Introduction
As is always the case in healthy democratic systems, there is considerable debate about the role and effectiveness of policing within modern society. In particular, the trust and confidence in policing to be able to fulfil its mandate of protection whilst serving diverse and vulnerable communities in an equitable manner, is under intense scrutiny. Likewise, the increased vulnerability being experienced by women and young girls in public and private spaces is also a major factor in reviewing the adequacies (or not) of the provision of current policing services. These debates take place within the context of informed critics calling to defund aspects of policing in order to provide a strategically more effective, it is argued, public service that appropriately fits community requirements.
Frequently, these deliberations make reference to policing culture, policing structures, policing funding and the fundamental purpose of policing in a rapidly changing society that is increasingly more virtual in nature. This paper seeks to give a light touch to all of these topics making particular reference to the re-establishment and re-focusing of policing services in their more localised fashion. We argue for the increasing need for policing to instigate a long-term stable platform that can allow localised services to grow and develop in partnership with the communities they seek to serve.
Part I
New and continuing challenges
Current debate surrounds the police service and relates increasingly to the delivery of this service. Yet concern about the provision of adequate public protection and safety has arisen against a background of a wider concern. This would encompass, inter –alia, the efficacy of policing in relation to its response to the rising incidence of knife crime, the warranted use of force and the continuing claim of institutionalised racism, reflected in racial stereotyping, which is directed at the service. This comes at a time when increasing demands are being place on the police service. One example would be the significant change in the profile of crime as fraud and related internet crime has up- ended the nature extent and type of victimisation experienced in contemporary, increasingly digitised society.
International Influence
Nor is the police service isolated from perceptions of policing generated outside of the UK. The shooting of George Floyd in Minnesota has reverberated across the world while the symbolism of ‘taking the knee’ has divided both police services and the public more generally. Much of the anti- police rhetoric particularly within Black American communities was to directed at defunding police departments which were seen as largely unaccountable, unresponsive to local problems and prone to the use of firearms in situations that did not appear to require their use.
However, any close examination would recognise that while policing in the UK can be problematic much of community concern expressed in America about the profile of the police has no ready application here. As has been recently identified during 2021 the LAPD was, alone, responsible for shooting 37 people of which 17 were killed. In the same period police in England and Wales shot dead two people [Pimm and Wood 2021]. Yet while the domestic use of deadly force bears no comparison with the US the steady increase in availability [and use] of tasers by the police is generating similar concerns about both their wider use and likely targets [ Ames and Thurston 2021].
Of more immediate concern is the evident impact of the ‘defunding’ demands made in America of its police departments. Recent evidence suggests that public pressure to ‘defund’ the police has already had significant repercussions. This has been evidenced most frequently in quite dramatic reductions in police manpower. This has been recorded in the NYPD, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco police departments as officers have retired or resigned in response to increasing and overt public condemnation [Webb 2021]. Yet this has taken place at a time when the level of violent crime in America has increased and which has seen the murder rate increase by 25% in 2020 alone [Webb2021]. It is clear that, as evidence from America suggests, ‘defunding the police’ may well come at some societal cost particularly where the incidence of violent crime is increasing.
Yet here in England and Wales there is, ironically, a much better understanding of defunding the police and its implications than is currently available in the US. Indeed ‘defunding’ of the police service has been in operation for some years and has led to a significant reduction in police personnel across the country of around 20%- a loss that may prove to be significantly greater than that to which local police departments could be subject in America.
This unexampled and unprecedented police defunding strategy was to be launched by a Conservative government within its ‘austerity strategy’. The full impact of the loss of 1000s of police personnel has yet to be ascertained. Over a decade later however, police establishment has yet to return to the operational level extant in 2010/11 despite a claimed policy reversal in 2019. Interestingly the government defunding police policy has also been pursued against a significant rise in violent crime and increasing demands placed on local policing.
Demands on local policing: refunding not defunding police
Policing in England and Wales still confronts the problem of underfunding and cuts in establishment. Yet there remains a need to assess current and future demands placed on the police service. Moreover, the current impasse [or hiatus] in government policy may also provide an opportunity to evaluate whether the current configuration of police services remains relevant or indeed appropriate in responding to current challenges. Thus while knife crime and violent crime has increased within the inner cities [and elsewhere] it is evident that currently non-criminal incidents continue to make big demands on scarce police resources.
Extending from ‘missing persons’ to mental ill- health it is clear that responding to non -criminal incidents now constitutes the majority of police time and resources. This has been demonstrated by successive local police activity analyses and confirmed most recently by the College of Policing [College of Policing 2015].
| Mental Health as a police problemThe rise of mental ill-health problem to greater prominence – and most recently exacerbated by the Covid pandemic- offers an interesting example of how ‘policing’ may need to re-orientate to reflect societal challenges. Mental ill-health is unlikely to be resolved by the use of law enforcement strategies, as is generally recognised. Yet in the absence of any additional support the police are increasingly engaged in inappropriate responses often by way of the use of tasers [Siniscalco: 2021]. As significant, in this context, those exhibiting the most extreme forms of mental ill health are usually to be found among members of the black community [ Weaver 2016]. As law enforcement fails to deal with the growing problem of mental health alternative provision will be needed. In some American cities elected mayors have already introduced increased mental health care and some restorative justice. In Minneapolis it is reported ‘unarmed civilians employed for mental health calls and traffic violations are planned [Webb 2021]. This rather basic development may show the way for a significant realignment of funding in this area. Removing from police responsibility a function that now dominates their time and resources will inevitably have resource implications within which refunding could become a crucial element. |
Creating a strong local platform for policing and public safety
Just as significant will be the creation of a more secure and effective platform for local policing services. This is likely to become a future focus for local authorities as it takes on greater responsibilities for public safety and security. Currently of course this is not an option for local authorities all of which now languish on skid row following years of spending cuts pursued by the governments continuing austerity strategy. Local partnerships as with local ‘neighbourhood policing’ has ceased to operate in any effective way. Yet a future platform for local policing will demand their resurgence. Along with that should also go a further policing reorientation. This relates to the future recruitment of local mental health officers but a major expansion of local neighbourhood and local street wardens who would take up significant responsibility for local policing and public safety.
Developing local authority responsibility may be needed as the ability of the police service to provide effective long term local infrastructure remains an institutional challenge. The continuing impact of police force abstractions continues to be a challenge to the stable delivery of local policing. Indeed, even within an increasing police establishment as experienced in the 1980s and thereafter any police increase in numbers was to be matched by an increase in the abstraction rate. This suggested that the problem of visible policing was never going to be solved by merely increasing police numbers. And while in the 2000s the introduction of PCSOs proved to be a valuable innovation this was to be seriously blunted as the PCSO function became little more than a pre-recruitment requirement to joining the service as a sworn officer.
Yet the evidence suggests that the local street warden system can if properly resourced provide a similar if not wider ‘policing’ role than that of the PCSO. Wardens are local, live locally and may be expected to generate local intelligence upon which all successful ‘policing’ is based. Increasing their numbers could be expected therefore to prove both cost effective while also providing greater local visibility and public reassurance than can be achieved by the police force. As with mental health services an investment in neighbourhood/ street wardens would encourage refunding rather than defunding. The evidence coming up from the earlier experience of PCSOs is that much needed intelligence arising from permanent location to specific geographic areas proved to be a much valued asset. This was matched it might also be noted by the inability of local commanders to abstract PCSOs for other duties. As a result, many London borough commanders concluded that local community policing in their area often depended entirely on the permanent presence of PCSOs. Yet despite this in the first tranche of cuts following the austerity strategy of the Conservative Coalition police chiefs were to decimate PCSO numbers. Ironically in London where the PCSO role had proven to be of most value, the then Metropolitan Commissioner initially planned to remove all PCSOs from the pay roll. It was indeed only by way of an intervention by the London Assembly that was to stop this act of organisational self- emasculation by Hogan-Howe the then Commissioner.
Part II
Establishing a Community Police Base: a municipal approach!
‘From the earliest times, the maintenance of law and order in the county has been a matter primarily for Local Authorities.’ Report on the Committee of Policing Services of England Wales and Scotland 1920
There is little doubt among serving uniformed police officers that cultural capital lies within a mindset focused on immediate action, managing crisis, controlling disturbances, directly apprehending suspects on premises, in essence – those blue light, high adrenalin calls that can make such a significant impact on the lives of victims. This is where officers can feel an immediate return on their policing actions. ‘This is why I joined the job’ is the frequent mindset at these calls. Conversely, a slow-burn and long-term, meaningful engagement with communities could not be further from this action centred approach. Yet, with local knowledge, effective engagement, fruitful networking and building trusting relationships, there is a real opportunity to get ahead of crime.
One style of policing is about immediate conflict settlement; the other, problem solving as close to the point of contact as possible. One, about engaging with imminent human conflict; the other a more considered and stabilising provision of localised front-line services. The former has an action centred mindset; the latter has a purpose that seeks to establish a community focused mentality at the core of policing.
Clearly both approaches are a requirement of modern-day policing systems. The need for urgency and immediate action is an essential aspect of delivering stability at speed. Yet, when trust and confidence in policing is at such a precarious level, we wish to argue that it is a more municipal approach to policing that will help build robust rapport with communities because it draws upon extensive local knowledge. This is not a new approach, yet it is shaped by similar issues from the past. ‘The developing interest in the concept of community policing at the close of the twentieth century was a product of context and contingency. It signalled a recognition that many ordinary police institutions were, in many respects, disengaged from their communities.’ (Emsley 2007) In our current context, this is about knowing and being known, seeing and being seen, listening and being heard. High visibility policing, utilised in order to build trust and confidence, is not about donning a yellow jacket. It’s more about developing an attitude that facilitates local stability. Reassurance patrols, too often used once a major crime has taken place in an area, should be a critical aspect of everyday policing. And reassurance is about feet-on-the-beat.
However, the issue becomes even more complex because the real strategic dilemma, as every policing leader and manager is aware, rests within an organisational systems-tension. Modern policing is too frequently about providing calculable evidence regarding value for money. As long as disproportionate emphasis continues to be placed on a fixated need to quantitatively prove policing significance via a constricted performance culture, resources will be moved from the qualitative provision of services (slow-time community engagement) towards those more quantitative prized (arrival times, stop and search numbers) areas as defined by apparently informed policing inspectorates. It’s not an either / or – we understand the need to achieve both. Yet, we are arguing for some degree of rebalancing between what is urgent and what is important. The two forms of policing maybe interwoven but at the moment, often due to lack of resources, they appear competitive.
An approach to extensive community engagement therefore has to overcome the two restraining variables: that it lacks operational capital and its qualitative nature lacks quantitative punch. Add to this the fact that if it does not carry cultural capital and is of restricted value to high performance officers looking to achieve advancement in the ranks. An attachment to a community team can too often be a fleeting visit that has little significance for the officer and even less worth for communities seeking to build trusting relationships with their police forces. We argue therefore, that a more stabilised and protective municipal approach to community engagement is an urgent requirement. We abhor the regular striping out of long-term community resources in order to address short-term quantitative performance agendas.
It is time that those focused on delivering stable environments within which communities can flourish begin to proactively define their own policing model for the future. We know from past research that it has positive impact: ‘In drawing on the skills, expertise and good-will of a variety of local individuals and agencies, many schemes engage in constructive and wide-ranging partnership activities which have tangible impacts upon lives.’ (Jacobson & Saville) This should have protected and stable community-based engagement, appropriately resourced, and with a qualitative mindset, at the core of performance outcomes. The strategic intent should therefore be centred on making the publics feel safe whilst at the same time developing localised problem-solving approaches sufficiently robust to anticipate localised difficulties because it is knowledge-mapped by informed officers
Conclusion
Any projected plan for policing at this point, must of course, remain speculative. However, within the current chaos of government and absence of effective policy development for policing there is a case for identifying for a future and more rational approach potential structures that might begin to improve the delivery of police services and public protection. Refunding and re-orientating policing at local level based on a more stable platform may prove to be one element in the creation of a more visible and effective policing presence. For the rest it will depend on much else and not least an end to defunding local services and a renewed commitment on the part of government to the protection and enhancement of the public realm.
By the very nature of these public safety and public security issues, we believe it would require an inter-agency approach that is municipal in mentality, forward focusing and establishing a constructive dialogue with local residents active within their communities. Policing efficiency is not just about counting numbers; but more about assessing cohesive localised impact. It needs to transgress the political rhetoric that fails to acknowledge that policing is a broad function not simply law enforcement. Getting tough on crime is sensitively complex.
An independently resourced and strategically protective fence, is required to surround this localised approach to community engagement in order to re-establish it as a valued aspect of policing services. Localised and bespoke community policing should no longer be the obvious place to pull resources from but rather, a place for courageous long-term investment.
End Note
This is an introductory foundation paper, the topics within which we will be returning to in far more specific detail throughout the year. The focus from Policing Commentary for 2022 will be centred on the processes and provision of local policing services.
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