Oversight Board 14th October - 2a MPS Victim Care Paper

Report by: Acting Chief Inspector David Hobson-Smith on behalf of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray

1. Purpose of this Paper

The purpose of this paper is to brief the Oversight Board of the Metropolitan Police’s efforts to improve victim satisfaction and compliance with the Victims’ Code of Practice (VCoP)

2. DAC’s Introduction

2.1 Victim Care is intrinsic to the Met’s operational priorities as we aspire to increase victim satisfaction and achieve fair treatment for all. Recent events and the HMIC PEEL report tell us that there is much to be done in this area. I am pleased to report within this paper that there is a considerable amount of activity underway to improve our compliance with the Victims Code of Practice and ensure that victims’ needs are properly assessed and identified. At the centre of all of this is ensuring that the voices of victims are heard throughout every stage of an investigation.

2.2 There are pressures within the wider Criminal Justice System such as the ongoing Criminal Bar strike. The MPS is taking a leading role through a multi-agency Gold Group in order to manage and minimise the impact that this will inevitably have on victims.

3. Information for Consideration

3.1 VCOP – Please outline the work programmes underway to improve VCOP compliance and reporting in the MPS?

3.2 The MPS lead for Victim Care Improvement is DAC Barbara Gray, the strategy is led by Commander Steve Clayman as Head of Profession for Investigation. The Investigation portfolio is supported by Lead Responsible Officers (LROs) including Detective Superintendent Andy Wadey for Victim Care.

3.3 The Investigation Improvement strategy sets out priorities as follows:

• • • To prepare the Met for the latest iteration of the Victim’s Code of Practice (VCOP) which comes into effect on the 1st April 2021 and to focus on improving continuing compliance.
    • To continue the management of the Victim Right to Review scheme, referral to BCU and then compliance within specified timeframes.
    • Increase the obtaining of Victim Personal Statements to improve learning opportunities for overall victim satisfaction.
    • To improve the way in which we identify victims and witnesses who are eligible for pre-recorded cross examination (S28 special measures at court) Video Recorded Interview (VRIs).

3.4  Future Priorities

• To create a Performance Framework in conjunction with the Strategy and Governance team. The intention is to create a framework for BCU commanders to monitor compliance with victim’s code and improve the User Satisfaction results.
• To manage the launch of the Victim’s Information e-leaflet and leaflet and to monitor the effectiveness of this and other means of promoting victim’s rights and designing processes to simplify the provision of those rights and special measures.

3.5 This strategy is monitored formally through the Victim Care Improvement Board, chaired by DAC Gray and via the Head of Profession’s regular meetings with Lead Responsible Officers.

3.6 Continuous Policing Improvement Command provides a dedicated sergeant as Tactical Policy Advisor (TPA) and constable led by a detective inspector overseeing Investigation Improvement and Victim Care.

3.7 The CPIC team have established a network of senior officers responsible for driving culture change and compliance with the Victim’s Code of Practice across all areas. Each BCU is represented by a Chief Inspector with smaller specialist areas posting Inspectors. This group is used to disseminate key messages and for Senior Leadership level sharing of best practice.

3.8 The team updated the Crime Recording System (CRIS) in April 2021 to coincide with VCoP 2020 (the most recent iteration) coming into effect. This was followed with a performance dashboard created in April 2022 allowing local areas to monitor key metrics including identification of vulnerable, intimidated and persistently targeted victims (recorded as ‘Priority’).

3.9 Upon the publication of the VCoP 2020, the team created the Victim’s Information e-leaflet which was launched Met-wide, following pilots, in April 2021. This product is discussed in greater detail at point 5

3.10 With support from Transformation Directorate, the team have established a Victim Personal Statement scrutiny panel made up of members of the judiciary (magistrates and judges) which has met 3 times to consider the quality and relevance of VPS being presented to court. This panel’s feedback has been incorporated into training and distributed through the network of Victim Care SPOCs.

4. Referrals to LVWS

4.1 We know that only 50% of victims surveyed using the USS remember being offered a referral to LVWS - and of those who don’t remember being offered a referral, over a third would have liked one. What is the MPS doing to ensure all victims who would potentially like a referral to LVWS are being offered one?

4.2 The current referral pathway is an automated data transfer from the Cris crime recording system to London Victim and Witness Service delivered every 24 hours to transfer all new victims who have made the request for the service in that 24 hour period. When reporting online or by telephone the victim will be asked if they wish to be referred to LVWS and this will lead to the same automated transfer.

4.3 The Victim Information Leaflet includes a paragraph written by LVWS describing their role in supporting victims and providing self-referral routes (the leaflet is discussed in more detail at point 5 below.

4.4 A secondary referral route is available via the Witness Care Unit at the point of their initial contact with victims in charged cases. This referral is made via a secure email with a referral form.

4.5 The Witness Care Unit has delivered internal training to all staff via internal videos (Metflix). In addition all Witness Care staff now include a link to LVWS as part of their email signatures to assist people in self-referring.

4.6 The CPIC Victim Care Improvement team are currently piloting a standardised Victim Needs Assessment question set on South Area BCU across all Emergency Response and Patrol Teams (ERPTs). This assessment will improve officers’ awareness of victim needs and improve the quality of referrals. At present data is unavailable to demonstrate impact on victim satisfaction or identification of priority victims due to the User Satisfaction Survey operating 6 to 12 weeks after the reporting of crime.

5. Victim Information Leaflet

5.1 The USS data shows a correlation between receiving a Victim Information Leaflet and improved satisfaction levels. What is the MPS doing to ensure all victims automatically receive this leaflet? 

5.2 The Victim’s Information e-leaflet is currently automatically distributed to victims who report crime via the online portal or telephone reports AND provide an email address at the time of reporting. There is also a stock of hard copies of the leaflet available for those who do not have an online presence. This leaflet is also available in 52 languages (those languages being the full range in which Rights and Entitlements documents are available)

5.3 In the past performance year between 6000 and 9000 victims per month did not provide an email address at the time of reporting an offence (from a total of 60000 to 75000 individual victims of crime). This means we can estimate automated TDIU/Crib delivery rate at between 85% and 90%.

5.4 At present we are unable to identify the number of e-leaflets delivered at the time an officer reports a crime. This means the only data available is from the User Satisfaction Survey where a sample of victims are asked at a point between 6 and 12 weeks after reporting and offence if they recall receiving the e-leaflet.

5.5 A proposal is currently being explored to deliver the e-leaflet through a QR code which would benefit officers in reducing the steps required and also allow supervisors to monitor officer’s provision of information. This would also allow the MPS to provide more reliable data. MetX (Transformation) are supporting development of this idea and are currently identifying a suitable pilot area.

6. VCOP Dashboard – How is the VCOP Dashboard being used to drive improvements to VCOP?

6.1 What targets are being set and how are BCUs or specific teams being held to account for delivering against those targets? What plans are in place to improve the reliability of data supplying the dashboards (such as VPS data)?

6.2 The VCoP Dashboard was launched in April of 2022 and provides Victim Care data directly from CRIS (Crime Recording System) to all officers and staff. This is also specifically delivered to each BCU and specialist area’s SLT Victim Care leads and BCU Commanders to assess their own performance against one another as well as year on year progression.

6.3 The data for this dashboard is produced from Cris and is as reliable as all Cris data, therefore reliant on correct inputting of data by the initial user. With the new Connect system expected to launch in Spring 2023 we are assured by the Data and Insight team that the dashboard will continue to function from the new data source.

6.4 At present performance is monitored through the Met’s Victim Care Improvement board, currently chaired by DAC Gray and presented to the regular Criminal Justice Improvement Board as chaired by the Head of Profession for Criminal Justice. LROs are present at each meeting alongside representation from Frontline Policing.

 

6.5 The head of profession for Investigation is currently designing a range of Investigation performance measures to include Victim Care and General Investigation focussing on the quality of the investigation rather than merely the outcome.

7. Disproportionality – How does the MPS monitor disproportionality in victim outcomes, VCOP compliance, and satisfaction?

7.1 What work is underway to address relevant concerns such as those raised in Inclusion London’s Report highlighting the poor experiences of disabled victims, or Victim Support & The Bell Foundation’s report on language barriers?                                                                                     

7.2 At this time data relating to disproportionality is not directly being collated by the command responsible, although the MPS are currently piloting the Victim Needs Assessment (VNA). The VNA is a new document used at the beginning of any crime report to assess the vulnerability of a victim and any additional needs they may have. This will help identify if the victim has “Priority Needs” as defined by the Victim’s Code of Practice and allow the officer to address the victims’ needs from the beginning. The document will be completed by the Reporting Officer and allows the information to be readily available for London Victim and Witness Service (LVWS). Currently data is being shared with LVWS via CRIS but limited and the aim is the document will follow the victim throughout the investigation.

7.3 The current position is that all investigating officers are required to assess the needs of the victims in the cases they are responsible for. There are no set questions for victims to use

7.4 Currently the Victim Needs Assessment (see also point 4.4) is being piloted on the SN BCU (Bromley) over all five of the response teams. The officers completed training in May 2022 with the data collection starting from June 2022 and expected to be completed in December 2022 as per schedule.

8. USS – What is the MPS doing to improve overall victim satisfaction?

8.1 Satisfaction is the responsibility of every area of the MPS and is impacted by every interaction with officers, staff and the MPS’s public image in media and news reports.

8.2 The MPS has resources dedicated to Rebuilding Trust and Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has made it clear that his priorities are for High Standards, Less Crime and More Trust. In his interview with the Sunday Times the Commissioner said:

“We have let the public down… That’s clear from what they are telling us. Confidence has dropped across all communities. In some communities it’s dropped even further. At the bottom are the obvious — black communities and women.”

8.3 The heads of profession for Criminal Justice and Investigation both include victim satisfaction as a key measure in their regular formal boards and informal meetings with the view that improving satisfaction is the responsibility of all staff and officers.

8.4  A number of the steps detailed elsewhere in this report are intended to improve the victims’ satisfaction in particular the Victims’ Needs Assessment and Victim Information e-Leaflet.

9. TDIU USS – Please provide an overview of which crime types receive a call back from the TDIU?

9.1 How is this changing and when do you foresee TDIU’s performance (as measured by the USS) improving? How have the lessons from the Randomised Controlled Trial been taken forward?

9.2 TDIU conducted a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) considering the benefit of calling back victims and demonstrated an improvement in satisfaction in those individuals. At the time of the RCT the following crime types were not routinely called back where sufficient information was already on the report:

• Theft from motor vehicle
• Criminal damage to motor vehicle with no aggravating factors
• Low value shoplifting
• Theft of mobile phone – IMEI needed – excludes theft – snatch of mobile phone which is dealt with under Robbery protocols  
• Theft of pedal cycle – frame number requested
• Theft of petrol
• Theft of parcels
• Criminal damage with no aggravating factors
• Fly-tipping

9.3 Starting the 5th September TDIU are making Theft From a Motor Vehicle a mandatory call back so all MV crime victims should then be being called by us, we expect an increase in TDIU USS performance following this change given that there was a corresponding fall in USS performance when we stopped routinely calling MV crime victims.  The extra capacity to call these victims back has come from the trial closure of the live call function.

10. Connect – Please outline how the introduction of Connect will impact the MPS ability to improve the service they provide to victims. What functionality has been designed around improving service standards for victims?

10.1 CONNECT is the largest IT transformation project we have ever undertaken in the Met. It is not simply an IT refresh: it will transform how we record and use our data, and ultimately improve how we police London.

10.2 CONNECT will replace 8 current systems; CRIS, Crimint, COPA, NSPIS, EPMS, EWMS, MERLIN, and Airspace.

10.3 CONNECT will bring most of the data we capture into a single, integrated platform so that links between different information can be added, understood and interpreted. This will help us investigate crime and improve our ability to manage risk quickly and effectively.

 

10.4 From a victim’s perspective we expect to see a reduction in “double-keying” data and improved quality as this is a POLE database recording Persons, Objects, Locations and Events. Each victim will be created as a “Person” within Connect and any other entry linked to them will be visible allowing repeat victims to be identified more readily and support delivered in a more consistent manner.

10.5 CONNECT will improve the service provided to victims. However, the product is being launched in two drops. It must also be stressed that the full benefits of CONNECT could takes years to be fully recognised. It can’t be underestimated how significant CONNECT will be. It will replace all our current legacy systems CRIS, CRIMINT, Merlin, EWMS, COPA etc.

10.6 Drop 1 goes live in November 2022 and is replacing the following legacy systems. Outdated property management books (105, 66 & 89) books are being replaced by Property management events (PME). All staff and officers will either book in or mange property through this new system. Overall there will greater accountability of how we manage property. We will be able to return property back to victims of court cases much quicker and without delays

10.7 CONNECT case replaces COPA. CONNECT case is a far superior product to COPA and offers much more accountability. DGA compliance is estimated to increase 46%, we gather much more information from victims. CONNECT Case is also designed to ensure OICs collate more information up front prior to submitting a file their supervisor or CPS, hopefully reducing rejections and providing a more expedited service.

10.8 CONNECT custody replaces NSPIS. Again the product is far superior to NSPIS. One such addition is the Newcastle Risk assessment which asks more in depth questions of the detainee to improve their standard of care whilst in detention.

10.9 Drop 2 goes live in 2023 and will bring even greater benefits to the organisation and public as it will essentially replace most of our everyday legacy systems, which are very outdated.

10.10 Drop 2 will include Connect Investigation which ultimately replaces CRIS. As this element of the product hasn’t been finalised yet further explanation cannot be given at this time.