MPS Interim Taser Uplift

The MPS Interim Taser uplift was approved by MPS Management Board and announced as part of the Commissioner's "Well equipped, well led and well supported" message on 7th February 2019 “Equipping and Supporting our Officers and Staff”

MPS Management board agreed to uplift a further 330 x Taser officer investment in, providing Specially Trained Officers (Taser STO’s) into Frontline Policing Teams (FLP) in addition to Emergency Response Patrol Teams (ERPT).

The proposed structure for training the additional STO’s will be distributed between Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF), Protective Security Operations (PSO), Roads Transport Policing Command and BCU Proactive Teams.

The spend will be funded from agreed existing MPS budgets.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve funding to train an additional 330 MPS officers as Specially Trained Taser Officers (STOs) and purchase associated equipment, at a cost of £1m funded from agreed MPS budgets in 2019/20.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Emergency Response Patrol Teams (ERPT) remain at approximately 50% of the Budgeted Workforce Targets (BWT) trained as Specially Trained Taser Officers (STOs). Whilst they provide a reactive 24/7 response to spontaneous incidents, the proactive taskings of the aforementioned departments place them at an increased risk of threats of violence and weapons.

1.2. By increasing Police Officers ability to protect themselves and the public, the MPS is working towards its pledge to make London the safest global city in the world.

1.3. The MPS Interim Taser uplift was approved by MPS Management Board and announced as part of the Commissioners Well equipped, well led and well supported message on 7th February 2019 “Equipping and Supporting our Officers and Staff”.

1.4. MPS Management board agreed to uplift a further 330 x Taser officer investment in, providing Specially Trained Officers (Taser STO’s) into Frontline Policing Teams (FLP) in addition to Emergency Response Patrol Teams (ERPT).

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The Interim Taser Uplift will conclude in April 2020 whereby the MPS will reach 6797 Taser officers across the organisation. Approximately 50% of these officers are on Emergency Response Patrol Teams (ERPT) deploying to spontaneous incidents where Taser would be available as one of a number of approved tactical options available to officers patrolling the Metropolis.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The cost (approximately £1m as per the table below) will be funded from agreed existing MPS budgets.

3.2. The above costs are all initial costs for the purchase and set up of the 330 additional Taser officers.

3.3. Annual revenue costs for the operational use of the 330 additional Taser officers. All associated costs relating to Taser equipment will be funded by the respective departments receiving an uplift in the number of officers trained to use Taser.

3.4. The majority of the costs are likely to be spent prior to the first officers receiving Taser training in November 2019. It is necessary to purchase Taser and associated equipment in advance of officers attending their course to enable them immediately deploy operationally upon successfully passing.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. MPS Legal Services (DLS) were fully consulted during this process and do not foresee any legal implication with the options proposed within this paper.

4.2. The MOPAC is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the PCRs). All awards of public contracts for goods or services valued at £181,302 or more must be procured in accordance with the PCRs. This report confirms that the request exceeds the £181,302 threshold and therefore the PCRs are engaged.

4.3. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above.

4.4. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve the procurement strategy for all revenue and capital contracts of a total value of £500,000 or above.

4.5. The Home Office National Framework with Axon is the preferred route to market. This will be a compliant route to market if the customer (i.e. MOPAC) is identified as an eligible user of it and their requirements are within the contracts financial and technical scope.

4.6. Crown Commercial Services guidance (2016) on the use of framework agreements provides that the duration of call-off contracts may extend beyond the term of the overarching framework agreement. It further provides that the duration of call-off contracts may be for longer than four years taking into account factors such as the time needed for their performance and where maintenance of equipment with an expected useful life of more than four years is included etc. This report recommends award of a call-off contract for a period of five years.

4.7. The MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent (Scheme) provides the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent to approve the award of all contracts, subject to the agreed call in procedure. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) reserves the right to call in proposals to award contracts valued at £500,000 or above.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. It is proposed that the Home Office National Framework for AXON (supplier of Taser devices and associated equipment) is used as the route to market and that a contract of five years is placed to cover the uplift in devices plus any annual replacement without the need for continuous governance steps to purchase. This would effectively include ‘business as usual’ purchases in the future.

5.2. A preferential pricing arrangement has been agreed with Axon in September 2017 which the MPS used to purchase Taser related equipment for in the existing Taser uplift. This framework will be the chosen route for the additional purchases for the Interim Taser uplift .

5.3. The Home Office has agreed the framework in 2017 and which continues to allow purchases at the agreed pricing and will remain open to forces who purchase at the same time as the MPS.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a 'State' body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.

6.2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects.

6.3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements.

6.4. The project does not currently use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no current GDPR issues to be considered. If the project uses personally identifiable data of members of the public at a later date DPIAs will be completed as needed.

7. Equality Comments

7.1. This business case has undergone initial equality screening. Due regard has been taken to the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty. Real consideration has been taken to assess equality impact caused by the proposed business changes. As a result no positive or negative impact has been identified to any individual and/or group safeguarded by a protected characteristic and those who are not.

7.2. As there are existing Equality and Diversity assessments for the deployment of Taser. The proposals in this paper do not significantly change the impact.

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. None