Implementation of the National Crime Recording Standards within the MPS

Report: 11
Date: 11 April 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

The report provides the members with an update on the progress of MPS' project to introduce the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) on 1 April 2002.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. Following the publication of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary report 'On the Record' and the proposals of the Home Office 'Review of Crime Statistics' published in June 2000, ACPO Chief Constables Council agreed to introduce the new National Crime Recording Standard across all forty-three police forces in England and Wales.

2. The standard has two main aims:

• to move the crime counts for the 43 forces of England and Wales onto a more consistent national basis; and
• to take a more victim-focused approach to crime recording.

3. A national performance framework is being developed, that will be reliant on police service comparisons. These comparisons cannot be made in the absence of national consistency in the interpretation of the Home Office counting rules in 'whether and when' to record crime. Further, the introduction of the national standard will provide a more accurate account of criminality, which in turn will inform intelligence-led policing and partnership approaches. It will also provide a more realistic picture of the true demand for police resources.

The MPS project

4. The MPS project began in September 2001, and employed a detective chief inspector to manage the NCRS project with responsibility to facilitate implementation of the NCRS by 1 April 2002.

5. The progress and direction of the project was overseen by the project steering group, chaired by Commander Hagon and subsequently DAC House, with representatives from all MPS stakeholder business groups. A comprehensive project plan was devised and agreed by the steering group, with emphasis on implementation dates and milestones for specific product delivery.

6. Internal consultation took place with Peel Centre training establishments, area training representatives and IT training departments to assess and clarify MPS training needs for the effective implementation of NCRS.

7. MPS policy was scrutinised by Crime Policy Unit to ensure NCRS compliance, with further direction in February for all BOCUs and specialist units to conduct audits of local policy.

8. The project linked in to Corporate Development Group in order to support the development of the 2002/2003 Policing Plan in taking account of likely increases in recorded crime consequent of NCRS, and to assist in working up formulae for the measurement of the impact of NCRS.

9. Department of Information (DoI) conducted feasibility studies in relation to the capacities of both the crime recording (CRIS) and command and control (CAD) systems to ensure their capacity to absorb greater recording levels. The project also linked in with the C3I Project to assess sustainability for the future.

10. IT up-grade opportunities and solutions were examined in order to support operational officers in recording additional crime. Changes to the CAD system to enable an automated data link to the CRIS system were examined but could not be implemented prior to the CRIS system upgrade currently projected for November 2002. A system upgrade to CAD will be introduced on 30 May 2002 to support compliance with NCRS in the absence of this data link.

11. The external communication and media strategy began in September 2001 with a briefing for the Metropolitan Police Authority by Commander Hagon. Briefings to Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee on 6 December 2001, full Authority on 10 December 2001, a personal briefing by the project manager to Mr Richard Sumray in January 2002 and a further briefing to PSPM Committee on 14 February 2002 followed this.

12. The internal communication strategy began in June 2001 with papers submitted to Management Board by Commander Hagon, with NCRS a standing agenda item since November 2001. In February 2002 full briefings were provided for OCU Commanders. Although an article was released in 'The Job' newspaper in January 2002, it was not possible to begin staff briefings until the final agreement of the terms of NCRS at national conference on 5 February 2002.

13. Secondary briefings took place during March for further operational managers in partnership with Territorial Policing Command and with the active support of Commander Quick. Staff were provided with full briefing packs and instructed to cascade the NCRS principles to BOCU staff. Final briefings were conducted at the end of March, coinciding with a further more detailed article in 'the job' and prior to the publication of the new MPS policy for crime recording and dealing with crime related incidents.

14. A new internal Intranet site attached to Performance Information Bureau has been set up providing staff with full details of the national interpretation of NCRS.

Measuring the impact of NCRS

15. The MPS will measure the impact of NCRS by measuring the decrease in the gap between crime- related CAD incidents and recorded CRIS crimes (this attrition rate is currently 84.7% across the MPS, with a national target minimum of 90% under NCRS).

16. Exploratory work has been conducted which has demonstrated a strong correlation between crime- related CAD incidents and recorded CRIS crimes. Because of the national interpretation of NCRS, the method of reporting crime will influence the number of crime related incidents recorded.

17. For example, during 2001 there were 137,376 Burglary CAD incidents recorded, and 115,335 CRIS crime entries. This gives a CRIS: CAD ratio of 84 burglary offences per 100 CAD incident records. Following the introduction of NCRS, this attrition rate will be monitored on a quarterly basis. If the ratio rises to 90 burglary offences per 100 CAD incidents, this will show a post NCRS impact of 6 crimes, per 100 incidents or a 7% increase.

18. Once increases are identified, appropriate target adjustments can be made to take account of the NCRS impact distinct from emerging crime trends.

19. Other methods of direct crime recording where no crime related incident is necessary will be identified and monitored, particularly the increased use of telephone recording. If the proportion of crimes recorded on CRIS rise significantly, these too can be measured against the NCRS impact and targets adjusted appropriately.

20. All NCRS monitoring information will be reported to PSPM on a quarterly basis and the full methodology available to the MPA Senior Analyst for scrutiny.

Media strategy and main messages

21. The Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) has taken overall responsibility for the delivery of the media strategy. This has included:

• internal press releases;
• arranging a full briefing for London's major crime reporters;
• publicity and briefing packs for interested agencies;
• supporting BOCUs in local press and partnership briefings;
• supporting internal publicity through IT broadcasts;
• ensuring a corporate standard for media messages;
• preparing media responses for future queries once the impact of NCRS takes effect; and
• ensuring the MPS message is in harmony with the Home Office and ACPO joint media statements.

22. A summary of the main messages for NCRS include:

• high level MPS support for national consistency in crime recording;
• the opportunity to demonstrate the true level of crime and the commensurate demand for police resources;
• the value of a victim focused approach, taking the MPS approach to hate crime into the national arena for all crime;
• the advantages of more accurate crime data in intelligence-led initiatives and partnership opportunities;
• the comparability of crime data for the first time within a nationally consistent recording protocol;
• the existing high standards of crime recording within the MPS which has led to a rise in the number of crimes reported in all hate crime categories;
• that rises in recorded crime will occur as a result of the standard but that these will be monitored and supported by our monthly release of crime data (for which the MPS is unique) and that the MPS will continue to be open and honest in reporting crime levels; and
• that the MPS is examining ways of enabling victims of crime to report it in the most convenient and appropriate manner for them, including the increased use of telephone investigation and the Internet.

Sustainability for the future

23. HMIC has developed an audit framework specifically tailored to examine how forces are complying with NCRS.

24. The framework is in depth and challenging, and the MPS Inspectorate is seeking the assistance of HMIC in how best to apply the model within the MPS.

25. Early indications are that the audit model may be worked into the local inspection process, supported by thematic and corporate inspections.

26. The process of monitoring compliance with the NCRS will undoubtedly be made more cost effective and simpler with the introduction of the CAD/CRIS data link. The upgrade planned for 30 May will support this process but will still require manual checking and verification to ensure accuracy.

27. The C3I project is aware of the implications of NCRS and they are building NCRS compliance into their standard operating procedure and future business imperative.

28. The MPS are examining the viability of a central telephone crime reporting in response to the Crime Recording Best Value Report, and further work is being conducted in this area.

C. Financial implications

1. The Crime Management Best Value Review (CMBVR) reckoned crime recording costs in terms of initial entry plus travelling and opportunity costs around the double crewing of police vehicles. This enables a current estimate of crime recording costs for this year of £27.5m. Assuming the effect of NCRS to be an increase of between 10% and 20%, the following estimates can be made:

• +10% £30.3m (+£2.8m) (=1,100,000 crime entries)
• +15% £31.7m (+£4.2m) (=1,115,000 crime entries)
• +20% £33m    (+£5.5m) (=1,200,000 crime entries)

2. A further way of demonstrating this effect is that a 10% increase in crime recording amounts to an additional 80,000 hours or 3333 days of police resource time. Any additional costs will be contained within the existing budgets

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report authors: DCI Chris Jones, MPS.

For information contact:

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

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