Minutes

Minutes of the Professional Standards & Complaints Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 10 November 2003 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members:

• Reshard Auladin (Chair)
• Elizabeth Howlett (Deputy Chair)
• Richard Sumray
• Rachel Whittaker
• Cecile Wright

MPA Officers:

• David Riddle (Deputy Clerk)
• Alan Johnson (Head of Human Resources and Professional Standards)
• Nick Baker (Committee Services)

MPS Officers:

• Commander Hagon
• DAC Steve Roberts (Director of Professional Standards)

Part 1

16. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Jennette Arnold and Nicholas Long.

45. Declarations of interests from members of the committee

(Agenda item 2)

Members gave no declarations of interests.

18. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee received the minutes of the Professional Standards and Complaints Committee meeting held on 11 September 2003 and noted the minutes (Part 1) of the ACPO Conduct Sub-Committee meetings held on 11 and 19 September 2003.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Professional Standards and Complaints Committee meeting held on 11 September 2003 be agreed and signed as a correct record, and the minutes (Part 1) of the ACPO Conduct Sub-Committee meetings held on 11 and 19 September 2003 be noted.

19. Chair’s and members’ update

(Agenda item 4)

Reshard Auladin reported that he had attended a conference in Belfast on ‘Policing the Police’ arranged by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. He requested that the Committee receive a report on this matter to a future meeting.

Rachel Whittaker informed the Committee that she had attended the Association of Police Authorities (APA) conference and raised concerns relating to the funding of the Independent Police Complaints Commission

20. Complaints management information

(Agenda item 5)

The Committee received a report that outlined details of complaints management information for the period October 2002 to September 2003. It focused on the key changes and exceptions, as trends are slow to change.

Members welcomed the reported continued decline of public complaints allegations by 15% annually and the significant downward trends in both the total number of live investigations and in public complaint investigations over 120-days old.

The MPS reported that the reduction had been supported by an initiative of ‘early intervention’ in some complaints, which had resulted in earlier resolution.

Concern was expressed at the delay between investigating and a misconduct hearing. Whilst it was acknowledged that the need for officers to obtain legal support caused some delay, it was felt that this issue should be in the subject of a presentation to a future meeting. The Chair agreed, and asked that the presentation include consideration of the establishment of a ‘semi-permanent’ Panel or Group that could speed up the hearing process.

It was also agreed that, an opportunity should be arranged for members to view service confidence files at the Directorate of Professional Standards as part of their monitoring role.

Resolved – That

1. the report and revisions to Appendices 1 and 3 be noted;
2. a report on action to reduce delays in misconduct hearings be presented to a future meeting of the Committee; and
3. an opportunity should be arranged for members to view service confidence files at the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) as part of their monitoring role.

21. PCA guidelines on investigating allegations of racially discriminatory behaviour

(Agenda item 6)

A report was considered that informed members that DPS had conducted an assessment of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) publication on guidelines on investigating allegations of racially discriminatory behaviour and its potential impact in professional standards investigations.

Arising from the PCA report and its recommendations, it was noted that the DPS would be conducting a pilot scheme in a number of boroughs and at Hendon training school. This pilot scheme would monitor the investigations falling within the criteria, to establish consistent working practices. The pilot would be overseen by a project board that would include representation from PCA, Independent Advisory Group (IAG), support groups and staff associations. The MPS Internal Consultancy Group (ICG) would then undertake an evaluation of the pilot scheme.

Resolved – That the Committee support the proposed DPS pilot scheme based on the recommendations in PCA guidelines and that a further update be sought in six months.

22. Monitoring of police complaints and discipline

(Agenda item 7)

The Deputy Clerk informed the Committee that a selection of case files are available for members inspection and that they should inform him of any comments by the end of November.

Rachel Whittaker raised concerns that complainants do not appear to receive a regular update on the progress of their complaints. DPS agreed this would be good practice and undertook to examine how this could be incorporated into the process. It was agreed members were particularly concerned to ensure that complaints were dealt with proportionately and that, it appeared, far too much time was being given to often minor complaints.

Richard Sumray wished to see some ‘vexatious’ complaints files and for further consideration to be given to early conciliation.

Resolved – That the report be received and an update on the members concerns be given at the next meeting.

23. Management vetting update

(Agenda item 8)

The Committee received a report that updated members on the developments and current position in relation to management vetting (MV). Members discussed the appeal process and sought further information relating to definition of ‘lifestyle criteria’. Concern was also expressed that there was insufficient financial information provided on the cost of the MV process. The MPS undertook to provide more information on these issues in future report. DPS reported that management vetting took around six week to complete but, arising from discussion, concern was expressed that security vetting in general was taking to long. The MPS undertook to address these concerns outside the meeting.

Resolved – That the report be received and an update on the members concerns be given in the next report.

24. Service confidence procedure

(Agenda item 9)

The Committee received a report, which gave updated and statistical information on the service confidence procedure that was implemented in August 2000 and reviewed in early 2003.

Members highlighted the need for supervisory staff to be fully trained in supporting those staff subjected to the procedure and this need to be taken account when placing individuals in ‘non sensitive’ posts.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

25. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 10)

A resolution was put to exclude the press and public from the meeting during items 11-13 as it was likely to disclose exempt information as described in Schedule 12(a) (1) and (14) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Resolved – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of agenda items 11-13.

Part 2

26. Service confidence procedure

(Agenda item 11)

Members received the exempt appendices linked to item 9 – Service Confidence Procedure, which gave examples of the procedure reference to details of specific cases.

Resolved – That the appendices be noted.

27. Presentation – DPS Strategic Assessment

(Agenda item 12)

The Committee received a report and presentation on the DPS Strategic Assessment to establish the risks posed by corruption, dishonesty and unethical and unprofessional behaviour.

The presentation focused on six key issues: the threat to individual and organisational integrity; information and intelligence leakage; substance misuse; risks in recruitment selection; lack of a coherent professional standards information at borough/OCU level; and increased risks posed by the developing security industry.

It was agreed that a consistent format for anti-corruption case studies needed to be developed for members to be able assess such cases against the six key issues.

Rachel Whittaker suggested that greater prominence should be given to new recruits about these issues and the options such as ‘Right Line’ that were available to them. She added that ‘ethical contracts’ needed to be developed for all police officers. DPS stated that work was being undertaken to promote these issues to recruits and that a document detailing and ‘ethical expectations’ was being put together.

Resolved – That report and presentation be noted and that a further report be prepared for the Committee in six months’ time addressing the issues raised by members.

28. Minutes

(Agenda item 13)

The Committee noted the minutes (Part 2) of the ACPO Conduct Sub-Committee meetings held on 11 and 19 September 2003.

Resolved – That the minutes of the ACPO Conduct Sub-Committee meetings held 11 and 19 September 2003

The Committee closed at 12.10 p.m.

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