Reduce murder and other homicides

There have been 3x recorded homicide offences in Q2, one of which has subsequently been reclassified. Of the remaining two, one (Op Helianthos) is confirmed as a murder and the suspect has been charged. The other (Op Bassett) is an attempted murder involving a shooting, whereby one suspect has been arrested and charged.

There were 2x homicide offences recorded in Q1, a total of 5x to date against just one in the same period last year.

Homicide reduction focuses on SV and DA and forms part of existing reduction plans in those respective areas.

Reduce serious violence

The force has seen further reductions in SV in Q2 compared to Q1 and for the same period last year. These reductions are across both gun crime and knife crime and although ‘other violence’ is up on last year, it is below pre-pandemic levels.

The reductions have been seen across both Bedford and Luton, however there has been an increase (most notably) in other violence across Central Beds. The force will be utilising the uplift in ‘Grip’ funding to adopt a similar dedicated ‘Sparkler’ response to Central Beds that has reaped rewards across Bedford and Luton.

The force continues with Op Rowan – an academic study based upon hotspot patrols, involving a ‘pulse’ delivery of service.

The continued excellent work of the VERU focuses on intervention and diversion, with higher levels of referrals continuing into Q2. A bespoke BAVEX campaign has raised awareness amongst children, parents and those who work with young people and a refreshed schools programme has been delivered to coincide with the return to education in Q2.

Q2 2021 stats

117 stop searches with 30 arrests culminating in in 30 positive outcomes.

In total, there were 559.5 hours of proactive patrols:

From that proactivity £11560 in cash seized, 86 wraps of class A and B drugs seized, 4 knives and 2 viable firearms seized.

This has generated 113 intelligence reports.

Disrupt drugs supply and county lines

Bedfordshire currently have 36 live OCG’s and 5 priority individuals (41). Drug supply is the highest primary SOC driver across the organised crime groups mapped with 32 (78%) OCG’s primary criminality being Drug supply.

Bedfordshire currently have 28 County Lines mapped all of which are MoRile scored. 23 CL are importing lines with 5 exporting lines.

Drug trafficking offences have increased by 20% from Q1 to Q2, but enforcement is strong.

The second County Lines intensification week starts on the 11^th October with activity planned for every day that week and will be reported in Q3. The force has taken advantage of, applied for and been granted £55K of NCLCC surge funding this year.

Op Costello is Bedfordshire’s response to NCA activity against encro-phones. We have identified a number of OCG’s operating within Bedfordshire with primary criminality of Class A supply, further progress from Q1 includes:

Op XXXX – 6x warrants executed, 4kg of cocaine seized along with £50k cash and 3x people charged and remanded.

Op XXXX – 6kg of cannabis recovered as well as £9k cash.

Op XXXX – Shotgun and ammunition recovered with suspect charged and remanded.

The recently commissioned Cannabis factory profile linking to street violence has been adopted and is used to help  understand this threat across the region.

Reduce neighbourhood crime

Bedfordshire has seen reductions in recorded offences of Burglary (residential) and Personal Robbery in Q2 from Q1, also down on YTD from last year.

There has been a slight increase in TOMV, TFMV and Theft from a Person in Q2 from Q1. These will continue to be monitored and managed through existing force governance structures.

Victim Satisfaction (Domestic Abuse)

Bedfordshire Police is still in a transitional period with regards to capturing extensive VS data and at present the capability is limited. That said, the focus is on DA victims.

In Sept 38x surveys were completed with the headlines being that 80% of victims were satisfied by the service/ felt supported.

In Q2 we have received a total of 73x reports of dissatisfaction, of which 5x related to victims of DA (either closed to their satisfaction or still open, none subject to a subsequent referral to PSD)

Tackle cyber crime

Bedfordshire has a dedicated and well resourced Cyber Hub to tackle Cyber Crime and raise awareness. Further to the comprehensive update in Q1:

Reduce murder and other homicides

There were four homicides in Beds in the year April 2020-March 2021 (no change from the year before). Beds also has the lowest rate (per million population) across BC and H.

However, 2021/22 data will show 5x recorded Homicide YTD. That said, only 2x are confirmed murders. 2x unexplained deaths and so, recorded as such until determined either way and the other a cold case (1997) now recorded on Athena.

Homicide reduction focuses on SV and DA and forms part of existing reduction plans in those respective areas.

Reduce serious violence

The force has seen month on month (YTD) reductions in SV, with county wide figures below both last year and that before the pandemic. These reductions are across both gun crime and knife crime and although ‘other violence’ is up on last year, it is below pre-pandemic levels.

The reductions have been seen across both Bedford and Luton, however there has been an increase (most notably) in other violence across Central Beds. The force will be utilising the uplift in ‘Grip’ funding to adopt a similar dedicated ‘Sparkler’ response to Central Beds that has reaped rewards across Bedford and Luton.

The continued excellent work of the VERU focuses on intervention and diversion, with high levels of referrals made during the month of June. A bespoke BAVEX campaign has raised awareness amongst children, parents and those who work with young people.

Disrupt drugs supply and county lines

Bedfordshire currently have 38 live OCG’s and 6 priority individuals (44). Drug supply is the highest primary SOC driver across the organised crime groups mapped with 34 (74%) OCG’s primary criminality being Drug supply.

Bedfordshire currently have 30 County Lines mapped all of which are MoRile scored. 23 CL are importing lines (managed in CIB) with 7 exporting lines.

Since January 2021 dedicated teams have led on 35 CL enforcements, yielding 31 people arrested, 13 persons charged with supply or conspiracy to supply approximately £70K value of class A drugs have been seized. The second County Lines intensification week starts on the 11^th October with activity planned for every day that week. The force has taken advantage of, applied for and been granted £55K of NCLCC surge funding this year.

Op Costello is Bedfordshire’s response to NCA activity against encro-phones. We have identified a number of OCG’s operating within Bedfordshire with primary criminality of Class A supply, the current performance data from that operation is as follows:

Total warrants; 105

Total arrested; 54

Total charged; 29

Op Detroit has seen the first full turnaround of activity reach conclusion, whereby 4x members of an OCG have been sentenced to over 50yrs.

The disruptions recorded by the Region show Bedfordshire record the broadest spread of disruptions across our OCG’s within the 7 forces.

The recently commissioned Cannabis factory profile linking to street violence has been adopted and is used to help  understand this threat across the region.

Reduce neighbourhood crime

Bedfordshire has seen month on month and YTD reductions in Burglary (residential), Personal Robbery and Theft from MV.

There has been an increase in Theft of MV and Theft from a Person YTD, these can be expected in line with the change in pandemic conditions. These will continue to be monitored and managed through existing force governance structures.

Tackle cyber crime

Bedfordshire has a dedicated and well resourced Cyber Hub to tackle Cyber Crime and raise awareness. YTD the key points :

• Increases in online child sex offences. The NCA reported recently that there was in excess of 300,000 individuals in the U.K that posed a sexual threat to children.

To counter this, Bedfordshire Police have doubled the size of the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team (ICAIT) over the last three years, and embedded them within the Cyber Hub, to ensure efficiency and the maximisation of communication between the investigation team and digital device examiners.

• The Digital Forensics Unit (DFU) and Digital Media Investigators (DMI’s) based within Cyber Crime have seen significant funding support from the force and Home Office in the last three years, enabling them to design infrastructure and process change, which are innovative and capable to meeting the demands of evolving technologies. Bedfordshire Police has led the field nationally, introducing a digital crime scene capability, first seen in 2018 with the introduction of the Cyber Triage Van.
• This is staffed by DMI’s and enabling staff to provide fast time digital solutions to the changing landscape of crime scene investigation. The team have also doubled in size in the last four years, and will by the end of 2021 have four Cyber Triage Van’s, giving them the capability of deploying simultaneously to four different scenes.
• The Cyber Protect & Prevent function is a fairly new introduction to Bedfordshire’s Cyber Team. Their mission to work with educational partners providing up to date information about the dangers encountered by children, youth and adults on the clear and deep web. They will work with commercial partners to ensure that we recognise talent and opportunities to divert young people away from offending on the internet. They also provide a vital mechanism to inform and protect vulnerable victim of Cyber Crime.