Metropolitan Police Service - Business Plan 2020-23 8 May draft - Met Police
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8 May draft
Metropolitan Police Service
Business Plan 2020-23
1
Contents
COMMISSIONER’S FOREWORD 4
THE MET DIRECTION: OUR STRATEGY TO 2025 7
2019-20 PROGRESS REVIEW 9
1. FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST FOR LONDONERS 17
Covid-19 17
Violent crime 18
Serious organised crime 19
Protecting people 22
Public order and capital city challenges 25
Terrorism 25
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 28
Milestones 29
Performance framework 32
2. MOBILISING PARTNERS AND THE PUBLIC 33
Neighbourhood policing and community engagement 33
Active citizens 33
Crime prevention 34
Working in partnerships 34
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 36
Milestones 36
Local borough priorities 37
Performance framework 39
3. ACHIEVING THE BEST OUTCOMES IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AND IN
SUPPORT OF VICTIMS 40
Responding to the public 40
Investigations 40
Criminal justice 41
Managing offenders 42
Hate crime 42
Modern slavery 43
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 44
Milestones 44
Performance framework 48
4. SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES OF DATA AND DIGITAL TECH TO BECOME A
WORLD LEADER IN POLICING 49
Digital and IT 49
Knowledge and data management 50
Cybercrime and criminal finance 51
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 52
Milestones 52
2
Performance framework 54
5. CARE FOR EACH OTHER, WORK AS A TEAM AND BE AN ATTRACTIVE
PLACE TO WORK 55
Our people 55
Our estate 59
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 61
Milestones 61
Performance framework 64
6. LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE, AND FROM OTHERS AND CONSTANTLY
STRIVE TO IMPROVE 65
Individual learning and development 65
Organisational learning 66
Improving our organisation 67
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 70
Milestones 71
Performance framework 72
7. BE RECOGNISED AS A RESPONSIBLE, EXEMPLARY AND ETHICAL ORGANISATION 73
Providing value for money and an efficient service 73
Being recognised for our integrity and professionalism 78
Contributing to the sustainability of the city 78
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives 79
Milestones 80
Performance framework 81
APPENDIX 1: EXECUTIVE STRUCTURE 82
APPENDIX 2: BASIC COMMAND UNITS (BCUS) 83
Cover image credit: The National Police Air Service
3
Commissioner’s foreword
Our mission set out in the Met Direction, our strategy to 2025, is to keep London safe for everyone. We
serve the nine million people who live in London, and all those who work and visit our city. I am resolute
in my determination to keep the capital as safe and secure as possible in a changing world of evolving
crime.
As we have faced the Covid-19 pandemic together, the challenges of policing London and keeping our
public safe have changed dramatically. What has not changed is our resolute determination to bear
down on violence. For all of us, recent months have shown the complexity of planning ahead – and yet
the necessity to do so. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted lives across the country, taking loved ones,
keeping us apart from family or friends and rendering uncertain many of the things we were taking for
granted a matter of months ago. This national public health crisis has been and remains a difficult time
for individuals and communities, and a testing time for the emergency services. It will have long-term
implications. For the Met and for our 44,000 officers and staff, it is no different.
As the largest UK police service, serving a global city, we have been at the centre of the response to the
Covid-19 pandemic, reassuring the public, working to keep Londoners safe and helping them to
understand the Government guidelines. We are of course experienced in preparing for, and managing,
major events or incidents – so that we can provide a resilient, visible and effective service for London,
preventing crime, supporting vulnerable people and fully engaging with our partners. I am very proud of
the Met’s response to the pandemic. We demonstrated great flexibility and resilience and continued to
provide an excellent service to the public. The vast majority of Londoners have complied with the
restrictions and our officers have worked hard to support them.
This year there have also been important conversations about race and diversity in this country. Sadly,
these conversations have taken place in the wake of the tragedy of the death of George Floyd in
America. Addressing the gaps in confidence in policing between different communities in London has
been very important to me and I will continue to lead that work. Ensuring that all our communities have
high confidence in the Met and bearing down on violence are my top priorities as Commissioner. The
Met has made huge progress since the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the recommendations of the
subsequent public inquiry. But I know that there is much more that we must do.
The Metropolitan Police that I know willingly accepts the challenges put to us on race, inclusion and
diversity. We will use all our experience, we will listen to all voices, inside and outside the Met, and we
will act to deliver an even stronger Met that has the trust and support of all communities in London.
In the unusual circumstances we have been managing in 2020, some of our traditional demand
temporarily dropped, some crimes significantly so, and we have flexed our resource across the service to
where it was needed. In the last few months, our officers have reduced the numbers of wanted
offenders, increased arrests of violent criminals and drug dealers, pushing on with the investigation of
complex cases and the protection of victims. Some ‘hidden’ crimes are rising; an unintended
consequence of social distancing and the ‘lockdown’ has been to create the potential for victims of
4domestic abuse and child abuse, trapped at home with violent perpetrators, or lured online to be
exploited.
We are working closely with the Mayor of London and national Government, as well as all of our
partners, to ensure that through the pandemic there is continued support for victims, robust
enforcement and a clear path to bringing offenders to justice. Helping us do this are retired officers who
have returned to the service, Specials and volunteers. We are focusing on improving investigations and
justice outcomes – working with our criminal justice partners. We are training response officers to gain
further competence and confidence in the investigations they conduct and in the quality of the service
they offer to victims.
Since the start of my commissionership, tackling violence – including knife crime - has been the Met’s
operational priority. This remains our focus. We have begun to see declines in serious violence levels: the
number of under-25 stabbing victims has reduced significantly over the last two years. One of the
catalysts of violence is the drug trade; the capital is the main exporter of county lines, and we are
working with colleagues nationally to eliminate these drugs lines and prevent the exploitation of young
people across the country. In April 2020, Operation Sceptre concluded a fortnight of proactive action,
using a range of preventative and enforcement tactics to take weapons off London’s streets and arrest
those suspected of violent offences. Our officers made over 800 arrests, conducted 2,600 weapon
sweeps, recovered 121 knives and made almost 500 seizures of drugs and stolen property. We remain
pro-active, visible, approachable and engaged. The Met has a major role in preventing violence where
possible, in enforcement, and in ensuring victims are treated with dignity and compassion – but we need
the help of others to keep London safe for everyone. Local authorities, Government, political leaders,
communities, charities and many others all have a part in reducing violence.
In the last financial year, we successfully recruited thousands of officers and staff, bringing our
establishment to 31,745 full-time equivalent police officers in March 2020. As a result, and with a strong
recruitment pipeline, we are well placed to manage the increase in officer numbers that additional
investments from Government and from the Mayor are supporting in 2020/21: we expect to have 32,227
officers (full-time equivalent) by March 2021.
The resilience of the Met in recent months has been strong, in no small part because of the
technological investments (in mobility, cloud and remote access) we made over the last two years. It is
also the result of the leadership and training we rolled out in previous years, of the occupational health
support structure we expanded and, most of all, of our officers and staff being clear about the Met’s
mission, motivated and driven by a sense of justice, helping others – and able to get on with it. In short,
our strength under stress today is the result of long-term planning and the ability to equip our police
with the right tools, and support them with the right technology, data and specialist skills. The current
context demonstrates that, to reap full benefits, officer capacity must be complemented by investments
in technology, support services and training.
This Business Plan shows our confidence and determination in tackling crime and delivering a good
service to Londoners into the future. With the new funded growth in officers, we are starting to receive
5the means to offer Londoners a more effective service and to add resources where they are most
needed (violence, drugs, visibility, pro-activity and neighbourhoods). With growth comes high public
expectations. This plan sets out how we will drive performance.
We are still, like most organisations and businesses in the country, scoping the longer-term potential
impacts of the pandemic in terms of mitigation, and adaptation. In many instances, the crisis has pushed
us faster in a direction we had already taken: closer collaboration with our criminal justice partners and
increased use of digital technologies for courts, data and evidence sharing; the flexibility in working
patterns and location with which we aimed to attract a wider workforce (such as parents with childcare
responsibilities); the use of virtual meetings saving time and carbon. This acceleration, demanded by
necessity, lets us envisage new, bolder ways of working, internally and externally with partners,
communities and the public. We also continue to play our core role in the safety and security of London
as a global city, as the UK transitions away from membership of the European Union.
There will also be new constraints undoubtedly, and it is clear that the road ahead will be economically
difficult for many Londoners and for public, third sector and private organisations across the capital. The
support that the police service provides to Londoners will, more than ever, be vital. We will be here for
them. In adversity, the compassion across communities and cooperation amongst agencies has shone.
Londoners, and our officers alike, have taken more time to help the more vulnerable in our society, to
volunteer to help others; kindness has flourished. I know London will be able to build on this immense
social capital through the coming months. At the Met we will engage and collaborate ever closer with
partners and communities to earn Londoners’ continued trust, and to keep London safe.
Cressida Dick
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
6The Met Direction: our strategy to 2025
Our mission is to keep London safe for everyone. To achieve this, we will focus on three
operational priorities:
Focus on what matters most to Londoners
Violent crime is a key concern and tackling it is a priority in order to protect Londoners. This includes
terrorism, knife and gun crime, sexual offending, domestic abuse and protecting vulnerable people
from predatory behaviour.
Mobilise partners and the public
We know that safety requires action beyond the police service. We will continue to work with partners
and communities to help keep them safe and support them in preventing crime. We will work harder
to earn the trust of more young people and ethnic minority communities.
Achieve the best outcomes in the pursuit of justice and in support of victims
We have a fundamental responsibility to uphold the rule of law and to ensure that victims receive the
best possible outcome. We will do this by catching offenders and by ensuring victims of crime receive
both justice and the support they need from us and our partners.
As an organisation, we want to continue to develop our internal capabilities. We will focus on
four enabling priorities:
Seize the opportunities of data and digital tech to become a world leader in policing
We want to harness data and use technology to our advantage in the pursuit of criminals, rising to the
challenge of a fast-moving data-driven digital age. We will make information and insight more
accessible, internally and externally, to support evidence-based decisions and promote public
confidence. We will strive to enhance our global reputation for excellence and expertise in policing.
Care for each other, work as a team, and be an attractive place to work
We must ensure that our workforce are well-led, well-equipped and well-supported, championing
difference and diversity of thought to create an environment where we all thrive. We will ensure
officers and staff are clear about their role and can make a real impact; we will entrust them to make
decisions, implement them and deliver their best.
Learn from experience, from others, and constantly strive to improve
We want to develop a culture of learning, listening to feedback, sharing ideas and insight with others
and empowering people to be innovative. By promoting a creative, open and reflective culture, by
experimenting more and innovating, we will, - with input from colleagues, partners and the public -
improve our service to Londoners.
Be recognised as a responsible, exemplary and ethical organisation
We want to be effective, efficient and offer value for money, and to attract national and regional
funding because partners know we make a difference. We want to be recognised for our ethics,
integrity, transparency and professionalism; and contribute to the sustainability of London and its
communities.
7Ultimately, our vision is for the Met to be the most trusted police service in the world.
We contribute to making London the safest global city, we protect its unique reputation as an open
and welcoming city, and we want Londoners to be proud of their police. We know that trust and
respect must be earned. As individuals, we will earn this trust by being true to our values:
professionalism, integrity, courage and compassion. Together and as an organisation, we will achieve
success by reducing crime, building public confidence, increasing victim satisfaction and strengthening
the pride and engagement of our officers and staff.
82019-20 progress review
1- Focusing on what matters most for Londoners
Tackling violent crime remained our top priority and we put in place a comprehensive plan for tackling
and reducing homicide, knife and gun crime and public place violence, including personal robbery. We
boosted our dedicated Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) with additional officer capacity and equipment
(including vehicles and Taser units). We focused officers, staff, intelligence and capabilities relentlessly
on:
• Creating an environment which deters the carrying of knives and other weapons, in locations where
violence is likely to occur
• Proactively managing the serious assault and stabbing risks arising from events
• Targeting those individuals that we identified as the most dangerous, and targeting the drivers of
violent crime such as drug markets
• Bringing to justice those who commit crimes of violence through high quality investigations
• Working with partners to prevent, divert and deter those engaged in criminality, or at risk of
becoming criminalised and/or exploited and to create safer spaces for young people.
Throughout the year, we ran a series of targeted operations pursuing high-harm offenders (Summer-,
Autumn- and Winter Nights). In addition, Operation Sceptre tackled knife crime: by deterring and
dealing with those who carry knives, conducting intelligence-led stop and searches, weapons sweeps
and deploying knife arches in violence hot spots. Whilst we did increase investigation capacity across
Frontline Policing (including the Homicide teams) with the use of police staff investigators, we were not
able to recruit the numbers initially envisaged (190). Work continues to expand capacity through the
internal trainee detective constable route, and our innovative direct entry detective recruitment process.
At the end of 2019, the Met received Home Office funding to tackle county lines. A dedicated operation
(Operation Orochi) was launched. Under Orochi, officers closed 87 county lines and achieved 183
charges for drug trafficking. Of the 18 cases that have gone to court so far, all defendants have pleaded
guilty and received a total of more than 50 years imprisonment.
There was progress on a number of fronts. Violence with injury decreased, as did the number of
offences for being in possession of a weapon. The number of knife injury victims under 25 (non-
domestic abuse) reduced by 13 per cent in 2019/20 compared to the previous year. We aim to reduce
this by a further 5 per cent in 2020/21. Our detection rate for knife crime was stable at 12.8 per cent. We
aim to increase it to 18 per cent next year.
However despite our continuing focus on violence and violent crime in London, the number of
homicides, violence without injury and violence against a person increased: there were 25 more
homicide victims in 2019/20 (145). One murder is always one too many, and we are determined to do all
we can to save more lives and reduce the number of homicides in 2020/21, focusing strongly on
prevention.
9London experienced an increase in robbery over the last year: the number of offences rose by 16 per
cent. We are looking for a 10 per cent decrease in 2020/21. The detection rate for robbery was 6 per
cent, a slight improvement on the previous 5.7 per cent, but we aim to progress this to 10 per cent in
2020/21. On the other hand, burglary offences reduced 4 per cent in 2019/20. The detection rate stayed
low at 4.8 per cent, again we are aiming to step this up to 10 per cent. This was impacted by the
challenges we faced in seeking to increase investigative capacity (60 police staff investigators) for
burglary.
Part-funded by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), we established online child sexual
abuse and exploitation teams in each of our 12 sub-regional Basic Command Units (BCU) dedicated to
the investigation of indecent images of children (IIOC) and related offences. These teams went live in
January 2020, providing a better and more consistent response to online offending.
We ramped up activity to improve our response to domestic abuse. This included training response
officers and reinforcing the positive action policy (whereby officers have a duty to take positive action
when dealing with domestic abuse incidents and must be able to justify their decision not to arrest). We
worked to improve accurate recording, increase use of 999 and body worn video (BWV) recordings to
support victimless prosecutions, raising awareness of Clare’s Law (the domestic violence disclosure
scheme) and analysing repeat victim data, to identify, monitor and disrupt high-harm repeat domestic
abuse perpetrators who pose ongoing risk.
Operation Athena, set up to counter declining trends in domestic abuse service delivery, did not yet
achieve its purpose. Use of BWV for officers attending domestic abuse incidents did improve to 91 per
cent. However, detection rate for domestic abuse in 2019/20 was 13.4 per cent, a reduction of 4.2 points
from the previous year. We have high ambitions in this area: in 2020/21 we aspire to achieve a 30 per
cent detection rate. The detection rate for rape offences (3.8 per cent) improved slightly compared to
2018/19 (2.7 per cent), but we are aiming for a step-change next year, to a 10 per cent detection rate.
We provided counter terrorism (CT) training to frontline officers across all forces, through the ACT for
Policing campaign that delivered Prevent training to educate on possible signs of radicalisation they may
encounter, alongside Project Servator engagement with businesses. The number of Prevent referrals
decreased but the number of cases progressed has remained consistent (suggesting the quality of
referrals might have improved). A range of Hydra exercises brought together local authorities, blue light
partners and a diverse range of Met stakeholders to ensure a joined up response to CT incidents; the
speed of response at both London Bridge and Streatham is testimony to the good level of preparedness
from the Met and partners.
The year was one of the busiest, most expensive and challenging years we faced in terms of the large-
scale public order events, demonstrations and protests that we have had to police. The policing of
protests (such as Extinction Rebellion and EU-related) placed a significant strain on our resources, but we
were able to put in place appropriate response for each protest. The scale and duration tested
operational resilience and the wellbeing of officers: dealing with this protest meant long tours of duty,
quick changeovers and cancelled rest days and leave for many officers and staff, in order for the Met to
10deliver a policing operation of this scope. There were 1,148 arrests in the two weeks of Extinction
Rebellion action in April 2019. Of these, at the time of this update, 689 cases had been completed at
court with 627 found guilty and 62 not guilty.
Taking everything into account, MOPAC’s Public Attitude Survey showed 58 per cent of the respondents
thought the police were doing a good job in their area, a figure which has been stable during the course
of the year (but lower than previous years). The aspiration in the forthcoming year is to improve on this
baseline.
2- Mobilising partners and the public
Over the course of 2019/20, we promoted crime prevention by supporting numerous community
initiatives. Street Watch involves local volunteers assisted on patrols, events and road closures, missing
persons, weapons sweeps, days of action and leaflet drops. School Watch, a scheme initiated by Safer
Schools officers, mobilises the school community (schools staff, parents, sixth formers, etc.) to promote
safety and reassurance for children, providing visibility as pupils travel home from school, preventing
anti-social behaviour and crime on that route.
Crime prevention is embedded in all parts of our operational activity. Moped-enabled crime in London
reduced by 42.5 per cent since the inception of Operation Venice. This activity was supported by two
communication campaigns: Lock, Chain, Cover – prevention campaign aimed at promoting greater
security for powered two-wheeler scooters and moped, and Look up. Look out – crime prevention
campaign targeted at robbery utilising disruptive approaches such as mobile ads designed to pop up
and encourage people distracted by their phones to be more aware of their surroundings and to keep
valuables out of sight.
In efforts to improve confidence and satisfaction amongst some communities where it is lower, we
implemented a number of changes. The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) set up a new
Independent Advisory Group with a wide range of community members from across London to advise
on a range of challenging issues such as the manner in which the Met responds to public complaints
and officer misconduct. The IAG members are also part of high profile operational Gold Groups to
provide critical friend advice and guidance. We also launched our first cohort of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender/Transsexual plus (LGBT+) advisers who work proactively with partners and the public to
increase community engagement, crime prevention and active citizenship in order to build trust and
confidence.
We aspire to increase our volunteer base to 42,000 by 2025. In 2019/20, we increased the number of
cadets by 29 per cent. However, with training capacity needed to prioritise the uplift in new constables,
the number of Specials at the Met remained flat. In January 2019, the overall number of volunteers was
19,151, showing the extent of progress that remains to be done to reach our ambition.
Response to the Public Attitude Survey on “How well informed do you feel about what the police in this
area have been doing over the last 12 months?” remained broadly flat from 36 per cent in 2018/19 to 35
per cent. Our aspiration for the forthcoming year is to improve this by 5 percentage points.
113- Achieving the best outcomes in pursuit of justice and in support of the victims
We are working to improve the quality of investigations at a local level through the Mi Investigation
programme. The objective is to provide a better service to victims of crime by reducing the number of
hand overs, promoting ownership from response officers. We put in place measures in three areas to
give officers the best chances to deliver successfully their investigations: creating capacity, improving
support and building capability. To further support this at a local level, in May 2019 we invested
additional staff as part of an expanded Local Intelligence team of analysts, researchers, officers and an
intelligence manager.
We introduced a Case Management team on each BCU focused on improving the quality of files
submitted to the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS). The teams provide an evidential review and quality
assurance function to officers who are completing case files. The number of files rejected by the CPS has
decreased from previous years, and this is a good indicator that our efforts have had the right impact.
Their remit has been widened so they now also deal with child abuse and sexual offences investigations
from BCU safeguarding hubs.
DIVERT is a custody intervention project running in six BCUs, which supports young people who have
been arrested, in finding positive opportunities with training or employment, and avoid a future affected
by violence and crime. To date, over 1,000 young people have engaged with the programme, and
nearly 500 went into employment, education and training. The programme has achieved a non-
reoffending rate of 91 per cent.
We are working closely with criminal justice partners to improve the management of risk and the
prevention of reoffending through the delivery of the National Probation Service-led rationalisation
programme, however the Probation Reform Programme is still ongoing and the unified model is now
expected to be delivered in summer 2021.
We invested in innovation in forensics, widening the access of tools for officers. For example:
• As drugs is one of the main drivers of current violence increases, the Rapid Drugs Service has been
rolled-out, which can turn around evidential drugs packages within four hours for cases with suspects
in custody. We are increasing the numbers of drug expert witnesses across the Met who can provide
evidence to support investigations.
• We deployed over 570 I.N.K. devices (which directly access fingerprint records through our law
enforcement partners in 194 Interpol countries). Over 52,000 searches resulted in 23,186 positive
matches across our fingerprint databases.
In terms of victim support, we have not progressed as much as we aimed to. The traditional victims’
survey reflects mostly volume crimes (theft, burglary etc.). We aimed to put in place a digital survey for
victims – in particular for serious sexual offences - so that their feedback can better inform the areas to
improve. This project was delayed but should be taken forward in the coming months. The Ministry of
Justice has also announced pending changes to improve the Victims Code of Practice which has also
delayed the improvements we wanted to make to our crime recording system.
12In 2019/20 the positive outcome rate for all offence cases was 13 per cent (up from 12 per cent the
previous year). The case file quality improved, and the proportion rejected by the CPS fell from circa 60
per cent two years ago to circa 40 per cent in recent months.
As well as improving criminal justice outcomes, we want to improve the overall victim satisfaction rate to
70 per cent by March 2021. The current rate is 64 per cent, slightly lower than last year (67 per cent). We
want to reduce the gaps in satisfaction rates for victims by ethnicity and disability to within ±5 per cent
by March 2021. In 2019/20, the average gap in confidence between Black, Asian and minority ethnic
groups and White respondents was 8 per cent (5 per cent the previous year). Within ethnic groups,
there are substantial disparities: Asian people tend to have as much confidence as White or White Other
groups, whilst people of Black and Mixed ethnicity have the lowest levels of confidence. We are working
with resolve and focus and with the Mayor to try and address this.
4- Seize the opportunities of data and digital tech
To enhance operational activity, we continued to adopt and apply new technologies. We began the
operational use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology, after a series of pilots. We rolled out new and
improved body worn video cameras (increased battery life, better low light performance, wider angle
lens etc.) to enhance operational effectiveness. We rolled out 43 network kiosks connected at 23 sites
(47 kiosks to connect at the remaining 20 sites) which allow officers to examine digital devices on
location. We have Wi-Fi now installed at almost all our 200 sites. We have also started to make better
use of open source intelligence and commenced work to mature our analytics activity.
We consolidated our data capability, with the soft launch of the Data Office - providing new data
services, driving our compliance with legislation and regulatory advice as well as developing a framework
for data ethics. The initial focus has been on mitigating compliance liabilities and supporting operational
effectiveness (through the development of new performance dashboards). The Information Rights unit
successfully cleared some but not all backlogs. More Data Protection Act (largely Right of Access) and
Freedom of Information requests necessitated an uplift in staff resources, to comply with statutory
timeframes. We have started to improve the quality of our data to underpin analysis and operations.
Operationally we aimed to achieve 70 nationally recognised organised crime disruptions against cyber
and cyber-enabled groups, but a high attrition rate within the cybercrime unit (as we focus resources on
tackling violence) meant that only 38 disruptions were achieved, versus 40 in previous financial year.
However, we have new developed dark web capability. The team’s remit includes targeting the supply of
illegal commodities on the dark web and we anticipate an increase in the number of organised crime
disruptions.
5- Care for each other, work as a team and be an attractive place to work
With additional funding provided by the Home Office and the Mayor, and following the Government
announcement of an extra 20,000 police officers nationally, we were able to recruit additional officers,
which in the medium term will reinforce our capacity to tackle violent crime. By the end of March 2020,
the officer establishment was at 31,745 – the highest level for eight years. 2019/20 also marked our
13celebrations of 100 years of female police officers at the Met. Today nearly 8,000 women police officers
occupy a huge range of roles across the organisation in every area of our work. We are seeking to
increase representation from women and from Black and minority ethnic communities at every level of
the organisation.
Last year, the percentage of Black, Asian and minority ethnic officers increased from 14.7 to 15.2 per
cent. We want to take this to 19 per cent by March 2022. The proportion of female officers was 27.5 per
cent at the end of 2019/20 (up from 26.7). Our aspiration is to have 30 per cent by March 2022.
Over the last year, we have made substantial progress in delivering our Health and Wellbeing Strategy
2019 – 2021. Notably we have increased and diversified the support channels available to the workforce.
We launched Your Employee Assistance Programme – a 24/7 confidential service over the phone or
online – where the workforce can access a range of emotional or practical support to support people
stay mentally, physically or financially well. We have also launched an Occupational Health Managers
Advice Line – where managers can call for specialist advice - and developed a Mobile Wellbeing Service
to take support out to our staff.
We aim to increase positive outcomes for offences of assaults against police officer and staff. This has
improved in the last year from 71 to 76 per cent. We want to maintain and build further on this
improved position.
We are measuring staff satisfaction and engagement through our staff survey. Results in 2019/20 are
substantially more positive in a number of key areas than in 2018/19. Overall engagement score
improved from 44 per cent to 58 per cent in 2019/20. Specific responses for the areas management
effort had been concentrated during the year as a result of the previous year’s survey:
• “I am treated with fairness and respect” improved from 53 to 72 per cent in 2019/20
• “I can be myself at work” improved from 61 to 74 per cent in 2019/20
• “I have the right equipment” improved from 35 to 44 per cent in 2019/20
• “There are good career opportunities for me at the Met” improved from 39 to 45 per cent in 2019/20
We have worked to ensure our estate is fit for purpose whilst providing flexibility and cost efficiency:
improvements to Charing Cross Police Station, Marlowe House and Hendon Driving Academy were
completed. The works have created modern working environments. However, the start of a number of
our estates refurbishment projects suffered delays to ensure the projects could be completed within
agreed budgets. The refurbishment of our patrol bases at Enfield and Havering will now conclude in
2020/21, as will the works at our office buildings in Kilburn and in Newlands Park. Work to begin the
refurbishment of Kensington, Harrow, Fresh Wharf, Peckham, and Lewisham Police Stations was also
delayed by 6 to 12 months, again to ensure projects could be delivered within budgets. Crabtree
Manorway in Belvedere is now due to be operational by Quarter 3, 2020/21. Covid-19 affected the
refurbishment of the custody suites at Stoke Newington, Bexley and Kentish Town, now due to complete
by Quarter 2, 2020/21.
146- Learn from experience, and from others and constantly strive to improve
We delivered the first phase of ‘6 skills for 2020’ (safeguarding, investigation, crime prevention,
leadership, safety, and data & digital skills) to improve officer and staff skills across the Met – and moved
training from a predominantly physical delivery method to a multi-platform approach (with a strong
digital element). We rolled out LinkedIn Learning across the Met to provide the workforce access to the
right development opportunities where and when they need them.
We launched a Career Development Service to support and engage female and Black or minority ethnic
officers and staff, raising awareness of opportunities, and helping remove barriers.
The significant improvements in the staff survey reflected our progress. More staff agreed with the
following statements:
• “I am involved in developing solutions and improvements” up from 39 per cent to 54 per cent in
2019/20
• “My ideas are valued” up from 45 per cent to 60 per cent in 2019/20
• “I have opportunities to learn and develop” up from 32 per cent to 51 per cent in 2019/20
We delivered mental health training to circa 10,500 frontline officers to increase their confidence in
applying legislation and dealing with mental health situations. We also delivered training courses for
safeguarding skills, investigative skills development, as well as training modules for dedicated ward
officers and schools officers. However, we fell below our targets in these areas (34 per cent of the
requirement for investigative skills, 23 per cent safeguarding, 67 per cent dedicated ward officer training
and 23 per cent for schools officer training) because of the exceptionally high number of new recruits
who used up a large part of our training capacity.
7- A responsible, exemplary and ethical organisation
We maintained our status as a London Living Wage (LLW) employer and ensured outsourced
contractors who work on Met premises pay their employees at or above the LLW. We continued to
promote the Mayor’s Good Work Standard to our supply chain.
We are a more professional, more inclusive and more diverse service than we have ever been. But we
must continue and accelerate progress, particularly in relation to our relationship with the Black
communities. This will require us to look at a range of initiatives in terms of Met workforce, but also
externally to address community concerns and priorities, including our response to hate crime. Our new
Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, alongside a new Mayoral Action Plan, will set out our steps in more
detail in the coming months.
We are committed to contributing to the sustainability of London. In May 2019, we published our
Environment and Sustainability Strategy and outlined a series of new initiatives to improve practices over
the next three years. We switched to 100 per cent recycled paper in line with many other public sector
organisations. We developed a single-use plastics action plan shared with GLA, recruited 45 champions
to take forward our Think Green campaign. Our estate refurbishment is contributing towards our overall
15aim of a 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2025. The majority of our fleet in the Ultra-Low
Emission Zone meet the new, tighter emission standards, and we are replacing the remaining 10, nearly
reaching full compliance by Quarter 4. We have deployed 550 electric and hybrid vehicles. We reduced
our diesel fleet by 39 per cent, below the 60 per cent we were aiming for, but we are confident we will
achieve the rest in 2020.
We did not achieve our aim to reduce the time for handling complaints and misconduct referrals by ten
per cent. The number of days to deal with public complaints and misconduct cases has in fact increased:
in 2019/20, public complaints took on average six more days and misconduct cases took an extra 62
days. We have however managed a 44 per cent reduction in the number of open cases (a number of
old legacy cases have been closed).
We aim to increase public response (in the Public Attitude Survey) in the following areas:
• “The Met can be relied on to be there when you need them”: in 2019/20, 70 per cent agreed, a
stable proportion.
• “The Met is an organisation I can trust”: in 2019/20, 83 per cent agreed (also stable).
• “How confident are you that the police in this area use their stop and search powers?”: in 2018/19,
confidence was 73 per cent, at the end of Q3 2019/20 this was at 77 per cent.
161. FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST FOR LONDONERS
Covid-19
The impact of Covid-19 stretches across the globe and has brought very significant suffering and
dislocation. The Met has a key role to play in policing London in these times and as London adapts to
new ways of living. This includes ensuring we continue to provide a resilient service, focusing on what
matters most to Londoners, preventing and detecting crime throughout this period. We also help
support some of the measures the Government brought in to slow the spread of the pandemic. Our
approach has from the start been guided by a “4E” approach – engage, explain, encourage and where
necessary enforce - which on the whole has worked well. A guiding priority is that we must maintain, and
wherever possible improve, our relationships with the public.
The Met has strong business continuity plans in place and has been able to continue to police London,
whilst using some capacity created by the temporary declines in some offences to drive more pro-
activity, and target wanted violent offenders. As London moves through different phases we will
continue to provide a world-class policing service, support measures to control the spread of the disease
where we can, and keep streets safe.
The Met has been working alongside strategic partners in the capital to ensure a ‘system’ response to
the pandemic (and within the Strategic Command Group and Tactical Command Group structures to
develop and refine contingency plans across London). Internally we have been working to:
• Ensure the business continuity of our operations;
• Provide measures through which the safety of our workforce is maximised; and
• Establish and maintain appropriate civil contingency plans.
As part of our proactive work, our volunteers delivered over 15,000 crime prevention leaflets across nine
boroughs, made thousands of phone calls to elderly victims of crime to provide crime prevention advice
against scams and also provided some much needed human contact to vulnerable individuals. The
volunteers are also conducting reassurance patrols alongside local officers.
The lockdown restrictions led to a temporary reduction in violent crime, however gang tensions remain
across London and we have seen crime levels rise again in recent months – albeit still below 2019 levels.
The Met has been committed to ensuring that day-to-day policing continues across London amidst the
challenges of the coronavirus outbreak. Decreases in offences provided us capacity for additional
proactivity. We reduced the number of offenders released under investigation (RUI) and wanted
nominals, whilst substantially increasing the number of sanctioned detections and stop & searches. Of
particular note is the work of our Telephone & Digital Investigation unit (TDIU) who have reduced
recording and call back queues from 28,000 to circa 400 cases.
The focus has been on maintaining police resilience and leading our staff effectively through huge
uncertainty. In the long run, our success will also depend on how well we can recover to ‘normal’
operations, and the extent to which we can emerge stronger and more agile, and the way in which we
build community trust and prevent crimes and harms. We have therefore established teams which cut
17across business groups to ensure that the organisation manages these recovery and renewal phases in
the best possible way.
We remain confident that the Met will be able to meet the milestones in this business plan – however, it
is possible that some in the coming months may be affected by external issues, and, further down the
line, potential demand rises from communities and funding challenges. We will of course review and
monitor progress, and report on a quarterly basis.
Violent crime
The Met is committed to dealing with the issues that matter most to Londoners, and our operational
priority is to bear down on violent crime and tackle high harm offences. Total violent crime increased in
London over recent years, as it did across the rest of England and Wales. Our efforts over the last two
years, across the whole Met, including the VCTF, have achieved some tangible impact, particular in
reducing youth violence.
The number of young people (under 25) stabbed decreased by 23 per cent in the last two years. Gun
discharges decreased by around 35 per cent in 2019 (gun crime offences by -18 per cent and lethal
barrelled discharges by -36 per cent). Our activity to tackle moped and moped-enabled crime has been
particularly successful: offences are down by 43 per cent in the past year (after halving the previous
year). However, levels of violence remain high and we are concerned with the rises in robbery, violence
against the person and total homicides experienced to March 2020. We are increasing the resources
available to specialist units, complemented with a Met-wide response encompassing all the assets at our
disposal: emergency response teams, neighbourhood teams, the Territorial Support Group and other
taskforce units. We are mindful that within the use of some of these tactics, there is a disproportionality
in relation to gender, age and race. Knife crime and street violence in the capital disproportionately
affects boys and young men, particularly of African-Caribbean heritage, both in terms of victims and
perpetrators. Our focus remains to tackle violence and to do so with the trust of the communities we
serve.
Investigative capacity and capability within specialist crime commands and other frontline policing teams
remains an issue (linked to the shortage in specialist detective capability). To address this, additional
police staff will be undertaking more investigative work in the TDIU and the VCTF.
Finally, whilst enforcement activity can result in short term decreases, sustaining that success requires
concerted efforts with partners across London. This includes collaboration with, and insight from,
emergency healthcare services; effective prevention and diversionary work with central and local
government partners, education and the wider community. At a strategic level, the Mayor’s London
Knife Crime Strategy and the Home Office Serious Violence Strategy frame that collaborative effort,
whilst the London Violence Reduction unit brings together specialists from health, police, local
government, probation and community organisations to tackle violent crime and the underlying causes
of violent crime.
18Tackling Violence Together is our integrated campaign for pulling officers and staff resources as well as
operational and communication activities in support of this corporate priority: every part of the Met is
bringing all it can to bear down on violence. Communities have a vital role in helping us by telling us
what they know about offenders carrying weapons, so we can be more effective in their area. Activity is
multi-pronged and focuses on preventing high-harm, protecting those at risk and pursuing the most
dangerous.
• We are using every preventative and enforcement tactic and power we have – including stop and
search - to protect the public, take weapons off the streets and prevent violent crime.
• We are using pan-London resources to enhance response at the local level, making sure our
presence is felt in the places where violence occurs the most. We use armed response vehicles on
the street to deter those intent on carrying weapons and committing acts of violence, and we are
increasing preventative tactics such as the use of weapons sweeps.
• We are targeting the drivers of violence – such as drugs. We interrupt weapon supply, disrupt gangs,
and track the most dangerous offenders and prolific knife carriers using “Achilles’ heel” tactics.
• We have worked with the Home Office to support the introduction of knife crime prevention orders
(KCPOs), to crack down on knife possession, better protect the public and make a positive
intervention in the lives of young people who are at risk of engaging in criminal activities. In 2020/21,
we will pilot and develop the use of KCPOs.
• Without waiting for the officer numbers growth in the pipeline, we are establishing additional
capability: a proactive team of 100 officers, centrally managed, for our campaign to reduce violence
and have begun to set-up Violence Suppression units on BCUs (with allocated initial numbers of
more than 600 officers) providing capacity and capability that can be tasked and led locally. We work
on more efficient and effective deployments, for example, linking Operation Viper (firearms) and the
VCTF; increasing the VCTF remit to deal with robbery; integrating the Operation Venice staff who
successfully worked on reducing moped crime; and the introduction of police staff investigators to
support officers.
• We remain pro-active during the pandemic and focus on three activities; making our presence felt,
being visible and proactive, and focusing on high harm offenders. These three strands cover a range
of proactive tactics that are yielding results.
• We have plans to engage positively with a cohort of young people as the lockdown eases to offer
them opportunities out of crime and violent behaviour, alongside a strategy of public space visibility.
Serious organised crime
Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) presents a significant strategic and operational threat to London.
We have mapped almost 250 active organised crime groups (OCGs), and their impact is felt across
London’s communities, businesses and institutions. They are involved in a multitude of criminal activities
from local drugs markets to firearms supply, handling stolen goods to human trafficking and cyber-
attacks. OCGs differ in structure, size, and composition. The Met works collaboratively with the National
Crime Agency (NCA) and other UK and international partners to be able to address the international
element of SOC. For example, under Operation Venetic - European partners and the NCA shared data
and intelligence, relating to an encrypted communication system called Encrochat, known to be used by
OCGs. Specialist detectives spent months monitoring hundreds of handsets and thousands of encrypted
19messages, and as a result OCGs were significantly disrupted with 746 arrests nationally, and £54 million,
77 firearms and over two tonnes of drugs seized (as at July 2020).
In response to the risk posed by serious organised crime within London, the Met underwent a period of
transition and now has a structure in place to reactively and proactively respond to this threat. The four
specialist crime hubs (encompassing Homicide, Trident reactive teams and proactive syndicates) align
geographically to three BCUs each. These regional hubs are supported by the Central Specialist Crime
network which provides pan-London capabilities across a number of SOC strands including vulnerability,
economic crime and cybercrime and specialist investigations. Integral to the effective operation of
Specialist Crime is a central intelligence and tasking function that aims to prioritise and task proactive
operations undertaken by Specialist Crime.
We have identified the following key threats, dovetailed into the NCA’s national SOC threats: knife crime,
gun crime, serious sexual offences, child abuse and exploitation, modern slavery and human trafficking,
hate crime, domestic abuse and organised acquisitive crime. SOC cuts through many high-harm
offences: OCGs in London are involved in drugs, violence and money laundering. We are committed to
further increase the number of disruptions recorded against OCGs across all of the SOC activity being
undertaken by Specialist Crime which will prevent serious organised crime networks from carrying out
their activities.
The use, sale, supply and importation of drugs is a key driver of violence causing profound harm to
communities and has a direct correlation with increases in acquisitive crime and gang violence. Our new
Drugs Strategy aims to improve the skill and expertise on BCUs by driving forward a sustainable,
evidenced based model to tackle this crime type and ensures there is a close and cohesive approach to
this activity between Specialist Crime, BCUs and key partners. Project Alpha has also been launched,
which is a dedicated resource aimed at developing intelligence from social media platforms linked to
off-line serious gang violence. We have doubled drug expert witnesses and drug advisors capacity
following a HO grant and these are crucial to the BCU response in the efficient investigation of drug
offences with priority given to those that are tackling violence and gangs.
Operation Orochi was specifically set up to respond to the threat and risk posed by county lines with
London being the principal ‘exporter’ of county lines. The ongoing aim of Orochi is the identification and
prosecution of the line holders. We work collaboratively with county forces and with subject matter
experts to respond to the child exploitation aspect of this crime type. The good results to date support
the continuation and expansion of this approach into 2021 with the creation of a county lines taskforce,
bringing it in to the wider organisational county line plans already governed by a 4P (Prevent, Protect,
Prepare and Pursue) structure.
Linked to drugs and violence is the use, supply and importation of firearms. Following a steady increase
in gun crime over the last few years we have reduced both gun crime and more importantly lethal
barrelled discharges over the last 12 months (rolling year-to-date reduction of 32 per cent). Building on
this work, we are relentlessly pursuing those involved in gun crime through proactive activity against
London’s most dangerous and prolific firearm offenders. Throughout 2020/21 specialist crime proactive
20syndicates and Viper will continue with a renewed focus on the conversion of reactive investigations and
intelligence into the proactive recovery of firearms, maintaining and maximising intelligence
opportunities and ensuring there is an efficient communication structure in place between specialist
crime and other business groups with Viper established as part of Specialist Crime.
The increase in violence has seen a rise in homicides with 149 being recorded in 2019; the highest for 10
years. We remain concerned about this - one homicide is one too many. We are working hard through
the Drugs and Serious Violence strategies and with our key stakeholders to tackle the drivers of violence
and remain committed to reducing this level of homicide and improving detection rates in 2020/21.
Central Specialist Crime also have a critical role in the 4P approach to SOC across all of their
investigative strands many of which enhance and compliment the work of the Specialist Crime Hubs. The
Organised Crime Partnership is a joint team of Met officers and NCA staff focusing on serious crime and
disrupting OCGs in respect of firearm and drug supply and importation.
Nationally, modern slavery offences continue to increase year on year. We will align our modern slavery
approach with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) 2019-21 priorities: improving victim
care, supporting law enforcement and prosecutions, focusing on prevention and getting value from
research and innovation.
Both cyber- and economic crime are significant to the Met SOC profile. The Economic Crime command
proactivity and reactively targets those engaged in fraud, cyber-enabled fraud and criminal finance.
£1.5b of criminal proceeds are laundered through money service bureaux each year (of which
approximately 23 per cent are in London); 32 per cent of Suspicious Activity Reports over the last six
years relate to London; and 43 per cent of National Fraud Intelligence Bureau referrals are allocated to
the Met. We recognise this crime type as a significant threat to the security and the prosperity of the UK
and continue to lead the fight against those who are engaged in profiting from SOC. Central to our
strategy is the targeting of those engaged in high-harm and violent offending (whether they are
engaged in the supply of drugs and firearms, county line offending or using corrupt money service
bureaux to launder their proceeds), for example by seizing their assets.
The online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSAE) command is composed of dedicated, well-
trained OCSAE investigation teams on every BCU. In 2020/21 we are looking to develop the Prevention
strand through online tools and by encouraging internet companies to acknowledge and act on their
responsibilities such as designing out crime on their platforms. We are also looking to improve our IT
capability to enhance the efficiency of our initial response.
The Flying Squad continue to provide a dedicated response to commercial robberies, cash & transit and
ATM robberies which is enhanced through their excellent partnerships with the security industry. The
squad now also have primacy for the 24/7 response to kidnaps.
Finally, Central Specialist Crime has the responsibility for high harm offender management outside the
JIGSAW/MAPPA regime. The Central Orders team has management oversight of serious and organised
21crime nominals subject to judicial orders. The 2020/21 plan is to increase activity to disrupt offenders
subject to serious crime prevention orders and slavery & trafficking prevention orders.
Protecting people
The Met is committed to protecting vulnerable people, supporting the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan
priorities. Over recent years we have dedicated more resources and specialist skills to public protection
work, but we remain clear that protecting vulnerable people is the responsibility of every single member
of staff. Whether working in a frontline role or within a specialist command, they must be proactive in
spotting the signs of individuals who are vulnerable. We target high harm offences including domestic
abuse, rape and child abuse. Crimes with a vulnerability element are by their nature often complex. They
can be hidden and complicated by other factors such as links to serious organised crime through gangs,
human trafficking, extremism and modern slavery. We have invested more in prevention and problem
solving: enhancing training for officers and working closely with partners to identify risk and signpost
vulnerable people to the appropriate agency so they can receive the appropriate level of care and
support. We have also retained a central capability to investigate the most serious of crimes and provide
specialist advice to frontline officers.
Domestic abuse
In 2019/20 we increased the resourcing within the central domestic abuse team which has allowed for a
more strategic and focused approach on improving criminal justice outcomes, reducing harm to both
the community and the victim, and reducing repeat victimisation. We reviewed the management of the
perpetrators, streamlining processes for obtaining civil orders and injunctions. We have created an
online Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme request service that provides a more accessible method for
the public to make a request (under “Clare’s Law” right to ask).
We set up Operation Athena to counter declining trends in domestic abuse service delivery by reducing
repeat victimisation, increasing arrest rates, sanctioned detection levels, and improving criminal justice
outcomes. We have seen improvement in many of the performance indicators that underpin these
outcomes. We acknowledge we still have more to do.
We are upskilling frontline officers to ensure they are confident in how to investigate crime and protect
vulnerable victims. Training and reinforcement of the positive action policy among response officers will
support even better decision making on first attendance. We recognise the vital role capturing and using
body worn video plays in securing charge decisions and guilty pleas at first hearing, all easing the impact
of the criminal justice service on victims. We closely track the capture and use of BWV and have shown
real improvement in this area – an increase of 8 points in capture in domestic abuse incidents, now at 81
per cent; guilty plea at first hearing now at 72 per cent from 66 per cent in April 2019.
Whilst the majority of offences have decreased since the lockdown, domestic abuse offences did not,
and partners are reporting an increasing number of calls to helplines. We will therefore be particularly
vigilant over the coming months and are already reinforcing resources pro-actively in the areas where
needed.
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