Development of Transport OCU

Report: 08
Date: 13 June 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

The MPA gave approval for the signature of a Special Services Agreement (SSA) with Transport for London (TfL) for delivery of a new Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) at its meeting on 25 April 2002. The TOCU will be funded by TfL under the terms of the SSA. The unit will have specific responsibility for policing agreed bus corridors on the London bus network and addressing associated criminal and anti-social behaviour, as well as taxi and private hire vehicle enforcement. The Special Services Agreement details the operation and management of the unit including delivery of the contractual services.

A. Recommendation

Members are asked to note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA has agreed with TfL to provide additional police officers and traffic wardens for policing 20 safe corridors on the London bus network. The unit will be funded entirely by TfL and will not become a burden on the MPS budget. It is envisaged that additional benefits accruing from the agreement would be in the form of higher visibility of MPS uniformed personnel and an attendant reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour, although it is accepted that numbers may initially rise due to high levels of current under reporting of incidents by bus personnel.

2. Three key objectives have been set for the proposed OCU:

• The public and staff feel safe using bus services, bus stops and the roads on agreed routes and corridors
• The efficient movement of buses on agreed routes and corridors
• The enforcement of the law relating to taxi and private hire vehicles

3. These objectives not only involve dealing with illegally parked vehicles on the 26 designated routes but also targeting those routes associated with criminal and anti-social behaviour problems.

Command and control

4. A Chief Superintendent will manage the OCU who will be answerable to Commander Traffic and Transport. A police inspector will be responsible for a designated Area and the priority bus corridors within it. Each of the corridors will have a dedicated team managed by a sergeant. The Areas would also have a task force to assist the dedicated teams in the event of incidents occurring which are beyond the limit of their resources.

5. The operational staff will be managed from a joint Traffic/Transport control room, which has links to the bus control centre. There will also be a combined intelligence unit consisting of the current SENECA, cab enforcement, Traffic and London Buses intelligence units. Any TfL staff working in these units are vetted and seconded to work under the control of the MPS.

Staffing

6. Approximately 530 staff will be employed to deliver the services as follows:

• Police officers 207
• Traffic Wardens/Community Support Officers 276
• Civilian staff 47
• Total 530

Contractual services

7. The commencement date for the start of the service is 10 June 2002. The roll-out schedule of the routes is shown at Appendix 1.

Pilot project

8. The proof of concept two-week pilot held in January 2002 demonstrated that the objectives are both realistic and achievable. The partnership between TfL and the MPS worked well at all levels. An independent survey of passengers, bus drivers, conductors and police/traffic wardens on the pilot route shows that all groups were very positive of the scheme. A summary of the pilot evaluation report is attached at Appendix 2.

Performance monitoring

9. The objectives of the TOCU are set out in Schedule 1, Part 1A to the Special Services Agreement (SSA), attached as Appendix 3. The associated performance indicators are listed in Schedule 15 of the SSA, attached at Appendix 4.

10. Monitoring of the effectiveness of the Transport OCU will be undertaken by a Combined Advisory Committee (CAC) set up as part of the SSA (Section 18) comprising of senior members of the parties involved in the agreement. The CAC will meet as often as necessary or advisable but in any event at least quarterly. Section 18 of the contract states ‘for the avoidance of doubt any recipient of advice from the Combined Advisory Committee shall be under an obligation to give that advice reasonable consideration, but shall not be bound by it and it shall not be a breach of this agreement if such advice is not accepted’.

11. Operational monitoring will be by way of monthly ‘Comstat’ meetings chaired by Commander Traffic and Transport. These meetings will be supported by a monthly management report, the performance data being provided to the members of the CAC.

12. The Transport OCU has also been incorporated into the MPS Local Inspection programme and has been scheduled for inspection in October 2003.

Critical success factors

13. The initiative is intended to achieve high visibility policing in the busiest parts of London with the potential to assist in the reduction of crime levels, as well as improving the movement of buses. Previous operational tactics Seneca (revenue protection operations linked to crime & disorder operations), Blakey (tackling illegal parking on disabled parking bays) and Butler (‘on-bus’ Traffic Warden initiative) will be incorporated into the OCUs deployments and operations based on intelligence led policing. The TOCU intelligence unit and tasking and co-ordinating meeting will determine the most appropriate tactic to use for any prevention action or to deal with any emerging issue.

14. A problem solving approach will be taken, in partnership with borough OCUs, local authorities and the London Bus Initiative (LBI) to address local incidents of crime, disorder and illegal obstructions on the routes and corridors, e.g., dealing with anti-social behaviour of school children on buses by raising awareness including presentations from bus companies and police officers in schools.

C. Financial implications

The Transport OCU is being funded by TfL to the sum of £24 million for the financial year 2002 / 2003.

D. Background papers

• MPA Full Authority Paper, dated 25 April 2002
• TfL and MPS Special Services agreement
• Pilot Evaluation Report, dated 26 March 2002
• Independent Survey of ‘proof of concept’ Bus Policing Pilot on routes 109 and 159 by Accent Marketing and Research

E. Contact details

Report authors: Commander Alan Shave, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Appendix 2c

Appendix 2c is only available in hard copy format from the MPA

Appendix 3

Schedule 1

Part 1.A

The Contractual Services

Objective 1 - The public and staff feel safe using bus services, bus stops and the roads on agreed routes and corridors

MPS personnel staff to provide high profile on-bus presence on the Bus Routes in order to deter crime and anti-social behaviour

Assign staff to target and reduce criminal activity in order that the public and staff feel safe using bus services, bus stops and the roads on the Bus Routes

Focus on activities of youths, including known problem routes/locations and work with TfL and the other agencies on established educational initiatives (e.g. Buswise/Junior Citizen) to prevent anti-social behaviour occurring

Respond quickly and effectively to reports of assaults on staff and passengers and reports of public disorder on buses, at bus stops and at bus stations

Support TfL ticket checking and other revenue protection activities

Provide pro-active and reactive support to bus operators and TfL who wish to prosecute criminals and vandals identified on CCTV

Objective 2 – To ensure the efficient movement of buses on agreed routes and corridors

MPS personnel to deal with illegal obstructions on the highway (including vehicle removals at the discretion of the OCU Commander where MPA has the appropriate powers to consent) to ensure the free flowing movement of buses and take other appropriate action to ensure the free movement of buses

Report defective traffic signals and take positive action to maximise bus flows during any periods of associated disruption. Where appropriate, implement temporary bus priority measures as necessary

MPA personnel to provide high profile presence in order to deter illegal parking and other road traffic offences to complement existing enforcement initiatives (including London Bus Initiative, Street Management camera enforcement and revenue protection activities)

Ensure road works are in accordance with licensing agreements (to the extent of MPA powers to do so) and are managed appropriately and timely and where necessary take positive action to maximise bus flows during any periods of associated disruption. Where appropriate, implement temporary bus priority measures as necessary

Ensure obstructions due to traffic collisions are removed as soon as practicable and/or steps are taken to minimise the effect on bus journey times

Minimise the impact on bus operations at times of security alerts and other critical incidents

Provide assistance, guidance and support to staff and customers during special events e.g. demonstrations, including strikes on other forms of public transport to maximise bus flows. Where appropriate, implement temporary bus priority measures as necessary

Ensure that red route, loading & parking box regulations are enforced and the level of warden presence is sufficient according to the needs of the location

Objective 3 - Enforcement of the law relating to taxi and private hire vehicles

Undertake strategic enforcement operations against taxi touting as identified by the intelligence unit

Undertake enforcement activity targeted at offences against taxi and private hire legislation

Respond to criminal acts by or against taxi and private hire drivers, reported to or observed by MPS personnel

Provide support to TfL PCO on street activity

Provide, where appropriate, training for PCO and MPS personnel

Maximise the co-ordination of MPS taxi activities with those of PCO personnel addressing taxi and private hire operations and forming the focus for taxi and private hire activities within the MPS

Collect data on illegal operations and supply data to PCO personnel assigned to licensing compliance activities

Extract from Draft SSA 170502

Appendix 4

Schedule 15

MPA Performance Indicators 

All indicators to be provided on a monthly basis to the members of CAC

Performance Measures for Objective 1

1. % of actual working time on the Bus Routes in visible activity by police officers & traffic wardens
2. % of actual working time undertaking visible task force enforcements by police officers, traffic wardens and/or other MPS personnel
3. Actual staff complement against budgeted staff complement by MPS personnel group
4. Total number of reported crimes on Bus Routes
5. Total number of on-bus crimes on Bus Routes
6. % of reported crimes on Bus Routes leading to judicial disposal
7. % of on-bus crimes on Bus Routes leading to judicial disposal
8. Total number of Seneca type operations undertaken by task force and Borough Commands
9. Total number of bus related calls involving anti-social behaviour (not leading to criminal charges)
10. Average (and Standard Deviation) response times to “Immediate” bus related calls
11. Average response times to “other” bus related calls

Performance Measures for Objective 2

1. Number of fixed penalty notices and parking tickets issued on red routes within the Bus Routes
2. Number of penalty charge notices and fixed penalty notices issued on other routes within the Bus Routes
3. Number of fixed penalty notices issued on Bus Routes for the offences of: box overstay, illegal parking, not loading and bus stop waiting or parking
4. Number of obstruction tickets issued on red routes and other types of roads within the Bus Routes
5. Percentage of warnings issued as compared to fixed penalty notices, penalty charge notices and other parking tickets issued
6. Number of driveaways recorded on the Bus Routes
7. Percentage of successful disposals as compared to fixed penalty notices, penalty charge notices and other parking tickets issued (successful disposals in this case is defined as those tickets that result in fines paid or judicial disposal)
8. Number of vehicle removals on Bus Routes
9. Number of moving offence tickets issued on the Bus Routes (as identified by camera and non camera methods)

Performance Measures for Objective 3

1. Number of operations and person hours (taxi touting including plain clothes and uniform officers)
2. Number of offences detected as part of operations (taxi / private hire)
3. Number of offences disposed of through court action or through administrative processes

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