figures

• Overall Sanction Detection rate is currently 23.2%
• 61% increase in Cannabis Warnings (8173 vs 13,162)
• 44% increase in issue of Penalty Notices for Disorder (5331 vs 7678)
• 11% increase in Cautions (19,743 vs 21,990)
• 1% increase in Convictions (59,315 vs 59,927)

7. Offences Taken into Consideration (TICs)

• 18 months April 2003 - Sept 2004 10622
• 14 months October 2004 - Nov 2005 18484

Persistent Young Offender (PYO)

8. PNC Performance Results against the 71-Day Target

MPS Performance is:

• The average arrest to sentence time for PYO cases in this month was 95 days.
• The London Youth Justice Board is looking into ways for cross agency ways of reducing this figure.
• The national arrest to sentence figure for PYOs in this month was 61 days.

Police non attendance at Court

9. Police non-attendance at court has seen a marked improvement during 2005, with a 63% reduction in the recorded reason for ineffective trials - 89 cases January 2005 now down to 33 cases December 2005.

10. Emerald Warrants Management System (EWMS)

• There are currently 10,281 fail to appear (FTA) and Bench warrants outstanding.
• This represents a 24.9% reduction for the financial year.
• A review has taken place of the secure e-mail warrant notification between court and police. Although it is early days, there has been a significant improvement in performance.

11. Operation Halifax VI

• Operation to reduce the number of outstanding forensic (fingerprint and DNA) dockets. Baseline of 3,594
• Operation ran for 8 Weeks.
• Target set at a 10% reduction
• Achieved 18% reduction. 657 dockets cleared.

12. Future Developments

• Version IV of the EWMS to be launched in February 06
• National Enforcement Service project continues to be developed especially in relation to London
• EWMS IT links developed between MPS and the City of London. Anticipated go live date April 2006.

Effective Trial Management Programme

13. Post implementation reviews have been conducted on Inner London and Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court areas. These reviews will be put before the London Criminal Justice Board for sign off. The action plans resulting from these reviews will be implemented by the local teams and overseen by the London Criminal Justice Board. The remaining post implementation reviews will be completed by May 2006.

No Witness, No Justice

14. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ran a successful recruitment campaign for staff to collocate within Witness Care Units. These staff are currently undergoing MPS security clearance procedures and are expected to be placed within Witness Care Units in the coming weeks. The MPS and CPS have carried out additional phase one training for newly recruited Witness Care Officers. Phase Two training for Witness Care Officers will commence in February. In addition, Operation Emerald have arranged for all Witness Care staff to be additionally trained in diversity matters, race and hate related crime, domestic violence and rape crimes. A Witness Care Unit has been set up within the Specialist Crime Directorate to deal with homicide cases.

Victim Code of Practice

15. Operation Emerald continues work to introduce the Victim Code of Practice. A programme board has been established to implement the Code throughout various MPS portfolios. Operation Emerald continues to work on raising awareness throughout the MPS on the obligations of the Code and is producing awareness raising/training briefs.

Project ACORN

16. As highlighted in the Service Improvement Review of Custody Capacity (SIRCC), there is currently a severe shortage of custody cell capacity within the MPS.

17. The Custody Directorate is involved in planning Borough Based Custody Centres. However, this is now a long-term plan, which will take between 2 and 10 years to complete.

18. Project ACORN is considering shorter-term options to address the problem. The project will involve the assessment of custody facilities and retail centres across the MPS to identify any potential areas for additional custody space. Consideration is being given to the use of short term holding rooms/cubicles, as opposed to traditional MPS cells.

19. The additional capacity will allow for an increase in throughput and contribute to reducing the current prisoner processing time. This will allow police officers to return to patrol duties more quickly and in turn provide increased capacity for sanction detections and OBTJs.

20. As regards the retail sector, a potential site has been identified at Selfridges in Oxford Street and we hope to roll this out during 2006. The store has offered a substantial area of space where the Custody Processing facility will be situated.

21. The ACORN Project is consulting with Independent Police Complaints Commission, Independent Custody Visitors, Home Office, MPA, Legal Service, and other stakeholders.

Beacon Project (Custody Modernisation programme)

22. The Beacon Project proposes a fundamental change in the way that custody suites are staffed. The effective deployment of Permanent police staff (Dedicated Detention Officers in the role of custody administrators, Custody Nurses and Forensic Officers) would ensure that the Custody Sergeant is able to concentrate on overseeing and supervising custody processes. The Service Improvement Review supports that the Beacon concept.

23. The model aims to increase the efficiency within the Custody Suite allowing an increase in throughput – leading to officers returning to patrol duties more quickly, reducing the processing time of prisoners and increasing the welfare of detainees. This increase in efficiency will in turn provide increased capacity for increasing sanction detections and OBTJs. The Beacon model is to be piloted Charing Cross where there is already a Custody Nurse team. The role of the Custody nurses will be expanded, taking on some of the roles currently undertaken by Force Medical Examiners (FMEs), who will be closely involved in the process. The pilot will be used to validate the Beacon Model.

Guidance on The Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody.

24. This is an Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) document being produced by The National Centre for Policing Excellence (NCPE). The Custody Directorate has widely consulted and submitted comprehensive feedback to NCPE.

25. Increasing detection rates

• The introduction of the Corporate Emerald ‘Cannabis Warning’ Form 67 has, through political necessity, been delayed. We await guidance from the Home Office following their review of the “Re-Classifying” of that particular substance.
• The Investigation Team have, to date, trained 116 colleagues; the feedback they have received has been outstanding. The continuing Case Progression Unit training, and the differing courses aimed at improving standards of investigation, restart from 16 February 2006, providing training for a further 160 Police Officers.
• The Detections Team have finalised the next round of training aimed at CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) and Borough IBO (Integrated Borough Operations) personnel. The course is role specific to their needs, and focuses on the need to increase our sanctioned detection rate. By the end of this next period of training we project another 750 members of staff will have received the appropriate training.
• Sponsored by Assistant Commissioner Godwin and Stephen Rimmer, a member of the Detections Team together with some borough officers, visited West Midlands (our most similar Family Force) on 16/17 January 2006. West Midlands are currently the “League Leaders” in Sanctioned Detections. Our aim is to garner best practice and report back to the Assistant Commissioner.
• A report has been compiled and will be submitted shortly to Territorial Policing Headquarters (TPHQ) in respect of a pilot proposal for an automated system of issuing Police Notices for Disorder (PNDs).
• Below is a breakdown of the improved performance since the re-focus on achieving sanctioned detections, in line with Narrowing the Justice Gap, through the ethical use of TICs. (Highlighted by the Wipe-The-Slate-Clean)

Offences Taken Into Consideration Detections

26. For the period April 2003 to September 2004 (18 months) and October 2004 to December 2005 (14 months)

• 96% increase in Violence against the person (27 vs 53)
• 600% increase in Sexual Offences (1 vs 7)
• 15.4% increase in Robbery (375 vs 433)
• 43.3% increase in Burglary (6927 vs 9932)
• 134% increase in Theft & Handling (2325 vs 5446)
• 85% increase in Fraud or Forgery (579 vs 1072)
• 376% increase in Criminal Damage (300 vs 1428)
• 17% increase in Drugs (76 vs 89)
• 100% increase in Other notifiable offences (12 vs 24)
• 74% increase in total to date (10622 vs 18484)

London Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) update

27. Performance against targets for London is strong, with the exception of PYOs (A cross agency group headed by YCJB is to address this). Whilst the contribution of convictions to OBTJ is unchanged from 2004-5, this does in fact represent a success given that matters, which would have otherwise been convictions, previously, are now proceeded with by way of PNDs.

28. The targets for 2006-7 are soon to be finalised, headlines are:

• OBTJ 179,483 as compared to 160,205 for this year.
• To reduce Fail to Appear Warrants (FTA) Warrants to 8,500 (currently 10,281). This equates to approximately a 17.5% decrease in addition to the 24.9% already achieved this year.

Next year's targets will be extremely challenging but our strong performance this year places us well in achieving them.

29. LCJB is developing its performance management arrangements to assist in this challenge. In addition, their advisory arrangements are being reviewed.

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. Andrew Moreley of LCJB is developing processes to enhance the role and drive this work forward.

D. Financial implications

The finance issues are highlighted in the NSPIS and update.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Chief Superintendent George Clarke, Territorial Policing

For more information contact:

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

List of abbreviations

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

EWMS

Emerald Warrant Management System

NSPIS

National Strategy for Police Information Services

OBTJ

Offences Bought to Justice

PNDs

Penalty Notices for Disorder

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

FME

Force Medical Examiner

SIRCC

Service Improvement Review of Custody Capacity

PITO 

Police Information and Technology Organisation

TPHQ

Territorial Policing Headquarters

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