This meeting of the Strategic Planning & Performance (Police) committee was scheduled to include, among other things, reports on the performance of the City of London Police and the progress on a number of HMICFRS inspections. The committee was also scheduled to discuss the latest quarterly update on community engagement, and the ongoing development of the next City of London Policing Plan.

Policing Plan 2025-28

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the development of the next City of London Police Policing Plan, which will run from 2025-2028. The report included an update on the progress that had been made on agreeing the new plan since the last update to the committee in September. The plan was scheduled to be discussed again at the Police Authority Board meeting scheduled for 04 December 2024.

The report outlined the three principles that had been previously agreed for the development of the new plan:

a) Improved engagement and co-production b) Evidence-based and data-driven approach c) Working together

The committee was scheduled to receive a verbal update on the second phase of the public consultation that was being run on the Commonplace platform.

The report highlighted that proposals for the new plan have been informed by the recommendations in the Strategic Policing Requirement, and a report that had previously been presented to the Police Authority Board on 04 September 2024 that summarised a strategic demand assessment undertaken by the City of London Police.

The report identified a number of areas where demand for City of London Police services was expected to increase:

• Violent and sexual offences linked to licenses premises • Theft offences linked to retail and hospitality venues • Domestic abuse linked to residential venues • Possible increases in anti-social behaviour by a younger population demographic

The report also noted that:

Demand associated with mental health incidents has significantly increased and this trend is forecast to continue.

Based on the findings of the strategic demand assessment and the feedback from the public consultation, the City of London Police, in collaboration with the Police Authority Team, suggested a number of operational priorities for the new plan. These included:

• Keeping people in the City safe and feeling safe. This priority included commitments to:
  • Reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
  • Protect the City from terrorism.
  • Tackle crimes that residents had said in the consultation were most important to them. This was reported to include acquisitive crime (including theft, robbery and burglary) and violence in all its forms (including violence against women and girls)
• Supporting and safeguarding victims and vulnerable people.
• Improve the policing response to economic and cyber crime.

In addition to these operational priorities, the report also suggested a number of organisational priorities. These included:

• Becoming one of the most trusted police services in the country.
• Becoming an employer of choice.
• Achieving organisational and commercial proficiency.

The report also set out how the new plan would be monitored and reported on.

Quarterly HMICFRS Inspections Update

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the latest on a number of ongoing His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspections. At the time of the meeting, the City of London Police had 10 live HMICFRS action plans, with 63 actions outstanding. The first 100 recommendations made by HMICFRS are reported to have been closed. The report gave an update on preparations for the 2025 PEEL inspection. The City of London Police had recently been inspected on their management of crime data, and the inspection report is scheduled to be published as part of the PEEL 2025 inspection. HMICFRS had also conducted a review of the force's approach to managing high-harm crime and sexual and child abuse offenders. The report noted that the force was still awaiting a custody inspection.

Policing Plan Performance Report - Q2 2024/25

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the performance of the City of London Police in the second quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. The report highlighted a number of areas for improvement, including:

• Neighbourhood crime had increased by 6% in the last 12 months.
• Violent crime had increased by 18% in the past 12 months.
• Violence against women and girls had increased by 13% in the past 12 months.
• Anti-social behaviour had increased by 115% compared to the same quarter in the previous year. This was attributed to an unusual peak in August 2024.
• Hate crime had increased by 37% in the previous 12 months. This was attributed to high levels in July and August 2024.

Community Engagement Quarterly Update & Measures of the Strategic Plan

The committee was scheduled to receive a report to update them on the progress that had been made on the joint City of London Police and City of London Corporation strategic community engagement plan that had been approved by the Police Authority Board in October 2024. This plan is based on the four priority areas of the City of London Police’s 2023 Neighbourhood Policing Strategy. The report noted that a new cluster panel model had been launched, with six panels scheduled to meet twice a year. The new model includes inviting representatives from relevant City of London Corporation departments. The report set out how the performance of the plan would be measured. This included metrics such as:

• Public confidence in the City of London Police.
• Crime reduction.
• Diversity of respondents to surveys.

The report listed a number of community engagement activities that had taken place since the last report to the committee.

Public Outstanding References

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the actions that had been requested at the meeting on 26 September 2024 (240926 SPPC minutes draft). At that meeting, the committee had asked for a report to be prepared about the use of signage at the entrances to the City of London to deter criminals. Initial scoping work had been completed on this request, and a report was scheduled to be prepared for a future meeting. The committee had also asked the Police Authority director to scope if there was any data held by the City of London Corporation that could be used to improve the police's understanding of future demand for their services. This request was being progressed as part of the work to establish a 'Future Threats and Demand' group.