An investigation into the use of stop and search and allegations of verbal and physical abuse of a young male between the period of October 2011 and December 2014 by Islington Borough Police officers.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should take steps to ensure that officers using stop and search powers, fully comply with recording requirements set out in MPS policy on stop and search, PACE Code A, and the Home Office Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme, specifically in relation to young people.
Yes
The supervision and scrutiny of officers’ use of stop and search (S&S) is incorporated within line management structures and through the daily interrogation of Crimint entries relating to S&S. The Best Use of S&S is shared with all supervisors via local S&S lead, who oversees all S&S activity across the Borough.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should review partnership arrangements with the Youth Offending Service to ensure that they meet the aspirations of the Borough’s Youth Crime Strategy and that action has been taken to respond to issues identified in HMI Probations report (January 2016) on the Borough’s youth offending work.
Yes
The partnership arrangements via Youth Offending are being re-established following the merger of Islington & Camden policing command units. The ‘new’ borough has made inquiries with the Youth Offending Service to establish their link to the borough youth crime strategy. This is an area of development.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should demonstrate they have robust management and supervision structures in place to address poor professional behaviour amongst front line officers, which reflect the concerns of members of the public.
Yes
In addition to stringent supervision of officers use of search powers, where failures or unacceptable performance is identified, the borough has robust measures to address this via the Professional Standards unit. Dip sampling and review of body worn camera footage to watch search activity is in place. The borough professional standards unit review S&S complaints and ensure timely outcomes.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should deliver training to front line officers regarding how to engage with young people effectively and impartially during the course of their work.
Yes
Training in the use of stop and search and youth engagement already exist on the borough training rota. External MPS departments have delivered best use S&S input to officers.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should take action to make sure that officers' use of stop and search is consistent with policy in place within the Borough, and that this is in line with the MPS’ overall strategy for stop and search, PACE Code A and the Home Office Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme.
No
The Best use scheme and MPS stop and search policy are available via MPS indices and accessible to all staff. The borough S&S lead ensures that the borough is compliant. Beyond this, the S&S lead is held to account at ACPO level quarterly regarding the boroughs performance and compliance with policy.
The MPS should consider taking reasonable steps to ensure all front line officers complete the Book 101 form in its entirety following house searches.
Yes
The existing training delivered to officers has been reviewed by the relevant Command. This has resulted in changes to the training resources. These will be further reviewed following completion of a re-design of the Book 101 in response to weaknesses with the current format identified through internal self-review processes.
The MPS should consider taking reasonable steps to ensure Book 101s are stored in such a way that they are retrievable and auditable. They should consider implementing greater supervision of storage of these documents.
Yes
Existing processes should ensure that Book 101’are stored in a retrievable & auditable manner. The existing guidelines are available to officers via the MPS Intranet. The MPS is committed to improving the integrity of the storage/archiving of documents & records. All of the associated Records Management guidance, processes & support structures are subject to an ongoing. This project is being managed by HQ Strategy & Governance.
The MPS should consider ensuring that where territorial support officers have provided support to incidents on Borough, it is possible to identify and review their duty statements, Pocket Notebook entries or other records of events.
No
Processes are in place to support this recommendation. These include the completion of a TSG Deployment Log which records details of all TSG activities & outcomes. These enable the TSG Command to identify both units & individual officers who provide support to any Boroughs (B)OCUs. Notes, statements, records etc are also retained by TSG in accordance with MPS policy. Access to these by (B)OCUs can be facilitated at any time & ease of access. Sharing has been enhanced by the use of the COPA system (computer based file sharing system used in the preparation/ sharing of case files).
The MPS should review the process in place for storing officers’ Pocket Notebooks to ensure that they are retrievable and auditable.
Yes
In parallel to the response to Part 2(2) existing processes should ensure that officers’ pocket books are stored in a retrievable & auditable manner. The existing guidelines are available to officers via the MPS Intranet. The MPS is committed to improving the integrity of the storage/ archiving of documents & records. All of the associated Records Management guidance, processes & support structures are subject to an ongoing. This project is being managed by HQ Strategy & Governance.
The IPCC recommends that the Borough Commander of Islington should commission an independent review of the Borough’s use of stop and search on young people.
No
The Independent Stop and Search (S&S) monitoring group has actively surveyed 1000+ young people across the borough to gain their views and experiences of S&S. The results of this will direct MPS Training and engagement.