Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police on the HMIC Inspection Update.

Following a letter exchange between the Commissioner & Chairman and the HMI, the Commissioner outlined to other Members that the assessments in grading did not match the narrative detail in the Legitimacy report. The HMI had emphasised that the CoLP were a good force and that they were confident the CoLP would meet future challenges. The concern of the Sub-Committee was the effect the report and the rating may have on public perception. The Commissioner stated that he would update Members once a response had been received from the HMI.

With reference to keeping children safe, the main issue was on surveys of children leaving custody, and who in the CoLP held absolute responsibility for child protection. The Commissioner confirmed that accountability would lie with Commander Operations (Vulnerability) and the Detective Chief Superintendent, Head of Crime Directorate (Public Protection).

The Chairman sought clarification that a progress update on the latest Efficiency Report HMIC recommendations would be delivered at the February Sub-Committee meeting. This was confirmed by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner drew attention to the areas graded inadequate which relate to ICT. An ICT Strategy was part of the CoLP’s plans going forward and the Commissioner stated that he felt the HMIC had not taken into consideration that the Force had in the last year or so  migrated from having an in-house IT function to an outsourced  managed service. An IT Board existed within the force to share user requirements with the service providers. The Commissioner was content that all three HMIC recommendations from the Efficiency report were being addressed.

The Commissioner also noted that Crime Data would be addressed in the next inspection and that the CoLP had sufficient processes in place - with an independent crime force for audit recording taking place over the past 18 months which reported to the Assistant Commissioner. It was noted that the inspection does not consider risk, and relies on pure audit results. The Commissioner had commissioned a gap analysis on this and a meeting was being convened to discuss current shortcomings.

The Chairman questioned whether neighbourhood teams were closely aligned with the communities they served and were thus able to provide local intelligence on organised crime groups (OCGs) operating in their area. The Commissioner noted that this was not as applicable to the CoLP as it might be to other Forces with different types of organised crime groups – as the City OCGs focus on fraud/economic crime. Boiler rooms (using short term office lets) was used as the example to illustrate this point.

The Sub-Committee questioned the work with the Metropolitan Police Service in regards to integrated offender management, and it was noted that a proportionate amount of resource should be used to identify the three offenders relevant to the City.

The Commissioner noted that HMIC were satisfied that the CoLP were now fully compliant with the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme, and an updated note on this would be circulated to Members.

RECEIVED.