PCD 1284 NPCC Personal Robbery Portfolio – Device Crime Continuous Professional Development - Grant Funding from Home Office

PCD 1284 NPCC Personal Robbery Portfolio – Device Crime Continuous Professional Development - Grant Funding from Home Office 

This papers seeks approval to accept £450,000 of Home Office grant in 2022/23 to fund the creation of continuous professional development (CPD) to tackle personal robbery.  The training and development material will be made available to all forces. There is no financial implication for the Metropolitan Police Service.   

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. accept grant funding of £450,000.00 from Homeland Security Group (Home Office) to support the development and roll-out of Device Crime CPD in 2022/23.  

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background  

1. The Home Office has made an offer to fund the creation of a continuous professional development (CPD) module to tackle personal robbery. 

2. Issues for consideration 

1. Personal robbery offending is at its greatest in the large metropolitan cities of the UK.  Some 37% of all robberies in London involve the theft of a mobile phone. The MPS are currently leading on device crime prevention work nationally and this grant supports this work. 

2. This training will focus on raising digital investigative awareness around mobile phones and devices.  The aim is to upskill call handlers, first responders and secondary investigators using a hybrid delivery method (online & in person). The CPD will focus on key devices/manufacturers and how the existing functionalities can be exploited to reduce and detect robbery offending. 

3. The funding will enable the development of the training materials and delivery of training.  This CPD programme will also be made available to all Home Office forces. The College of Policing will also be consulted during the development phase of the programme and to seek their advice on where the finished CPD products can best sit post-completion so that they are readily available for the policing community. The Home Office Homeland Security Group has also offered to host the CPD modules on the National Communications Data Service’s online academy. 

4. The project has liaised with the MPS Learning and Development directorate.  The improvements and learning from this investment will be incorporated in the MPS Learning Management System and also be embedded through the MPS via the Volent Crime Task Force (VCTF) Gold and Silver groups. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. The grant to be accepted is £450,000.  This will meet the cost of a Detective Inspector to develop the training, and delivery of an initial tranche of training.  There will be no cost  to the Metropolitan Police Service.  

4. Legal Comments 

5. The legal powers applicable to the acceptance of this Grant will be under Schedule 3, Paragraph 7 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 which provides that,  

• 7(1)The The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office. 

• (2)That includes— 

• entering into contracts and other agreements (whether legally binding or not); 

5. MOPAC approval is sought pursuant to Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation which provides the DMPC with delegated power to approve all offers made of grant funding. 

6. Commercial Issues  

7. Any procurement related to this project will be within the MPS delegated authority.  The MPS assure that any procurement will be compliant with Public Contract Regulations. 

8. GDPR and Data Privacy  

9. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

10. The programme does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered. 

11. Equality Comments    

12. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

13. The MPS has undertaken an initial equality screening. If the funding is accepted a full Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) will be completed with the intention to mitigate any identified disadvantages to any group protected under the act by eliminating, reducing or accepting the impact.    

14. Background/supporting papers 

• Appendix 1 MPS Report - NPCC Personal Robbery Portfolio – Device Crime, Continuous Professional Development Programme