Crime data recording scrutiny report update

Report: 12
Date: 12 June 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report contains an update on progress towards the 11 recommendations of the MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny.

A. Recommendation

That

1. members note the report; and

2. support be given to continued work on the implementation and embedding of recommendations of the MPA Scrutiny.

B. Supporting information

1. This report sets out the current position with regard to the recommendations from the MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny. Full details of activity are shown in the attached Appendix 1.

2. Changes to the structure of the Metropolitan Police Service on 7 April have impacted upon the recommendations contained in the Scrutiny. The Data Accuracy Team has been absorbed into Territorial Policing (TP). Within the Capability and Reform area of TP, a single commander has responsibility for the Organisational Capability and Criminal Justice Reform portfolio (OC & CJR), which draws together key aspects of performance management with responsibility for data quality relating to crime incidents and criminal justice processes. The OC & CJR portfolio has been reconfigured to two commands, Emerald and Performance. This new structure, with accountability through the DAC Capability & Reform, provides the level of independence sought by the scrutiny.

3. The Scrutiny has common themes with the Audit Commission, Police Data Quality Review: to work currently being undertaken in relation to the TP Emerald - National Crime Reporting Standard and the Home Office Crime Recording Compliance Plan and to the MPS Sanctioned Detections Action Plan. In recognition of these interdependencies the Commander OC & CJR has commissioned a project to look at this work in a holistic manner. The strategic basis of this project, together with the major deliverables, has been defined and a multi-disciplinary project board is to be convened. The existing Crime Recording Oversight Group (CROG) will be adapted to provide strategic oversight of the work.

Abbreviations and Acronyms:

BCU

Borough Command Unit

CMU

Crime Management Unit

CRIB

Crime Recording and Investigation Bureau

CROG

Crime Recording Oversight Group

EIA

Equality Impact Assessment

HOCR

Home Office Counting Rules

NICL

National Incident Classification List

NSIR

National Standard for Incident Recording

OC & CJR

Organisational Capability and Criminal Justice Reform

TIB

Telephone Investigation Bureau

TNA

Training Needs Analysis

C. Race and equality impact

All aspects of policy and guidance produced by the MPS are automatically subject to equality impact assessment (EIA) processes where these issues are picked up and recorded. This ensures the final outcomes are responsive to identified equality issues. A full EIA will be carried out on all SOPs arising from this project.

D. Financial implications

Financial implications within this report are specifically the ongoing costs to the MPS of the project team and the costs in terms of training arising out the proposed training needs analysis. It is anticipated that the vast majority of work will be conducted by staff within the OC & CJR portfolio. The abstraction of staff to deliver this project has not yet been costed.

E. Legal implications

Currently these appear only in the case of reports concerning procurement or property acquisitions or disposals.

F. Background papers

• MPA - Crime Data Recording Scrutiny
• Audit Commission Police Data Quality Review 2006/7
• TP – Emerald NCRS & HOCR Compliance Plan
• MPS Sanctioned Detections – Action Plan

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Commander P Minton, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Progress on recommendations from the MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny

This appendix contains information about progress within each recommendation.

Recommendation 1

The MPA and MPS need to prioritise their focus on the improvement of basic data quality and ensure that officer and staff training adequately addresses the needs of the system. The need for data accuracy should not focus solely on compliance with external standards.

1. TP Emerald, within the Organisational Capability and Criminal Justice Reform portfolio of Territorial Policing are mapping crime/incident reporting/recording processes end to end. This will form the basis of a training needs analysis (TNA).

2. Research is being conducted into the practicality of delivering a performance with integrity course aimed at various levels of practitioners with the relevant processes. This will lay the foundations to a changed approach, whereby crime-recording focuses on accuracy and the benefits derived from this approach, rather than compliance and external inspections.

3. A successful CRIS training pilot has been completed at Sunbury Training Centre that incorporated CRIS investigations into the foundation IPLDP course. A report has been submitted to Commander Minton for TP Command Team for support to include this as an element within all MPS IPLDP training.

4. The TNA will analyse how the differential knowledge base between officers and police staff working in CCC and CMUs can be addressed.

5. The process maps, alluded to in paragraph 1, will aid the production of standard operating procedures, accompanied by a clear set of instructions (how to / why to) for practitioners. These process maps will act as a diagnostic tool to identify the most common pitfalls enabling toolkits to be designed.

Recommendation 2

The DAT and the FCR’s lines of accountability should be changed to ensure both greater independence and higher-level management input. CMU line management should be made independent of BOCU line management.

1. DAC Hitchcock was appointed as the DAC (TP) Capability and Reform on 1 April 2008 with overall responsibility for crime recording and data accuracy. Reporting will be to the MPS Performance Board and quarterly, or otherwise as required, to the PPRC.

2. Commander Minton was appointed to head the Organisational Capability & Criminal Justice Reform portfolio on 7 April 2008. The portfolio has been organised into two Commands, Emerald and Performance. Performance encompasses chief officer responsibility for the Force Incident Register (FIR) and the Force Crime Registrar (FCR) roles. The line of accountability, through DAC Hitchcock, provides the level of independence recommended.

3. The concept of independent line management for Crime Management Units (CMUs) is planned to be trialed within two Boroughs. It is intended that this project will take the concept one step further by combining the roles of CMUs and the Telephone Investigation Bureaux (TIBs) to form Crime Recording and Investigation Bureaux (CRIB). Planning for this is at an early stage, however it is intended that the pilot is started during this financial year. (See Recommendation 9).

Recommendation 3

The MPS should fully implement the NSIR and the NICL codes.

1. The MPS will implement the National Standard for Incident Recording (NSIR) and the National Incident Classification List (NICL) in full. The newly reconfigured Emerald Command will take the lead role in implementing this project.

2. Technical updates to IT systems to facilitate implementation of this project are currently being researched and are expected to be completed by April 2009

Recommendation 4

The MPA and MPS should work with the Home Office to facilitate a full review of the Notifiable Offences List (NOL) and NCRS.

1. The MPS has already discussed potential changes with ACPO and Home Office colleagues, including the Flanagan Review Team. As a result, national pilots are currently underway in four separate police force areas to assess potential new methods of recording crime. The long-term outcome of these discussions is awaited. It is suggested that the MPS and MPA consider how to respond to the forthcoming green paper in respect of any opportunity to review the NOL.

Recommendation 5

The supervision of crime recording processes should be strengthened and the CROG should be either independently chaired or report regularly to the MPA lead member for data quality.

1. The MPS Performance Board has oversight of performance and progress in relation to crime/incident recording and related data quality issues. The MPS will report quarterly to PPRC, recognising the MPA is itself held to account for data quality.

2. The constitution of CROG is currently being reviewed as part of a holistic review of crime data accuracy. Commander Minton will now chair this body and it will revert to a strategic role with executive tactical decisions being taken at the appropriate level. Independence is achieved by the line of accountability passing through DAC Hitchcock.

3. The Performance Command will work with Performance Information Bureau to redesign the presentation of performance data with the intention of quantitative data sitting alongside qualitative data within the same document. In the medium term, it is intended that performance data and its quality are integral in their presentation. The quality of supervision of crime recording processes will therefore increasingly become part of the performance management framework for TP.

Recommendation 6

A robust, risk-based crime recording audit system should be developed and maintained with appropriate resource support.

1. The first round of peer review audits have been completed and are currently being evaluated. The baseline performance, arising out of the reviews, is being fed to Borough Commanders.

2. The reconfigured Performance Command will own the performance and review function. They will be accountable through to Commander Minton to DAC Hitchcock within the Capability and Reform Portfolio. The command will provide service level audit functions and will carry out risk based inspections and audits as required.

3. Peer reviews will be undertaken by existing borough staff. Central support for the audit process will be provided by the Performance Command, with development work being undertaken by TP Emerald.

Recommendation 7

CCC targets and resource allocation should be reviewed to focus on quality of service provision.

1. Qualitative performance data for CCC is being developed. Training and development material for CCC focuses heavily on the quality of interactions and the data arising from them. Staff continue to work through the NCALT packages.

Recommendation 8

The MPS should expedite the pilots into the centralisation of crime recording.

1. As rehearsed at Recommendation 2 para 3, a project, combining the roles of CMUs and TIBs, is to be piloted in the West link to test this concept. Analysis of this pilot will inform progression of this recommendation. The timescales of the evaluation will be dependent on the date of the initial project rollout of existing functions into the new location.

Recommendation 9

The MPS SMT should ensure that boroughs systematically inform the FCR of local policies before implementing them.

1. The TP Emerald Policy Unit has collated all local crime recording instructions and ensured their NCRS compliance. It has been agreed, via CROG, that the TP Emerald Policy Unit will collate and review all future local crime recording instructions. These will then be passed to the FCR for approval before being certified as fit for purpose.

2. Where, in exceptional circumstances, BOCUs need to develop local crime recording instructions to meet local needs the TP Emerald Policy Unit will act as a clearing house ensuring there is no conflict with, and that they compliment and enhance, corporate policy.

3. Although this will require ongoing monitoring by TP Emerald and Performance Command, it is suggested that this recommendation is complete.

Recommendation 10

The MPS should conduct a review of Merlin to ensure there are no offences on the system that should be recorded as a crime on the Crime Report Information System.

1. When raised, this issue was researched by the Data Accuracy Team and SCD5. A non-compliance rate of less than 1% was identified and these deficiencies were corrected.

2. Training and inspection processes have been put in place to prevent further crimes being recorded on Merlin without being recorded on CRIS. These processes are being monitored by TP Performance Command to ensure efficacy and compliance.

3. It is suggested that this recommendation is complete.

Recommendation 11

IT provision should be subject to further scrutiny. The MPS should ensure that its systems are allocated sufficient resources to meet both current needs and to ensure future needs.

1. The development of a new Crime Recording System will have considerable cost and resource implications for the MPS, which, in the current financial climate, will make its introduction prohibitive. In response to this DOI are in the very early stages of assessing the feasibility of introducing a Scalable Investigative Case Management IT system which will integrate with CRIS and enhance the capability to better manage lines of enquiry, actions and decisions, and with structured checklists to manage compliance. A preliminary meeting will take place in mid June between TP Emerald and DOI to discuss the processes, organisational structure, technology and information requirements of the desired future system. This will enable the production of a business case describing the costs, business benefits and optimum delivery approach.

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