18. Memorandum submitted by
the Metropolitan Police Service
INTRODUCTION
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) welcomes
this opportunity to contribute to the Home Affairs Committee's
deliberations on the government's police reform agenda.
The MPS is in a unique position not only as
the largest police service in the UK and policing the capital
city, but also for leading the national policing counter-terrorism
effort and for combating serious and organised crime at a regional
level. These additional challenges emphasise the importance of
police reform improving the effectiveness of policing for Londoners
and all communities across the country. The MPS is rising to these
challenges, in the last 12 months fear of crime is falling and
public confidence is rising. Trust in the police is at its highest
level since 1995—and Home Office information suggests that
Londoners are more likely than almost everyone else to rate their
police as doing a good job[30].
The MPS was a major contributor to the first
wave of police reform and remains committed to change that brings
about improvement to the delivery of a range of policing services
and sets the police firmly on course to build on its success in
developing the confidence of communities.
This paper sets out the MPS view under the following
major themes:
— The relationship between national
standards and priorities and local decision-making.
— The extent to which a "performance
culture" is embedding itself in the police service.
— The National Policing Plan
— Accountability mechanisms for policing
and their hierarchy and the future of the "tripartite"
structure.
— Issues of workforce modernisation/reform
of police pay, conditions and working practices
— The use of Police Community Support
Officer's
— The role of the Police Standards
Unit, the National Centre for Policing Excellence and the proposed
National Policing Improvement Agency
— Improved use of science and technology
The MPS is committed through further reform,
to improve our service delivery in terms of full engagement with
communities, governance, accountability for performance and employment
practice.
The MPS believes that effective service delivery
can be achieved through the negotiation of targets with local
communities by police commanders against a framework of national
performance structures. The MPS is committed to the development
of a modern, high-performing workforce that reflects the communities
it serves in a context of contemporary employment practice.
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN NATIONAL
STANDARDS AND
PRIORITIES AND
LOCAL DECISION-MAKING
At the national level, the MPS believes that
the performance management system must move to a less complex
structure, with a significant reduction in the number of targets
and other interventions that are not relevant to delivery of a
reduction in crime. The current number of national targets absorbs
too great a proportion of police capacity and resources thereby
inhibiting police commanders from engaging creatively with local
communities so as to be seen to deal effectively with local problems.
Additional constraints and pressures created by the complex web
of inspection regimes also divert attention from the local dimension.
The MPS has made these views clear to the Home Office and has
reason to believe that change in this direction is likely.
The MPS recognises that the reforms in Phase
1 of police reform have significantly strengthened police performance
in tackling and improving service delivery. The Police Performance
Assessment Framework (PPAF) is an improving tool to this end.
Performance targets and their measurement do not however, exist
in isolation from a wider framework of accountability to an extensive
range of bodies including Police Authorities and the Home Office.
The MPS believes that performance targets should
reflect not only national concerns but also ones that are within
the remit of local police commanders to address in consultation
with local communities. The MPS does accept that there should
be a clear basis for systematic intervention when performance
targets are not being met.
The National Policing Plan (NPP) currently acknowledges
the responsibility of forces to address local priorities. However,
the very wide range of national targets embedded in the current
performance framework focus on a mixture of inputs to and outcomes
from police activity, which do not necessarily place emphasis
on the issues that are of importance to local communities who
perceive different problems. Over-emphasis of the national dimension
at the cost of the confidence of local communities in the willingness
or ability of local police commanders to commit resources to what
matters to them is likely to be counterproductive.
What is currently incomplete in the system of
performance management is the lack of measurement of public perceptions
on issues such as feelings of personal safety, victim satisfaction,
confidence and trust in the police both nationally and locally.
Their inclusion would assist the police in having a citizen-focussed
approach, responding more effectively to local wishes.
The MPS believes not only that there needs to
be room in the framework of priority-setting for the local dimension
of performance and accountability, but also that evolving frameworks
must acknowledge that the police service is no longer solely responsible
for delivering community safety. Many other agencies now have
statutory responsibility for community safety, without as yet
having accountability and inspection mechanisms that would ensure
their full participation.
EMBEDDING THE
PERFORMANCE CULTURE
Within the MPS an already strong performance
culture is being developed internally by:
— Improving internal accountability,
flattening structures, an emphasis on leadership, delegation of
decision making to OCU level and providing managers with relevant
information.
It is being reinforced externally through:
— Increased public accountability through
target setting by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police
Authority and, more generally, through the implications of the
Freedom of Information Act.
— National performance management frameworks
such as PPAF performance indicators.
While the culture of performance is being strengthened,
there is still some distance to go in terms of embedding it into
the way the MPS does business. The police service is working to
improve the management systems around planning, performance review,
people management and financial management. This has been hindered
by a legacy of obsolescent computer systems that are not integrated
and are being challenged to deliver the sort of information required
to make decisions under the new National Intelligence Model regime.
Part of the problem is the need to operate within the constraints
of nationally developed IT systems and a general lack of investment
in IT, which is only now being addressed and will take time to
deliver results.
Furthermore, strengthening the performance culture
in the Police service can be prejudiced if a similar culture is
not being developed with the same sense of urgency in other organisations.
Addressing the problems concerning getting up to date information
around Offenders Brought To Justice targets, for example, has
revealed managerial problems within the Courts system. IT compatibility
between CJS and police systems continues to be a key issue.
Partner agencies (local authorities, health
authorities, etc) who share in the delivery of safer communities
are not always required to focus on the same issues or inspected
with the same rigour as the police service. It is only when organisations
share common goals and mutually supportive performance regimes
that their potential synergy in problem solving and long term
crime reduction can be achieved. The MPS looks to a time when
a joint performance regime is in place for BCU's, bringing together
accountability for local performance in relation to community
safety by police, local authorities and criminal justice agencies.
ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS
FOR POLICING
AND THE
FUTURE OF
THE "TRI-PARTITE"
STRUCTURE.
Strategic Accountability
The MPS believes very strongly that debate about
the accountability of the police should be about how it can be
clarified and become more focused, accessible and comprehensible
to the public, particularly at a local level.
It is only right that local police commanders
and chief officers must be accountable for their decisions, actions,
use of resources and performance, but this accountability must
be achieved without compromising their operational independence
which ensures that the exercise of police powers is protected
from inappropriate political intervention. The tripartite relationship
between senior police leaders, national government and representatives
of local communities is a healthy one for UK democracy.
The current system in London works well particularly
at the strategic level. The Metropolitan Police Authority has
a key strategic role to play in the governance of the MPS. The
demands of delivering policing across an area as large, diverse
and complex as London clearly require an accountability framework
with a strong strategic dimension. The model for accountability
at this strategic level is represented by the relationship between
the MPS and the MPA. A key role of the MPA is to ensure that the
effective and efficient use of MPS resources is maximised by appropriate
distribution between local delivery and those specialist services
which are most effectively and economically delivered on a pan-London
basis. This is a dimension which would not be catered for if there
were no strategic level of accountability.
Mid level accountability
To this is added the additional statutory requirement
for local police commanders at borough level to deliver against
priorities and targets set in borough community safety strategies.
The MPS has no wish to complicate further the existing accountability
framework. It believes, however, that existing BCU-level delivery
agencies cannot adequately be held to account without the introduction
of a more powerful accountability body with a remit to hold all
community safety agencies, not only the police, to account for
reducing crime and improving public safety. Models are developing
that demonstrate how all agencies can be measured on their performance.
The MPS views the concept of Local Public Services
Boards as a potentially valid means of delivering localism. The
provision of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of participating
agencies for the public and the sharing of information will contribute
to the development of community engagement and build confidence.
The MPS supports further research into this idea.
This change is necessary in order to ensure
that agencies cannot hide lack of commitment or poor performance
in the gaps between existing accountability frameworks. It is
also necessary to make some sense of the maze of routes for information,
involvement and redress through which the individual citizen or
community must pick its way in order currently to call so many
separate delivery agencies to account.
Local Accountability
The MPS has already recognised the need to enhance
delivery of local policing services, focused exclusively on tackling
locally defined problems of crime and anti-social behaviour, through
the development of its MPS Safer Neighbourhoods Programme.
There is great potential for the police and
communities to build cohesion and social capital by jointly identifying
local problems and finding lasting solutions. Initiatives such
as the National Reassurance Policing Project, focused at the sub-BCU
level, are developing innovative approaches which can be tailored
to local circumstances, and which empower rather than constrain
local efforts. The introduction of neighbourhood panels to work
with neighbourhood policing teams and other delivery agencies
in identifying and mapping local problems, agreeing priorities,
and monitoring progress would be warmly welcomed. It is almost
inevitable that leaders of the Safer Neighbourhood teams will
engage closely with communities through a mutual desire to solve
problems in a bottom-up approach.
The MPS believes that, other than supporting
their creation in principle, there should be very little prescription
in the Neighbourhood Panels' constitution or methods of working.
The most successful arrangements are likely to be co-produced
action plans that address areas of local concern within a broader
framework of police activity. At the local level, it will be crucial
to manage community expectations in terms of time frames and what
is possible in a geographic area in order to avoid disenchantment
and disengagement. Appropriately skilled staff in terms of leadership,
negotiating and influencing skills will be crucial in order both
for the MPS to be effective and also to enhance the dynamics of
this community engagement.
The introduction of local accountability mechanisms
also provides a timely opportunity to reduce the bureaucracy and
costs associated with less community-focused audit and inspection
regimes.
In summary, the MPS believes that there is already
a very strong framework of accountability for policing, and contends
that there is an opportunity now to give this greater clarity
and a stronger local dimension. This can be achieved through the
strengthened accountability mechanisms at borough and neighbourhood
levels. The MPS counsels strongly, however, that the effectiveness
of local accountability mechanisms will depend heavily upon government
commitment, both to making room for the local priorities to be
tackled and to delivering the additional capacity needed for local
policing to be established and to endure.
The hierarchy of accountability
The MPS endorses the concept that at the strategic
level the police service works to protect the public from high
level events and criminality. At the Borough level the MPS is
committed to working for the public in partnership as it deals
with volume crime and persistent offenders. At the local level
the MPS is dedicated to working with the public to solve their
problems in a shared undertaking.
The ideal MPS model is a comprehensive framework
of minimum "floor" standards, a small number of national
targets focussed on outcomes and a requirement for local BCU's
to create bespoke targets to address local concerns. It is also
conceivable that a Police Authority, especially a large one like
the MPA, may wish to set one or two targets to which the BCU commander
must give their attention.
THE ROLE
OF THE
POLICE STANDARDS
UNIT, THE
NATIONAL CENTRE
FOR POLICING
EXCELLENCE AND
THE PROPOSED
NATIONAL POLICING
IMPROVEMENT AGENCY
The MPS continues to support the work of the
Standards Unit in developing a broad comprehensive and meaningful
assessment of police performance. In addition the provision of
assistance to forces who have identified an area for improvement
in a systematic and proactive manner continues to support overall
improvement in service delivery. The identification and promulgation
of best practice to forces is a powerful tool for improvement.
The creation of a National Policing Improvement
Agency with the modernisation of the service as its core purpose
is a logical progression, pulling together the existing strands
of development. The MPS supports the creation of such an agency
that will take forward the implementation of excellence and self
improvement of the police service. It is logical that the NCPE
should be an integral part of the agency given its role of developing
good practice.
HMIC must remain an independent, separate agency
carrying out rigourous inspections that address key areas of performance
ensuring that forces improve consistently and systematically.
NATIONAL POLICING
PLAN
The MPS view of the National Policing Plan is
defined by the context of what is said above about performance
and accountability. It does assist the police to deliver against
a framework of national standards and recognises the importance
of local accountability. Community engagement and social cohesion
are key themes of the MPS vision for London. The National Policing
Plan will continue to form an integral part of the MPS approach
and the MPS is pleased to be consulted about its contents.
WORKFORCE MODERNISATION
The MPS believes that the continuing drive for
reform is an opportunity to improve existing employment practices
in order to meet the challenges and widening role of the police
service. Modernising the police service is not an end in itself,
but arises from the need and desire to improve the delivery of
policing services and to retain the support of the community.
Pay and conditions of service
The MPS championed the development of flexibility
in pay and conditions of service throughout the process of the
Reform Act. The MPS fully supports the concept that an employer
should be able to reward loyalty and good performance as well
introduce flexible working conditions for the workforce. The establishment
of Threshold, Special Priority and Bonus payments has allowed
the MPS to recognise particular contributions made by sections
of the workforce and demonstrates that remuneration can be based
on more than rank or length of service. Further development of
this concept will continue to support the expansion of the wider
police family.
The use of Police Community Support Officers
The MPS championed the introduction of PCSO's
to the wider police family and the results have been very positive.
London's 1,791 PCSO's are now deployed in four main roles: Security,
Community, Transport and most recently Parks OCU. The main role
for PCSO's is community engagement. To this end the majority of
this year's growth has been directed at supporting Safer Neighbourhoods
Teams. Eleven of London's 32 Boroughs have provided additional
funding for the purchase of Community PCSO's.
Recruitment and retention of staff has been
very successful. 33% of PCSO's are from visible ethnic minority
groups and 30% are female. A recent survey conducted by Portsmouth
University highlighted the fact that over 80% of all PCSO's are
from inner or Greater London and that the average age of joining
is more than 30 thus bringing significant life skills and experience
to the service. Last year less than 8% of PCSO's decided to leave
the service, of these more than half either joined as Police Officers
or other members of Police Staff bringing the total wastage figure
down to just 3%.
There is no shortage of Londoners willing to
join the ranks of PCSO's to the point that the MPS has had to
impose a short term hold on recruitment due to the large number
of suitable applicants already in the system. Those that have
joined are more representative of the communities they serve and
retention rates are excellent. As anticipated, the role is providing
a valuable insight into the police service and significant numbers
of PCSO's are going on to become police officers.
Evaluation of PCSOs
Surveys show that PCSO's are making a significant
difference to people's perception of crime and feeling of safety.
Research into Safer Neighbourhoods shows that those areas that
have teams show greater reductions in crime than others in the
majority of crime groupings.
|
| Crime Grouping | Safer Neighbourhoods
| Non-safer Neighbourhoods
|
|
| Burglary | -13%
| -9% |
| Criminal damage | -4%
| 1% |
| Drugs | -3%
| 4% |
| Robbery | -15%
| -6% |
| Theft/Handling | -5%
| -1% |
|
In Welling, a ward in Bexley borough, recent research has
indicated that people are more willing to make use of public spaces,
and that there has been a reduction in vandalism and petty theft
from a variety of businesses. The success in reducing the number
of crimes has been attributed, in part at least, to the presence
of the Safer Neighbourhoods team.
The role of the PCSO within the MPS is continuing to grow;
numbers are steadily increasing and consideration is being given
to the diversity of roles that can be undertaken. The MPS is giving
consideration to Reception Officers at police premises and Designated
Detention Officers becoming PCSO's in order to maximise the circumstances
under which the public would meet these kind of staff.
Pensions
The recent government consultation paper on police pensions
is welcomed by the MPS but it does not address one urgent and
relevant issue. It is vital that the pension scheme contains exit
points, giving flexibility and choice both to individuals and
to the police service, in order to support continuing recruitment.
These exit points would give individuals the option of leaving
the service with a lump sum, (but without an on-going pension
commitment) or through making the police pensions accrued to that
point portable.
Building a representative workforce
As the police service moves towards problem solving alongside
reactive enforcement of the law, earning and retaining the trust
and confidence of communities will be key to success. A representative
workforce that is fully engaged with the communities it serves
must be one of the foundation stones of that achievement. The
current targets for VME recruitment are unrealistic without changes
which would allow the MPS the facility to hold places open for
suitably qualified candidates from minority communities. Legislative
change is probably required.
Entry to and exit from the service
If we are to achieve the business benefits this will bring,
and in order to be an employer of choice, the police service must
offer more flexible career patterns which allow people to move
in and out of the service at different levels at different times
in their working lives.
The MPS asserts that such specialisation must be supported
by the deregulation of current employment practices and the deconstruction
of a system which inhibits flexibility and blurs the focus on
high performance.
Leadership and direct entry
The pressure for modernisation brought about by the increasing
complexity of tasks and roles is also evident throughout police
service leadership. We select leaders now not only for their command
abilities, but also for their management skills. The MPS needs
leaders at every level of the service who can also understand
and operate within complex frameworks of political and community
accountability, who can handle media pressure, and who have both
financial planning skills and a strong strategic awareness of
where the police service fits into the public sector picture.
The MPS therefore supports the principle of direct entry to the
service at various levels but only provided that serving staff
can come and go from the service through changes to the pension
system.
Employment Regulations
The MPS would support a more flexible pay and conditions
package. A workforce modernised to meet the challenges outlined
here will need a new employment framework, which recognises its
professionalism. The MPS has argued strongly in front of the Morris
Inquiry that consideration should be given to the closer harmonisation
of working conditions between police officers and police staff.
However, the MPS continues to support the retention of the office
of constable as a protection against inappropriate political interference
in operational matters.
IMPROVED USE
OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY
Management of Technology
The MPS has long recognised that improved use of science
and technology has the potential to improve the effectiveness
and quality of the policing of London.
The MPS is establishing a framework to manage expectations
of technological capabilities, avoiding the expenditure of resources
on immature technologies, set achievable timescales and ensure
a practical understanding of how the technology fits with business
requirements.
This framework spans all technologies, not just information
technology and communications and extends across forensic and
materials technologies, looking not just at the benefits of individual
technologies, but also the integration of disparate technologies
to provide new capabilities.
We also recognise that the very same technology used to improve
our own capabilities is capable of being used to support, develop
and to create entirely new types of criminality. We therefore
look at technology from the perspective of its potential criminal
use, to enable countermeasures to be developed, or to put in place
tactics to respond to, and detect, the criminal use of the technology.
Mobility
This is a key enabler for all aspects of policing and will
be an essential element of the majority of our technology-enabled
improvements by providing the "right information, for the
right person, in the right place, at the right time". Improvements
from mobile data terminals, laptop and palmtop technology will
range from increasing the visibility of police officers by enabling
them to remain on the street longer, through to reducing the cost
of the estate by providing flexibility in where and how staff
work, and the need for physical infrastructure in buildings.
Forensics
The use of forensics in supporting investigation is a key
element in improving detection and conviction rates. Developments
such as the DNA database and the growing collection of DNA samples
held on it, and the automation of the fingerprint collection and
matching process provided by NAFIS gives us an important and valuable
capability. To maximise this value MPS focus is on combining scanning
and mobile technologies to reduce the time taken from collecting
samples at crime scenes to entering them into the relevant systems.
An area of forensic examination which is of concern and where
we continue to seek improvement is that of computer forensics.
This encompasses not only computers, but mobile phones, PDAs,
Internet use, and an increasing variety of electronic storage
devices. Forensic examination of these devices is manually intensive
and complex, and subject to stringent procedures to ensure evidential
validity, and although there are some tools to support this activity
there is an urgent need to automate the examination process and
reduce the time taken
The ever increasing volume of electronic devices being seized
as part of investigations, and the ever increasing volumes of
data stored on these devices, means that the size of the evidential
analysis problem increases by orders of magnitude every year.
Given that the use of electronic devices by criminals leaves a
valuable evidence trail, there is an urgent need for further technological
development in the area.
Search
The application of technology to personal searching has also
provided significant benefits and the use of passive scanning
technologies such as low power X Ray, eliminates the need for
physical searching. This is particularly effective in enabling
the conduct of mass searches, being both more acceptable to the
community, and quicker to conduct.
These technologies have also significantly enhanced our covert
capabilities for personal searching for both serious crime and
counter terrorism activities.
C3i
The C3i system incorporates and integrates a wide range of
technologies encompassing computing, data communications, call
handling and telephony, radio, CCTV, Geographic Information systems,
and mobile data, to deliver a demand management and deployment
capability that enables the MPS to significantly changes and improves
the way policing is delivered to London.
C3i is a clear example of combined technologies delivery
being greater than the sum of their parts.
Legality
There are concerns on the inhibiting effect of legislation
in realising benefits from the improved use of science and technology.
As the use of technology for operational activities widens, it
continually encounters areas where there is either no clear legal
precedent for the use of the technology, or it could be open to
legal challenge for the way in which the technology was used.
To ensure the maximum benefit is obtained from the use of
technology there is a need to assess the legal implications of
all new technologies, and exploitations of existing ones, to identify
areas of risk and agree an appropriate course of action. Equally
there is a need to identify areas where legislative change is
required that would allow the use of technology to provide operational
benefit, or prevent the criminal use of technology.
POLICE BUREAUCRACY
The Home Office Policing Bureaucracy Taskforce was set up
in Autumn 2001. The report included 51 "Change Proposals",
which forces used as a guide to making maximum impact on the front
line.
The MPs realised the opportunities represented in these changes
and the 51 Recommendations were each allocated an ACPO level lead.
Most of the 51 change proposals have now either been implemented,
await legislation or adoption by other agencies, and consequently
the MPS Steering Group has now turned its attention to other issues
raised by frontline officers.
Key areas for improvement
— Inefficient methods of recording crime
— Poor understanding of the rules for detecting
crime
— Frustration and confusion with some aspects of
NCRS
— Frustration with RIPA especially over investigations
of telephone crime
— Inefficient custody and prisoner handling procedures
— Increasing bureaucracy re case preparation and
file handling
Positive developments
— Mobile phones and Mobile Data Terminals
— Designated Detention Officers
The MPS has made great progress in finding practical ways
to ensure that IT systems connect to one another in the most efficient
way possible given the constraints of their original designs.
The organisation is moving towards a modern integrated system
that will allow access to the same information through different
gateways such as Mobile Data Terminals, desktop computers and
hand held devices
POLICE TRAINING
In order to deliver the kind of professional, skilled workforce
that the second phase of police reform envisages, training in
the future should be seen as an investment in the future of the
organisation. The MPS considers that police training should take
a long term view of the needs of the individual and the service.
Training should be designed to match the two sets of expectations
and provide modern, relevant and workplace-based learning. The
MPS ideally would recommend early training taking place in the
police estate covering "bonding" issues and shared values.
The majority of recruits' next stage of training would take place
at a local further education college, with the final part back
in the police estate. Continuous professional development should
take place in the workplace and individuals should be continually
assessed for their progress against agreed goals. Qualifications
that are recognised and transferable into other professions should
form the basis of future training for a modernised workforce and
the training of police staff, PCSO's and police officers should
be modular.
LAW REFORM
Police Reform seems normally to be thought of in terms of
processes and structure. However, the MPS also recognises that
the governments' changes and intended changes to criminal law
and police procedures are equally part of reform. The MPS has
helped shape some of the changes already introduced, such as powers
to take DNA and fingerprints on arrival at a police station and
minimum sentences for possession of firearms, and is contributing
to the current consultation on further reform. Pragmatic changes
are a welcome sign of increasing faith in a service capable of
self-regulation and need to be seen as part of reform of both
police and the wider criminal justice system.
CONCLUSION
The MPS is grateful for this opportunity to contribute to
the debate on Police Reform and looks forward to giving oral evidence
to the Committee in September.
17 August 2004
30
Metropolitan Police Service & Metropolitan Police Authority
Joint Annual Report 2003-04. Back
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