This resource is from the Committees section. This is report 12 of the 20 December 2007 meeting of the MPA Committee providing an overview of Specialist Crime Directorate

Sections available here:

• Specialist Crime Directorate
  • Summary
  • A. Recommendations
  • B. Supporting information
  • Glossary
  • C. Race and equality impact
  • D. Financial implications
  • E. Background papers
  • F. Contact details

Specialist Crime Directorate

Report: 12
Date: 20 December 2007
By: the Acting Assistant Commissioner on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of Specialist Crime Directorate’s aims and objectives, key performance indicators, recent operational successes and diversity activity.

A. Recommendations

That the report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides an overview of Specialist Crime Directorate (SCD) and an insight into its aims, objectives, key performance indicators against targets financial year-to-date, recent operational successes and diversity activity.

2. The Specialist Crime Directorate was launched in November 2002. Its units were previously part of the Specialist Operations family. In response to the emerging terrorist threat the decision was made to separate serious crime and terrorism to allow the two Business Groups to concentrate on their respective demanding remits. The intention being for both to develop their structures and capability to deliver and maximise performance in an ever-changing, complex policing environment.

3. One measure of our progress was to achieve excellent grading from HMIC inspections into the MPS capability in the investigation of major/serious crime and Level 2 criminality in both 2005 and 2006.

4. Specialist Crime’s works to reduce the impact and harm caused by serious and organised crime. We provide specialist support to borough colleagues including Safer Neighbourhood Teams. We also work with a wide variety of partners in both public and private sectors. These range amongst others from Her Majesty’s Custom and Revenue, Serious and Organised Crime Agency to Independent Advisory Groups, Cash in Transit Companies and the Insurance industry.

5. In 2006 the Directorate restructured in an effort to rationalise business, afford greater flexibility and responsiveness, offer increased resilience and improved value for money. This led to the creation of six Command Areas:

• Child abuse and economic crime
• Covert policing and intelligence
• Criminal networks
• Forensic Services
• Homicide and other serious crime
• Business support

6. The MPS Intelligence Bureau (MIB) and Operational Services were formed in April 2007 and joined the Crime Academy in becoming the seventh command area within SCD (Operational Information, Intelligence and Training). MIB brought together a number of intelligence units and functions from across the organisation.

7. The seven command areas are all focused on delivering SCD’s strategic objectives:

• Safeguarding children and young persons from physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
• Providing covert assets (human and technical) to deliver operational support to meet SCD and MPS objectives through a recognised tasking process.
• Disrupting criminal networks, seizing their assets and reducing the harm they cause  [1]
• Increasing the number of offences brought to justice as a result of forensic intervention.
• Delivering the highest standards for homicide investigation and preventing homicide and other serious crimes by using disruption tactics.
• Providing a corporate-level intelligence service for London.
• Being a well managed, effective, efficient and professional Directorate.

Operational and Support Units

8. The Command Areas comprise a number of operational and support units. Amongst these are:

• Child Abuse Investigation Command deals with child protection and paedophile issues, working closely with other child agencies. Its core objective is to identify and investigate allegations of child abuse. It has the capability to deal with large scale allegations of systemic or organised abuse and intra-familial homicide
• Economic and Specialist Crime comprises specialised teams that offer investigative, proactive and intelligence development approaches to a wide range of serious crime affecting individuals, private and public sector organisations. The teams include fraud; dedicated cheque and plastic crime; money laundering investigation; specialist stolen vehicle; arts and antiques; computer crime; extradition and international assistance and regional asset recovery.
• Covert Policing comprises a number of units that provide covert operations and policing. They include surveillance teams; technical support unit; special intelligence section; authorities office; telephone intelligence; prison intelligence; witness albums; covert source management; covert operations group and Crimestoppers. The Drugs Directorate are part of this OCU. Their responsibilities centre on providing operational support for staff working both in Specialist Crime and Territorial Policing. They liaise with Home Office, Government Office and The Association of Chief Police Officers, to maintain and review all MPS policy relating to drugs matters. The team provide an expertise on drugs and respond to queries relating to drugs issues.
• Serious and Organised Crime consists of a number units that investigate commercial robberies by firearms (Flying squad); kidnaps; extortion; blackmail; contract killings; class A drugs suppliers; firearms users and traffickers. In kidnap situations they provide fast time responses to life threatening crime in action, for example kidnap for ransom where the hostage has not been recovered, extortion, blackmail and any other serious crime. The Projects Teams conduct operations against organised crime which is pan London or of a national or international level impacting on London at National Intelligence Model levels 2-3.This includes proactive contracts to kill, major drugs suppliers, multi-dimensional crime groups, including ethnically composed gangs, and serious large scale firearms trafficking. The team also has specific responsibility to be the lead on Columbian criminal networks. The Central Taskforce Team proactively target criminals engaged in Level 2 activity including class A drug dealers, firearms and traffickers and any other criminal group impacting on two or more London Boroughs, particularly criminal networks. The Emerging Threats team comprises three proactive teams, a development team and a dedicated financial investigation unit that target criminal networks and gangs engaged in Level 2 crime. These criminals are those identified as causing the most harm on London Boroughs. The criminals are either drawn from, or seriously affecting, distinct minority ethnic communities. The Flying Squad reactively and proactively investigate every allegation of robbery, whether armed or not, to the prejudice of cash in transit companies, building societies, betting offices, post offices, jewellers, casinos and banks. They also investigate all robberies at commercial premises where a firearm is produced or intimated. The Cultural & Communities Resource Unit manages a confidential database of the life skills of MPS staff, to assist operationally with critical incidents. This enables the MPS to resolve critical incidents, solve major crime more quickly and to the satisfaction of our communities.
• Trident/Trafalgar are responsible for the investigation of all shootings and discharges of firearms in London, except in those cases where the offences fall within the terms of reference of the Flying Squad or Homicide Command. Where the victim and suspect for a non-fatal shooting are from the black community, then Trident teams investigate and where they are from other communities Trafalgar teams deal. Trident’s remit though includes fatal shootings where both the suspect and the victim are from our black communities. Their Community and Crime section meet regularly with groups and agencies to divert young children and youth away from the gun crime culture.
• Forensic Services is made up of a number of departments providing an array of services required for modern policing. They deal with an extensive variety of investigations arising from borough policing to investigations for Specialist Crime Directorate and Counter Terrorism Command. Their duties range from evidence recovery, following burglaries, to anti-terrorism work. Forensic Services Command Unit for Territorial Policing is responsible for forensic examination of all Borough crime scenes. A Borough Forensic Manager has a team of Assistant Forensic Practitioners who cover the examination of volume crime scenes and support Crime Scene Managers at more serious crime scenes, including murder. This Unit also has a Forensic Intelligence Unit that links evidence recovered from different crimes, in order to establish when the same person has committed crimes. Forensic Investigation Specialist Crime Directorate conducts forensic investigations of homicide, armed robbery and any other crime that falls within the remit of SCD. Specialist Evidence Recovery Imaging Services (SERIS) provides a number of services to the MPS. A centralised duty office manages all photographic requests and subsequent deployment. The office oversees the attendance of all the relevant officers to all major crime scenes, terrorist events, public order and CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) incidents. The Fingerprint Bureau searches and compares finger and palm marks from crime scenes against offender databases, arrestee fingerprints against databases of unidentified marks, and fingerprints of suspects specified by investigating officers. The Unit also retrieves finger and palm marks by physical and chemical means and co-ordinates fingerprint evidence for presentation in court. Furthermore, the Unit stores and retrieves archived material from forensic investigations and is also responsible for searching and comparing the fingerprints of all arrestees in London, in order to establish their true identity. The Evidence Recovery Unit involves the chemical treatment prior to fingerprint examination, DNA and firearms examination and use of specialised photographic lighting techniques. The Counter-Terrorism Team is responsible for evidence retrieval from terrorist activities. The squad is unique, as its officers carry out all aspects of its investigation, from retrieval and analysis of evidence to the preparation and delivery of evidence in court.
• Homicide and Serious Crime undertake responsibility for the following reactive investigations: all murder; manslaughter and attempted murder offences; high-risk missing persons where there is a substantive reason to suspect life has been taken or is under threat; linked series of two or more stranger rapes, which are beyond the capability of any one Borough's resources to manage; other critical incidents which, due to their serious nature, complexity, or organisational risk, require support
• Met Information Bureau (MIB) providies a comprehensive corporate intelligence service to the whole MPS. It was set up in April 2007 in accordance with the MPS Intelligence Strategy, which highlights the requirement to develop a structure and process for intelligence that supports the delivery of information to the right people at the right time. It has a central role in developing the MPS intelligence process and structure whilst demonstrating and maintaining corporate intelligence standards. It improves the management and flow of information across the whole organisation from National Intelligence Model (NIM) Level 1 (Local) to Level 3 (National/International). This ensures the MPS achieves maximum benefit from all the intelligence the organisation gathers. It also provides a single point of contact for other organsiations’ intelligence requests.
• Operational Information Services - OIS was also formed in April 2007. The new OCU has been created from the following units; National Identification Service/Disclosure Service, Police National Computer Bureau, Personal Security Group and Overseas Visitors Registration Office. Their main function is to ensure the timely and accurate updating and supply of information, ensuring information is retained and used in accordance with the Management of Police Information (MOPI), maintaining public and service confidence in decisions on vetting and disclosure by demonstrating the exercise of judgement to the facts against a documented framework
• Crime Academy provides a co-ordinated approach to investigative, forensic and intelligence training. Technical training for staff, such as Assistant Forensic Practitioners, Photographic Officers and Fingerprint Examiners, is conducted by forensic specialist trainers. Courses range from initial investigation at a scene of a crime through to presenting evidence at a court. It is developing links with academic institutions and seeking formal accreditation of courses especially in forensic training and intelligence.

9. In support of operational units a number of teams have been formed to deal with a particular crime problem. These include:

• Operation Grafton – a joint strategic initiative involving Thames Valley and Surrey Police Services and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Its purpose is to reduce the levels of high value crime in and around Heathrow airport. Specifically to deal with any allegation of crime concerning the movement of freight, where the value of property stolen or attempted to be stolen is in excess of £10k. This was in direct response to members of the freight industry raising concerns about the significant and unsustainable losses being suffered as a result of serious and organised criminality. The situation was acute with companies already relocating and others threatening to follow unless urgent action was taken. The consequences and impact on the local economy would have been considerable.
• Operation Maxim – a joint-agency taskforce involving the United Kingdom Immigration and Passport Services. They target organised immigration crime in London. It was set-up in April 2003 to combat the exploitation and victimisation of vulnerable people who tend to come to London for economic reasons or are trying to avoid persecution. Two areas of particular concern were the sex trade where women had their illegal entry facilitated for exploitative benefit and trafficking of unaccompanied children through Heathrow airport. The investigations focus around the supply of false documents, people smuggling, trafficking for prostitution, facilitation for illegal working and immigrations such as ‘sham’ marriages and money laundering.
• Operation Payback – began as a joint initiative in the MPS to target London’s criminals through their finances. It is now accepted as a national term for asset recovery and anti-money laundering activity by law enforcement agencies, the courts and some government departments. It was formally launched in September 2003 with partners from City of London Police, British Transport Police and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom. The team’s objective is to promote the use of financial intelligence and powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). Its provisions of cash seizure, money laundering offences and criminal lifestyle are powerful tools against local criminals and criminal networks. The threshold for seizure was recently reduced to £1k. It’s a persuasive deterrent and aims to take the cash out of crime by dissuading future offenders, disabling criminal networks and giving the public and business communities reassurance.
• Operation Vanguard – launched in December 2006 as an initiative to tackle the robbery of cash-in-transit vehicles and commercial premises. With the assistance of Territorial Support Group, Traffic Units and the specialist firearms team patrolling targeted areas across London in an intelligence led approach. The Air Support Unit are also used to monitor identified areas. A combination of high visibility policing and covert techniques is used to deter attacks on deliveries. CCTV operators based on boroughs have been briefed on suspicious activity and Automatic Number Plate Recognition operations help identify vehicles used in the robberies. Intelligence is shared with the cash in transit industry as well as borough-based officers and with Safer Neighbourhoods Teams playing an increasing part in the overall fight.
• Middle-Market Project - a joint initiative with HM Revenue and Customs aimed at disrupting middle-market drug dealing: best described as those criminals operating between the importers and street dealers. Research and analysis identified a gap in the enforcement capability of Class A drug trafficking. Operations are approved where intelligence offers evidence of criminal activity involving 1kg of cocaine or ½ kg of heroin and investigations are unlikely to exceed eight weeks.
• Operation Quadrant was established in 2004. It aimed to tackle serious and organised crime within the South Asian communities of London. It was formed to be part of, and in furtherance to, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) strategy to target criminal networks that impact on all London communities. The South Asian communities involved have their origins in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The operation has received high-level support from, amongst others, members of the Asian business community, London Chamber of Commerce and Asian MPs. A Project Plan was produced to progress Operation Quadrant into its second phase in the financial year 2006/07. This phase was driven by the overall MPS business need to incorporate Operation Quadrant into the current strategic direction of the MPS, to align with the MPS priorities and to ensure value for money from the resources already committed in delivering a service to all London communities within budgetary constraints. Work continues under the guidance of the Quadrant Operational Steering Group, chaired by ACSC.

Budget

10. Specialist Crime has been allocated a budget of £382m for 2007/08. This is around 12% of the overall MPS budget. Police officer/staff pay and overtime account for over 80% of its expenditure. There is a budgeted workforce target of 3,137 for police officers and 2,833 affordable workforce target for police staff. A significant proportion of the latter are based in Forensic Services providing operational support to Boroughs.

Performance

11. Our key performance measures, targets and achievements financial year-to- date are:

1. The number of criminal networks disrupted - target for year to date is 134 – achieved for year to date is 163
2. To reduce gun enabled crime – target for year to date is – 5% - achieved year to date is +7.1%
3. Sanction Detection rate for Gun Enabled Crime – target for year to date is 25% - achieved year to date is 19.2%
4. Sanction Detection Rate for Operation Trident – target for year to date is 25% - achieved year to date is 18.8%
5. Sanction Detection Rate for Operation Trafalgar – target for year to date is 25% - achieved year to date is 15.4%
6. Sanction Detection Rate for Gun Enabled Commercial Robbery – target for year to date is 25% - achieved year to date is 32.5%
7. The value of assets identified by court order for seizure – target for year to date is £20.4m – achieved year to date is £14.7m
8. Number of court orders where assets are restrained or cash seized – target for year to date is 596 – achieved year to date is 821
9. Overall detection rate for homicide offences – target for year to date is 85% - achieved year to date is 81%
10. Reduction in the number of homicides – target for year to date is –1 – achieved year to date is 0
11. Sanction detection rate for emotional, physical, sexual and neglect offences – target for year to date is 20% - achieved year to date is 25%
12. Sanction detection rate for child rape – target for year to date is 35% - achieved year to date is 43.8%
13. Detection rate for intra-familial homicide – target for year to date is 85% - achieved year to date is 55.5%

12. Last financial year 2006/07 the Directorate dealt with:

• 7,441 child abuse offences of these 1,644 were detected. This gave a sanction detection rate of 22.1%.
• 389 child rape offences and 153 were detected. This gave a sanction detection rate of 39.3%.
• 226 Trident related gun enabled crime offences, a reduction of 40 or 15% fewer gun enabled crime offences on the previous reporting year and achieved a sanction detection rate of 20.4%
• 71 Trafalgar related gun enabled crime offences, a decrease of 21 from 92 in 2005/06. They achieved a sanction detection rate of 22.5%.
• 567 commercial robberies by firearms a decrease of 30 or 5% on the previous financial year. 199 of these were detected providing a sanction detection rate of 35.1%.
• 18 Trident related homicide offences with seven detected. An overall detection rate of 39%
• 11 child homicides investigated by Child Abuse Major Investigation Teams. Ten were detected, giving an overall detection rate of 91%
• 139 homicides were investigated by Homicide Command and 124 detected. This gave an overall detection rate of 89%.
• 60 life threatening kidnaps were all resolved without anyone being harmed
• Forensic Services attended 118,221 crime scenes.
• At the end of the financial year 2006/07, Specialist Crime reported an over spend of £6.6m on a budget of £373.5m (+1.76%). In the same year SCD was also required to give up £7.5m as efficiency savings.

13. The threat to London presented by serious and organised criminality requires constant review and assessment. SCD monitors intelligence and the external operating environment to ensure that strategy and tactics are adjusted to meet changes in the nature and level of threats to London’s different communities. Some notable current issues for the Directorate include:

• The challenge presented by (dysfunctional) criminal role models particularly within gang culture
• The tendency for ‘chaotic’ offending where occurrences can be easily triggered by issues such as perceived disrespect
• The decreasing age of offenders and their willingness to use serious violence. In some instances guns
• The ever changing tactics and increasingly sophisticated technology used by criminals
• The international dimension of investigations
• Ensuring we continue to develop effective community engagement with London’s newer communities to deal effectively with serious and organised crime, building on successes such as Trident
• The implementation of the MPS Drug Strategy
• Building our operational and partnership role with the newly formed Serious and Organised Crime Agency
• The development of a MPS Intelligence Bureau with its tasking and covert deployment capability
• Ensuring the right performance measures are featured in the protective services domain within the Assessment of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) framework
• Operating to tighter and more demanding financial constraints.

Operational successes

14. Some recent operational successes for the Directorate include:

• A man was convicted for firearm offences and the attempted murder of three police officers. Last year, unarmed officers were conducting a surveillance operation when the suspect became aware he was being watched and fired a shot at one of the officers. Two other officers attending the scene had the gun jabbed in their direction while he said "boom boom". He then made off whilst another officer attempted to block his escape with his unmarked police car. A shot was fired through the window of the vehicle, injuring the 44-year-old officer in the shoulder. Officers continued pursuing. He then fired further shots, close to a school where parents were picking up their children. He also pointed the gun at a woman who was in his way. He managed to escape but was later arrested.
•  The final defendant from the "Bling Bling Gang", pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court to £500k worth of money laundering. She will be sentenced shortly and remains in custody. Operation Bella Vista involved an international criminal network, which was known as the “Bling Bling Gang”, and believed to be one of the most significant international crack cocaine and money laundering criminal networks of its kind. £50 million worth of drugs were proved at the trial at Court. The cocaine was smuggled in by vulnerable mules in a professionally concealed way, either in specially constructed suitcases or in containers such as vases, rum or perfume bottles. Once the drugs arrived in the UK in their raw form, they were taken to the rented house in south London, which acted as a 'crack house’. It was here they were manufactured into crack, the highly addictive version of cocaine and was then supplied to dealers UK-wide who then sold it on the streets. Last year, 17 defendants were convicted, of these three later appealed. In total 62 members of the Bling Bling Gang were convicted around the world. The total number of years sentencing for the original UK defendants was 208 years with one of the main defendants receiving 27 years’ imprisonment. The last defendant who appeared in court has substantial financial assets for confiscation including £108k that was under her bed during the original enquiry before fleeing the UK. She was extradited from Guyana at the end of last year for drug trafficking and money laundering offences. The date for the confiscation orders of all the major Bella Vista players is due to be set where between £3-£6m is expected through the Proceeds of Crime Act.
• Three men have been jailed for producing counterfeit passports from a residential flat in south London. The men were arrested by officers from Operation Maxim, which disrupt criminal networks involved in abusing the UK's immigration system. In October 2006, customs officers found a package concealing 80 blank passports and other related items. Following a covert operation, codenamed Operation Brama, officers entered a house in Peckham, where the package had been destined to from Nigeria. They discovered an organised fake passport factory inside. Three were sentenced, two accused were found to have entered the UK illegally. All three were recommended for deportation by the judge.
• A man who sexually abused young boys has been found guilty of 14 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to three years and nine months in jail. Officers from the Child Abuse Investigation Command received allegations from three men in 2005 that the accused had abused them. The abuse occurred between 1983 and 1994 and involved boys aged between 12 and 17 at the time. All played instruments or sang and came into contact with him through the classical music scene. He exploited his position as a classical music conductor to gain the trust of the boys and their families. The boys were invited to his house after he had met them at concerts or being referred to him. Once at his house he abused them by performing or attempting to perform sexual acts on them.
• Seven men and a woman have been sentenced for their involvement in what is believed to be the largest organised theft and re-registration of motor vehicles in the UK, in the past decade. The estimated retail value of the vehicles stolen exceeds £4.5m. The group were arrested by the Stolen Vehicle Unit after 190 high value vehicles were stolen. They falsely obtained over 300 vehicle identities from the DVLA which they linked to stolen cars, in an attempt to try to legitimise the cars' history. The cars were stolen from across London, but in particular south east and south west London. The methodology used to obtain the stolen vehicles ranged dramatically from theft at gun and knifepoint, stealing keys and burglary - particularly targeting homes where the occupants were in as this would mean car keys were in the house. They would use identity details of scrapped cars in Belguim to claim they were importing cars from Europe into the UK, when in fact it had been stolen in London and had never left. These cars would then be sold on to unknowing members of the public, who would run the risk of having a 'stolen' car taken off them by police and losing their money.
• Three men have jailed for their involvement in a cash-in-transit robbery in Enfield. One was jailed, the two other men are charged with another offence which is yet to be brought before the courts. They have recevied sentences for four and seven years respectively. Officers believe the men to be responsible for thirteen separate cash-in-transit robberies. Cars that were used in the robberies from the defendant's addresses were found to have over £16k cash. This was subsequently seized.

Diversity

15. The Directorate aim to develop a workforce that reflects London's diverse communities to help us meet our aim of reducing the harm caused by serious and organised criminality. We are committed to making the best use of our police officers and police staff colleagues, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality and good relations in all their forms.

16. The Directorate started a diversity forum over two years ago. It is currently chaired by the Director, Business Support, a member of SCD’s Command Team. All OCUs have representation and their own local forums. In addition attendees include staff representatives and colleagues from the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate. Often there are themed presentations. In October’s meeting there is one planned from the Disabled Staff Association.

17. The forum’s main purpose is to ‘champion’ and provide a focal point for progressing diversity issues; the Directorate to be a welcoming environment and work together towards making the staff representation of SCD more reflective of the communities we serve, by attracting good quality staff and developing, progressing and retaining them once they are here. Its principal objectives include:

• Meeting regularly to provide a forum to collate, co-ordinate and communicate the views of all staff and cascade information resulting from the Forum’s activity
• Ensuring the Directorate Diversity Strategy is implemented and maintained
• Identifying and share Good Practice and activities being undertaken within SCD Units and across the Service
• Ensuring the SCD Command Team and Senior Management Team is updated
• Listening to our staff to obtain their views on improvements and other areas to be addressed
• Proposing action plans to address issues identified from exercises such as the Staff Satisfaction Surveys and monthly Management Information
• Identify training and development needs for the consideration of the SC Training Board and Service Training Management Board.

18. In early 2007 a Diversity Co-ordinator was appointed for the Directorate. They have completed a strategy. It consists of three main strands:

1. Doing the right things – policy
2. Doing the right things – performance
3. Making SCD a welcoming place to work

19. Some of the key activities to enable the delivery of the strategy include:

• Identify possible barriers to improving representation of minority groups in SCD and develop a plan to remove those barriers and improve representation
• Develop a system that allows the timely matching of officers and staff with disabilities to vacancies with reasonable adjustments
• Develop a system to ensure that that key decisions in SCD are taken in light of their impact on diversity
• Develop a network of ‘critical friends’ to challenge diversity performance and initiatives, to include MPS staff associations and staff support associations as well as external groups
• Develop a system for sharing good practice on community engagement.
• Implement the Quality of Service Commitment
• Continue to challenge diversity performance in performance visits and reviews by ACSC to each OCU
• Use the SCD Diversity Forum to coordinate OCU diversity initiatives and share good practice
• Develop a network of junior and senior role models who are prepared to share their experiences of SCD with colleagues
• Continue to encourage flexible working throughout SCD

20. The Directorate is achieving the MPS female police officer target of 20%. Though it is recognised the Child Abuse Command makes a significant contribution and we need to balance out the distribution across the Directorate in due course. We are falling short of the target for black and minority ethnic police officers. The figure was static for a number of years and recently has moved upwards to 4.7% (MPS target 7.7%). Both issues are addressed in the strategy.

21. Two recent initiatives of note; Covert Policing OCU recently held open days and awareness seminars to attract more female and black and minority ethnic officers. In response to their Independent Advisory Group (IAG), Trident have set themselves a measure of increasing its Black Minority Ethnic police officer representation to 15% of the budgeted workforce target.

22. Our commitment to citizen focus strategy is demonstrated by the efforts to establish how we contribute to the Commissioner’s six big issues; front counters, safer neighbourhoods, supervisor call back, Central Communications Command, focus on crime victims and critical/key encounters. A workshop was held in September to explore the areas where operational OCUs can contribute. It was also examined how to implement the corporate quality call back process. At the centre of our service delivery is the victim and we strive to keep them updated as the case progresses and comply with the Victim's Code of Practice.

23. This work is supplemented by user satisfaction surveys being developed for homicide and commercial robberies by firearms offences. The results of these are expected in the autumn and late winter respectively. Depending on their cost effectiveness, further crime type surveys may be commissioned.

Glossary

ACSC

Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime

CBRN

Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear

CCTV

Closed Circuit Television

DVLA

Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency

IAG

Independent Advisory Group

MIB

Met Intelligence Bureau

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan PolIce Service

OCU

Operational Command Unit

SERIS

Specialist Evidence Recovery Imaging Services

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

SO

Specialist Operations

TP

Territorial Policing

UK

United Kingdom

C. Race and equality impact

1. This report highlights how we are meeting the priorities set by Londoners and defined in the Policing Plan and in our Directorate Business Plan. We face challenges in becoming more representative of London's communities and the report refers to some of the work that is being done to increase SCD's diversity in specific areas such as Covert Policing and Trident.

2. The Directorate are developing a performance framework to include a Quarterly Diversity Report and its operational command units are held to account on both policing and diversity targets in the regular programme of performance visits undertaken by the ACSC. Our Diversity Strategy sets out our aim to assess the diversity implications of our developing strategies and plans.

D. Financial implications

1. Regular scrutinies of SCD units’ expenditure have enabled the Directorate to operate much closer to its budget allocation over recent months. Despite rising operational demands SCD managed to constrain its expenditure to less than 1% overspend last year and the current forecast for 2007-08 predicts SCD ending with a small underspend at the end of the year. That said, the future will bring significant challenges as SCD continues to find savings to meet corporate budget pressures.

2. SCD has little ‘ringfenced’ expenditure. In an effort to get the most out of its budget allocation SCD continues to engage with external partners to pursue programmes of mutual benefit eg with vehicle insurers, in copyright theft, arts and antiques insurers, specialist crime training courses etc. Similarly, the Directorate is currently reviewing its management overheads by focusing on the current structures of senior police officers and police staff in all of its units’ senior management teams.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Raymond Marshall, MPS

For more information contact:

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

1. One of the eight MPS priorities [Back]