Modern day policing
- 29 November 2018 15:12351732Courtesy of the Times.
Britain’s biggest police force is dismissing about a third of all crime reports after only one telephone call with the victim, it can be revealed. Burglaries, low-level assaults, criminal damage, theft and affray are all on a list of crimes that can be dismissed without being investigated under a policy secretly introduced by the Metropolitan Police last year. The Met, which used to send a police officer to every crime if requested by the victim, assesses 37 per cent of reports over the telephone, according to a report seen by The Times.
Staff at the telephone and digital investigation unit [TDIU], a triaging zone for crime reports, inform the majority of victims that their cases will not be pursued according to criteria such as a lack of CCTV or forensic leads.
If the suspect in specified offences cannot be identified by the victim or witness the crime is assessed “out”, meaning that it will not be investigated. The force has cited budget cuts and a need to focus on surging violence and sexual offences. The unit, which looked at 200,000 crime reports over nine months last year, is assessing out 80 per cent of reports on average, usually after a single phone call with the victim. The dropped reports account for 29.6 per cent of crimes reported to the Met. The true number of cases that were not pursued is likely to be higher, but the Met was unable to provide figures for crimes assessed out by other departments. In addition, 1.26 million calls to the Met’s non-emergency 101 number were abandoned last year, with callers having to wait 15 minutes on average to get through. The number of abandoned calls was 50 per cent higher than in 2016, although the Met says the average time is now 85 seconds after a new system was introduced. Police forces across the country are increasingly dropping investigations into so-called “volume crime” — the lower-level offences which affect the majority of victims — because of budget cuts. The Met has made £1 billion in savings since 2010 and this year its officer numbers fell below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years. Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, has said that a lack of resources was a factor in homicides reaching a ten-year high.
The TDIU staff handle crime reports using an assessment policy introduced in April. Lower-level offences are rejected for investigation according to specific criteria. There is a list of more than 25 crimes that must be investigated, including homicide, firearms offences, hate crime, domestic violence and sexual assault. Low-level assaults, burglaries where no weapon was carried, antisocial behaviour, robbery, criminal damage, theft and affray may all be assessed out under specific circumstances. Critics of the assessment regime say that relatively serious crimes may slip through the net. Susan Hall, a Conservative member of the London Assembly said that it was not acceptable to ignore crimes such as burglary and assault. “The Met clearly needs to innovate to become more efficient, but what’s unacceptable is for reporting changes to come at the expense of a responsive police force,” she added. Mark Simmons, a deputy assistant commissioner, said: “Every crime reported to us is investigated, whether that’s through face-to-face contact with an officer or detective or through alternative routes such as the TDIU. But like any organisation we have got a budget to work to and we have to make decisions about what we prioritise.” He said that crime diverted to the TDIU could be redirected to frontline officers later if new leads emerged. - 30 November 2018 16:30351767On the back burner for now but if gang related crime continues to rise then the only answer is routine armed patrols in likely hot spots.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/scotland-yard-denies-plans-to-put-armed-squads-on-routine-patrols-to-tackle-gangs-a4004271.html - Keith Sansum1
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30 November 2018 18:26351770Then we had the100 or so teenage youths attacking the policeALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - Captain Haddock
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30 November 2018 20:23351774Just in:-
Police forces across England and Wales could see a funding boost of more than £600m next year as part of the government's efforts to find more money for front line policing.
https://news.sky.com/story/police-in-england-and-wales-could-get-600m-funding-boost-in-wake-of-street-violence-11568082
(Dear oh dear. Touch of the Labour Party here. Something's not working so chuck even more money at it)"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson - Jan Higgins
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30 November 2018 20:32351775Captain Haddock wrote:
(Dear oh dear. Touch of the Labour Party here. Something's not working so chuck even more money at it)
What other way is there but to increase the numbers of policemen to solve crimes big and small?howard mcsweeney1 likes this-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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30 November 2018 20:54351777Jan Higgins wrote:What other way is there but to increase the numbers of policemen to solve crimes big and small?
Doing away with the antiquated system of 'county' forces might help. It's worked in Jocksville.
IN 2013 THE residents of sleepy Highland villages noticed something odd. Armed police had started popping up on their streets. Cops with guns were spotted at a bakery in Brora, a fishing village, sparking alarm. Others queuing in a supermarket caused a stir down the road in Inverness. Police vans clad in anti-riot gear cruised through remote moorlands.
That year, Scotland’s eight regional police forces became a single national squad. Merging was intended to save money by ending the duplication of HR departments, call centres and so on. It was also meant to improve policing. National units would investigate rare crimes like murder, leaving local bobbies to get on with bread-and-butter stuff.
The fledgling force had a bumpy start. Small constabularies saw it as a takeover by Strathclyde Police, the biggest of the bunch. The spread of armed officers was one aspect of “Strathclydisation”, where tough Glaswegian tactics were rolled out to the sticks. Use of stop and search also increased.
But there are signs that the merger is bearing fruit. Although the force lumbers on with a mismatch of computer systems inherited from its predecessors, costs have fallen by 18% since 2012-13. Whereas belt-tightening has led to a drop in officers south of the border, numbers in Scotland have remained stable, at just over 17,000—though many have been stuffed into back-office roles, replacing civilians who were sacked instead. Armed police are once again a rare sight in the Highlands, and reforms are under way to improve accountability.
Scottish policing was shambolic before the merger, says Niven Rennie, an ex-head of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents. Competition between forces hampered decision-making, and their ability to deal with complex crimes varied wildly. Centralisation has brought consistency. Rape cases, for example, are now handled by specially trained officers. Victims’ experience has improved significantly, says Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland. The police have also got better at going after organised criminals, who do not respect constabulary boundaries.
A popular new chief constable, Iain Livingstone, must now convince a sceptical public that the merger is working. “Merging was the right decision,” says Nick Fyfe of Dundee University. “But people underestimated how complicated it would be.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Getting the band back together"
The Economist"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson - 30 November 2018 21:16351779In response to Bob's link I have personal experience of the county system. In the early 80s I stopped at a pub on the outskirts of Woodford in order to use their phone and noticed that all the customers were large chaps wearing suits too small for themselves. Upon making enquiries later it transpired that the pub was outside the boundary of the Metropolitan police where most hailed from and the Essex version had no interest in them as they had not transgressed on their manor.
Having said that Jan is right that boots on the ground do more to prevent crime than intelligence based policing which only activates after the event. - Captain Haddock
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30 November 2018 21:30351780What does more to prevent crime than anything else Howard is the prospect of proper sentencing if/when caught.
I'm not suggesting we follow their example but there's not an awful amount of theft in Sharia-controlled areas of Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia.
There are unfortunately almost daily examples in the press in the UK where the so-called punishment goes nowhere near to fitting the crime.
A Chief Constable was commenting earlier today on youth and said 'what have we become'?
The real question is 'what have we allowed ourselves to become'?
We, the grown-ups, have brought this upon ourselves."The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson - 30 November 2018 21:58351782Weak sentencing is certainly a major factor Bob but if you remember when we were teenagers the sight of a police uniform acted as a deterrent to us from getting involved in petty crime. Today's youngsters can do what they like without any comeback which inevitably gives them the green light to go on to bigger things.
- 1 December 2018 11:01351790Things have changed since yesterday.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/01/met-police-push-ahead-with-armed-patrols-despite-backlash - Jan Higgins
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1 December 2018 12:43351793Having watched many episodes of various programmes to do with our 999 services, Care in the Community is definitely not working. Far to much police and NHS time is taken up looking for those who are vulnerable or have mental issues or missing or dealing with the repercussions of what these people have done.
I am not suggesting that we go back to locking them up but a better solution to what we have now needs to be found. This would free up the police to go back to dealing with real crimes rather than acting as virtually temporary carers, it would also help free up ambulances as well as A&E, also in some cases prison space.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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1 December 2018 15:33351805howard mcsweeney1 wrote:Things have changed since yesterday.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/01/met-police-push-ahead-with-armed-patrols-despite-backlash
You've been taken in by the headline Howard!
Labour and conservative rags write about both sides of the exact same story and say exactly the same thing!Arte et Marte - Captain Haddock
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1 December 2018 17:51351818From the FT.
British policing, long the envy of the world, is under pressure. Since 2010, police funding in England and Wales has fallen nearly 20 per cent in real terms, with no matching reduction in workload. The long-term fall in crime that started in the 1990s has stalled and serious violence is now increasing. The summer saw a huge spike in 999 calls, which many forces were unable to cope with. Charges and summons — admittedly imperfect measures of police performance — have dropped. Both the police inspectorate and the House of Commons home affairs committee have warned repeatedly that the service is struggling to maintain its performance.
Calls for more cash are now deafening. London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan is perhaps the most vocal, arguing that “cuts have consequences and . . . our police service desperately need more funding right now”. But the government is holding firm. A key line of defence is that there is no clear link between funding cuts and increased crime. As Sajid Javid, the home secretary, said this year about the rise in knife crime: “For anyone to suggest this is caused by police numbers, it is not backed up by the facts.”
The truth is that we can’t be certain that budget cuts have left us less safe. Crime is a complex phenomenon, influenced by many things other than policing. A major reason for the sixfold fall in car crime between the mid-1993 and 2013 was improved car security. Metal thefts in the UK fell when legislation made it illegal for dealerships to pay for metal in cash, making those selling items more traceable. Trauma in childhood can contribute to criminality later in life, as well as worse health, education and employment outcomes.
Yet we do know that policing matters. Police strikes are usually accompanied by sharp increases in crime. In 1969, when 5,000 of Montreal’s police and fire workers downed tools in a pay dispute, bank robberies doubled before a near-instant riot. Studies have proved that so-called hotspot policing — ensuring police visit crime hotspots at times when crime usually takes place — reduces crime in those areas significantly, without pushing it into neighbouring communities.
More money could, therefore, make a difference. However, funding can only be justified if it is spent on the right things. There are two key pitfalls to avoid. The first is seeking to reintroduce routine patrols in low crime communities. Random patrols, unlike targeted ones, make no difference to crime rates. New digital engagement channels could provide public reassurance at a much lower cost.
The second pitfall is ploughing money back into pursuing investigations that are currently being deprioritised by the police — those that are less serious and where there is limited initial evidence. In an ideal world, all crime would be investigated, of course. But it’s not clear how effective increased conviction rates are in terms of preventing future crimes. Those earning prison terms come out no less likely to offend than when they went in, and the costs are huge compared to effective prevention.
Not many argue for the types of prevention the police should invest in. They should not, for example, be leading the necessary effort to help children develop the cognitive skills that can prevent future criminality. It’s hard to get a family to engage with support if you knock on the door in uniform looking for little Jonny. And they are not the right agency to resolve a mental health crisis — even if negligence by other services is now forcing them to do so.
Instead, new funds must be invested in hard-edged, evidence-based policing tools like hotspot patrols, rapid deployment to limit risks of retaliation following violent incidents, and problem solving. This last nebulous category is perhaps the most important.
Problem-oriented policing, a term coined by the American criminologist Herman Goldstein, involves studying the details of where, when and why crime is happening and developing solutions that might be implemented by the police themselves, by communities or by other agencies.
Neighbour disputes can sometimes be solved by mediation or threats of housing sanctions, preventing endless police call-outs. London has recently succeeded in reducing moped robberies with improved security and headline-grabbing car chases. Night-time disorder can be stemmed by improving access to transport (people too often get into fights while milling around after closing time) and by ensuring the police and security guards at licensed premises are in constant communication about risky situations and troublesome individuals.
One of the important problems police should be focusing resources on is online crime. Deloitte consulting surveyed leaders from a quarter of UK police forces and not one of them felt ready for the challenges of technology-enabled crime. The country needs more national — and indeed internationally based — technical specialists who are not daunted (or bored) by the job of tracing IP addresses to users and understanding the ease of hacking new internet-enabled devices.
Tackling the millions of online fraud offences each year also requires police who can engage more effectively with the banks, online platforms and retailers whose expenditure on tackling online crime now outweighs that of the state. And while more “bobbies on the beat” won’t be the answer to the biggest online threats, officers across the country will need to be equipped to deal with the vast volumes of digital evidence surrounding every crime today, and to support victims of online offences.
If we invest in policing organisations that are focused on prevention, and responding to and harnessing technology effectively, it will be money well spent.
The writer is author of ‘Criminal: The Truth About Why People Do Bad Things’"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson