Police and Crime Plan 2021-25

This draft Plan sets out a series of proposed outcomes for each of the themes referenced above. MOPAC will use a mixture of quantitative and qualitative measures to present a picture of crime, safety and confidence in policing in London and monitor delivery. We have avoided numerical targets and any measures liable to change in the way they are recordedReference:1 or which may create perverse incentivesReference:2. We will ensure that measures align with the Home Office’s new National Policing Measures without creating duplication. In line with the Mayor’s commitment to identifying and addressing disproportionality, we will look at performance through the lens of people’s protected characteristics.

Protecting people from exploitation and harm includes child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse, radicalisation, missing persons, modern slavery, mental health and a wide range of other issues. The breadth and complexity of safeguarding work means it is difficult to reflect performance with statistics alone – for this reason we will also make use of qualitative information as well – such as HMICFRS inspection reports and academic studies – to help us to understand performance and identify issues that need to be addressed.

To help us understand how safe Londoners are, how safe you feel, and how effectively we are tackling the issues that matter to you, we will expand the MOPAC Public Attitude Survey of Londoners to include additional questions on Londoners’ experiences of crime in their local area. This will provide richer information, over and above police recorded crime, with which we can steer and assess our activities. We will work with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to make this as robust as possible and will publish the findings for Londoners to access.

The chapters below describe why these issues are priorities, how MOPAC and the VRU, the MPS and our partners will work to achieve the outcomes set out, and how we will measure progress.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest crisis to affect our city in living memory. London has suffered the premature deaths of thousands of citizens and incurred severe damage to its economy and wider society. The pandemic has also further exposed long-standing inequalities in our society; with the virus and its economic and social harms disproportionally affecting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

The Mayor is determined that, as we look to rebuild and recover from the pandemic, we seize the moment to not only address the immediate impacts, but to make our city a better, fairer, safer place for all. He has established the London Recovery Board, including representatives from a variety of agencies and organisations including City Hall, the MPS and local authorities, together with business and community representatives, to help steer the work ahead.

The London Recovery Board is working on nine ‘missions’, all of which contribute to the Mayor’s vision for a more confident, healthier, prosperous and fairer London.

These missions are:

• A Green New Deal
• A Robust Safety Net
• High Streets for All
• A New Deal for Young People
• Good Work for All
• Mental Health & Wellbeing
• Digital Access for All
• Healthy Food, Healthy Weight
• Building Strong Communities

The MPS has played a leading role on the London Recovery Board in the creation of London’s first-ever city-wide Anchor Institutions’ Charter. Through the Charter some of the city’s biggest organisations – including the GLA, the MPS and TfL - have committed to working together by using their procurement and recruitment power to maximise employment opportunities and help young people to flourish.

Safety is a critical foundation for London’s recovery and the draft Police and Crime Plan aligns with and complements the work of the London Recovery Board.

At the heart of the Mayor’s approach to reducing violence is prevention. The Mayor was clear he wanted to do something different, to make sure equal weight was given to tackling the causes of violence alongside enforcement.
He was also clear that London should adopt a “public health” approach towards violence meaning that we prioritise intervention and prevention; place communities and young people at the heart of change and develop immediate and long-term solutions. This is the golden thread uniting all our work on violence. Exemplifying this approach, in 2019 he set up England’s first Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) within MOPAC to tackle the underlying causes of violence.

Working together in partnership is essential - to genuinely change behaviour we must examine the influences and context that impact upon individuals at significant points in their life – issues outside the remit of policing alone. For example, their school experience, their family life, their peer groups and their influences and opportunities growing up can all influence susceptibility to victimisation or offending. This draft Plan sets out how we will work with a range of public and private sector bodies and communities across London to develop better policy, ensure consistency, share good practice and invest in the most impactful programmes.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mayor’s relentless focus on reducing violence affecting young peopleReference:3 during his first term in office was beginning to have an impact. During the pandemic we saw further, steep reductions in violence.

The Mayor is determined that no stone be left unturned in further driving down violence affecting young people, working with partner agencies on a public health approach to tackling the underlying causes of violence, alongside tough police enforcement against the most dangerous and violent individuals:

• The MPS will continue to disrupt organised criminal groups and bring to prosecution the most dangerous violent offenders. It will prioritise resources to places where the risk of violence is highest and implement a new Problem Oriented Policing (POP)Reference:4 approach. The Mayor will continue to support these efforts with funding, which has already resulted in the creation of a dedicated Violent Crime Task Force.
• MPS Specialist Crime and Operation Viper teams will continue determined efforts to pursue dangerous firearms offenders and to remove guns from London’s streets.
• The MPS will continue to work to improve sanction detection rates for violent offences, and to use judicial restrictions to target and restrict the offending of dangerous individuals and groups.
• Since its creation the VRU has received £35.4 million of Mayoral funding, and additional annual allocations from the Home Office. In 2020, this translated into 126 programmes and projects which supported 80,000 young Londoners. The VRU will continue to deliver against its current strategy which prioritises supporting young people, with a range of programmes aimed at reducing risks faced by young Londoners; supporting them in staying safe and putting in place long-term arrangements to provide positive opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential.
• MOPAC and the VRU will intensify focus on understanding and addressing the relationship between drugs and violence in London.
• The Mayor will establish a London Drugs Commission comprising independent experts and leading figures from the fields of criminal justice, public health, politics, community relations and academia. The Commission will pull together the latest evidence on the effectiveness of our drugs laws, but with particular focus on cannabis. Looking at the evidence in the round, and from across the globe, the Commission will come forward with policy recommendations.
• MOPAC will continue to work closely with health and local partners to improve pathways to health treatment for those in contact with the criminal justice service, with a focus on drug use which drives crime, helping to reduce reoffending and the wider harms caused by drugs.
• The Mayor is determined to end the criminal exploitation of young Londoners by gangs and wider criminal networks, a known driver of violence affecting young people in our city. As well as supporting the MPS to crack down on the organised criminals preying on young people to deal drugs, MOPAC has invested in a three-year Rescue and Response programme to better understand, target and respond to County Lines offending and victimisation. MOPAC and the VRU, the MPS and the British Transport Police (BTP) will continue to work with national partners to safeguard young people caught up in drug dealing and to disrupt criminal gangs.
• TfL, MPS and BTP will focus on the high harm offences on London’s public transport and road networks. This includes activity to keep knives off the network.
• MOPAC and the VRU, will continue to invest in the provision of support for young people impacted by violence - including those seen to be offenders but have also often experienced victimisation - to reduce the risk of violence to both themselves and others. This includes specialist support to young victims of violence requiring hospital treatment; young victims of crime linked to gangs; and those wanting to exit gangs, whilst also ensuring a gender responsive approach to address the often less-visible needs of young women and girls.
• MOPAC will work with partners across the youth justice system to support and develop arrangements across London to support delivery of youth justice services, with a focus on young people involved in violence.

As well as preventing people from becoming involved in crime from the beginning, a vital element of the public health approach is working with people already involved in crime to prevent them from committing further offences. Evidence shows that repeat offenders are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the crime and harm caused by violence in LondonReference:5. The Mayor believes that stopping the behaviour of these individuals is critical to achieving reductions in violence in our city, and for this reason it is a key focus in this draft Plan.

To achieve this ambition:

• The Mayor is committed to ensuring that criminal justice practitioners have the tools that they need to manage the risks posed by offenders effectively. This includes building upon the existing MOPAC GPS pilots for knife crime and domestic abuse perpetrators, which enable probation and police staff to use GPS location data to reduce risk and take swift enforcement action against violent offenders when needed.
• MOPAC and the MPS will continue to support an Integrated Offender Management approach in London – targeting the most persistent offenders with a multi-agency response to manage their behaviour and reduce their impact on the community. This work will have a particular focus on persistent violent offenders.
• MOPAC will continue to support programmes to change the behaviour of the perpetrators of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and will continue to lobby the Government for greater long-term certainty around national funding for this important work.
• MOPAC will work with partner agencies in the criminal justice service to strengthen diversion work for both adults and young people and develop resettlement and community interventions for young people already in the criminal justice system.
• Recognising that a preventative approach to reducing violence requires a strong and effective partnership with youth workers and youth practitioners. The VRU will lead a programme of investment to ensure youth sector workers are equipped with the skills and support to prevent violence affecting young people and increase the capacity and reach of youth workers in key public and voluntary sector settings and services relevant to young people in need of support.
• MOPAC is piloting a Young Adults Hub to reduce reoffending amongst young adults on probation. This involves commissioning services to meet young adults’ distinct needs, developing a Young Adult First approach and improving support to young Londoners as they transition from the youth justice service to adult probation.
• MOPAC will continue to work with the Prison Reform Trust, the MPS, NHS England, the London Probation Service, London Councils, Lambeth Council, Women in Prison, Advance and Hibiscus to deliver the Blueprint for a Whole System Approach to Women in Contact with the Criminal Justice System, which aims to tackle the root causes of offending, prevent reoffending and ensure that women have the support they need after leaving prison.
• The Mayor’s Helping Londoners into Good Work mission will support Londoners who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic to gain skills and to access good jobs. This will include promoting positive pathways for adults with experience of the criminal justice system or who are at risk of offending.

Every woman and girl should be able to live their lives in safety and confidence but sadly harassment, abuse and violence remains a part of everyday experience for many. Equally, women and girls should be able to have confidence that the police and criminal justice service will treat them professionally and that misogyny or discrimination in any form is not tolerated in their ranks. For this reason, tackling violence against women and girls is at the heart of the Mayor’s priorities for London, as set out in his dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2018-21, backed with £60m investment.

The Mayor has made further investments in tackling VAWG and supporting victims and survivors during the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic. While national lockdowns saw reductions in many types of crime, domestic abuse increased as people were confined to their homes.

Working with statutory partners and the VAWG sector, MOPAC provided emergency accommodation for domestic abuse victims and their families, those with no recourse to public funds, LGBTQ+ and male victims to enable them to escape abuse and find safe refuge. This accommodation – mobilised in weeks – provided refuge and wrap-around support services to more than 200 victims and families over the course of the year. At the same time, the MPS stepped up enforcement against domestic abuse perpetrators. Between March and November 2020, the MPS arrested 2,000 more suspects and solved more offences than in the same period the previous year.

The scale and complexity of violence against women and girls – exacerbated by the pandemic – is widely recognised. A 2021 HMICFRS report describes VAWG as an epidemic, calling for a cross system approach to tackle these offencesReference:6. The Mayor has welcomed the HMICFRS report and is committed to refreshing London’s dedicated Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to expand on the whole-system approach previously adopted. The new strategy will combine effective action against perpetrators; high quality support for victims and survivors; and taking a public health approach to identify and address the underlying causes of VAWG.

Specific measures – alongside others referenced in this draft Police and Crime Plan - will include:

• Working with the MPS to improve the investigation and detection of VAWG offences.
• Overseeing the delivery of the MPS’ forthcoming VAWG Action Plan
• Improving the support available to survivors of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation, primarily through the Mayor’s new duty under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act.
• Supporting programmes to address the behaviour of perpetrators.
• Improving the police response to harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and working with partners, communities and charities to provide support to victims.
• Lobbying to extend hate crime laws to include those based on someone’s gender – including misogyny; and to change the law to make sexual harassment a specific criminal offence in public spaces.
• A new sexual harassment communications campaign for London’s public transport networks and training for frontline transport workers.
• Supporting the creation of buffer zones around abortion clinics to prevent threatening behaviour towards women using these services.
• Supporting the use of anti-social behaviour legislation to keep women safe in public spaces.
• Promoting learning about positive, healthy relationships.
• Challenging misogynistic attitudes and promoting gender equality.

Taken together, addressing the priorities in the VAWG Strategy will help make London safer for women and girls, and help women and girls to feel safer in their city.

In line with the Mayor’s commitment to improving our understanding of the experiences of women and girls, consultation with Londoners, partner agencies and survivors of VAWG is now underway to inform the refreshed Strategy, which the Mayor is to produce and publish as an urgent priority.

The Mayor takes a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of hate crime across all protected characteristicsReference:7, which can span from abuse in the community or online, up to acts of the most serious violence. The impact of hate crime goes far beyond its immediate victims, affecting the safety and confidence of whole communities. The Mayor, MOPAC and the GLA will continue to work closely with the MPS, BTP, local authorities, communities and campaign groups to make our city safer for everyone.

Our approach to hate crime will focus on three things, prevention, supporting victims and oversight of police enforcement activity:

• The Mayor will continue to use his position to champion London’s diversity – one of our city’s greatest strengths – promote integration and stand in solidarity with all of London’s diverse communities against hatred and abuse.
• MOPAC will ensure that victims of hate crime receive the specialist support that best meets their needs and will work with partners to build community confidence and resilience to stand together against hate. We will also work with CJS agencies to develop the evidence base for what works in addressing the behaviour of hate crime offenders, its causes and the impact on victims and communities.
• The MPS will continue to work with the communities most affected by hate crime both on- and off-line, including through its Independent Advisory Groups, as it seeks to increase the percentage of hate crimes solved and improve the satisfaction of victims. Over this term, the MPS will work to identify and eliminate barriers to reporting, improve training and awareness of hate crime issues and improve justice outcomes.
• TfL, BTP and the MPS will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of hate crime and abuse on the transport network to ensure customers and staff are safe, feel safe and have the confidence to report any incident knowing that it will be taken seriously and investigated.

Terrorism remains a significant concern for Londoners and a priority for the Mayor. Since the publication of the last Police and Crime Plan for London, our city has experienced a series of appalling attacks, continued arrests for terror offences and foiled terror plots.

The MPS’ traditional focus has been on disrupting those individuals who pose an immediate and critical threat although they have monitored the larger pool of risk underneath to spot people slowly moving towards this extreme threat. The timescale for this transition, however, is getting shorter and police and security services need to continue to work on identifying from a significant number of people of concern, both online and in communities, those people who present a risk to the public. It is essential that we remain vigilant and prepared. During the period of this Plan:

• The London CONTEST Board will continue to be the primary forum for partners to co-ordinate and collaborate to defeat terrorism.
• The Mayor will continue to offer support for the new Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) in London.
• MOPAC will continue to work closely with the police, security partners and communities to tackle the threat of terrorism, understanding how the threat has evolved and changed and how partners can work together to mitigate any risk and keep Londoners safe. This will include increasing activity against emerging threats.
• Through the Shared Endeavour Fund, MOPAC will provide even more grants to community projects that counter violent extremism. The fund will deliver work to prevent Londoners being radicalised, and to support more Londoners confidently to stand up to hateful and extremist ideologies.
• The MPS will continue to work with statutory partners, the business community and individuals to identify those people in times or situations that increase their risk of radicalisation. They will build on relationships with statutory partners and develop new ones to deliver a new education strand within safeguarding teams.
• The Mayor has commissioned Lord Harris to conduct a fresh review of London’s preparedness to respond to a major terrorist attack. This will build on Lord Harris’ 2016 Review, reflecting on the lessons learned from the subsequent attacks on our city and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the terror threat. The Review will be published by the end of 2021.

In our system of policing by consent, the public entrust police officers with powers – including powers to use force or deprive someone of their liberty - to help keep us safe. Trust and confidence are therefore essential to the police’s ability to do their job. Evidence shows that 56% of Black Londoners, 76% of other ethnic minorities, and 82% of white Londoners trust the MPSReference:8, showing that while trust overall is high, some Londoners have lower trust in the MPS than others. Trust in policing can sometimes be affected by things out of the police’s control, but there is much within the gift of City Hall and the MPS that could improve community confidence.

During this Police and Crime Plan period, the Mayor wants to:

• Increase the percentage of Londoners who believe that the MPS is an organisation they can trust;
• Increase the percentage of Londoners who believe that the police treat everyone fairly; and
• Reduce the disproportionalities in levels of trust between different groups of Londoners to within ±5%.

MOPAC will use data from its Public Attitudes Survey to monitor and oversee performance against these objectives.

To achieve this:

• MOPAC will work with the MPS and communities to ensure that all the commitments in the Mayor’s Action Plan for Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing are delivered in full. These include: an overhaul of community monitoring structures to ensure that London’s diverse communities are better represented; stricter oversight and scrutiny of the ‘smell of cannabis’ used as sole grounds for stop and search; and developing community-led training for police officers. Throughout this term we will continue to tackle disproportionality and improve the confidence and trust of Black Londoners in their police service.
• All police officers must adhere to the highest possible standards, and while the vast majority display exemplary professionalism and dedication, we must stamp out discrimination in all its forms, root out those who abuse their trusted position as officers, and ensure that tackling violence against women and girls is treated with the highest priority. Alongside his ongoing oversight of the MPS, the Mayor agreed with the Home Secretary that a full inquiry would be needed into the issues raised by the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving MPS officer, which has deeply impacted the confidence of Londoners – particularly women and girls. The Mayor has also welcomed the appointment of Baroness Louise Casey to lead a review of the MPS’ culture and standards of behaviour, and the extent to which their current leadership, recruitment, vetting, training, communications and other processes effectively reinforce the standards the public should expect. The Mayor is clear that change is necessary and will provide his full support to these inquiries in their vital work and hold the Commissioner to account to implement their recommendations.
• Following extensive consultation, the MPS has published its Strategy for Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement (STRIDE), which it will work to deliver throughout 2021-25. STRIDE has four key programmes: Protection, Engagement, Equality and Learning:
  • The four commitments for Protection focus on positive activity to prevent crimes of violence and hatred and divert people away from offending – working jointly with partners and those communities which are particularly damaged by those crimes.
  • The four commitments for Engagement focus on joint working with local communities through ward panels, improved information-sharing, listening and accountability, and the MPS’ involvement in events, celebrations and commemorations that matter to the people of London.
  • The four commitments for Equality focus on continuing to build a representative workforce and on seeking to understand and remove systemic barriers and combat discrimination, emphasising workforce wellbeing.
  • The four commitments for Learning focus on strengthening the MPS’ understanding and ability to learn in the areas of maximising inclusion, responsible and appropriate use of powers and responding to public complaints.
  • Every commitment has an identified senior lead and a clear action plan. These actions will ensure that the strategy is living up to the ambitions of the MPS and Londoners. In this way, the MPS will achieve the changes that are so important for Londoners’ safety and trust in the MPS, and for the well-being and capability of colleagues.
• MOPAC will work with the MPS to improve its ability to be a learning organisation, including responding to recommendations from reviews, inspections, inquiries and audits, learning from complaints and from public feedback. MOPAC will work with the MPS to improve standards of behaviour and skills of officers and staff by continuing to invest in learning and development.
• The MPS has acknowledged that at times it can be overly defensive in the way it engages with Londoners and explains its work. Whilst recognising that much of the police’s work must remain confidential for good reason, MOPAC will work with the MPS to encourage greater openness, responsiveness and transparency to help Londoners wherever possible to understand more about the work of the police and the reasons behind the decisions they make.
• We will continue to implement the Tackling Ethnic Disproportionality in Youth Justice Action Plan which compliments the Mayor’s Action Plan and builds on the work of youth justice agencies in tackling black and minority ethnic over-representation in youth justice. MOPAC will take this further by seeking to work with partners to develop a similar plan to tackle ethnic disproportionality in the adult justice service.
• MOPAC will continue to work with the MPS and communities to ensure that our police service reflects our city’s diversity by improving the recruitment, retention and promotion of officers from all of London’s diverse communities, those from the LGBTQ+ community and women.
• MOPAC will work with the MPS to ensure that the MPS can use every opportunity to prevent, disrupt and detect crime through harnessing new technology in an ethical, proportionate, transparent and lawful way, in line with data protection legislation and with the framework set out in the Mayor’s Emerging Tech Charter for London.
• MOPAC will work with the MPS and partners to ensure that data is used safely, ethically & securely to meet the ambitions of this Plan. As part of that we will continue to oversee the ongoing improvement of data sharing and the delivery of the commitments from the MOPAC Review of the MPS Gangs Violence Matrix.
• Throughout the term of this Plan, MOPAC and the VRU will continue to ensure that the voices of Londoners are heard in the decisions and policies that affect them.
• Over and above its existing surveys of Londoners, MOPAC will conduct another Youth Voice survey of thousands of young Londoners on their views about policing and safety. In addition, MOPAC and the VRU will continue to use our networks to engage young Londoners in our work.

Neighbourhood crimes such as burglary and drug-dealing, and anti-social behaviour such as graffiti or fly-tipping can have a huge impact on Londoners’ sense of safety where they live and on the wellbeing of whole communities. An effective response to these crimes by the police and partners can provide reassurance and confidence that this behaviour will not be tolerated and that those responsible will face consequences for their actions. As Londoners change the ways they live and work following the pandemic, ensuring that our high streets, public spaces and neighbourhoods are safe – and feel safe for Londoners, businesses and visitors to our city during the day and at night – is an essential part of a successful recovery.

Engaged and responsive policing focused on the things that matter to the communities they serve has been the bedrock of the MPS’ work since its creation. Through this Plan, the Mayor will work with the MPS and partner agencies to continue to strengthen local policing. In the previous Police and Crime Plan 2017-21, to drive a cultural change away from the centrally-set ‘MOPAC 7’ crime targets and ensure a focus on the issues that mattered to communities, the Mayor put in place a system of local policing priorities agreed annually between MOPAC, local police Commanders and borough council Leaders.

MOPAC’s focus in the period of this Plan will be to support and strengthen local partnership working to prevent neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour, embedding the focus on crime prevention and responsiveness to what communities want. MOPAC will provide data on local crime and perceptions of safety to all partners to enable them to identify and address local priorities as and when they arise, rather than undertaking an annual priority-setting process. MOPAC will publish and monitor this data, working with Boroughs and the MPS to support the response to priority issues as and when they arise.

Through this Plan the Mayor wants to:

• Reduce neighbourhood crimes such as burglary, robbery, theft and anti-social behaviour;
• Increase the percentage of Londoners who feel that the MPS is doing a good job in their local community; and
• Increase the percentage of Londoners who feel that the MPS deals with things that matter to the community.
• Increase the number of offenders sanctioned for their crimes.

MOPAC will use data from police recorded crime and the Public Attitude Survey to monitor and oversee performance against these objectives.

To achieve this:

• The Mayor and MPS will further increase visible neighbourhood policing by dedicating additional police officers to high crime areas and town centres across London.
• Local MPS teams will focus on reducing current and emerging priority crime types in the communities they serve including drug dealing, burglary and antisocial behaviour.
• MOPAC will use the Public Attitudes Survey to monitor the proportion of people who perceive using or dealing drugs to be a problem in their local area, in order to identify areas in need of additional action to tackle these problems.
• MOPAC will monitor the performance of local police and community safety partners in dealing with neighbourhood crimes via the Public Attitude Survey of Londoners, providing performance data to the public and to partner agencies.
• Justice being done – and being seen to be done – is another important element to improving public confidence. The MPS will continue to develop its capability and capacity to solve more crimes and bring offenders to justice, investing in building the skills of investigators and improving the quality of files given to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging decisions.
• The Mayor is determined to use this term to build bridges with government and strengthen our working with partner agencies. Key to effective local crime prevention is strong working relationships between MPS Basic Command Unit (BCU) Commanders and local borough Leaders. MOPAC will continue to use its convening role to support and encourage these working relationships wherever possible.
• MOPAC will support Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) to continue to promote partnership working and data sharing between key stakeholders. CSPs will work with local authorities and others to enable effective collaborative problem-solving approaches to crime and antisocial behaviour.
• MOPAC, through the VRU, will continue to support local Community Safety Partnerships to deliver local violence and vulnerability plans.
• MOPAC, the MPS and the GLA will work closely with local authorities, landowners, businesses and residents to develop safer streets and public spaces that Londoners feel confident and safe in using, day and night.
• Recognising the particular need to increase the safety of women – and their feelings of safety – when going about their lives in our city, London’s Night Czar and MOPAC will continue to build on the Women’s Night Safety Charter, which has already seen over 600 organisations sign up to it.
• MOPAC will continue to support Police Crime Prevention Initiatives to help design-out crime in communities, contributing to a safer and more confident city for residents, visitors and businesses.
• MOPAC and the MPS will continue to work with businesses in London to make our city a safer place to work and do business - supporting the work of Business Crime Reduction Partnerships and providing advice and guidance on key safety issues such as knife crime and counter-terrorism.
• The MPS’ Economic Crime Command will continue to target those engaged in fraud, cyber-enabled fraud and criminal finance, and will strengthen its response to crime on the ‘dark web’.
• MOPAC will work with the MPS and partners across policing to examine the prevention and detection of online crime and its oversight, recognising the challenges of offending that often takes place across international borders.
• MOPAC will continue to invest through the London Crime Prevention Fund to support Local Authorities in delivering specialist services to meet local needs, and to foster regional collaboration to tackle cross-borough challenges.
• The Mayor will continue to back the campaign to introduce legislation which would classify attacking a retail worker as an aggravated assault – helping to make sure that those convicted face tougher sanctions.
• MOPAC will work closely with TfL, the MPS, BTP and the transport unions to improve the safety of transport workers and ensure zero tolerance of physical or verbal abuse towards staff anywhere on the transport network.
• The Mayor will continue to work with TfL, local authorities and the MPS to achieve Vision Zero for London's streets by reducing illegal, reckless and dangerous road user behaviour which contributes to fatal and serious collisions. The Vision Zero Action Plan sets out the key actions for how this will be delivered, including the vital roads policing and enforcement activity undertaken by the MPS.
• The last five years has seen the rise of disinformation – or so-called ‘fake news’ – across the world, with most of it online or via messaging services. The UK and London has not been immune to this. Disinformation – malicious or otherwise - spreads quickly and can cause unfounded fear and anger. Over this term MOPAC will work with the MPS and others to consider how we can better identify and respond to online disinformation, providing reassurance to the public in a swift and clear way.

Improving the support provided to all victims of crime is at the heart of the Mayor’s agenda for policing and crime. Support is vital for helping victims of crime to recover from their experience, and to pursue their cases through to a conclusion – ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice for their offences and helping to protect others.

During the period of this Plan, the Mayor’s ambition is to improve the quality and quantity of support provided to victims of crime, and to reduce disproportionality in victim satisfaction levels across the justice service.

To achieve these ambitions:

• MOPAC has commissioned a comprehensive Victims Strategic Needs Assessment for London, to establish and analyse victimisation in the city and to assess how well existing commissioned services are able to meet victims’ needs. This Assessment – due to be finalised before the end of 2021, will provide key insights to inform the work of MOPAC and partners in supporting victims of crime.
• MOPAC and the Victims’ Commissioner for London will continue to work with the MPS to develop the business case for a Victim Care Hub to better join up and transform the way victims receive support throughout their journey through the criminal justice service.
• MOPAC will continue to work with partners including the NHS, the MPS, the voluntary and community sector and local authorities to embed and extend support for child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.
• TfL, MOPAC, the MPS and the Victims’ Commissioner for London will work together to enhance specialist support for bereaved and seriously injured victims of road traffic collisions in London.
• MOPAC will continue to commission practical and emotional support services for child and young victims and witnesses of crime in London and the trusted adults in their lives.
• The Victims’ Commissioner for London will undertake work to better understand victims’ experience of the police response to modern slavery and identify how it can be improved.
• MOPAC will work with Action Fraud and the MPS to ensure victims of fraud and cybercrime are offered timely and effective support, prioritising the most vulnerable victims and ensuring adequate multi-agency support arrangements are put in place as soon as possible.

Supporting victims is important but alone it is not enough. We must improve the response at every stage of an investigation so that more criminal cases are charged and prosecuted; that more cases reach a conclusion; that victims receive the justice they deserve; and that perpetrators face consequences for their crimes. Of particular concern is the low level of prosecutions in cases of domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual offences and hate crime.

Therefore, our key measure for this area of work will be increasing the prosecution rates for these offences.

Alongside measures to support victims, further actions will be undertaken to address other factors resulting in cases failing to reach a positive outcome:

• In order to improve prosecution and conviction rates, MOPAC and the Victims’ Commissioner for London will continue to work with the MPS and BTP to identify reasons why victims withdraw from the criminal justice process; and improve support to encourage more victims to come forward and help them through the process.
• MOPAC and the Victims’ Commissioner for London will lobby for all victims of rape and other serious offences to have the option to pre-record evidence before a trial is held so they are less likely to withdraw from cases and can access the support they need.
• The MPS and CPS will continue to deliver their improvement plan for improving prosecution rates for rape and sexual offences. Measures in the improvement plan include: closer examination of police and CPS referrals; greater scrutiny of cases by a senior officer; and analysis of why victims may not wish to engage. A quarterly panel including CPS, police and community and voluntary group representatives meet to sample review such decisions and work with senior investigating officers. A rape reference group looks at key themes including reasonable lines of enquiry and the Victims Code of Practice (VCoP) in order to improve service delivery to victims.
• The MPS will continue to embed its new Mi Investigation system in police response teams, so that officers own non-serious and non-complex crimes from end to end – and have the right skills to investigate and pursue - providing a better service to victims.
• The Mayor, MOPAC and the Victims’ Commissioner for London will continue to work with the Government and justice agencies, supporting and pressing them to clear the backlog of court cases, increasing court capacity whilst protecting victims and witnesses.
• MOPAC will work with London Councils to enhance mechanisms for supporting those individuals affected by anti-social behaviour and explore alternative interventions not reliant on a criminal justice response.

Domestic abuse and sexual violence affect thousands of Londoners each year. These crimes can cause profound and lasting harm to individuals, families and communities – and can recur and escalate further. Recognising the harm caused by these offences and the scope for the risk to victims to escalate, the Mayor has set out his determination to address these devastating crimes. That means an increased focus on prosecuting and convicting the perpetrators of these crimes; addressing underlying attitudes and beliefs that drive this offending; and ensuring that victims – female and male - have the support they need.

• MOPAC will work with the MPS to deliver Operation Soteria - transforming the police response to rape to increase prosecutions and convictions. Led by MOPAC, the NPCC and the Home Office and piloted in Avon and Somerset (as Operation Bluestone), Operation Soteria brings in independent academic review of current policing practice and by focusing more on suspects than victims, aims to improve service and channel resources with the aim of stopping and challenging repeat offenders.
• MOPAC will continue to support the work of the Drive partnership, which is an intensive, coordinated multi-agency response to serial/repeat high harm domestic abuse perpetrators to change their behaviour, with focus on increasing victim safety.
• The Mayor and MOPAC will continue to provide support for victims of domestic abuse, including making additional investment to increase the number of Independent Domestic Abuse Advisors (IDVAs) who provide critical support to high-risk victims of domestic abuse. MOPAC will also continue to work with the GLA, which has a new duty set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to provide refuge accommodation and specialist support for victims of domestic abuse in London.
• MOPAC will work with partners to ensure that victims of domestic abuse – including migrant victims and those from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups - can access help without fear, with safe and informal spaces for victims who need to seek support.
• MOPAC will make further investment to increase the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) who are trained to offer interim therapeutic support to sexual abuse victims.

MOPAC will take a Child First approach to all of our work with children and young people – that is, treating each young person first and foremost as a person, not as a perpetrator or victim of crime. MOPAC, the VRU and the wider GLA will also continue to support a contextual safeguarding approach to working with children and young people – recognising that the significant harms that can affect young people can happen in a range of different contexts, including in schools, communities and online. Similarly, we acknowledge the level of risk and harm that young people can experience in their homes, such as through domestic abuse, criminal exploitation or sexual violence – and will continue to work with the London Safeguarding Children Partnership to build our understanding and strengthen our response to these risks.

We recognise that it is not just young people who can experience times where they are at risk of exploitation and harm. In the case of both young people and adults we are seeking to reduce the risk of exploitation and harm; and identify and support them.

To achieve this:

• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has found that the Met’s child protection services are making improvements, but it’s clear more must be done and that the pace of change must improve to ensure children are protected in our communities and online. While specific inspections of child protection services at the MPS have now concluded, MOPAC will continue to hold the MPS to account to ensure all the recommendations from the HMICFRS review are implemented as quickly as possible.
• MOPAC will continue to be an active partner on the London Safeguarding Children Partnership Executive. Working collaboratively with partner agencies to enhance the safety and wellbeing of children in London by supporting organisations working with children in London to meet their statutory responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• The MPS will lead in uniting all elements of the multi-agency partnership response to all forms of child exploitation (criminal, sexual, trafficking) by publishing a single Child Exploitation (CE) London Protocol. They will continue to develop joint working with other Government departments, professional, charitable and voluntary groups to ensure victims of exploitation are properly safeguarded and families are supported.
• Through new Predatory Offenders Units, the MPS will raise standards and consistency across offender and suspect management within specific high harm priorities including child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual offences.
• With support from Mayoral funding, the MPS have created Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) teams on each of the twelve Basic Command Units (BCUs) across London. Through these units the MPS will work to safeguard children from online abuse and target high harm offenders and networks online.
• MOPAC will continue to work with partners to ensure the Reducing Criminalisation of Looked-After Children and Care Leavers Protocol has the most impact; and to identify and mitigate other issues care leavers are experiencing which may increase their risk of criminalisation.
• While over two thirds of missing persons cases are resolved within 24 hours, the MPS will work with partners to increase even further the speed with which missing children and adults are located, taking account of an individual’s specific risks to shape the response and contributing to wider safeguarding planning for their longer-term safety.
• TfL, working with the MPS, BTP and other partners, will enhance its safeguarding response to keep children and vulnerable adults safe from harm as they travel or seek refuge on the transport network.
• The MPS will undertake improvements to ensure that vulnerable adult victims of crime are identified and recorded on its systems. This will address issues highlighted from the HMICFRS review of the response to crimes committed against older people.
• City Hall will work with partners to embed a trauma-informed approach to victims of crime and all groups at higher risk of exploitation and harm. This will also include work with offenders to address the underlying causes of their behaviour to support them to move forward and help break the cycle of reoffending.
• Many women in contact with the criminal justice system have experienced rape, sexual abuse or assault prior to being convicted for a crime. The trauma associated with this can contribute to mental health issues, coping strategies (for example addiction) and negative relationships which in turn contribute to offending. MOPAC will continue to work with partners through the Blueprint for a Whole System Approach to Women in Contact with the Criminal Justice System to ensure that effective wrap around services are in place to tackle this complexity of need.
• The MPS will continue to disrupt organised crime groups involved in criminal exploitation and modern slavery by developing intelligence, prosecuting offenders and seizing their assets - protecting the vulnerable and reducing repeat victimisation by targeting those offenders who do most harm.
• MOPAC will engage with the Home Office on modern slavery and continued reform of the National Referral Mechanism to ensure that it is as efficient and effective as possible.
• The Mayor and MOPAC will support meaningful regulation of online harms and monitor the progress of the Online Safety Bill. We will lobby and work with the MPS, tech companies and civil society organisations to ensure that users of these online platforms are safe, that they are empowered to report harmful content, and that services in scope of these regulations are consistent, transparent and accountable.

The Mayor, through MOPAC, oversees the work of the MPS and holds the Commissioner to account on behalf of Londoners. This means ensuring the MPS is effective in its work, has the confidence of all Londoners and that it is efficient in the use of its budget.

• The Mayor and MOPAC will provide in-depth scrutiny of the MPS’ performance in keeping London safe and delivering on the priorities in the Police and Crime Plan. MOPAC will also actively involve communities in its scrutiny of the MPS, overhauling its community monitoring structures to ensure that London’s diverse communities are better represented and can have a role in monitoring a wider range of police powers and activities.
• MOPAC will hold the MPS Commissioner to account for the performance of the MPS in delivering an efficient and effective service, one that tackles crime, protects the public, maintains the highest professional standards and has the confidence of all Londoners.
• The Mayor and MOPAC will oversee the performance of the MPS by using the new, evidence-based outcomes framework described below. We will also review progress against the MPS’ own performance framework which is set out and published in their Business Plan.
• MOPAC will be transparent in the way we hold the MPS to account, publishing information on crime, the performance of the MPS, public confidence and the way the MPS spends its budget. MOPAC will continue to innovate and develop its suite of interactive data dashboards, enabling Londoners to explore and interpret a wide variety of datasets about crime, policing and safety in their city.
• MOPAC will maintain a focus on ethics and standards in the use of data and technology. Data protection and ethics will be a core consideration in all our decision-making, and MOPAC will continue to engage with the London Policing Ethics Panel to provide an independent, expert view on ethical issues arising from new technologies, such as Live Facial Recognition.
• MOPAC is responsible for overseeing the handling of public complaints and conduct reviews of complaints. During the period of this Plan, MOPAC will work with the MPS to improve complaint timeliness and ensure the MPS is learning from complaints, including implementing learning recommendations and taking action to respond to concerns.
• MOPAC will continue to invest in and maintain an effective Independent Custody Visiting (ICV) scheme for London. ICVs are volunteer members of the public who visit police custody centres unannounced to check on the welfare of detainees and, where needed, escalate any issues to the MPS and MOPAC to resolve. We will strengthen their oversight with the introduction of a custody record review pilot scheme and continue our work to diversify our volunteer base.
• MOPAC will continue to discharge its statutory responsibilities to manage complaints about the Commissioner of the MPS, co-ordinating Police Appeals Tribunals and making decisions about pension forfeitures. MOPAC will also continue to ensure that the Legally Qualified Chairs, who govern police misconduct hearings are of the highest standard and provide them with the training to support their decision making.

MOPAC’s internal auditors provide independent assurance to the DMPC and Metropolitan Police Commissioner, helping to demonstrate the highest standards of corporate governance, public accountability and transparency in the conduct of their organisations’ business. The approach of the internal auditors is based on supporting delivery of the Police and Crime Plan and MPS Business Plan, giving assurance that key risks to the achievement of set priorities and outcomes are effectively managed and resources are appropriately used.

An independent joint Audit Panel is responsible for enhancing public trust and confidence in the governance of MOPAC and the MPS and assists MOPAC in discharging statutory responsibilities in holding the MPS to account. It advises MOPAC and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner according to good governance principles and provides independent assurance on the effectiveness of MOPAC and MPS governance and risk management arrangements.

External auditors conduct an annual review of MOPAC’s and the MPS’ financial position and statements, and assesses the arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources, reporting publicly on the outcome.

The Mayor will continue to support the officers, staff and volunteers of the MPS – backing their vital work, recognising the difficult decisions that have to be taken to prioritise finite resources and doing everything possible to ensure they have the funding they need. The Mayor will continue to fund the additional officers recruited through the difficult decisions he has taken to increase council tax and move money raised from business rates into policing. He will also continue to work with the Government to ensure that London gets the 6,000 of the 20,000 additional officers being recruited nationally that both he and the MPS Commissioner believe are needed; and is recompensed fairly through the National and International Capital Cities grant (NICC) for the additional costs that come with policing the nation’s capital.

To ensure the MPS can keep up with developing crime trends, the Mayor has approved a £187m revenue contract to support technology. This contract will support the MPS’ capabilities for dealing with serious and organised crime, online fraud and cybercrime. The MPS capital programme includes around £350m over the next three years for implementing new technology and maintaining existing systems. This investment will support policing in a range of ways, including improvements in the gathering and analysis of evidence from digital devices, delivery of a new digital interviewing capability; and further development of the MPS website – providing a 24/7 ‘digital front counter’ for Londoners.

The Mayor will continue to support the ambition of the MPS Estate Strategy to concentrate on fewer – but better – buildings. This approach will provide revenue savings to help protect the front line and will release capital for reinvestment in technology and equipment to help modernise policing. There will continue to be one 24/7 front counter in every London borough. Neighbourhood teams will be based in buildings close to the communities they police.

In line with Mayor’s aspiration of achieving Carbon Net Zero by 2030, investment plans will be reviewed with an aim of accelerating the delivery of the three key areas in estates that have the most significant impact: power purchasing; replacement of fossil fuels to heat buildings as well as improving insulation; and roll-out of an electric car charging network.

MOPAC commissions a variety of services – to prevent crime, reduce reoffending and support victims – in support of the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan ambitions. MOPAC is developing commissioning principles to guide its work during the period of this Plan:

• Londoners are the driving force of our work. Through listening to Londoners, London’s victims of crime and London’s service users we can understand how to make positive impact with real meaning, from policy development through to commissioning, service delivery and service evaluation.
• We are relentless in our pursuit of equality, inclusion and diversity.
• We recognise all assets and strengths of London’s diverse communities, leading through empowering others and enabling outcomes.
• We foster collaboration and co-production with partners, providers and service users
• We use a broad range of evidence to inform commissioning and contributing our own insight evidence through reflection and evaluation.
• MOPAC will continue to publish quarterly updates on the performance of its commissioned and grant-funded services.

City Hall, the police, local authorities and others all have their part to play in making London a safer and more confident city, but we cannot achieve success without London’s diverse communities. Over the lifetime of this Plan, MOPAC will work to listen to and understand the views of our many communities - from the young people in our schools and colleges, to the victims of crime using our commissioned support services and the businesses in our town centres – and ensure their experiences inform our strategies, plans and service delivery.

We have good foundations on which we can build this work; from the development of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Transparency, Accountability and Trust in Policing, to the Violence Against Women and Girls Grassroots Fund and the establishment of the Violence Reduction Unit’s Young People’s Action Group. We will work with the GLA and the MPS to ensure that we can harness the power of civil society, strengthen our links to communities and ensure our engagement mechanisms are representative.

MOPAC and the MPS will continue to fulfil their national responsibilities, in line with the Home Secretary’s Strategic Policing Requirement.

The MPS will continue to work with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and other UK and International Partners to address Serious and Organised Crime (SOC), implementing a 4P (Prevent, Protect, Prepare and Pursue) structure.

The MPS will continue to coordinate the national policing counter terrorism effort and host a number of national and international capabilities, including an overseas network of police officers which operates to understand the international links of terrorism and protect UK interests overseas.

Online crime crosses regional and international boundaries, which means a co-ordinated response with partners around the country and around the world is essential. The Mayor will continue to lobby for and support greater national co-ordination and international co-operation to keep Londoners safe online.

MOPAC proposes to oversee the delivery of the Plan by tracking a core set of measures of policing and crime activity. These measures reflect the Mayor’s priorities and the activity and input of all criminal justice partners and reflect our requirement to respond to the National Crime and Policing measures. These will set clear joint objectives, outcomes, and performance frameworks against which successful delivery of the Plan can be measured.

MOPAC’s proposed outcomes framework seeks to present a balanced view across the priorities set out in this draft Plan. This will avoid the pitfalls of a narrow, target-based approach by using a mixture of broad perception-based measures such as fear of crime; and confidence and objective measures such as crime levels, as measured both through the Public Attitude Survey and through police recorded crime.