Specialist Crime Directorate management information

Report: 10
Date: 8 June 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report gives a summary of Specialist Crime Directorate’s performance against their key objectives from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides management information on Specialist Crime Directorate’s (SCD) performance against its objectives for the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 inclusive. The data has been reconciled by the Performance Directorate and should match the information contained in the corporate report’s submission.

2. The report gives brief commentary on performance against the Directorate’s key objectives and core performance indicators. It comments on the performance data provided and any difficulties in achieving the agreed targets.

3. A summary of the key points for members are as follows:

Disruptions to criminal networks

Objective of disrupting 50 criminal networks exceeded.

4. There were 115 confirmed disruptions of criminal networks. This has exceeded the target of 50 by 65 or 130%. These have been the subject to a robust and auditable claim verification process. Disruptions were also claimed by other business groups, notably Territorial Policing and Specialist Operations. The final figure reached from last year exceeds the target set for this financial year. The target was agreed prior to an unexpected surge of claims from around the organisation. Originally we were forecasting to reach 80 disruptions. These were presented to the panel, some arriving after the end of year reporting date. The target is being reviewed and a revised number is likely to presented to the Authority for approval in the very near future.

Criminal asset recovery

Target for criminal assets recovery exceeded.

5. The target for value of assets identified by Court order for seizure was exceeded. The total was £35.2m, which exceeded the target by £30m. The Proceeds of Crime Act Implementation team are developing tactics to ensure that across the organisation officers are engaged and maximising opportunities from this powerful legislation. Apart from increasing awareness levels, it is intended to have a Financial Investigation Unit in every Borough.

Child & intra familial abuse offences

Detection rate of 58% achieved, 8% above target.
Reported cases down by 1,179.

6. Of the 8,033 offences investigated involving intra-familial abuse by the Child Abuse Investigation Command, 4,663 were detected. This provides a detection rate of 58%, which is 8% above target. This is an improvement on the same reporting period last financial year where there were 1,179 more offences and 61 more detections (9,212/4,724). That gave a comparable detection rate of 51.3%.

7. During April 2006, there were 605 offences with 86 sanction detections (14.2% SD rate). This compares with same reporting month last year where there were more offences and detections (694/106 – 15.3 SD rate).

Gun enabled crime

Increase of 4.2% compared with objective to achieve a 4% decrease.
Sanction detection rate exceeded.

8. After a sustained period of steady decline in the number of gun enabled crime offences, this year saw a reverse in that trend. There has been an increase of 154 or 4.2% in gun enabled crime offences recorded. Part of this is attributed to an increasing prevalence of chaotic offending, predominately by youths who through the increased availability of firearms are carrying and using them like a fashion accessory, rather than more organised offenders. For instance, almost half of the accused for Trident related homicides were under the age of eighteen.

9. There were 3,807 offences compared with 3,653 for the same period last financial year. SCD had responsibility for the investigation of 27.6% (1,052) of the offences committed in this crime category. Southwark Borough had the most gun enabled crime offences with 280 recorded (Southwark last year with 259 offences). Sutton Borough had least reported with 43 offences (Richmond-upon-Thames last year with 20 offences). Eleven Boroughs accounted for 57% of recorded offences.

10. The overall MPS gun enabled crime detection rate was 24.8%. The number of detections increased to 943 detections. SCD detected 34.6% of the offences they investigated (target 20%). Of these 338 were sanction detections providing a rate of 32%. The MPS sanction detection rate achieved was 21% against a target of 20%.

11. There were 266 Trident offences, an increase of 65 (32%) on last year. Fatal shootings reduced from 16 to 15 offences. Fifteen murders by firearms were detected giving a 100% detection rate. Hackney Borough recorded the most Trident related offences with 48 or 18% of overall total (Brent Borough highest last year with 29). Eleven Boroughs accounted for 219 or 82% of offences. Nine Boroughs did not record any Trident related offences, three more than the previous year.

12. For Trident non-fatal shootings, a sanction detection rate of 22.7% was achieved. Of 251 offences, 73 were detected (57 of these were sanction detections). This compares with a sanctioned detection rate of 24.3% (185 offences/46 overall detections) last year. Offences increased by 66 or 35.6%, though detections increased by 27 or 58%.

13. Trafalgar’s non-fatal shootings achieved a sanction detection rate of 31.5%. Of 92 offences, 32 were detected (29 of these were sanction detections). This compares with last year’s sanction detection rate of 36.1% (61 offences/25 overall detections). Offences have increased by 31 or 50.8% and detections increased by seven or 28%. Waltham Forest Borough recorded the highest number of offences with 10. Five Boroughs did not have a Trafalgar related shooting this financial year.

14. To assist in combating the overall rise the MPS-wide Gun Crime Tactical Delivery Unit is now operational. This is jointly staffed with TP Violent Crime Directorate staff. By working together and focusing efforts in delivering the Gun Crime Strategy, the benefits should quickly become apparent. One area of responsibility includes increasing investigative opportunities by monitoring and researching all firearms seized.

15. The first month of the new financial year has seen a decrease of 104 or 28.8% in the overall number of gun enabled crime offences (down from 360 to 256). Offences have decreased in nine of the eleven hotspots boroughs. The highest fall has occurred in Haringey where the figure has fallen 63% from 44 to 16 offences.

16. Gun enabled crimes investigated by SCD in April similarly have decreased. Trident offences are down by 19, from 31 to 12, though fatal shootings increased from 1 to 4. Trafalgar offences reduced from 12 to 7 and commercial robberies with firearms fell from 56 to 44 offences.

Gun enabled robbery

Sanction detection rate increased to 36% from 31.5%.
Increase in offences of 5.6%.

17. The Serious and Organised Crime OCU investigated 597 commercial robbery offences using firearms. Of these 219 were detected, (215 of these were sanction detections providing a rate of 36%). This compares with a sanction detection rate of 31.5% (565 offences/197 overall detections) for same period last year. Offences increased by 32 or 5.6% and detections increased by 22 or 11%. Lambeth Borough had the highest number of offences with 50. (Havering last year with 45 offences). Sutton had the lowest number of offences with one. During 2005/6 74% of the offences committed in Lambeth borough were to the detriment of ‘other types of commercial premises’ which includes venues such as newsagents, off licences, convenience stores and petrol stations. This borough had a number of link series operations, which also had links with TP offences. For example, Barnes Flying Squad investigated a series of 17 commercial robberies against other commercial premises in Lambeth and Croydon boroughs between October and December 2005. The offences were divided into gun-enabled (SCD7) and non-gun-enabled (TP) offences. Four suspects were later arrested. Their profiles revealed that they all either had previous convictions or were suspected of robbery of the person or theft. This included using balaclavas and a firearm when committing these other offences. Interestingly this was the same modus operandi as the gun-enabled SCD7 commercial robberies. During 2004/5 Havering Borough experienced offences mainly against betting shops and ‘other types of commercial premises’. A number of linked series operations occurred throughout the year and were brought to a successful conclusion with offenders being arrested and charged by Barking Flying Squad. This has had a significant impact within the community and has subsequently deterred other offenders from committing robberies within the borough.

18. The rise in commercial robberies by firearms appeared to be focused on softer targets such as corner shops, convenience stores and fast food outlets. To counter this, the Flying Squad continues to develop their partnership approach. Working closely with boroughs and the industry to analyse intelligence, combat trends, and target gun crime hotspots. The implementation of the Raid Control initiative through Crime Prevention Officers continues to raise security standards in retail premises. The aim is to reduce the potential for repeat victimisation and the scheme is being introduced in further OCUs to try to combat commercial robbery. Improved training and use of intelligence via the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, target hardening will help prevent and detect these robberies.

Homicide

Detection rate of 91% against target of 85%.
Twenty fewer homicides.

19. The homicide detection rate target of 85% was exceeded for the second year with an overall rate of 90.9%. There were 175 homicide offences with 159 detections (195 offences/179 detections last year). Of these 139 have been detected since the start of financial year (April 2005) and provides an in-year detection rate of 79.4%. There were 20 detections of pre-financial year homicides.

20. There were 20 fewer homicides than compared with same reporting period last financial year. This is equivalent to a 10% reduction. The figures include the thirteen victims from the bomb explosion on the bus on 7 July 2005. The victims from the underground explosion were reported to British Transport Police.

21. Newham Borough had the highest number of homicides (excluding terrorist incident) with 13 offences. Two Boroughs, Tower Hamlets and Sutton, did not have a homicide reported this financial year.

22. Trident Major Investigation Teams detected 15 homicide offences six of these were offences reported in the previous financial year. The remaining nine offences remain under investigation. That provides an in-year detection rate of 60% compared with a 100% detection rate allowed by the Home Office rules. Offences reduced by one and detections increased by five.

23. Child Abuse Investigation Command’s Major Investigations Teams investigated five homicide offences. There were six detections; this figure includes the detection of an offence reported in the previous financial year.

24. There is great pride in this year’s homicide performance. Exceeding the detection rate target for two consecutive years demonstrates the effort, skills, professionalism and commitment of all staff in the Homicide Command. Notwithstanding, the command remains committed to enhancing its delivery of services across London and has restructured as part of the MPS Modernisation Programme, from three geographic commands to one Homicide and Serious Crime Command. This new structure will provide a more flexible response across the whole MPS area and we continue to work with BOCUs and other external partners to seek opportunity for further reductions.

25. It is difficult to attribute the success in reducing homicide to any specific intervention or activity but there are clear indications that the BOCU response to domestic violence and better identification of risk have been significant factors in raising awareness and early intervention by police and partners to reduce opportunity for an escalation of violence. The Homicide and Serious Crime Command looks forward to increasing this work through its relationship with the newly formed Violence Command. As part of this change, SCD has agreed to transfer the Homicide Prevention Unit assets to work directly with violence prevention in the new command.

26. The new financial year start has proved to be a testing time for the newly formed command, with 18 homicides reported in April. The complexity of these offences has been high and the support of many other elements of SCD continues to be vital to the overall approach. This includes the support of the SCD 7 Projects Team and the covert policing assets of SCD 10 and 11. Ten of the 18 offences have been detected and work continues on the more complex cases. Undoubtedly, the new structure has allowed a more effective pooling of resources to meet these challenges. There has been overwhelming support from both police officers and police staff to ensure that homicide investigation continues to be delivered to a high standard across the whole of London.

Operational successes

27. A selection of significant operational successes is highlighted below. They all have tended to involve working in partnership with either other MPS Units or external agencies.

28. Homicide: Four people were sentenced to a total of 44 years imprisonment for assault, robbery and homicide. They appeared for sentencing following their conviction for manslaughter and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm last year. Together they attacked eight victims during an extended assault involving five incidents. Their victims were punched, kicked and stamped upon. A 37-year-old bar manager and his friend were sitting on a bench when the gang attacked them knocking both to the ground and punching and kicking them. Their pockets were searched and a mobile phone was stolen. The assault then continued. London Ambulance Service took the victim to hospital where he was operated on but died later in intensive care. An extensive investigation by Homicide South, uncovered a raft of evidence to support the prosecutions. CCTV footage showed the gang gathered in Kennington before proceeding to the Waterloo area. Their route followed the path of the incidents at times consistent with the attack.

29. Kidnap: Four men and a woman appeared at Magistrates’ Court, charged with the kidnap of a 10-year old boy after an operation led by our Kidnap Unit in February. The boy was rescued. Three of the men, two Americans and a Trinidad and Tobago national living in New York, have been charged with kidnap, two counts of false imprisonment, blackmail, possession of a firearm whilst committing an indictable offence and aggravated burglary. The other man and woman, both British nationals from Clapham, have been charged with kidnap, false imprisonment and blackmail.

30. Paedophilia: A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. Two hard drives were seized and conveyed to a laboratory for forensic examination, 13 indecent images were found. He was further interviewed, where he admitted downloading the images and was later charged with 16 offences of making indecent images of children. He was sentenced at Crown Court to 14 months’ imprisonment.

31. Organised crime: Officers from Operation Grafton and Thames Valley Police carried out an operation, which resulted in the arrest of five individuals near Heathrow. The suspects travelled to a local farm where they were seen to load a lorry with property taken from an outbuilding. Police entered the premises and arrested five individuals who were in the process of loading a consignment of products into the lorry. A further search of the farm resulted in the recovery of a quantity of class ‘C’ drugs and a substantial amount of electrical goods, including audio equipment and accessories. Many of the items recovered had airfreight markings. A further two men were arrested nearby on suspicion of involvement in a plan to steal or dishonestly handle the recovered property. The value of stole goods recovered is estimated to be £1.8m.

32. Drugs network: Fourteen people have been sentenced to over 178 years' imprisonment after police smashed a major international crack cocaine and money laundering operation. Working under the name of the 'Bling Bling Gang', the defendants were jailed following an extensive two-year investigation called Operation Bella Vista. In total, 65 members of the gang have been convicted around the world. Detectives from Covert Policing worked closely with police officers from the French National Drugs Squad in Paris and the Drug Enforcement Agency in USA. Together they disrupted the global conspiracy to smuggle cocaine paste and cocaine liquid from the Caribbean into the US, Canada, Europe and London. Once the drugs arrived in the UK in their raw form, they were manufactured into crack cocaine. This was all produced at a small terraced residential property in Newham. When officers raided the premises, they uncovered in excess of £1m worth of crack cocaine in pizza style pans cut and ready for distribution to their customer network. An average importation by the gang consisted of approximately 2-10 kilos of cocaine at levels of purity that would produce on average street value £1m per importation for the conspirators. The gangs are believed to have imported at least £48m of the cocaine into Britain. They used mainly women couriers; often single mothers or drug addicts, to act as drug mules. Detectives, under the Proceeds of Crime Act restrained £6m of financial assets.

33. Conspiracy to defraud: Six men were sentenced to a total of 25 years imprisonment following a long and complex investigation by officers from the Economic and Specialist Crime OCU. They conspired together to defraud motor insurance companies by making false claims. The 14-week trial concluded with guilty verdicts. All six charged with defrauding insurance companies by falsely claiming that they had been involved in road traffic accidents with a view to obtaining payments to which they were not entitled. Two defendants were also found guilty of money laundering, having laundered the proceeds of their criminal conduct, resulting from their false motor insurance claims. These funds were concealed within bank accounts under the names of third parties, and were then used to fund the purchase of a number of properties. The case involved 165 fictitious accidents, and is estimated to have cost the insurance industry approximately £1.5m.

34. Gun crime: Officers from Trident/Trafalgar’s Central Proactive team were deployed in Camden in relation to a gun crime operation, when two local men walked down the road and tried to gain entry to a basement flat. The team leapt into action and after a short chase arrested the pair, who since been charged with going equipped to burgle. Moments later, two other officers from the same team, deployed on surveillance in the same vicinity, but in another street, witnessed a man climb up to the first floor of two separate premises in an effort to gain entry. They summoned local borough colleagues and the man was arrested for two attempted burglaries. Later, the same team deployed yet again, on the same operation, arrested the subject, who was wanted for attempted murder (shooting).

35. Public sector fraud: A two-year investigation by the Economic and Specialist Crime Unit and the National Health Service Counter Fraud Service into the largest payroll fraud in the history of the NHS led to the conviction of five people. One defendant was the former manager of the Health Bank at a NHS Trust and was responsible for overseeing the weekly payroll. She invented ten ‘ghost’ employees on the payroll who undertook no work. With help, she authorised wage payments of up to £585k to nominated accounts controlled by other defendants who then paid her a cut of the money. The Trust has undertaken their own proceedings before the High Court to recover the monies lost in this fraud.

Developmental initiatives and recognition

36. The following are examples of developmental initiatives and external recognition:

37. Detective development: The Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Crime (ACSC) launched the first academic qualification dedicated solely to the investigation of crime. The Crime Academy, in partnership with the University of Westminster, has developed the Crime Academy Foundation Degree in Crime Investigation. The first intake of 18 trainee detectives started the programme in March. The Crime Academy formally contracted the University of Westminster in 2004 as partners to develop this degree programme. The qualification links, for the first time, the external accreditation of detective training, assessment of a student’s ability as a crime investigator, campus-based learning and research.

38. Diversity: The Directorate held an event to raise awareness of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues in the workplace. It was attended by staff across the Directorate and other areas of the MPS including staff associations. This event included presentations from Kirsten Hearn (Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board, Metropolitan Police Authority), Susan Keen, (PNC Bureau), Sue Sanders (Schools Out) and Rachel Hopkins (Immigration Service, founder of Rubicon and MPS LGBT advisory group). The event also included a short film produced by the Gay Police Association showing the battle that gay police officers/police staff went through to build better relations between the police and the LGBT community. The event demonstrated how people have been struggling against being vulnerable victims for many years and to make people aware that it is their identity, not sexuality, that is important. This was demonstrated when a short film on MPS staff “coming out” experiences was shown. The last speaker, Rachel Hopkins discussed transgender issues and difficulties she has faced over the years. Finally, ACSC closed the event summing up how pleased he was at the number of staff that attended and supported our LGBT community.

39. In addition as part of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) history month, the Diversity and Citizen Focus Command (DCC4) hosted a market place event which brought together external LGBT organisations, internal support groups and operational units. This event was well attended with many people from across the Service exploring information about the LGBT community. SCD had representation at the event. SCD volunteers from various commands staffed a stand throughout the day and answered queries from visitors. These included questions about the work of SCD, current vacancies and serious crime within the LGBT community.

40. Crime Reduction initiative: The Directorate’s Policy Unit co-ordinates the Street Pastors Scheme, which was set up over two years ago to help take drugs and guns off the streets. The scheme has 90 Street Pastors working in eight boroughs. Young people in communities are more willing to come forward to Street Pastors with their problems but also the older generation can approach these people with their issues when they may not want to approach a police officer. Street Pastors are church leaders or ministers and prominent members of the community who want to work with hard-to-reach groups and provide reassurance to other members of the public.

41. The Trident/Trafalgar Crime Reduction and Partnership unit attended Croydon College as part of their Safer College Week. A wide range of guest speakers was invited to address the students. Trident conducted a number of anti-gun crime sessions with some of the students, which involved audio and visual footage of Trident gun crime investigations. The students were encouraged to participate in the sessions and discuss issues they felt affected them in their day-to-day lives. Trident also held a number of open forums where students were invited to discuss experiences of crime and personal safety. Officers from the MPS Firearms OCU assisted in one of the forums and were able to provide an insight into their working practices and the difficulties encountered by armed officers. It also provided an opportunity for the police and the students to discuss ways in which they could support one another in fighting gun crime in their communities. The students were invited to complete an evaluation questionnaire and the data indicated that 99% of students attending Trident sessions would recommend them to other students and 91% of students felt that the sessions were excellent/good.

42. Community engagement: A major initiative to tackle serious crime in Asian communities was launched in March with the support of the Asian businesses. Asian employers are being asked to sign-up to the Business Partnerships Certificates Campaign - a fundraising vehicle designed to raise money for initiatives aimed at stopping disenchanted youths becoming involved in criminal networks. In partnership with the London Chamber of Commerce Asian Business Association and the Safer London Foundation (SLF), Operation Quadrant launched the Campaign. This initiative allows the business sector to show their support towards fighting crime within the South Asian community by making a donation of £250. This one-off donation to the charity, Safer London Foundation will pay for a partnership certificate, which can be displayed. The funds will be directed by the Safer London Foundation, a charity set up to support long-term crime prevention and youth diversion projects.

Other information

43. New Criminal Networks Initiative launched: Criminal Networks is now a key priority in the Metropolitan Police Service’s Corporate Strategy, and in March 2006 an internal and external launch of the MPS’s new approach to Criminal Networks took place. Feedback from this was extremely positive. This new approach has been developed in SCD over the last 12 months. It aims to improve our knowledge and intelligence of criminal network activity across London (and beyond); to disrupt these criminal networks and seize their assets, thereby reducing the harm they cause in communities and neighbourhoods.

44. Because of the range of opportunities open to criminals, they tend to be involved in a range of criminal activities for profit, selecting low risk, high profit options as they arise. Police will always investigate crimes as they happen, but the real challenge now is to try and prevent a larger proportion of this criminality from occurring in the first place, to be proactive in targeting the criminal networks that we know about, and to be better prepared for dealing with crimes that require a fast-time response. In order to do this, we need to tackle the criminals and their networks and support systems as much as the crime type. We need to identify and disrupt them, and so impact on the entire range of crime they engage in to be immediately effective, but also to address crime trends in the longer term. To do this we need to map the criminal networks and all the activities they are involved in to the best of our knowledge.

45. Community engagement is a crucial aspect of enabling us to understand the harm being caused by criminal networks within a specific community and to enable us to effectively disrupting criminal network activity and helping prevent it spreading, or becoming further entrenched. We have to build up the confidence of each community / neighbourhood so they feel safe to talk to the police and trust that we will protect them, and so that we have people willing to provide evidence against offenders when necessary. In many cases, community members are too afraid of the criminal networks or wary of the police to give evidence to enable us to convict.

46. We have developed a methodology (referred to as the ‘Matrix’) to map the criminal networks in London, their activities, and make an assessment of the harm caused by their actions in order to prioritise between different networks. This is linked to the Core Nominal Index, which includes individuals within criminal networks, with others, whom we prioritise and aim to target based on a similar threat assessment. The aim is to ensure that our proactive operations (whether intelligence, prevention or enforcement) are targeted against the higher priority networks and individuals. There are several layers to the Matrix (a database housed in the Directorate) that is under continual development, and we are hoping to incorporate all criminal networks identified from across the MPS as soon as possible.

C. Race and equality impact

There are no explicit equalities items addressed. The activities that form this report and the data content are arrived at with a regard to delivering Specialist Crime policing services to an equal standard for all Londoners. The performance report should fully comply with equal opportunities policies and associated MPA/MPS Diversity issues.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications as all of the data featured in this report is already produced regularly by the MPS.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Raymond Marshall, Specialist Crime Directorate, Information and Planning Unit, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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