Borough performance 2006/07 financial year (April to July)

Report: 6
Date: 14 September 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of key volume crime indicators in each borough for the financial year to date i.e. April 2006 to July 2006 compared with April 2005 to July 2005. Where mentioned, Home Office iQuanta data is updated to July 2006. It also includes a section on theft of satellite navigation systems and theft of number plates from vehicles. The previous ‘Borough Performance’ report covered the dates April 2005 to December 2005.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Latest financial year to date performance, showing latest performance against the force average

Total Notifiable Offences (TNOs) (appendix 2)

1. TNOs across the MPS were down by 6.8%, over 23,000 offences for April – July 06 against April – July 05. Every month this year has been a six-year low in offences for each particular month, with April, June and July recording fewer than 8,000 offences.

2. For the three months, May – July 06, the Home Office iQuanta tables are showing the MPS ‘in line with peers’ and ‘improving’. The current MPS victimisation rate is 32.30 per 1,000 residents, which is better than Greater Manchester at 32.99. West Midlands is best in the group with 26.67 (see Appendix 1).

3. At the end of July, no borough was shown as ‘worse than peers’ and ‘deteriorating’ on iQuanta. Only five boroughs were shown as ‘worse than peers’; Camden, Islington, Newham and Waltham Forest with ‘no apparent change’ and Westminster as ‘clearly improving’. There were no boroughs shown as ‘deteriorating’.

4. For iQuanta ‘Sanction Detections’ performance the MPS is shown as ‘worse than peers’ but ‘clearly improving’.

5. Twenty-seven boroughs are recording fewer TNO offences than the same four months last year, nine of these are recording a reduction of over 10%, including Westminster down –14.4% (3,740 fewer offences), Barnet down –15.4% (1,848 fewer offences), Lambeth down 15.9% (2,466 fewer offences) and Haringey down –17.8% (2,229 fewer offences).

6. Good performance on Westminster is being driven by reduction in other theft (down nearly 2,000), pick pocketing and fraud. In each month this year this year Westminster have had fewer than 6,000 offences, in the previous five years the lowest number of offences for a month between April and July was 6,369.

7. Good performance on Barnet is being driven by a reduction in other theft (down over 600), fraud, pick pocketing and harassment all with reductions of over 200. June and July saw the lowest number of offences per month in over five years.

8. Lambeth have a reductions of over 400 in motor vehicle crime and other theft and reductions of over 200 in criminal damage, harassment, possession of drugs and personal robbery. Each month this year Lambeth has recorded over 500 less offences than the same month last year.

9. Haringey have reductions across the board with the exception of possession of drugs, which is largely a reflection of policing activity. June saw the lowest number of offences for any month in the last five years.

10. Hammersmith & Fulham are currently seeing the largest increase in TNO offences, up 4.4% (371 offences). This is mainly due to a large increase in theft from motor vehicle and residential burglary. Although up on last year, the number of TNOs is still well below that of FY04/05. For May – July 2006 iQuanta is showing Hammersmith & Fulham as ‘in line with peers’ and ‘no apparent change’.

Personal robbery (appendix 3a)

11. Across the MPS personal robbery was up 1.7%, 243 offences April – July 2006 against the same period last year (1.2% as at 24.08.06). This is a great improvement on the MPS position at the start of the year when at the end of May the increase was 6.1%. Offence levels have been falling steadily since peaking in May and were below last year’s levels in July.

12. At the end of July, thirteen boroughs were recording a decrease in offences, including Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Southwark and Barnet all with reductions over 20%. The reduction in Lambeth follows a reduction of over 5% last year.

13. The most notable increases are in Bromley up 84.2% (171 offences), Enfield up 58.5% (193 offences) and Lewisham up 42% (265 offences). Lewisham have had more offences of personal robbery than any other borough April – July 06. Ealing have an increase of 29.3%, 182 offences, and are now third in the MPS.

Robbery (appendix 3b)

14. The MPS is showing an increase of 2.0%, 296 offences, April – July 06 against last year. This is a great improvement on the MPS position at the start of the year when at the end of May the increase was 5.3%.

15. iQuanta shows the MPS as ‘worse than peers’ and ‘no apparent change’, an improvement on last month’s performance. At borough level Barnet, Southwark, Lambeth are all shown as ‘improving’.

16. Fifteen boroughs are showing reductions, including four with reductions over 20%, Waltham Forest, Southwark, Lambeth and Barnet.

17. Seven boroughs have increases of over 20% including Bromley with 84.4% (184 offences) and Enfield 56.1% (199 offences).

Residential burglary (appendix 4)

18. The MPS currently has a reduction of -2.5%, 482 offences Apr – July 06 against last year. This April - July is a six-year low in offence levels with April, June and July recording a six-year low in offences for each particular month.

19. iQuanta is showing the MPS ‘in line with peers’ and ‘clearly improving’. The current MPS victimisation rate is 4.46 per 1,000 households. This is better than Greater Manchester at 5.68 and West Yorkshire at 4.91. West Midlands are best in the group with 3.77.

20. At borough level, iQuanta is showing only Islington as ‘worse than peers’ and ‘clearly deteriorating’. Redbridge, Haringey and Hammersmith & Fulham are all show ‘worse than peers’ with ‘no change’. Barking & Dagenham and Havering show ‘in line with peers’ but ‘deteriorating’.

21. Reductions are being recorded in eighteen boroughs, including four with reductions over 20%, Ealing, Tower Hamlets, Richmond and Hackney. Hackney is seeing the largest reduction in both volume and percentage terms down 35.7%, and by 337 offences.

22. Six boroughs have increases of over 20% including Islington with 31.5% (225 offences) and Havering 39.5% (119 offences).

Motor vehicle crime (appendix 5)

23. The MPS is currently recording a slight increase of 0.4%, 163 offences for April – July 06 against last year. The change in offence levels is very different between theft of motor vehicles and theft from motor vehicles. Theft of motor vehicles has reduced by –10.5% (over 1,600 offences) while theft from motor vehicles has increased by of 5.8% (1,765 offences).

24. iQuanta is showing the MPS ‘in line with peers’ and ‘no apparent change’. The current MPS victimisation rate is 4.58 per 1,000 residents, which is better than Greater Manchester at 4.93. West Midlands are best in the group with 3.51.

25. At borough level iQuanta is showing five boroughs as ‘worse than peers’ and ‘deteriorating’, a reduction from eight the previous month. Seven boroughs are now ‘improving’, up from four the previous month.

26. Thirteen boroughs have recorded a decrease of over 5% in motor vehicle crime, these include Lambeth down -24.3% (417 offences) and Bexley down -25.7% (243 offences), both have seen large reductions in both theft of motor vehicle and theft from motor vehicle.

27. Thirteen boroughs have recorded increases of over 5%. These include the top three volume boroughs; Southwark up 11.3%, Ealing up 19.5% and Newham up 15.7%. Hammersmith & Fulham and Hillingdon both have increases of 20%. With the exception of Ealing, all these boroughs have an increase in both theft of motor vehicle and theft from motor vehicle. Ealing have a reduction of –11.3% in theft of motor vehicle and an increase of 35.5% in theft from motor vehicle.

28. Theft from motor vehicle is fuelling the rise in motor vehicle crime. Sixteen boroughs have recorded increases of over 100 offences, including Newham up 299 (22%), Waltham Forest up 321 (31%) and Ealing up 466 (35%). Hillingdon is the only borough to see an increase of over 100 offences in theft of motor vehicle.

Theft from motor vehicles involving satellite navigation systems and theft of number plates

29. Theft of satellite navigation systems has continued to increase; this property code was only introduced on CRIS in September 2005, since which time nearly 1 in 11 theft from motor vehicle offences have involved the theft of a satellite navigation system (see Appendix 6).

30. For the last 12 months now 1 in 10 theft from motor vehicle offences involve registration plates being stolen. This is much more frequently the only motive for the offence whereas multiple items of property are stolen in other offences (see Appendix 7).

31. It appears most of the increases have taken effect from February 2005 or possibly as early as July 2004, but the congestion charge introduction in February 2003 appears to have had little immediate effect and the January 2003 introduction of the Vehicle Crimes Act 2001 (regulating further the supply of registration plates) also appears to have had little immediate effect.

32. Amongst the main motives for the theft of registration plates is the change in legislation surrounding the supply of registration plates and the introduction of the congestion charge in London, in addition to:

• GATSO avoidance, avoiding speeding fines through either false reporting or from using stolen plates on offending vehicle to avoid the fine and points.
• Theft of Petrol.
• Other motives for false reporting.
• Use in Crime with another vehicle

33. There is an evident cluster of North East boroughs (Waltham Forest, Redbridge, and Newham account for over 20%) where registration plate thefts are more prominent and further analysis is being done by the NE cross-border analyst to look into factors that may be driving this on these specific bordering boroughs.

34. Registration plates and satellite navigation systems have remained the second and third highest property types over the last six months (January 2006 to June 2006), after audio. With the increases in registration plates and satellite navigation systems being targeted, and continued decrease of audio it is likely that within 12 months both could overtake audio as the biggest two property types in theft from motor vehicle.

Action plan to tackle satellite navigation / registration plate theft

35. Commander Rod Jarman currently has the lead on motor vehicle crime for TP. A lot of activity has been carried out to identify good practice leading to an operation in May 2006 and a good practice workshop on 15 May 2006. Boroughs were provided with templates for action plans and these action plans have been reviewed centrally. In September there will be other London-wide operations to emphasise our work in this area.

36. The MPS has had considerable success in arresting people for theft of satellite navigation systems through decoy operations run in a number of different ways. These operations have made use of new technology and have in most cases had an immediate impact on crime trends.

37. However, the nature of the crime means that it is both very attractive to criminals but also does not have a high profile amongst magistrates; therefore sentencing does not seem to follow through with long-term gains. The borough commanders are working within their local criminal justice arrangements to try and affect this position.

38. Actions on borough that may be having an effect have been identified at Croydon, where police have set up an initiative with Direct Line Insurance to reduce motor vehicle crime. A number of second hand vehicles were fitted with hi-tech equipment and have been parked in selected locations in the town. If one of these vehicles is then stolen then the police are able to track the vehicles and catch offenders.

39. The vehicles are often put under CCTV surveillance to help police identify the criminals and catch thieves stealing from the vehicle. It has already resulted in a significant reduction in vehicle crime for the borough.

40. Since May, officers from Ealing have been conducting an initiative to tackle vehicle crime across the borough. Operation Doddery uses a variety of tactics including decoy vehicles and surveillance techniques in an effort to catch offenders in the act.

41. To date, officers have arrested 18 suspects for a range of offences, and have recovered a large quantity of stolen property. Eight people have been charged, and a further ten are currently on bail awaiting charging decisions. A wide-ranging vehicle crime prevention campaign for the borough is also planned.

42. Activity on other boroughs includes Brent where the Brent Community Safety Partnership has launched a ‘Month of Action’, during August to combat motor vehicle crime. This includes:

• Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) exercises and targeting prolific offenders.
• Covert operations being arranged to act as a deterrent.
• The Safer Neighbourhood Teams conducting initiatives throughout the month to target all drivers, including commuters who leave their cars before catching the train to work.
• Crime Prevention Officers targeting shops that sell car accessories, like satellite navigation systems, to ensure shop staff are educating drivers on how to keep their belongings safe at point of sale.
• Also talking signs will be deployed across the borough to provide crime prevention advice and to remind drivers to lock their cars and to keep their belongings safe.

43. Kingston is conducting a proactive sting operation around satellite navigation systems.

44. Hillingdon are conducting a poster campaign throughout the Borough with posters being displayed on billboards to warn the public about satellite navigation theft. This will coincide with the re-launch of Hotel Watch with postcards being distributed to all local hotels to warn guests about this crime.

45. Camden has launched Operation Everlong, which is targeting thefts from vehicles using directed surveillance in hotspots and a decoy car.

C. Race and equality impact

Although there were varying borough performances, the MPS remains committed to making the whole of London safer. Furthermore, implications of performance against individual targets are considered in the in-depth performance reports throughout the year, which examine performance at the corporate level. Within the TP monitoring framework there is recognition of diversity issues relevant to the basket of performance measures, where particular attention is paid to crimes against women and crimes against specific communities receives significant consideration.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial or resource implications of the current work.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Commander Paul Minton, SE Link and Performance, TPHQ, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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