Third party reporting

05/07
15 March 2007
MPA briefing paper

Author: Detective Superintendent Sue Williams, Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate.

This briefing paper has been prepared to inform members and staff. It is not a committee report and no decisions are required.

Summary

This report summarises how the MPS is supporting Third party reporting Initiatives. Territorial Policing (TP) Violent Crime Directorate has responsibility for implementing local partnership initiatives through Borough Community Safety Units (CSUs). The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) has responsibility for promoting Third Party Reporting and encouraging pan London initiatives.

Background

The MPS encourages the development of third party reporting schemes at Borough and pan London level to increase the reporting of crime and the provision of intelligence information. Several Boroughs have established third party reporting schemes through local CDRP’s or partnership initiatives with local organisations. These are locally funded and managed. All Boroughs in the MPS are encouraged to develop third party reporting sites.

TP Violent Crime Directorate (VCD) via the Community Safety Unit Team encourage local CSUs to develop in partnership third party reporting sites, which offer victims and potential victims a range of options in which to report sensitive crimes/incidents in a safe, secure, relaxed and comfortable environment.

The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate manage two third party reporting schemes which are available to Boroughs where local arrangements are not in place. The Directorate oversee the development of third party reporting initiatives pan London. An audit of third party reporting initiatives was recently conducted by the Directorate. This information was shared with the MPA. There were some good examples of successful reporting sites, many of these were where the local authorities/partnerships had taken the lead and invested resources into the initiatives.

Guidance on third party reporting is contained in the Hate Crime Policy Standard Operating Procedures Notices 35/2005 issued by Territorial Policing - VCD.

Hate Crime Policy Standard Operating Procedures – Third Party Reporting

The aim of having third party reporting sites on a borough is to both increase reporting of crime and to increase the flow of intelligence from the community. This is done by providing members of the public an alternative method of contacting the police that does not involve them having to go to a police station.

There are two ways in which these reports can be made, either by a self-reporting form for the victim to complete and sends to the police by post or by attending a reporting site.
Sites can be tailored to the reporting of specific types of crime, for example homophobic crimes being reported at LGBT venues, to ensure that the person making the report or forwarding information to police is comfortable with the environment the site is located in.
Sites can include Mosques, temples, churches and local authority offices.
An information sharing protocol must be established between the third party site and the Police so that those using the site are confident about what will happen with the information they provide and that it will remain secure. See Multi-agency confidentiality agreements.

Self Reporting Schemes

True Vision Self Reporting Scheme

This scheme is based on self-reporting packs that victims or witnesses to crime can pick up from public venues. True Vision is a national initiative managed by the Staffordshire, West Mercia, Warwickshire and West Midlands Police Forces. There are currently 40 UK police forces including the MPS that operate the scheme.

The MPS adopted the True Vision self-reporting scheme in August 2005 replacing the previous MPS Report It Scheme.

Two reporting packs are available through True Vision, one for reporting race and faith crime and the other for reporting homophobic crime.

The packs are purchased centrally by the DCFD and costs are shared with TP VCD. Boroughs are responsible for distributing the packs at suitable venues across their Borough.

The self-reporting packs contain a return envelope. All information is entered on the MPS CRIMINT intelligence system for research and analysis purposes. Where a correspondent requests police action the report is forwarded to the relevant Community Safety Unit on Borough [or relevant Force Intelligence Bureau if outside London] for further action.

The return rate of self-reporting packs is around 1% of packs distributed but the rate has risen with the introduction of the True Vision scheme, which benefits from a nationally recognised brand name.

GALOP Assisted Reporting Scheme

This scheme is managed by GALOP (an LGBT charitable organisation) and provides an assisted crime reporting facility for homophobic and transphobic crime in partnership with the DCFD.

GALOP operates a telephone reporting line and any reported crimes are forwarded to the relevant CSUs.

GALOP provide the MPS with small business cards advertising their assisted reporting facilities and these are provided to Borough. Boroughs are encouraged to advertise the GALOP scheme within the LGBT community.

Faith Third Party Reporting Schemes

There are a number of faith related third party reporting initiatives that have protocols with the MPS for information sharing. The Community Security Trust records anti semitic incidents and the Muslim Safety Forum (MSF) records Islamophobic incidents. The MPS is in the process of establishing protocols with the MSF for sharing information. The sharing of this information enables the MPS to have a greater understanding of where incidents/crime occur, which enables resources to be more effectively deployed and community tensions monitored more accurately.

Future Initiatives

An audit of third party reporting initiatives was recently conducted by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate. This information was shared with the MPA.

The MPS is working together with the London Race Hate Crime Forum to develop MPS Hate Crime Officers who will link in with Hate Crime Co-ordinators on Borough for information sharing, intelligence gathering, monitoring community tensions and hate/race crimes. Their role will be to feed into a multi partnership panel to monitor hate crimes activities on the borough and ensure incidents reported by a number of methods are co-ordinated and filtered to the appropriate agencies to deal with.

The Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team (CT SET) has been invited to attend the next London Race Hate Crime Forum meeting on 27 February 2007 to provide a presentation on how they monitor community tensions and develop Community Impact Assessments (CIAs). Examples of good practice will be cited. Third Party Reporting initiatives are a source of monitoring community tensions.

The London Race Hate Crime Forum reviews Borough processes in relation to hate crimes and community tensions; it is proposed to introduce the monitoring of third party reporting as part of this procedure. They will ensure best practice is shared.

The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate will integrate the development of third party reporting into the role of the Directorate’s new outreach workers along with the monitoring hate crimes and community tensions. Community tensions and increases in hate crime will be fed back to CT SET and recorded to ensure that the MPS is intelligence led in allocating resources.

An initiative developed on the Olympics Boroughs to ensure that effective third party reporting systems are established. The boroughs will be asked to provide an update on their third party reporting systems and how they are preparing for the future. CT SET to arrange Newham, Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham and Greenwich Boroughs to provide an update.

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