- Sadiq to set up new community scrutiny groups to look at police use of stop and search, use of force and Taser
- Former Met borough commanders, Victor Olisa and Dal Babu, to lead pilot to develop how police engage with Black Londoners
- Proportion of new Met recruits who are women and BAME increases in 2021
- Mayor publishes youth action plan to address disproportionality in youth justice system
Existing community monitoring structures are to be overhauled and London’s Black communities are to be given a greater and more focused role in properly scrutinising a much wider range of police powers. The new community groups will also review and raise concerns with the Met about the work of the Territorial Support Group, Violent Crime Taskforce and the Roads and Transport Policing Command.
A new framework that ensures London’s diverse communities are better represented in community monitoring groups is to be drawn up by September, which will focus on setting out the parameters for scrutinising stop and search and other police powers and, crucially, how they will be fed back to the police and acted upon.
The new approach forms a key part of the Mayor’s Action Plan, which he launched in November last year to improve trust and confidence in the Metropolitan police and to address community concerns about the disproportionality in the use of certain police powers affecting Black Londoners.
City Hall is also working with former Met Police borough commanders, Victor Olisa and Dal Babu, on a new pilot project to develop and improve how the police engage with the communities they serve. The pilot programme is to be focused on the Met’s North Area Basic Command Unit (BCU) covering Haringey and Enfield and will provide the police with a better understanding of community demographics, needs and concerns. This information will be used to develop a local community engagement strategy, helping to improve working with Black Londoners to improve community confidence and safety. Once fully developed, it is hoped the pilot will provide a blueprint for better coordination of community engagement across all the Met’s BCUs.
The Mayor is today publishing a new dashboard on City Hall’s london.gov.uk website, bringing together a wide range of data to provide a better understanding of disproportionality in policing. The dashboard includes – for the first time and all in one place – data on the use of force, stop and search and information from the Public Attitudes Survey, all of which will increase transparency and help support community involvement in the scrutiny and monitoring of the Met Police.
As part of the Mayor’s Action Plan, the Met has set ambitious aims of recruiting 30 per cent of its new officers from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background by April 2021, rising to 40 per cent from April 2022.
Since January 2021, 400 officers have been recruited, of whom 51 per cent were women and 27 per cent BAME. This is an increase from April to December 2020 when 34 per cent of recruits were women and 16 per cent BAME.
Sadiq is committed to tackling race disproportionality and is also today publishing a Youth Justice Action Plan in response to the overrepresentation of children from BAME backgrounds in London’s youth justice service. The plan highlights that the proportion of minority ethnic children in Young Offender Institutions across England and Wales climbed to 51 per cent in 2019, up from 25 per cent in 2009.
The Youth Justice Action Plan sets out actions covering the full spectrum of a young person’s interaction with the youth justice system, backed with new £700,000 of City Hall funding to develop ambitious and innovative responses to disproportionality.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “It is clear after listening to Black Londoners and community organisations that more needs to be done to address their concerns about the disproportionate use of some police tactics.
“The Action Plan sets out to respond to those concerns and a key part of that work is ensuring Black Londoners and communities have a voice in scrutinising the Met’s use of stop and search, Taser and use of force.
“That means overhauling the existing monitoring structures to make them more reflective of our diverse city and giving communities a much more focused role in properly scrutinising a much wider range of police powers.
“It is crucial that our communities feel they are properly listened to and concerns about the disproportionate use of police powers acted upon if we are to improve the trust and confidence among all Londoners.”
Victor Olisa QPM, a former borough commander for Haringey and Dal Babu, OBE, who was borough commander for Harrow, said:
“As former Borough Commanders in the Metropolitan Police Service we fully understand the importance of effective engagement with all our communities, which helps to keep us safe.
“The work we are doing in Haringey and Enfield supports the Mayor’s Action Plan and recognises the value of listening and responding to the concerns raised by local people.
“Trust and confidence is an essential part of our policing system and we must continue to work hard to ensure London’s diverse communities have confidence in the Metropolitan Police Service. Working together will help us to deliver a London we are proud of and deserve.”
- Ends –
Notes to editors
Progress made on the Action Plan:
Overhaul of Community Engagement
A tendering process is underway to begin work in May to work closely with communities and stakeholders to review existing engagement mechanisms and co-design a new framework which is more reflective of and responsive to the needs of London’s diverse communities. The new framework will be drawn up by September.
Race Equality Audit and Dashboard
The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has developed a new dashboard launched today, which brings together a range of data to provide a better understanding of disproportionality in policing, including use of force and stop and search data. This will enable the public to access this vital information more readily and will provide a more robust evidence base to support community involvement in scrutiny and monitoring of the Met. A link to the dashboard can be found here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/data-and-statistics/policing/action-plan-dashboard
Body Worn Video Review
The process for reviewing Body Worn Video was reinstated in late October 2020. Review sessions have now been undertaken by 13 Community Monitoring Groups across London looking at dip-sampled footage, and feedback on the sessions has been provided to the Met as well as communities. This process will be rolled out across London more widely as part of the review and refresh of community monitoring structures.
Handcuffing Review
The Met published the findings of its review into the use of handcuffing pre-arrest, which was commissioned by the Met Police Commissioner in July 2020. Work is underway to implement those recommendations across the Met.
Road Traffic Stops
The Mayor asked the Met to launch a new pilot project to review samples of vehicle stops to identify any disproportionality relating to ethnicity. Police will record demographic information, including ethnicity during vehicle stops.
The Met has launched a new pilot which is intended to improve the quality of data collected around road traffic stops. The new pilot was launched by the Met on 18 January and involves officers recording the location, time, age, gender, ethnic background of the driver as well as the make and model of the vehicle. An initial report is expected by the summer.
Annual Gangs Matrix Review
The Mayor is committed to carrying out annual reviews of the implementation of the recommendations from the Gangs Matrix Review. More than 1000 Black Londoners were removed from the Matrix as a result of the new decision-making processes implemented as part of the review.
Complainants Survey
The Mayor committed to delivering a new Police Complainants Survey asking Londoners who have made a complaint to the Met Police for their views on the complaints process to enable a better understanding of how the journey can be improved. The survey was completed in November and the first results currently being analysed. The survey will be completed annually.
The effectiveness of cannabis enforcement in tackling violence
Independent academic research is currently being commissioned to assess the effectiveness of cannabis enforcement in relation to tackling violence in London. This research will begin in March and will be finalised by the end of May.
The Youth Justice Action Plan:
For more info click here: https://www.london.gov.uk/mopac-publications/action-plan-transparency-accountability-and-trust-policing
The Plan puts forward actions at every stage of the youth justice process to ensure that ethnic disproportionality can be prevented, identified and addressed. This includes:
- Working together with the Children’s Society, Autism UK and The Royal Society of Speech and Language Therapists, and in consultation with young people, partners will produce new, accessible information packs for young people going into police custody to explain the process and tackle misconceptions. An app will also be developed for young people in police custody, explaining their rights, their options and what happens next in the justice process.
- Partners including the MPS and CPS will gather data relating to ethnicity and age in charging decisions, to identify and address any disproportionality.
- MOPAC will commission a BAME specialist service to support young BAME Londoners transitioning from the youth justice service to adult services.
- As part of the independent judiciary’s ongoing commitment to ensuring fair treatment and the context in which people live is reflected and embedded in training, the Judicial College will explore whether cultural competency is already reflected within, or should be reflected within, its training modules for magistrates.