Specialist Crime Directorate management information

Report: 9
Date: 15 March 2007
By: AC Specialist Crime on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report gives a summary of Specialist Crime Directorate’s performance against their key objectives from 1 April 2006 to 31 January 2007.

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 2006 to 31 January 2007 inclusive. The data has been reconciled by the Performance Directorate and wherever appropriate should match the information contained in the corporate 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:

Gun Enabled Crime

Measure	Target	Actual	Status
Reduction of gun enabled crime	-4%	-13.7%	On target – down on last reporting period
Gun enabled crime sanction detection rate	25%	19.3%	Significantly below target – improved on

4. There has been a decrease of 457 or 13.7% in gun enabled crime offences recorded in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). There were 2,872 offences compared with 3,329 for the same period last financial year. SCD had responsibility for the investigation of 748 or 26 % of offences committed in this crime category. Southwark is the borough with most gun enabled crime offences in this reporting period with 227 recorded (Southwark last year with 245 offences). Richmond-upon-Thames borough had the least reported with 17 offences (Richmond-upon-Thames last year with 23 offences). Eleven boroughs account for 58% of reported offences. Also, 24 boroughs have seen a decrease in the number of offences when compared with last year.

5. The Directorate’s Gun Crime Tactical Delivery Unit (GCTDU) is currently working closely with Southwark borough to tackle gun crime. To supplement local initiatives, they have included Southwark in a pilot exercise to draw-up action plans specific to their problem, seeking all forensic opportunities and greater involvement of the prisons intelligence unit.

6. Territorial Policing senior managers are adopting a new way of managing performance in relation to gun enabled crime. This is to be known as flexible intervention. The intention is to monitor all borough performance and seized firearms on a quarterly basis. The GCTDU will carry out this monitoring process in conjunction with Territorial Policing (TP) Performance and SCD’s crime management unit who have volunteered to take a prominent role in understanding and analysing MPS-wide performance data in relation to gun crime. This will help identify those areas where we are under-performing and therefore impacting on this and next year’s overall target reduction rate. These areas will be highlighted for intervention and it will take the form of focused action plans, building on the experience gained in the south-east London pilot. Each intervention will be tailored to respond to the particular problems facing each borough and the areas of response requiring development to bring performance up to the necessary level.

7. The overall MPS gun enabled crime sanction detection rate is 19.3%. The target is 25%. There have been 553 detections. This figure is slightly up when compared with the last financial year (19.2%). SCD has detected 204 or 27.2% of the offences they investigated.

8. In our last report, we outlined some short, medium and long term activity to improve the sanction detection rate. There is an improvement of 1% on the last reporting period. Five south-east boroughs are working closely with the GCTDU to improve data standards and monitor performance on intelligence. Also, the GCTDU are liasing with the Directorate’s recently brigaded crime management unit to develop systems, review performance and delivery. This cyclical process is aimed at continuous learning and improvement.

9. There were 491 commercial robbery offences with firearms investigated by Serious and Organised Crime Operational Command unit (OCU). Of these 154 were detected, providing a detection rate of 31.4%. This compares with a detection rate of 31.9% (523 offences/167 detections) for same period last year. Offences have decreased by 32 or 6% and detections decreased by 13 or 7.8%. The borough with the highest number of offences is Croydon with 49 (last year Lambeth with 44). Kingston, Richmond, Sutton and Tower Hamlets all show the lowest with four each.

10. The sanction detection is 3.6% short of the self-generated target of 35%. A factor is the increase in chaotic and opportunist crime at the lower end of the scale, i.e. away from banks and building societies and into betting shops and other commercial premises. The latter being much softer targets. Chaotic series are labour intensive in terms of resources and investigations tend to take longer to resolve.

11. There was a slight rise in the number of offences during January 2007. This was largely due to the number of cash-in-transit robberies and a linked series in the south London area. Operation VANGUARD, designed to combat cash-in-transit robbery, is currently in the second week of a four week operational phase and is already showing results in terms of reduced cash-in-transit robberies in these areas:

• North Cluster - Islington, Camden, Haringey and Enfield
• East Cluster - Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham
• South Cluster - Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham

12. The Vanguard team are particularly keen to avoid causing any displacement and neighbouring boroughs have been asked to monitor and report any potentially related increases. The suspects for the aforementioned linked series have been arrested during the commission of a similar offence. It is believed they are responsible for about 45 offences across south London. In addition, a second contributory offending pattern has been ended with the arrest of an individual who was targeting bookmakers in Lambeth. He has been linked to 14 similar offences.

13. There were 198 Trident offences during this reporting period. This is a decrease of 36 or 15.3% on last year. Fatal shootings have increased by one, from twelve to thirteen. There is currently a sanction detection rate of 19.2%, 38 offences having been detected. This is down from last year’s 22.2%. The borough with the highest number of reported offences is Southwark with 34 (last year Lambeth 35). Ten boroughs have not had a Trident related shooting this financial year. Also, eleven boroughs account for nearly 80% of all reported Trident offences.

14. In previous reports there has been mention of the success achieved with the older generation of Trident offenders. With other agencies, much effort has been placed in youth diversion activity in recent years. Analysis was suggesting that the move from lower level to serious crime has been foreshortened to just six years. Previously it was taking between 10 and 15 years. The other complicating factor is that although investigated as gun crime, the shootings dealt with appear to based on drug or disrespect related issues.

15. A more detailed and in-depth response to the very recent and tragic high-profile shootings involving young people will be included in the next report.

16. There were 59 Trafalgar related offences. Of these 14 were detected, providing a detection rate of 23.7%. This compares with a detection rate of 27.2% (81 offences/22 detections) for same period last year. Offences have decreased by 22 or 27% and detections decreased by 8 or 36%. The borough with the highest number of offences is Haringey with eight (last year Waltham Forest with 10). There are seven boroughs that have not had a Trafalgar related shooting this financial year.

17. For Trident and Trafalgar offences this financial year compared with same reporting period of last year, detailed by borough please refer to Appendix 1.

Criminal Networks

Measure	Target	Actual	Status
Number of criminal networks disrupted	150	124	Just below target – improved on last reporting period
Value of assets identified by court order for seizure	£25m	£21.5	On target – no change on last reporting period

18. Financial year-to-date (week ending 11 February), there have been 124 confirmed disruptions of criminal networks. To achieve the target, in the remaining six weeks an average of 4.3 claims need to be approved. To ensure this happens the following is planned:

• continuation of weekly sittings of the disruption panel
• a separate site visit to the Operation Maxim team (people trafficking)
• a separate site visit to Clubs and Vice OCU (Central Operations)
• a visit to Serious and Organised Crime OCU to assess claims that required further evidence.

19. The difficulties that were impeding the successful operation of the disruption panel have been addressed. Essentially, there was an issue of resilience but there is now good cross-Business Group representation. It is intended to widen the pool of panel members. Also, though a revised form is being piloted in an OCU, the previous version required searches to take place that delayed their processing. A review of the process has been undertaken and the recommendations presented to the Directorate’s Command Team for consideration.

20. The value of assets identified by court order for seizure currently stands at £21.5m. Another £3.5m is required to achieve the target. That means an average of £1.75m per month. The target should be reached as there are a number of claims currently going through the system that are forecasted to give us an end of year figure close to £26m.

Child Abuse

Measure	Target	Actual	Status
CAIC overall sanction detection rate	20%	22.1%	On target – improvement on last reporting period
Sanction detection rate for child rape	35%	38.7%	On target – improvement on last reporting period

21. Of the 6,058 offences investigated involving intra-familial abuse by the Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC), 1,338 were detected. This provides a sanction detection rate of 22.1%, which is 3.3 percentage points increase on last year (6,629 offences / 1,243 detections). Two years ago, the detection rate was 14%. The improvement is a testament to the hard work and sustained effort that has occurred to achieve such a result. The Borough with the most offences is Southwark with 377 (Haringey last year with 433). Hounslow has the highest sanction detection rate with 41.5% (164 offences/68 detections); Lambeth has the lowest with 9.5% (325 offences/31 detections).

22. There has been an increase in the number of child rape offences but also a corresponding rise in the number of sanction detections. There were 326 offences compared with 319 last year, an increase of 7 or 2.1%. This year 126 have been detected.

Homicide

Measure	Target	Actual	Status
Homicide sanction detection rate	85%	82.2%	Just below target – improved on last reporting period
Reduction in number of homicide offences [1]	-1	+10	Significantly below target – no change on last reporting period

23. The homicide detection rate is 82.2%, this compares with 79.2% for last year’s reporting period. This is currently under the target of 85%. There were 146 homicide offences with 120 detections. Of these 104 have been detected since the start of financial year (April 2006) and provides an in-year detection rate of 71.2%. There were 16 detections of pre-financial year homicides.

24. This is the first year we have set a homicide target on solely a sanction detection rather than a clear-up rate. Therefore not counting non-sanction detections, e.g. murders where the offender then goes onto commit suicide. In recent years, the average has been 5% (10% last year due to the bus explosion).

25. There have been 10 more homicides than compared with same reporting period last financial year. This is equivalent to a 6.7% increase.

26. The borough with the highest number of homicide offences is Lambeth with 13 (last year Camden 21, this figure includes the victims from the terrorist incident). The only borough yet to record a homicide this financial year is Redbridge. Until recently, Tower Hamlets had gone almost two years without a recorded offence.

27. It is still projected that the homicide total at the end of the year will be one of the lowest for a decade although there has been an increase in the number of complex and testing investigations.

28. Trident Major Investigation Teams have had 13 homicide offences to investigate, six have been detected. Of these, one was a pre-financial year detection. That provides an in-year detection rate of 38%, with an overall sanction detection rate of 46%. There has been one more offence and seven fewer detections when compared with last year.

29. Child Abuse Investigation Command’s Major Investigations Teams have investigated seven homicide offences. Six have been detected this financial year with one detected pre-financial year. That provides an in-year detection rate of 71%, with an overall detection rate of 85.7%. There were three more offences, and two more detections when compared with last‘s year reporting period.

30. 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.

31. Middle Market Drugs Project made cash seizures worth more than £1.1m in the last three months. Officers working under Operation Malkav recovered 107 kilos of amphetamine from a premises in Cockfosters, North London, £85k and 20 kilos of caffeine (used as a cutting agent with amphetamine). Operation Kirstead, which was conducted with uniformed and non-uniformed officers from Sutton Borough, resulted in the recovery of half a kilo of cocaine as well as two hydraulic presses for creating half kilo blocks of cocaine. So far, five men being have been charged with Class A drug offences across the two operations. The majority of the money though has been recovered by Operation Lafombra, working with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Two men were arrested in possession of approximately 120k Euros and there was also a £400k seizure in January.

32. A criminal network was identified by the Public Sector Fraud Squad of SCD’s Economic and Specialist Crime OCU. Two doctors and a surgery practice manager systematically defrauded the National Health Service over a sustained period commencing in 1997 until Fraud Squad intervention. Patient records were falsified to show that patients had received either, Cytology Screening (Smear Testing), Pregnancy Advice, Contraceptive Advice or Smoking Cessation Advice. Each entry entitled the surgery to financial remuneration. Patient records were examined and in excess of 4,000 fraudulent entries identified costing the National Health Service in excess of £200k. The patients’ records with regard to smear tests have caused most concern in that those women were shown as having regular tests at a cost to the NHS and more importantly because of the fraud their health was at risk due to them not having the cytology screening. Fraud Squad officers arrested both doctors and the practice manager, after an intensive enquiry involving statements being obtained from over 100 patients, the matter was heard at Southwark Crown Court with the practice manager being imprisoned for 18 months. Both doctors remain suspended, subject to disciplinary proceeding by the General Medical Council.

33. A man who was found in possession by the Serious and Organised Crime OCU of eighteen firearms has been jailed for 10 years. He was found guilty under the Firearms Act 1968. Another suspect supplied weapons from Lithuania, pleaded guilty to firearms offences and was jailed for seven years. Officers, working with HM Revenue and Customs, arrested the men following intelligence that guns were coming into London from Lithuania. Armed officers made arrests seizing a holdall that contained 18 Baikal semi-automatic 9mm pistols, 18 silencers and 748 rounds of ammunition. The guns have been traced back to two firearm conversion factories in Lithuania. The Lithuanian police raided these in August 2006. Six people were arrested and 106 Baikal firearms, three machine guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized.

34. Four young men were convicted of murder following an investigation by Operation Trident. They shot their victim at a party in a community hall in Peckham. It was in full swing when a group of hooded men burst in through the fire exit bearing guns and shouting to the guests to hand over their valuables and get down on the floor. At least two shots were fired. The incident was over in less than five minutes. The victim lay on the floor, fatally injured by a shot from a handgun. She had been holding a baby who fortunately was unharmed by the fall. Residents of the estate told police they saw a large group of youths on a balcony overlooking the entrance to the hall earlier that evening. They were watching guests arrive for the party. Witnesses named the accused. A key witness told how he had heard the robbery being planned by the boys/brothers and some of their friends. They had also talked about borrowing a 'nine' or handgun. During the search of an address, officers found a black bin liner behind a cupboard in the living room. It contained handbags, mobile phones and cash taken from guests at the party. In a kitchen cupboard, they found another black bag containing a cream handbag. It contained make-up and an unopened christening card. In the hall, they found a black jacket with seven 9mm cartridges in the pocket.

35. A man was handed a two-year suspended sentence for his involvement in a three-year criminal false marriage scam investigated by Operation Maxim. He pleaded guilty to his involvement in 'marrying' 15 couples, as part of the scam involving what is believed to be over 80 marriages. He was arrested in 2004 at a Church in Islington. The aim of the scam was to set up bogus marriages between men, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, who wanted to stay in the UK and brides who appear to be UK citizens. The scam came to light when the News of the World received information that someone was using the name of a reputable firm of solicitors to carry out an immigration scam. This led the reporter to pose as an immigrant looking to stay in the country and meeting up with the main organiser. He offered to arrange notices of marriages in Watford or East Ham saying he would organise the necessary documentation in a service he called "everything under one roof" for £8.5k. He also supplied brides and Home Office applications, with false supporting documents, requesting the grooms be allowed further leave to remain in the country. The main suspect was jailed last July to five years for conspiracy to defraud, contrary to common law.

36. Three men have been sentenced to a total of 27 years after Internet chat evidence has been used for what is believed to be the first time in London to prove an offence of conspiracy to rape a child. All were sentenced for conspiracy to rape and a number of offences under the Protection of Children Act. The case came to light after one of the men walked into Bournemouth Police Station and confessed that he had become involved in accessing indecent images of children through the Internet. He also had the contact details of other men he believed to be dangerous paedophiles. Enquiries by Dorset Police established that as well as exchanging indecent images of children; he had been using the web to chat to a London-based man who proposed abducting and raping two teenage girls. The Metropolitan Police's Paedophile Unit, part of CAIC, began investigating and as a result of forensic computer examinations established evidence of online conversations between the two men. This detailed the specific identity of the two girls to be targeted, aged 13 and 14-years-old, and described how they would kidnap them after school, take them to a local woods and rape them. Forensic examination of chat logs revealed another conspiracy to rape with a Cheshire-based man. This involved them discussing two more children. None of the men had actually met prior to the arrests.

37. An armed robber who committed over 18 robberies before officers arrested him as part of Operation Vanguard was sentenced to eight years in prison. A 24-year-old man of Croydon targeted betting shops, post offices and an off-licence in Lambeth during a six-month period. He was arrested after unarmed officers chased him following a robbery at a betting shop in Streatham Hill. He had taken a minicab to the bookmakers, asking the driver to park while he walked to the shop. He wore his hood up and was wearing a home made mask to disguise his features. Officers from the Territorial Support Group (TSG) were conducting a plain-clothes surveillance in the area and watched as the suspect approached the shop. They had been informed during a Flying Squad (Operation Vanguard) briefing that this betting shop had been repeatedly targeted over the previous months. He produced a handgun from his pocket and threatened two members of staff before demanding money. He then ran out of the shop and back to the minicab with the proceeds of the robbery. Two officers watched, then followed in an unmarked car. After hearing that a robbery had been committed at the shop, they called for armed assistance. The suspect realised that he was being followed so got out and ran away. The unarmed officers chased him and after a short while he stopped, took out the gun from his pocket and threw it to the floor. It was later discovered to be an imitation firearm.

38. A Kenyan man who smuggled £2m worth of high purity cocaine through Heathrow in the bellies of wooden statues has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, after pleading guilty to the importation of cocaine. He was arrested by the Middle Market Drugs Project Team. He had packed 22 kilos of cocaine into statues and sent them to Heathrow before collecting them six days later. A customs officer at Heathrow became concerned about a shipment of 15 three-foot tall wooden statues from Kenya; he x-rayed them and noticed shadows in the bellies of some of them. Drilling into the statues he found cocaine and called in officers from Middle Market Drugs Project Team, which is part of Specialist Crime Directorate. A forensic examination of the statues found four had 'coffin cavities' which had been filled with cocaine, that when tested was found to be 92% pure. The statues were returned, minus the drugs, and a surveillance operation was mounted. Officers followed the statues as they were moved from storage centre to storage centre. The suspect collected them and as he drove along Kilburn High Road officers stopped his car and arrested him.

39. The following are examples of developmental initiatives and recognition:

40. The Crime Academy has published its Detective Awareness Seminars for 2007. These are designed to support continuous professional development. Topics covered are forensic advances, technical support, intelligence and proceeds of crime act.

41. As part of the review of the Central Drug Trafficking Database, an evaluation of intelligence products on two Boroughs has been commissioned. This will be conducted by members of SCD’s consultancy unit. Its primary purpose is to establish that the products have provided additional knowledge that can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of policing of drug trafficking at borough level and to gauge customer needs.

Abbreviations

CAIC

Child Abuse Investigation Command

GCTDU

Gun Crime Tactical Delivery Unit

OCU

Operational Command Unit

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

TP

Territorial Policing

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, Performance Information and Improvement Unit, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Boroughs	Trident Fatal/Non-Fatal			Trafalgar Non-Fatal Offences
	2005/06 Offences	2006/07 Offences	Change	2005/06 Offences	2006/07 Offences	Change
Barking	0	3	+3	0	0	+1
Barnet	0	2	+2	0	1	+1
Bexley	0	0	0	1	1	0
Brent	16	23	+7	3	2	-1
Bromley	1	0	-1	2	1	-1
Camden	3	1	-2	1	3	+2
Croydon	7	1	-6	3	1	-2
Ealing	3	1	-2	6	2	-4
Enfield	1	4	+3	2	3	+1
Greenwich	5	2	-3	3	1	-2
Hackney	42	32	-10	9	5	-4
Hammersmith	3	3	0	1	2	+1
Haringey	19	7	-12	2	8	+6
Harrow	0	0	0	0	0	0
Havering	0	1	+1	1	1	0
Hillingdon	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hounslow	0	0	0	4	1	-3
Islington	5	12	+7	8	4	-4
Lambeth	35	22	-13	1	7	+6
Lewisham	12	15	+3	1	0	-1
Kensington	4	0	-4	2	1	-1
Kingston	1	0	-1	0	0	0
Merton	3	1	-2	3	2	-1
Newham	9	7	-2	4	2	-2
Redbridge	2	0	-2	3	0	-3
Richmond	0	0	0	0	0	0
Southwark	35	34	-1	3	1	-2
Sutton	0	0	0	0	1	+1
Tower Hamlets	4	2	-2	5	1	-4
Waltham Forest	11	14	+3	10	4	-6
Wandsworth	9	8	-1	2	3	+1
Westminster	4	3	-1	1	1	0
Total	234	198	-36	81	59	-22

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