Specialist Operations management information

Report: 6
Date: 17 May 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report gives a summary of Specialist Operations Command performance against its objectives from February to March 2007 and April to May 2007.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides an overview of performance of the MPS Specialist Operations Command (SO). The PPRC meeting on 12 July will be the first opportunity for SO to report on end of year performance (for the 2006/7 reporting year) and on performance for the first two months of the current (2007/8) reporting year. This report therefore comprises:

• An end of year commentary on performance against MPS objectives for the reporting year 2006/7 and a summary of achievement in relation to relevant performance indicators (Appendix 1)
• Commentary on performance against MPS objectives for the first two months of the 2007/8 reporting year and a summary of achievement in relation to relevant performance indicators (Appendix 2)
• A review of significant events during the first two months of 2007/8 reporting year and on any issues affecting the achievement of targets.

Additional performance reporting arrangements

2. In addition to reporting publicly to PPRC, SO also reports on its performance on a quarterly basis to the Home Office representative on the MPA, Lord Toby Harris, and Reshard Auladin (MPA Vice Chair). This meeting provides SO with the opportunity to discuss counter terrorism policing measures in greater detail, including those classified as secret. An SO Operational Command Unit (OCU) commander is also invited to attend each meeting in order to present a verbal report on issues relevant to their particular area of responsibility. To date these reports have included an overview of the OCU, it’s background, business objectives and performance, budgetary position and any current or emerging issues.

3. The most recent meeting with Lord Harris took place on 14 May 2007 and reported on quarter 4 of 2006/7 performance. Discussion included an overview of measures relating to counter terrorism intelligence (as it relates to current and emerging threats), details of reported intrusions and attempted intrusions to the Royal Palaces and the Palace of Westminster and the disruption of terrorist networks. Chief Superintendent Mike Gallagher of Aviation Security (SO18) provided an overview on his OCU’s performance in providing security at Heathrow and London City Airports, maximising criminal justice performance, reducing crime and making airport policing more accountable to its stakeholders. Funding streams were also discussed including the successful negotiations between the MPA/MPS and British Airport Authority. Current and emerging issues included a new police station at Heathrow and the consequences of policing the projected rise in air passenger numbers. Mr John Bunn QPM also provided an update on the development of the MPS’ BOCU counter terrorism policing initiative, Operation Delphinus.

4. The next meeting with Lord Harris is scheduled for 23 July 2007 and will cover MPS counter terrorism performance for quarter 1 of 2007/8. This will include data for those OCUs that transferred to Central Operations (CO) in April 2007.

End of year commentary on performance during 2006/7

5. A summary of relevant performance measures is attached at Appendix 1. Some background details are given in the following paragraphs:

Corporate objective - Creating a safer London

6. Effective implementation of the Counter Terrorism 7 Point Programme. Targets have been achieved in relation to the support given to boroughs in regard to counter terrorism and the coverage of Counter Terrorist Intelligence Officers (CTIO) in London Boroughs. Due to the exceptional number of Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) members recruited during the year, the target of 80% for ‘every SNT member will receive a Counter Terrorism briefing by a CTIO within two months of appointment’ has not been achieved. The actual end of year performance was 60%. However, 100% (2276) of SNT members recruited in 2006/7 have received their briefing.

7. Through a sustained relationship with vulnerable groups, police provide an appropriate response to real or perceived threats. Both the performance measures have been exceeded. On 99.8% of occasions Explosive Officers attended Improvised Explosive Device (IED) calls in the MPS within the set time. Suspected or actual terrorist incidents received a rating of ‘appropriate’ for scene management, 98% of the time.

Corporate objective - To increase advanced identification of threats from, and opportunities of countering terrorism

8. Valuable Counter-Terrorism intelligence is identified and acted upon. This measure has been exceeded with 98% of calls to the ‘Hotline’ being answered within the set time. British Telecom remains unable to supply December 2006 data.

9. Optimum use of resources in response to identified terrorist threats. Reduce the gap between Budgeted Workforce Target (BWT) and actual strength – ‘By half by 31 March 2007’. This has been achieved. In comparison to the year-end BWT, the gap has decreased from 248 in April 2006 to 93 in March 2007, a reduction of 62.5%. As money allocated to additional posts in the new CT command has been released this has enabled posts to be filled.

Corporate objective – To enhance the security of key locations and protected persons

10. Satisfaction with security and protection arrangements for the Royal Household, Parliamentary Estate, Diplomatic Community & Ministers. There have been no intrusions into the protected secure (Royal) residence of a principal (red and purple zones) in the last four months. However, due to one non-malicious intrusion in August 2006 this performance measure has not been achieved.

11. The measure ‘Time taken to respond to Embassy Warning System (EWS) activations to diplomatic, government and vulnerable communities within 6 minutes 90% of the time’ has been exceeded at 95%, this is in line with 2005/6. The volume of callouts was also similar to 2005/6.

12. There have been no intrusions into the red zone of the Palace of Westminster.

13. The measure ‘To improve our attendance to all personal attack alarm and perimeter alarm activations on the main Parliamentary Estate are attended within 3 minutes 80% of the time’ has been exceeded at 88%. This is slightly down on 2005/6 with the volume of alarm activations reduced by around a third – due to fewer building works being carried out.

Summary of performance information 2007/8

14. A summary of relevant performance measures is attached at Appendix 2.

Corporate objective - Creating a safer London:

15. Effective implementation of the Counter Terrorism 7 Point Programme. The target for coverage of CTIOs has been raised to 85% of London Boroughs (including Heathrow). As at the end of May 2007, this coverage stood at 82%, which includes the replacement of two CTIOs who retired or transferred. The current target is expected to be achieved despite additional projected retirements. With the level of recruitment for SNTs stabilising, it is anticipated that the percentage of members receiving a briefing by a CTIO within 2 months of appointment will rise from the 60% achieved in 2006/7. Due to the higher than expected appointments during May 2007, ‘year to date’ performance is slightly below target at 75%. This is expected to improve over the remainder of the 2007/8 year. 

16. Through a sustained relationship with vulnerable groups police provide an appropriate response to real or perceived threats. All calls for Explosives Officers to attend Improvised Explosive Devices have been attended within the set time, with the volume of calls similar to previous years. Also, all suspected and actual terrorist incidents have been graded as appropriate of scene management, with volumes similar to 2006/7.

Corporate objective - To increase advanced identification of threats from, and opportunities of countering terrorism

17. Valuable Counter-Terrorism intelligence is identified and acted upon. During this reporting period, this measure has been exceeded with 98% of calls to the ‘Hotline’ being answered within the set time. This is in line with the performance achieved in 2006/7.

Corporate objective – to enhance the security of key locations and protected persons

18. Satisfaction with security and protection arrangements for the Royal Household.
There have been no intrusions into the protected secure (Royal) Residence of a principal (red and purple zones) during April and May 2007.

Other significant events/issues:

Counter Terrorism case study - Operation Crevice

19. On 30 April 2007 Omar Khyam, Salahuddin Amin, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia and Jawad Akbar were convicted of charges under the Terrorism Act. All the men were jailed for life. This case marked a new stage in the understanding of the threat posed to the UK by Al Qaeda. At the time it was the largest counter terrorism operation ever seen in the UK and success was achieved through close co-operation and sharing of intelligence with the USA, Canada and Pakistan.

20. There will always be a balance to be struck between allowing terrorists to go ahead with their planning, so that evidence can be gathered, and making sure the public are safe. However, the threat posed by this group demanded an unprecedented response from the police and Security Service. It was imperative that the public were protected from these men and their plans. They were involved in an international conspiracy, and the evidence showed that they would not baulk at killing as many people as they could. During the investigation, the group were heard praising the attacks in Madrid, saying that there were no such things as innocent victims. They were also heard discussing possible targets such as shopping centres, nightclubs and trains - all heavily crowded places where the loss of life and destruction could have been massive.

21. The investigation showed the links that the men had with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Most of them had attended a terrorist training camp in that country in 2003, and were taught how to make explosives; some had been involved in extremism as far back as 2001. They were not a group of youthful idealists. They were trained, dedicated, ruthless terrorists who were obviously planning to carry out an attack against the British public. It was the first time since 9/11 that we in the UK had seen a group of British men intent on committing mass murder against their fellow citizens.

22. Operation Crevice is a landmark case for a variety of reasons, in particular the scale of the investigation that was needed to gather the evidence to bring these men to justice.

23. It is now known that two of the people who attacked London on 7 July 2005 met with Khyam's group during the Operation Crevice surveillance operation. They were not part of that plot, and at that time were not a threat to public safety. In every case, and Operation Crevice was no exception, decisions have to be made as to who poses a threat to the public, and how resources should be used.

24. The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee have examined the decisions made during the investigation. Their report was published in May last year.

Counter Terrorism update

25. From an operational perspective, recent months have continued to be extremely busy. A large amount of work is also focussed on investigations that are progressing towards trial dates or are already at court.

March 2007

26. On 22 March, three men were arrested in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005. Two men were arrested at Manchester Airport when they were due to catch a flight to Pakistan and a third was arrested at a house in Leeds. All three were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. The three males were subsequently charged on 5 April with conspiracy to cause explosions.

April 2007

27. On 24 April, six men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 as part of a long-term proactive and complex investigation into alleged incitement and radicalisation for the purposes of terrorism, as well as alleged provision of financial support for international terrorism. Five men were arrested at addresses in London and one in Luton. On 29 April the six were charged under section 15 (fundraising) of the Terrorism Act 2000; four were further charged under section 59 (inciting terrorism overseas) and one was additionally charged under section 57 (possession of articles).

May 2007

28. On 9 May four people were arrested in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005. This resulted from a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation involving the MPS Counter Terrorism Command and counter terrorism units in West Yorkshire and West Midlands. Two men and a woman were arrested at an address in West Yorkshire and another man at an address in the West Midlands. All four were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. On 15 May two men and the woman were released without charge. On 20 May a man was charged with possession of a document or record namely an Al-Qaeda Training Manual containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

29. On 15 May the Counter Terrorism Command arrested two men for alleged terrorist fundraising offences. One was also suspected of incitement to commit terrorism overseas. On 18 May both men were charged under section 15 (fundraising) of the Terrorism Act 2007. One man was also charged under section 59 (incitement to commit terrorism overseas) of the Terrorism Act 2000.

30. On 15 May, the Counter Terrorism Command arrested a member of MPS police staff based at New Scotland Yard. On 16 May the individual was charged with wilful misconduct in a judicial or public office and unlawful disclosure. On 18 June he pleaded guilty to the wilful misconduct and will be sentenced in July. He pleaded not guilty to the unlawful disclosure.

31. On 22 May, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advised the MPS of its decisions to seek the extradition of Andrey Lugovoy from Russia to the United Kingdom so that he can be charged with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

32. On 23 May, the Counter Terrorism Command appealed for assistance and information regarding the whereabouts of three men who are believed to have absconded from control orders imposed upon them under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. Police were alerted when Lamine Adam and Ibrahim Adam failed to contact a monitoring company on the evening of 21 May. Immediate steps were taken to trace them and enquiries continue. A third man, Cerie Bullivant (linked to the two brothers), failed to report to his local police station on the morning of 22 May. DAC Peter Clarke appealed for anyone with relevant information on the whereabouts of the three men to contact the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline.

Structural changes affecting Specialist operations

33. On 2 April 2007 three OCUs moved from SO to the Central Operations Command (CO). These included the Diplomatic Protection Group, the Palace of Westminster Operation Command Unit (OCU) and Aviation Security. Performance measurement/reporting for these units is currently being co-ordinated within SO whilst arrangements are made to transfer the responsibility to CO. It is intended that their performance is reported at the next Planning Performance and Review Committee (PPRC) in October 2007, in line with CO’s next attendance. It is also proposed that SO attend this meeting (in addition to the 12 July) and attend future PPRC meetings in company with CO.

C. Race and equality impact

There are no explicit race and equality items addressed. The activities that form this report and the data content are arrived at with a regard to delivering SO policing services to an equal standard for all Londoners. The performance report fully complies with equal opportunities policies and associated MPA/MPS Diversity issues. In addition, SO are in regular contact with key community groups and use this to assist the monitoring of the impact of counter terrorist policing in London.

D. Financial implications

SO collects performance data on a regular basis. However, additional effort is expended on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of performance measures included in this report. Due to the events of July 2005, additional funding has been obtained from the Home Office in relation to Counter Terrorism and Security Protection.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Superintendent Neil Haynes, SO Continuous Improvement Unit., MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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