Dr Janet Foster

ESRC Public Policy SeminarHouse of Lords

12th February 2009

Why is policing communities so important? Who are ‘the public’ and what do they

want? Whose concerns are represented and why? How are legitimacy, trust and confidence

linked with responsiveness to community concerns?

Provides formal social controls when informal ones are absent or have failed

Can help to reassure through a linkage between visibility and perceived safety

Formal controls may be an important trigger for encouraging the development of informal social control

Potentially empowering effect

When I joined the job, the public … had this golden halo view of policing. The police … were honest and upright and did nothing wrong, you could always trust a police officer… you know, the old Dixon of Dock Green image … He never existed. Dixon of Dock Green was probably a corrupt alcoholic (laughs)… (Now) the public have … much greater access to policing and to the decision-making … whereas … when I joined the job, … people had no idea what happened behind (closed doors) …. And there were things that were happening … that we didn’t need to be particularly proud of. … (Today) I think as an organisation we are far, far harder working, far, far more professional, far, far more honest, ethical and everything you would see as positives but despite the fact that we’re much better, the public perception is actually worse. So you know (before) the public believed that we were all those things we weren’t … now we’re almost there but the public don’t necessarily share that (view) (Detective Superintendent in Foster, forthcoming).

Attentiveness Reliability Responsiveness Competence Manners Fairness

Source: Mastrofki, 1999

Action research project Phase 1: Initial scoping and literature Phase 2: In-depth qualitative research in 4

sites involving:◦ observations, focus groups and interviews in

communities (particularly ‘hard to reach’ groups) and with SNT officers

Phase 3: Using the evidence to work with teams to develop their practice

Using principles of ‘worst’ first Independent survey conducted in 4 of the 5

neighbourhoods to establish change over time

Teams asked to identify their most problematic areas

Not at all effective 21%Not very effective 26%Fairly effective 15%Very effective 6%Don’t know 31%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

CrimeASB

Not at all effective 11%12%

Not very effective 16%19%

Fairly effective 32% 31%Very effective 7% 6%Don’t know 34% 31%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

15%

5%

16%

7%

17%

24%

28%

24%

24%

21%

12%

11%

15%

20%

7%

49%

56%

45%

50%

57%

Area 5

Area 4

Area 3

Area 2

Area 1

Don't know Strongly disagree/ disagree Neither Strongly agree / agree

A small and unrepresentative minority Little understanding of the different

‘publics’ or the need for engaging and consulting creatively outside the formal consultation framework

Absence of ‘hard to reach’ groups Priorities sometimes adopted

◦without adequately analysing to what extent the issues presented are ‘problems’

◦without assessing whether these issues might be ones that communities could solve for themselves

Yes, would like to attend 39%No, would not like to attend48%Don’t Know 12%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Yes, would like to be involved 17%No, would not like to be involved 76%Don’t Know 6%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

1 2 3 4 5

Yes attended SNAP/ STAG meeting

6% 3% 19% 8% 5%Like to attend a SNAP meeting

17% 26% 39% 31% 16%Would like to be involved in setting police priorities 9% 21% 23% 19% 12%

Not at all effective 17%Not very effective 20%Fairly effective 31%Very effective 9%Don’t know 22%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Not at all effective 17%Not very effective 19%Fairly effective 26%Very effective 9%Don’t know 29%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Strongly Agree 7%Agree 58%Neither 9%Disagree 10%Disagree strongly 5%Don’t Know 12%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Now 1yr ago 3yrsago

Excellent/good 44 25 16Fair 35 38 27Poor/very poor 12 20 27Don’t know 8 18 30

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Strongly Agree 19%Agree 64%Neither 6%Disagree 3%Disagree strongly 2%Don’t Know 6%

Source: Insight Survey, 2008

Strongly Agree 14%Agree 52%Neither 9%Disagree 6%Disagree strongly 5%Don’t Know 14%

Yes and No It depends on:

◦ What we mean by responsive ◦ Which ‘communities’ are being accessed ◦ How ‘community’ concerns are dealt with ◦ How police officers and staff behave and ◦ How their actions are communicated and

understood Policing by consent, for and with people, is

key