Youth Engagement and Diversion constables broken down by BCUs

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035170

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Please provide the current numbers of Youth Engagement and Diversion constables officers broken down by each of the twelve BCU and also by the 32 boroughs.
2. Please provide the current numbers of Youth Engagement and Diversion sergeant officers broken down by BCU and by borough.
3. According to the FORCE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT 2022. On Page 47 of the report "The new Mayor’s Crime and Policing plan for London will be driving much activity in that area over the coming years, including targeted support offer within secondary schools, Pupil Referral Units, and a child-centered approach to policing. Youth Engagement and Diversion Officers are to be deployed in every borough to continue to support local youth provision organisations and agencies with positive relations with young people - built on trust and confidence - whilst providing opportunities for intervention and diversion to help young people on the cusp of criminality through the use of a youth referral systems and outreach work with the most vulnerable young people."
   What is the strategy to achieve this aim given the plan to remove the dedicated Sergeant for Central North BCU.
4. Please provide any documentation or instruction from Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley regarding plans to reduce the numbers or effectiveness of the Youth Engagement and Diversion Team officers and their respective sergeants.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full. Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - Please provide the current numbers of Youth Engagement and Diversion constables officers broken down by each of the twelve BCU and also by the 32 boroughs.

It is difficult to give an exact answer to this question because Boroughs are in various stages of restructure due to SENP (Strongest Ever Neighbourhood Policing). This has seen various supervisors/officers and structures change over recent months. The table below is as accurate as the MPS can be at this moment in time. 

YEDO’s are generally BCU based officers who support each other across Borough borders within a BCU. Due to this I cannot give accurate figures of YEDO’s per borough because this will be a local decision which is changeable depending on the BCU needs.

Q2 - Please provide the current numbers of Youth Engagement and Diversion sergeant officers broken down by BCU and by borough.

This is in the table above. Where “1” is indicated, this shows there is one YEDO Sergeant for the BCU. Where there is more than one, these Sergeants will most likely be aligned to a Borough and carry extra responsibilities.
Many Sergeants who have YEDO supervision also carry extra responsibilities such as VPC supervisors/SSO Sergeant. This is a local decision

Q3 - According to the FORCE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT 2022. On Page 47 of the report "The new Mayor’s Crime and Policing plan for London will be driving much activity in that area over the coming years, including targeted support offer within secondary schools, Pupil Referral Units, and a child-centered approach to policing. Youth Engagement and Diversion Officers are to be deployed in every borough to continue to support local youth provision organisations and agencies with positive relations with young people - built on trust and confidence - whilst providing opportunities for intervention and diversion to help young people on the cusp of criminality through the use of a youth referral systems and outreach work with the most vulnerable young people."

What is the strategy to achieve this aim given the plan to remove the dedicated Sergeant for Central North BCU.

Under the Strongest Ever Neighbourhood Policing strategy this has given us an opportunity locally to enhance our local neighbourhood teams. We now have more Inspectors, Sgts and PCSO serving their wards. In addition we also had a number of roles working separately to Core Neighbourhood teams. Therefore teams like safer schools, youth engagement, community engagement teams were re profiled and aligned to respective neighbourhood teams. This has created less silos and brought teams closer together. We still have dedicated Youth Engagement teams working with youth centres young people and local projects aimed at keeping young people safe. They are still very much focussed on diversion, engagement and safety in areas that we need them in most. They are lead and supervised accordingly on each borough rather than on a BCU basis.

Q4 - Please provide any documentation or instruction from Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley regarding plans to reduce the numbers or effectiveness of the Youth Engagement and Diversion Team officers and their respective sergeants.

The Commissioner remains committed to the role of Youth Engagement & Diversion Officers and will be incorporated in to the new restructuring model for Strongest Ever Neighbourhood Policing

Youth Engagement & Diversion Officers will continue to operate and be supervised by a Sergeant operating within newly formed Neighbourhood Integrated Communication & Engagement (NICE) functions.

The NICE function on every BCU, will specialise in providing Communications and Engagement, Community Liaison alongside Schools and Youth Engagement Coordination activities. This three areas will enrich and support each other and Community Policing Teams in their day-to-say activities. The function will provide specialist support and intersectional understanding of the needs of different members of the community.