Understanding and Policing Gangs

The Cumberland Lodge Report on gangs in the UK presents key-themes and recommendations that emerged from the Police Conference in June 2019 and a subsequent consultation held in October 2019.

Some of the recommendations for policing gangs included;

• to review UK policy on drugs
• adopt the public health model
• improve multi-agency partnerships
• review funding allocations
• use ‘smart targeting’ and chase the proceeds of crime

The report can be read in full here.

Source: Cumberland Lodge

The multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment

On 4 February 2020 Ofsted published a report summarising the findings from six joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs). The inspection was carried out jointly by Ofsted (the lead inspectorate) alongside Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HM Prob), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The report can be read in full here.

Source: Gov.uk

Evidence led domestic abuse prosecutions

A report has been published jointly by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) looking at evidence led domestic abuse prosecutions.

The report contains a number of recommendations both for the police and the CPS. The report states that whilst domestic abuse is recognised as a priority area of work, it is often the case that evidence led investigations are not undertaken because there are no systems to flag when this may be appropriate.

The report can be read in full here.

Source: HMICFRS

HMCPSI Rape Inspection 2019 Report

On 17 December 2019 Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) published the findings from the thematic inspection of rape cases.

HMCPSI state the following as key findings:  

• Since 2016, the number of cases prosecuted by the CPS has fallen by 52%. This is despite the fact that there has been a 43% rise in the number of rape allegations to the police.
• But there has been a 23% fall in the number of cases referred to the CPS for a decision by the police. This reduction means that while reports of rape to the police have nearly doubled, a significant number of these cases have not been referred to the CPS.
• Nearly a third of all the cases which the CPS received from the police were ‘admin finalised’. These are cases which are sent back by the CPS to the police for further investigation.
• There have been concerns that the CPS were only charging easy cases where a conviction was more likely, rather than applying the appropriate legal test (known as the Code for Crown Prosecutors). That view is not supported by the findings from this inspection.
• CPS has improved its application of the Code for Crown Prosecutors – the test for prosecutions: in the 2016 inspection there was a 10% failure rate but in this inspection there was a 2% failure rate.

In the report, HMCPSI recommend that they and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) should conduct a joint inspection of the Crown Prosecution Service and Police Forces’ response to rape.

The report can be read in full here.

Source: HMCPSI

School Exclusions and Knife Crime

This paper provides a summary of findings in response the below questions.

1. What is driving the current rise in school exclusions?
2. Is there a link between rising school exclusions and rising levels of knife crime?
3. What can be done to prevent exclusion from mainstream education, particularly of young people who may be at risk of involvement in serious violence?
4. What happens to young people when they are excluded from school? How do we effectively safeguard them and ensure they access effective education?

It also provides a range of practical recommendations which the Government should implement to help combat the problem and keep vulnerable children and young people safe.

For the full report click here.

CPS Hate Crime Report 2018-2019

This is the eleventh Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) hate crime report, and brings together information on CPS performance in prosecuting racist and religious hate crime, homophobic and transphobic crime, crimes against the older person and disability hate crime.

To download the report click here.

2019 UK annual report on modern slavery

The Home Office has published the 2019 UK annual report on modern slavery. The report report provides an overview of modern slavery in the UK and explains how the UK has responded to this threat over the last 12 months.

The report can be read in full here.

Source: Gov.uk

UK and US sign landmark data access agreement

The Home Office has announced that a UK-US Bilateral Data Access Agreement has been signed. It is hoped that the agreement will speed up investigations and prosecutions by enabling law enforcement to go to tech companies directly to access data, removing the need to go through governments.

The agreement, signed by the US Secretary General and the UK Home Secretary, requires the requests for data to be made under an authorisation in accordance with the relevant country’s legislation.

Source: Gov.uk

Home Secretary launches £25 million fund to prevent burglary and theft in crime hotspots

The Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced the Safer Streets Fund which will be used to tackle offences such as burglary and theft in crime hotspots. Bids for the funding can be made by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales.

To bid for funding PCCs must work with local authorities and other partners to develop crime prevention plans. These plans must be based on evidence that the funding is needed, the plans are value for money, and local communities are engaged.

The funding will be available from April 2020.

Source: Gov.uk

Annual Violence against Women and Girls report

The CPS has published the Annual Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) report for 2018-19. The report focuses on crimes grouped together because they are committed primarily, though not exclusively, by men against women. However, the report notes that these offences can be targeted at men and boys and that crimes grouped as VAWG also apply to all victims.

The data included in the report is from the CPS Case Management System, CPS Witness Management System and its associated Management Information System. Key statistics in the report include a 15.1% fall in prosecutions and a 14.3% drop in convictions across the domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences caseload. The explanation for this is the 12.3% fall in the number of investigations referred to CPS, along with significant increases in the volume of digital data which is impacting on the time some cases are taking to charge.

This report will be the final annual report of this kind. From now on there will be quarterly data update reports. A brief summary of these updates will be published at the end of the financial year.

The Report can be read in full here.

Source: CPS