Correspondence

Crime and policing newsletter: February 2013

Published 10 May 2013

College of Policing officially launched

The College of Policing was officially launched on 4 February, marking the beginning of a fundamental and important change to the policing landscape. Policing Minister, Damian Green described it as ‘an historic occasion’. Since then, much is happening to ensure the College gets off to a good start. Professor Shirley Pearce has been appointed as Chair, with the Board members also recently announced.

The College is currently focusing on the design of its future shape and structure in collaboration with its stakeholders and members. It’s due to deliver its blueprint to the Board for consideration and approval in July. Meanwhile, we invite you to get involved in the process by [emailing blueprint] (mailto:blueprint@college.pnn.police.uk) with your thoughts, comments or ideas.

Chief Executive, Chief Constable Alex Marshall recently appeared before the Home Affairs Committee, where Chairman Keith Vaz said the Committee regards the College as a very important part of the new policing landscape. Alex set out his ambition for the College to be a world-class professional body for policing and for it to ultimately be recognised as a Royal College. He said he’d be focusing on three urgent priorities: integrity and ethical conduct, protecting the public from dangerous people, and local and neighbourhood policing.

To find out more about the College of Policing, visit the website or follow us on Twitter @CollegeofPolice

If you are a police officer or have a pnn email address you can find out more about the College of Policing on POLKA by joining the College of Policing community.

Police.uk

The successful crime-mapping website, police.uk, celebrated its second anniversary on 31 January. To coincide with this, new functionality was added enabling users to ‘draw your own area’.

‘Draw your own area’ tool Visitors to the site can now draw their own ‘shape’ on Police.uk crime maps. This can now plot the precise area where users want information about crime, anti-social behaviour and justice outcomes. Previously, users were relying on a standard one mile radius from a given postcode.

‘See your stats’ tool This provides a pictorial overview of crimes, anti-social behaviour and justice outcomes which have occurred in the users postcode area or ‘drawn shape’. Users can now see which crime types are most common in their local area. This is in addition to the summary of actions the police have taken in response, and which justice outcomes are most likely to result.

Virtual user group We are in the process of setting up a virtual user group for Police.uk enabling us to contact members by email when we need feedback on aspects of the site, or proposals for new content. If you’re interested in being a member of this virtual user group, or would like more information about Police.uk, please email Charlotte Russell.

0.1 The Police and Crime Commissioner page

Each police and crime commissioner (PCC) now has a ‘profile’ page on police.uk setting out their priorities for action, their photo and details of how to contact them. Find your PCC page on [Police.uk] http://www.police.uk/) by entering your postcode or town.

Measures announced to ensure highest standards of integrity in policing

On 22 October 2012, during the debate on the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, the Home Secretary undertook to return to the House of Commons to announce her plans to strengthen police integrity. On 12 February she made a statement outlining a package of measures.

Ministers and Home Office officials have been working with colleagues in ACPO, HMIC, the College of Policing, the National Crime Agency, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission to identify a package of measures to deal with this issue.

Police-led prosecutions

In a move to cut inefficiency and deliver swifter justice for victims, the Home Office has extended police prosecution powers to cover over half of all cases heard in the magistrates’ courts.

Following legislation introduced last year, the police can now take over the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) role in prosecuting proof in absence cases and those where exceptional hardship representations are made.

In addition, officers are now able to follow several low-level crime offences from the point of arrest right through to completion, including some alcohol and public order offences, driving without due care and attention and criminal damage under the value of £5,000.

The CPS still prosecute cases where a defendant pleads not guilty, is under the age of 16, or if the case starts by charge.

The changes are being tested in nine police force areas to find the best delivery model. The pathfinders are Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Metropolitan, Nottinghamshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and West Yorkshire. Support is available from the Home Office to any other area wishing to implement these new processes. If so, please email Tanya Manning.

For more detailed information, please see the Police-led prosecutions section on the website.

Scrap Metal Dealers Act

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 received Royal Assent today, bringing reform to the industry and providing a key element in the fight against metal theft. The Act, introduced by Richard Ottaway MP, received widespread support during its Parliamentary passage.

The Act builds on measures already taken by the government, including enhanced enforcement activity through the National Metal Theft Taskforce, design solutions to improve traceability of stolen metal and earlier legislative measures in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to ban the purchase of scrap metal with cash.

The Act replaces the outdated Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 with a more robust, fee-raising license scheme administered by local authorities. Features include the power for local authorities to refuse and revoke a licence; giving courts the power to close unlicensed dealers; requiring dealers to verify sellers’ identity and creating a single publically available national register of licence holders maintained by the Environment Agency. The Act maintains the offence of purchasing scrap metal with cash that came into force in December but removes the exemptions for itinerant collectors and brings motor salvage operators within the definition of a scrap metal dealer for the first time.

The Home Office is responsible for the Act’s implementation which we anticipate will be in October 2013; guidance will be issued in due course.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

The draft ASB Bill was published in December last year to enable it to undergo pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC).

The aim of the legislation is to put the needs of victims at the forefront of the response to ASB through a reformed toolkit (rationalising 19 of the current powers, including the ASBO, into six new flexible ones) and by giving victims a stronger voice through the introduction of both a Community Trigger and a Community Remedy.

The HASC considered nearly 200 pages of written evidence as well a hearing from a number of interested individuals, including councils, the police and victims of ASB in oral evidence sessions. Jeremy Browne, Minister for Crime Prevention, gave evidence in the final session on 29 January.

The Committee’s final report was published on 15 February and was broadly supportive of the reforms. Ministers will now consider the recommendations before responding formally in April.

Alcohol consultation

The consultation on delivering the government’s policies to cut alcohol fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour closed on 6 February after ten weeks. Alongside the public consultation, roadshow events were held across the country. The government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Ending Gang and Youth Violence

The programme continues across government, and with local partners.

The Ending Gang and Youth Violence Report: One Year On](http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8493/8493.asp) published last November, set out new commitments. In addition, the practical support to areas most affected by gang and youth violence has been extended and a further £500k made available to voluntary organisations working with young people.

Local Ending Gang and Youth Violence partners can:

• Sign up for regional roadshows on ‘Gang-associated Young Women and Girls in the Youth Justice System’ in Leeds (15 March), Birmingham (18 March),
• Manchester (21 March) and London (25 March). To apply for a place, email the events team
• Attend workshops on ‘Reducing Gang Violence through Mediation’ facilitated by Tio Hardiman, Director of ‘Ceasefire Illinois’, in London (18 and 22 March),
• Liverpool (19 March), Manchester (20 March) and Birmingham (21 March). To register your interest, email the serious youth violence team.

All local partners are encouraged to:

• Access the new toolkit and range of case studies on information sharinghttp://informationsharing.co.uk/ to reduce violence
• Learn more about the links between violence and health in the Department of Health report [Protecting People, Promoting Health] (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-public-health-approach-to-violence-prevention-in-england)
• Promote the ‘Family Lives’ helpline (0808 800 2222) and online support for parents and carers concerned about issues including gangs and violence

To find out more, please email the serious youth violence team.

National Crime Agency update

There are now just seven months to go until the National Crime Agency (NCA) is operational on 1 October and the ‘build’ phase is gathering pace.

February has seen the delivery of Version 2 of the Blueprint (which sets out the high level operating model for the NCA and outlines the capabilities the NCA will have to lead the UK response to serious, organised and complex crime) and Version 2 of shadow National Coordination and Tasking (which means that UK Border Agency, Border Force and CEOP can now request precursor agency resource). Our shadow operations with partners continue to produce real results and test how the NCA will work, so it is ready to hit the ground running on day one.

The Crime and Courts Bill - which will provide the legal basis for the NCA, including its functions, powers, tasking and assistance, information sharing, governance and scrutiny arrangements – has completed Committee stage in the House of Commons and, subject to the will of Parliament, is on track to receive Royal Assent in Spring 2013.

For more information on the NCA and the Bill visit the NCA’s section on the website

New psychoactive substances controlled

On 1 November 2012, the government accepted the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs(https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-council-on-the-misuse-of-drugs) advice to update the scope of the current controls in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 of Class B synthetic cannabinoids and to place under permanent Class B control:

• Methoxetamine, which is currently subject to a temporary class drug order and other similar compounds, as well as
• O-Desmethyltramadol, which is related to the prescription-only medicine ‘tramadol’

These latest controls are part of the actions the government committed to in its New Psychoactive Substances Action Plan (May 2012. The ACMD’s advice used forensic data from the Home Office Forensic Early Warning System (FEWS), as well as evidence from UK and EU drugs early warning systems which have identified the new compounds and monitored prevalence of use and harms.

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2013 (SI 2013/239) has been approved in both Houses of Parliament under the affirmative resolution procedure and will come into effect on 26 February 2013.

This means that methoxetamine is no longer a temporary class drug, but a controlled Class B drug to which all criminal offences, including its simple possession, apply. Details of the law change and its implementation are set out in the Home Office Circular 004/2013 and supporting documents published alongside SI 2013/239.

For further information about drug control under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, please email Cyrille Marcel.

0.2 News from partners

0.3 Update from the Gambling Commission

0.4 Gaming Machines seized in Peterborough

In a recent multi-agency operation, the Gambling Commission provided support and expertise to Cambridgeshire Police and Peterborough City Council. This resulted in gaming machines, and other gaming equipment, being seized following a raid at an address in Peterborough.

0.5 Convicted criminal forced to hand over nearly £20,000

An investigation by the England illegal money lending team, working in partnership with the Gambling Commission and Lancashire Trading Standards, resulted in the prosecution of a father and son from Preston. Neither had a licence to lend money from the Office of Fair Trading or a licence to provide facilities in gambling.

Both were convicted at Preston Magistrates Court of a number of offences; illegal money lending, money laundering, and possessing criminal property from the proceeds of acting as an unlicensed money lender and unlicensed bookmaker. The father was also ordered to forfeit nearly £20,000.