Central Operations Directorate management information

Report: 10
Date: 12 June 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Central Operations on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report is a summary of Central Operations performance against targets for the full 2007 – 2008 financial year, and includes commentary and examples of operational success. A thematic focus on the work of CO19 (Specialist Firearms Command) is provided.

A. Recommendation

That

1. members note the current operational performance within Central Operations; and

2 note the detailed analysis of CO19 (Specialist Firearms Command)

B. Supporting information

Operational performance summary

1. Central Operations operational performance is discussed in this section of the report. Appendix 1 provides examples of operational success and good work. A copy of the Central Operations monthly performance report for March 08 is available to Members on request.

2. The Central Operations business group provides operational support to the rest of the MPS. The Central Operations performance framework is responsible for delivery at three key levels:

• Performance against national and corporate targets;
• Supporting other business groups in achieving their strategic targets,
• Delivering against the performance objectives in the business group plan

This report is designed to reflect the nature of the CO performance framework and a summary of performance in each of the three key areas is provided.

Performance against national and corporate targets

3. Central Operations is accountable for delivering on behalf of the MPS the Public Sector Agreement objective – to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) in road accidents by 50% by the year 2010, compared with the average for 1994/98. This measure is also a MPS Critical Performance Area (CPA) and the business group is responsible for reporting progress to Performance Board on a monthly schedule. To achieve this target the MPS must reduce KSIs to no more than 277 per month by 2010 or 3,324 annually. It should be recognised that due to the timescales required for investigating KSI road traffic collisions and processing the subsequent data, management information currently runs some three months in arrears. The latest available KSI data is therefore November 2007. A programme of work is in place to improve the timeliness of the recording of road traffic collisions and the subsequent publishing of related management information.

4. The current average monthly performance for the twelve months ending November 2007 is 294 per month, 17 above the target level. This is the second monthly average above the target level. Current trends indicate that if current performance is sustained the target should be met.

5. The KSI trend has fallen significantly since 2003 as chart 1 (See appendix 2) illustrates.

The increase in 2006 casualty levels has been reversed in 2007 to date. Compared with April to October 2006 KSI levels are down 8.2% over the same period in 2007

6. A rolling twelve-month measure of KSI performance is a more reliable indicator of performance against the target as it levels out seasonality and exceptions. Chart 2 (see appendix 2) shows KSI casualty numbers continuing to decline and confirming that target levels are likely to be achieved and exceeded.

CO19 Specialist Firearms Command

7. Specialist Firearms Officers (SFO) and Tactical Support Teams (TST) are primarily called upon to deal with authorised firearms operations. These range from spontaneous incidents that may have developed so that they cannot be resolved quickly, to the more complex crimes where specialist tactical advice and a wider range of tactical options may be required.

8. CO19 primary role is to provide specialist firearms support for authorised firearms operations that support the reduction of harm in communities through the disruption of gun related crime and counter-terrorist measures. The officers performing these roles receive additional training beyond that of armed response personnel. Depending on the nature of the incident they may be required to perform their roles overtly or covertly and in certain circumstances, there may be a combination of both modes of deployment during policing operations.

9. The type of service we provide to firearms incident commanders may range from low-key building containments to high profile hostage rescues, with a wide range of tactical options in between. The higher level of training afforded to our teams enables the officers to operate effectively as a team on diverse terrain and in more challenging environments.

10. This operational support service is available to aid MPS operational OCUs and partner law enforcement agencies conducting investigations into serious crime - where life has been or is likely to be endangered - or involving organised criminal networks, or where tactical options are required to prevent and / or combat terrorist related crime.

11. CO19 provide a 24 hours, permanent standby capability, should a team be required for deployment as well as specialist tactical advice, 24 hours a day, all year round.

12. The nature of the training for these officers is dynamic, developed and designed to keep pace with the demanding specialist policing interventions that may be called for, as criminals become more sophisticated in their methods.

Performance 2007 - 2008

13. Specialist Firearms units (SFO) have been deployed to 1,442 incidents this reporting year from a total of 6,467; 100% of calls were attended within the SLA of 12 minutes against an objective of 90%. 615 firearms have been recovered. Customer focus objective to provide a service deemed satisfactory or better 90% of the time; was achieved 99% of the time.

14. CO19 provides the organisation’s primary operational response to spontaneous incidents involving firearms, or incidents that are otherwise so dangerous, such as to render them beyond the scope of resolution by unarmed police officers. Armed response vehicles (ARV) branch visibility (previously Directed Patrol) spent on average 76% of their available time on BOCUs performing directed patrolling against a target of 60% for the reporting year. ARVs responded to 10,843 calls and officers were deployed on 2,312 occasions. Customer focus objective to provide a service deemed satisfactory or better 90% of the time was achieved 96% of the time.

15. Tactical Support Teams (TST) support pre-planned operations. These range from low-key building containments to high profile hostage rescues, with a wide range of tactical options. TST Units dealt with 267 operations, resulting in 129 arrests and the recovery of 31 firearms, for the reporting year. (As reported previously, 615 firearms have been recovered between April 2007 and November 2007)

16. In addition to our Pan London 24 hours response, ARV officers conduct overt operations in support of other operational command units, investigating armed criminality and other dangerous offenders. These operations may be at short notice (virtually spontaneous) or pre-planned, where there is more scope for planning the tactical response to incidents. ARV units spent 74% of available time on Directed Patrolling this reporting year against a target of 60%.

Central Operations supporting the MPS

17. Central Operations provides specialist policing support to BOCUs and OCUs across the MPS. Assistance is provided in situations where a BOCU or OCU may not have the capacity or capability to deliver in its own right. This help is usually provided through the corporate tasking process, which is designed to provide intelligence-led activity in support of corporate priorities. As a business group, Central Operations has successfully contributed to activities such as reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and bringing offenders to justice, providing a counter terrorism response and disrupting criminal networks.

18. Central Operations OCUs have made over 27,000 arrests this reporting year with significant contributions from Territorial Support Group, 13,348 priority, crime, and non-crime arrests, Transport OCU, 8,137, an increase of 9% compared to the last reporting year and Traffic OCU, 5,980 arrests for drink driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving with no insurance offences. This has contributed to reducing crime and disorder as well as improved sanction detection rates.

19. Central Operations have conducted over 112,000 stop and search this reporting year with key contributions coming from TSG 56,257 with 15,234 arrests, a success rate of 27%. Aviation Security 29,334, Transport OCU 18,265, Diplomatic Protection Group 6,043 and Traffic OCU 2,882.

20. Counter terrorism activity includes the provision of security and protection services as well as support to counter terrorism operations. The Marine Policing Unit (formally known as the Marine Support Unit) provides a visible 24-hour patrol presence on the river Thames and through the Terrorism and Crime team is responsible for risk assessing commercial vessels using the river. This reporting year 98% of problem profiled vessels were interdicted against a target of 80%. 220 commercial vessels and over 300 private vessel interdictions (interception, examination and search) have taken place in conjunction with colleagues from HM Immigration, counter terrorism command, Firearms and Dog Section.

21. A key element of the work done by CO OCUs supports the disruption of criminal networks, protection of the night time economy, and reducing gun crime. Much of this work involves tackling armed criminality and criminality within licensed premises and nightclubs and the sex industry. Clubs and Vice OCU has disrupted eleven criminal networks this reporting year and identified £800k in assets for court seizure. These totals are likely to increase significantly by the end of the year. There have been 32 gun crime offences in nightclubs this year, four less than last year. A further 2,531 violent offences in nightclubs, a one per cent increase on last year and just above target levels. 126 of these offences were offences in betting shops and social clubs, so a truer figure would be 2,405.

Performance against CO targets

22. The business group performance objectives focus on the key role of providing Capital City Policing, which includes activities such as planning for capital city resilience and emergency preparedness; planning for and managing major events such as the Notting Hill Carnival; providing security and protection; and policing the transport infrastructure.

23. A key element of casualty reduction has been the ‘Think!’ campaign, established to raise driver awareness of the factors that contribute significantly to collisions and to target these types of driver behaviour. This reporting year, over thirty five thousand fixed penalty notices have been issued against the Think! Campaign themes (driving with excess speed, not wearing a seatbelt and use of mobile phone whilst driving/not in control of vehicle) 6% above the target for the year, and an increase of 27% compared with the same period from the previous year. Figures recorded cover the period to February 08 due to recoding processes of FPNs. A further eight thousand FPNs have been issued for having no vehicle insurance and driving other than in accordance of the licence conditions.

24. The ‘Think’ campaign drink/drive initiative campaign 20,084 evidential breath tests were administered, 932 of which involved personal injury collisions. Of the tests administered 911 proved to be positive, or the driver failed or refused to provide a specimen, 4.5% of the total. The rate for personal injury collisions was 12.8% (119 positives) and the rate for tests where no collision had taken place was 7.2% (792 positives). To put this in context, more tests were conducted this year but the positive rate was lower than last year.

25. Denying criminals the use of the road is a key objective for Traffic OCU and intelligence shows that those people who choose not to tax and insure their vehicles are more likely to also be involved in crime in some way and that their vehicles are integral to their criminal enterprise. Our intelligence also shows that 79% of disqualified drivers also have previous convictions. Legislation allows the police to seize vehicles that are untaxed and whose drivers are unlicensed and uninsured. Traffic OCU in conjunction with the Vehicle Recovery and Examination Service (VRES) has seized 14,520 vehicles between April 2007 and March 2008. This figure is forty-five per cent above the target for the reporting year.

26. To tackle criminals in cars we run proactive, intelligence-led operations to arrest and disrupt individuals and networks. As well as the regulatory powers of PACE stop and search, we have developed operational tactics to target these criminals whilst they are travelling by road. One such tactic is the use of Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology. ANPR activity has generated over one thousand arrests between April 2007 and March 2008, of which 550 were for driving offences, 127 for being wanted on an outstanding warrant, 109 for vehicle crime, 48 for drugs and 52 for theft offences.

27. The work of Transport OCU (CO17) focuses on designated bus routes with an emphasis on making them at least as safe and secure as the non-designated routes and to reduce congestion and disruption to service.

28. Satisfaction with bus reliability on the TOCU Network routes averages 74% for the reporting year, up from 73% compared to the previous reporting year, and is and is three percentage points above the network average. Satisfaction with journey times has also increased by one percentage point on the previous quarter at 80%. This is comparable with the network average of 80%. Passenger perceptions of safety and security at bus stops and shelters remain at 80%, one percentage point above the network average, whilst perceptions of safety and security on-bus have improved from 82% to 83%, which is comparable with the network average.

29 9,916 arrests were made between April 2007 and March 2008, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year. The Red Route and Congestion teams are responsible for ensuring traffic on TOCU routes flows freely. This is achieved by Red Route and parking enforcement through the issue of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs). 164,456 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued between April 2007 and March 2008.

The work of CO11 Operational Support Units

30. The four Operational Support Units – Mounted Branch, Marine Policing Unit, Dog Support Unit and Air Support Unit are managed within CO11 Public Order and Operational Support OCU. Each unit provides specialist policing services to other Central Operations OCUs and also to BOCUs and other business groups. Each unit is generally tasked through the corporate tasking process in support of MPS priorities, and there is also a process obtaining their services in response to emergencies.

31. In the financial year April 07 to March 08, the Mounted Branch provided more than 9,300 officer days supporting MPS ‘taskings’ these included specific tasks from Territorial Policing, from OCUs and Safer Neighbourhood teams and also Royal Parks patrols. Mounted officers also provided more than 3,000 officer days supporting ‘security’ operations and tasks. In addition, the Branch provided more than 4,000 officer days supporting football matches and other sporting events. The Branch is ever present at the sporting stadia in London, on New Year’s Eve and Notting Hill carnival.

32. As part of its strategic aim to improve the security and safety of London, in the reporting year April 07 to March 08, the Marine Policing Unit (MPU) (formally known as Marine Support Unit) carried out more than 320 vessel interdictions. All commercial vessel intercepts and many of the private ones were examined and searched with the support of colleagues from HM Immigration, SO15 Counter Terrorism command, CO18 Specialist Firearms and CO11 Dog Section.

33. In supporting BOCUs and specialist OCUs the MPU during this period responded to over 1,800 requests for specialist marine police services. These included: searches at height, Disaster Victim Recovery and Identification (DVRI) body recovery, property and vehicle recovery, etc. The marine unit engaged in daily High Visibility Policing (HVP) reassurance patrols all along the river Thames and carried out in excess of 1,100 patrols. In addition, the underwater search unit carried out 129 underwater searches assisting Specialist Crime Directorate, SO15, Customs and Excise and Constabulary colleagues. The units TAC team (Crime Squad) performed patrols directed by corporate tasking on priority boroughs within the MPS where canal systems and inland waterways were present (Brent, Camden, Uxbridge

34. A full scale rescue exercise designed to test emergency preparedness - Operation “Palm tree” – involving the MPU, RNLI, MCA and Port Authority - simulating a Class 5 passenger vessel (large pleasure cruiser size vessel) sinking in the Thames has been conducted. Partner agencies coordinated by both police and MCA simulated the evacuation of 120 passengers (soldiers from the Guards regiment) and recovered 25 persons from the water (dummies). The exercise demonstrated that in the event of a major sinking incident that all the emergency services afloat are prepared.

35. In the financial year to date (Apr-Dec), in respect of pre-planned operations, the Air Support Unit (ASU) flew operationally for 1,603 hours in response to 3,937 requests. 51% of the requests were for counter terrorism /security purposes, 25% were for corporate tasks, 11% were for Public Order tasks and the remaining 13% in support of tasks requested by other business groups.

36. Since delivery of the new aircraft the ASU has been able to:

• Increase aircraft endurance from 1 hour 30 to 2 hours 30 minutes (helipad), and up to three and a half hours from a clear area (runway).
• Provide the Silver/Bronze Commander a bespoke position in the aircraft with their own communications, video screens and the ability to direct their resources from overhead any incident. It also provides the ability to transport the Silver/Bronze to the scene of any incident. This was trialed during the Tour de France.
• Provide detailed evidential imagery of crime scenes/critical incidents, utilizing the Thermal Image Wescam camera system. This is being progressed with Accident Investigators at the scene of fatal accidents, and Senior Investigating Officers courses.
• Rapidly transport specialist Technical Support Unit officers from Battersea Heliport to incidents.
• Transport 2 specialist Search dogs and handlers to any location in London, the South East, or nationally.
• Provide live digital downlink pictures to GT/IR and new hand held receivers. This now includes the ability to downlink a QUAD pictures, including all three sensors (daylight camera, spotter scope, thermal image), and also the moving map showing the location of suspects. This was used during an armed operation during Notting Hill Carnival providing support to SCD11 and SFOs.
• The aircraft now has the ability to “uplink” pictures from ground sites. These can be re-broadcast and downlinked with images from the aircraft.
• Provide detailed digital still imagery to CO19 officers. This has also included covert images by utilizing the video images from the Wescam spotter scope.
• Training for officers and staff on the new helicopters has been demanding. However, this is now complete and disruption to service delivery has been kept to a minimum.

37. In the financial year to date (April-Dec), Dog Support Unit (DSU) general-purpose dogs have:

• Undertaken 1,123 pre-planned tasks
• Conducted 16,104 searches for persons
• Assisted BOCUs in the arrest of 1,468 prisoners as a direct result of the deployment of general-purpose dogs
• Provided dogs and handlers for tasking in conjunction with Territorial Support Group officers, as directed by CO CaTO, resulting in the arrest of a further 454 prisoners
• Provided serials of one Sergeant and six dogs and handlers at 22 category C football matches
• Undertaken 381 pre-planned assignments to deal with dangerous dogs and responded to 1,070 incidents involving dangerous dogs
•  Provided dogs for security patrols at Heathrow Airport (four dogs and handlers each day) and at Windsor Castle (two dogs and handlers each night duty, reducing to 1 in January 2008)
• Provided 24 hours a day pan-London response cover by two tactical firearms support dogs and handlers.
• Provided two tactical firearms support dogs and handlers to support CO19 officers at 232 armed operations.
• Provided specially trained dogs to search for human remains on 30 operations.

38. In the same period, specialist search dogs have -

• Provided 24 hours a day pan-London response cover by two explosives search dogs and handlers
• Undertaken 2,073 pre-planned searches by explosives search dogs
• Undertaken 519 pre-planned searches by firearms recovery dogs
• Undertaken 1,141 pre-planned searches by narcotics/currency detection dogs
• Provided passive narcotics dogs for 174 screening operations resulting in 1,339 sanction detections

39. Demand for the services of MPS Dangerous Dogs Legislation Officers (accredited ‘expert witnesses) to examine suspected prohibited dogs has increased significantly during the year, both from within the MPS and from provincial forces. DSU Dog Legislation Officers have undertaken 368 examinations within the MPS in the current financial year. The Dog Support Unit has secured financial re-imbursement from provincial forces for examinations undertaken on their behalf.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Central Operations continues to monitor progress in achieving a more representative workforce profile. This objective is supported by regular review of individual OCU Equality Development Action Plans. The percentage of female police officers in CO has risen from 7% to 9% and BME police officers from 3% to 4% of the workforce total. This represents an additional 94 female officers and 47 BME officers. Female police staff strength has increased from 31% to 53% and BME police staff from 9% to 20% of the workforce total, an increase of 530 and 265 staff respectively.

2. We continue to utilise performance information to provide input to community and equality impact assessments. Additionally, this type of information assists in developing tactical advice and support, and proactive and preventative work including community engagement

3. The Performance Unit has recently undertaken a project to review the nature and type of equalities, diversity and citizen focus information available, with the aim of identifying gaps in order to improve coverage and is in the process of developing a performance reporting framework. It is anticipated that baseline data will begin to be made available during the 2008/09 planning year and that regular reporting will take place on a quarterly basis. Additionally, in support of the CO planning process, the Performance Unit held a workshop in February 2008 for OCU planners to consolidate knowledge around corporate and business group objectives, business risk and Equalities Impact Assessment, to ensure equalities and diversity issues are captured and addressed in our business plan 08/09.

D. Financial implications

2007/08 performance has been delivered within budget. Central Operations reported an interim outturn position of £4m underspend which represents 1.5% of the total budget of £264m. The budget for 2008/09 is £255m excluding Olympics Security, the funding for which is still under review with the Home Office and the associated grant support for 2009/10 has yet to be finalised.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Robert Jennings, Central Operations Performance and Planning Unit, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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