Researchers examined the available literature on public confidence in the police. Overall the evidence suggested that the strategies most likely to be effective in improving confidence were initiatives aimed at increasing community engagement.
Source: Andrew Rix, Faye Joshua, Mike Maguire and Sarah Morton, Improving Public Confidence in the Police: A review of the evidence, Research Report 28, Home Office
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
The Audit Commission launched a website that for the first time pooled information from inspectorates of services including health, social care, and the police. The 'Oneplace' website divided England into 152 areas and used a coloured flags system to rate the performance of local services. It was based on the new 'comprehensive area assessment', which replaced the previous system of comprehensive performance assessment.
Source: Press release 9 December 2009, Audit Commission
Links: Audit Commission press release | Cabinet Office press release | Oneplace homepage | DCLG press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Dec
The government published a White Paper on the police service in England. New 'report cards' produced by the police inspectorate would give the public a clear view of the quality of police services in their area from March 2010. Neighbourhood agreements across the crime and justice agendas would spell out service standards. There would be an attempt to reduce the police overtime bill through improved deployment of staff and internal management. The government said that the reforms outlined put the public's priorities at the heart of policing, replacing top-down targets with a sharp focus on public confidence.
Source: Protecting the Public: Supporting the police to succeed, Cm 7749, Home Office/TSO
Links: White Paper | Hansard | Home Office press release | APA press release | ACPO press release | Police Federation press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Dec
A seminar report examined the challenges facing the police service, including the questions of how responsive policing should be to community priorities and concerns; how the police could and should solve more crime; and the role for policing in securing economic and social well-being.
Source: What Is Policing For? Examining the impact and implications of contemporary policing intervention, Economic and Social Research Council
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A report made recommendations aimed at reducing unnecessary bureaucracy within the police service in England.
Source: Jan Berry ('Independent Reducing Bureaucracy Advocate'), Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing, Home Office
Links: Report | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Police Federation press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Dec
A think-tank report called for fundamental reforms to the way the police service was governed, organized, and held to account. On a number of key measures police performance had not improved over the previous decade. All local crime priorities should be set at the local level; and police pay needed to be more closely related to performance and skills.
Source: Rick Muir, Arrested Development: Unlocking change in the police service, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Summary | IPPR press release | ACPO press release
Date: 2009-Nov
A government report examined ways of helping to reduce the crime and anti-social behaviour – and the fear of them – experienced by older people in Northern Ireland.
Source: Safer Ageing: A strategy and action plan for ensuring the safety of older people, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 0700)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report (by an official advisory body) said that although Britain had the largest police DNA database in the world, the database had developed piecemeal without a specific Act of Parliament. It needed to be regulated on a clear statutory basis and supervised by an independent authority.
Source: Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear? Balancing individual rights and the public interest in the governance and use of the national DNA database, Human Genetics Commission (020 7972 1518)
Links: Report | HGC press release | ACPO press release | Southampton University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
The government announced (following consultation) planned changes to the arrangements for retaining DNA samples collected by the police. It proposed to: remove profiles of all adults arrested but not charged or convicted of any recordable offence after six years; remove profiles of juveniles aged 16-17 arrested but not charged or convicted of serious offences after six years; remove profiles of all other juveniles arrested but not charged or convicted of a recordable offence after three years, regardless of age at arrest; and retain profiles of all juveniles convicted of all but the most serious recordable offences for five years, and indefinitely for any further convictions.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 11 November 2009, columns 25-28WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | Liberty press release | NO2ID press release | ACPO press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Nov
The police service inspectorate said that it was time to reassert the principles of the 'traditional British model' of approachable, impartial, and accountable policing – based on minimum force – for major public order events.
Source: Adapting to Protest: Nurturing the British model of policing, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release | Liberty press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Nov
The Policing and Crime Act 2009 was given Royal assent. The Act included measures on police accountability and effectiveness, such as a new duty for police authorities to have regard to the public's views on policing in their area. The Act also covered aspects of prostitution and sex offences; the regulation of lapdancing clubs; licensing conditions and police powers relating to alcohol; proceeds of crime; extradition; airport security; criminal records; restrictions on offensive weapons; and football banning orders.
Source: Policing and Crime Act 2009, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Home Office press release
Date: 2009-Nov
An article examined the corporate governance arrangements of police authorities in England and Wales. The main challenge for police authorities was enhancing cohesion.
Source: Christopher Jackson and Ian Dewing, 'Police authorities in England and Wales: board composition and corporate governance', Public Money and Management, Volume 29 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Sep
The government published a progress report on its action plan for tackling serious crimes of violence (published in February 2008). It also set out a new wider commitment to reduce all violence with injury.
Source: Saving Lives, Reducing Harm, Protecting the Public: An Action Plan for Tackling Violence 2008-11 – One Year On, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Action plan
Date: 2009-Aug
The government published an updated strategy designed to tackle serious organized crime.
Source: Extending Our Reach: A comprehensive approach to tackling serious organised crime, Cm 7665, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Strategy | Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
The police service inspectorate said that some police forces lacked the specialist skills and resources needed to manage major crime incidents.
Source: Major Challenge: A thematic inspection of major crime, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release
Date: 2009-Jul
Researchers reported 'encouraging' results from a programme aimed at reducing the carrying of knives, related homicides, and serious stabbings among teenagers (aged 13-19) in ten police force areas.
Source: Liz Ward and Alana Diamond, Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) Phase 1: Overview of key trends from a monitoring programme, Research Report 18, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report | Summary | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
The police service inspectorate published an interim report that examined the policing of public protest during the G20 summit in London in April 2009. It said that there was a need for the police to plan and deliver operations that safeguarded the rights of individuals during protests.
Source: Adapting to Protest, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release | Liberty press release
Date: 2009-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that police forces had made 'tremendous strides' in the service they provided to minority-ethnic communities, and in countering racism among their workforce, during the ten years since publication of the Macpherson report. But black people were still over-represented in the criminal justice system: in particular, they were disproportionately represented in stop-and-search statistics, and on the national DNA database.
Source: The Macpherson Report: Ten Years On, Eleventh Report (Session 2008-09), HC 427, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Hansard | ACPO press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report (by a former Home Secretary) proposed a renewed and revitalized structure for police accountability to the public. The recommendations in the report included: retaining police authorities, with new skills and competencies to determine their membership – both for councillors and for independent members; dropping the idea of directly elected members to a police authority and the notion of elected police commissioners; and a strengthened role for police authorities in holding chief constables to account, in approving their strategies for tackling crime, and in agreeing the allocation of police budgets.
Source: David Blunkett MP, A People's Police Force: Police accountability in the modern era, Self-published
Links: Report | ACPO press release | Yorkshire Post report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report said that there was 'some evidence' that neighbourhood policing was beginning to have a positive impact on key outcome measures at local level: but that none of the changes was statistically significant.
Source: Mark Mason, Findings from the Second Year of the National Neighbourhood Policing Programme Evaluation, Research Report 14, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report | Telegraph report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Jun
The government announced (following an internal review) that it had dropped plans for identity cards to be made compulsory: but it said that the national roll-out of a voluntary scheme was being accelerated.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 30 June 2009, columns 11-13WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | Liberty press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Jun
The police service inspectorate said that collaboration between police forces offered opportunities to improve services for the public in terms of preventing serious crime and reducing financial costs. It suggested ways in which this could be achieved.
Source: Getting Together: A better deal for the public through joint working, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The police service inspectorate highlighted the critical role played by the police in preventing the growth of violent extremism, by working closely with partner organizations and the wider community.
Source: Prevent: Progress and Prospects, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The police service inspectorate said that police forces in England and Wales were making progress towards meeting the ten standards in the 'policing pledge' (designed to ensure that policing was more responsive to the public): but more work needed to be done on communicating the standards to the public, and there needed to be a better system to handle public dissatisfaction with police services in local areas.
Source: Delivering the Policing Pledge: Early findings, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | Summary | HMIC press release
Date: 2009-Jun
The government began consultation on proposals (in response to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights) to restrict the practice of retaining DNA samples taken by the police even where the individuals concerned were never convicted of an offence. The plans would mean that the DNA profiles of innocent people would nonetheless remain on the national database for up to 12 years.
Source: Keeping the Right People on the DNA Database, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release | HGC press release | Liberty press release | ACPO press release | IHRC press release | NICCY press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report (1) | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2009-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government was not doing enough to tackle the illegal trade in men, women, and children from abroad into exploitation in the United Kingdom in prostitution, the drugs trade, and other forms of illegal labour including domestic servitude.
Source: The Trade in Human Beings: Human trafficking in the UK, Sixth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 23, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | ECPAT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-May
An article examined neighbourhoods as sites for the planning and delivery of interventions in the crime and community safety theme of the New Deal for Communities programme. Neighbourhoods had much to offer in the context of devolved governance: but it was important to recognize their limitations as well as their strengths.
Source: Sarah Pearson, 'How low should you go? Neighbourhood level interventions in the crime and community safety theme of New Deal for Communities', People, Place & Policy, Volume 3 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2009-May
A think-tank report said that the government's crime reduction strategy had failed. Government spending and policy had been overwhelmingly focused on enforcement measures (such as police, courts, and prisons) rather than on tackling the causes of crime. The most recent attempt to set out a strategy for tackling crime – the youth crime action plan – had announced unsustained ad hoc funding, done little to clarify responsibility for cutting crime, and increased pressures on departmental budgets. There was little understanding of how to extend successful pilot trials, how to deliver the right interventions to the right people, or how to encourage and train local practitioners to use evidence-based interventions to prevent crime.
Source: Max Chambers, Ben Ullmann and Irvin Waller, Less Crime, Lower Costs: Implementing effective early crime reduction programmes in England and Wales, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-May
An article examined progress in the policing of hate crime. Some of the more problematic aspects of policing hate crime still presented major challenges, and it was difficult to say with certainty whether the strategic prioritization of hate crime had fundamentally transformed the quality of operational responses.
Source: Neil Chakraborti, 'A glass half full? Assessing progress in the policing of hate crime', Policing, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
An article examined evidence on police contact and public confidence from the British Crime Survey and surveys conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service. Falls in public confidence over the previous 20 years had been mirrored by growing dissatisfaction with personal contact. Poorly handled encounters with the police could have a significant negative impact on subsequent confidence. Communication between officers and the public appeared to be of central importance.
Source: Ben Bradford, Elizabeth Stanko and Jonathan Jackson, 'Using research to inform policy: the role of public attitude surveys in understanding public confidence and police contact', Policing, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
An article examined the relationship between the use of focused 'policing styles' and recorded crime rates. Despite widespread reductions in reported crime, these were substantially the result of a return to equilibrium trends, rather than of police action. An exception was noted in respect of thefts of motor vehicles, which appeared to be amenable to intervention by intelligence-led policing.
Source: Robert Heaton, 'Policing styles and volume crime reduction', Policing, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
An article explored the use made of British Crime Survey data in performance management of local police forces. It said that the perceptual measures included in the BCS and used as performance measures were 'under-conceptualized, invalid, context dependent, strongly correlated with socio-demographics and unreliable'.
Source: Martina Yvonne Feilzer, 'Not fit for purpose! The (ab-)use of the British Crime Survey as a performance measure for individual police forces', Policing, Volume 3 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-May
The police service inspectorate said that, despite evidence of impressive results in some areas, the national response to serious and organized crime was 'blighted' by the lack of a unifying strategic direction; inadequate covert capacity; and under-investment in intelligence gathering, analysis, and proactive capability.
Source: Getting Organised: A thematic report on the police service's response to serious and organised crime, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
An inspectorate report examined the extent to which policing with the community had became the core business of the Northern Ireland police service since the Patten Report was published 10 years previously. Policing with the community was working best where neighbourhood officers worked in close partnership with community members to identify, and find solutions to, local problems.
Source: Policing with the Community: An inspection of policing with the community in Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (028 9025 8000) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report | CJINI press release | NIPB press release
Date: 2009-Apr
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that it had found no systematic human rights abuses in the policing of protest: but it had some concerns that could be addressed by legal and operational changes. Making these changes would further protect the rights of people who wished to protest.
Source: Demonstrating Respect for Rights? A human rights approach to policing protest, Seventh Report (Session 2008-09), HC 320 and HL 47, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
The Northern Ireland Bill was given a second and third reading, and the Act received Royal assent. It was designed to assist with the devolution of policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Executive
Source: Northern Ireland Act, Northern Ireland Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4 March 2009, columns 886-958, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | Hansard | HOC research brief | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
A think-tank report said that police officers should be instructed to 'reclaim the streets for the law-abiding majority' by waging a concerted campaign against anti-social behaviour. It endorsed a 'crackdown and consolidation' approach to law enforcement in high-crime areas: in areas characterized by social breakdown, short-term police crackdowns could create space for other agencies to move in and address the problems underlying crime.
Source: A Force to be Reckoned With, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | Summary | CSJ press release
Date: 2009-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that the body responsible for investigating complaints against the police had failed to monitor its work properly, laying itself open to allegations of bias and incompetence.
Source: Independent Police Complaints Commission, Fifteenth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 335, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Police Federation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Mar
The police service inspectorate in Scotland examined the use of public consultation by Scottish police forces when setting their strategic priorities.
Source: Strategic Priority Setting in Scottish Forces: Consulting the public, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (0131 244 5614)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Mar
A new set of questions included in the British Crime Survey from October 2007 found that only 46 per cent of people agreed that the police and local council were dealing with the anti-social behaviour and crime issues that mattered in their area. The government said that in future the only national police target set by central government for the police service would be to increase public confidence in it by 15 percentage points by 2012.
Source: Public Confidence in the Police and their Local Partners: Results from the British Crime Survey year ending September 2008, Statistical News Release, Home Office (0870 000 1585) | Press release 5 March 2009, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: News release | ACPO/APA press release | Home Office press release | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
A new book examined how the criminal justice system could be used to reduce crime, including preventive approaches to dealing with known offenders and those at high risk of becoming prolific offenders.
Source: Nick Tilley, Crime Prevention, Willan Publishing (01884 840337)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Feb
The police service inspectorate said that only one-half of the 43 forces in England and Wales had sufficiently detailed plans for improvement in 'protective services', covering the response to organized crime, the investigation of complex murders, and the threat to vulnerable people.
Source: Get Smart: Planning to Protect – Protective Service Review 2008, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (01527 882000)
Links: Report | HMIC press release | ACPO press release
Date: 2009-Feb
The opposition Conservative Party published plans for police reform. It proposed a pilot of mobile urban gaols, designed to go into crime 'hotspots' that were afflicted by problems such as knife crime and anti-social disorder.
Source: Back on the Beat, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Plan | Conservative Party press release
Date: 2009-Feb
A new book examined various dimensions of the impact of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence (in 1999) on policing policy and practice.
Source: Nathan Hall, John Grieve and Stephen Savage (eds.), Policing and the Legacy of Lawrence, Willan Publishing (01884 840337)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Feb
A think-tank report called for radical reform of the police service in England and Wales. The 43 forces operated as 'fiefdoms', run by chief constables who were only accountable to weak police authorities. Policing cost per capita was higher than in every other developed country where figures were available (except Scotland). Existing police forces were too large to effectively combat local crime.
Source: Dale Bassett, Andrew Haldenby, Laurie Thraves and Elizabeth Truss, A New Force, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links: Report | ACPO press release | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Feb
A think-tank report said that a co-ordinated campaign was needed to stem the surge in gang culture, combining targeted enforcement with intervention and prevention. It said that local and national government had shown a lack of leadership and urgency in tackling the problem.
Source: Dying to Belong: An in-depth review of street gangs in Britain, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | Summary | CSJ press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
The government announced that it accepted all of the recommendations made in an official review of data collection from police forces in England and Wales. It also welcomed the interim report of a review into ways of reducing bureaucracy within the police service.
Source: Press release 16 February 2009, Home Office (0870 000 1585) | David Normington, Reducing the Data Burden on Police Forces in England and Wales, Home Office | Jan Berry, Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing: Interim report, Home Office
Links: Home Office press release | Hansard | Normington report | Berry report | ACPO press release | Police Federation press release
Date: 2009-Feb
An article examined the relationship between public confidence in policing and public perceptions of crime, disorder, and social cohesion. Confidence might be driven not by fear of crime but by lay concerns about disorder, cohesion, and informal social control. Members of the public looked to the police as old-fashioned representatives of community values and norms. To increase public confidence and decrease the fear of crime, the police needed to re-engage as an active part of the community and represent and defend community values, norms, and morals.
Source: Jonathan Jackson, Ben Bradford, Katrin Hohl and Stephen Farrall, 'Does the fear of crime erode public confidence in policing?', Policing, Volume 3 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Feb
The equality and human rights watchdog said that the police service in England and Wales had made significant progress in dealing with race equality issues: but more needed to be done to tackle problems with stop-and-search, and information held on the DNA database, as well as to address the poor retention of new minority-ethnic officers. There was also evidence of a 'canteen culture' among some specialist units, which were still seen as a 'closed shop' to some minority-ethnic recruits.
Source: Jason Bennetto, Police and Racism: What has been achieved 10 years after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report?, Equality and Human Rights Commission (web publication only)
Links: Report | EHRC press release | ACPO press release | Police Federation press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2009-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs called for the development of detailed and enforceable guidelines to govern briefings to the media by police officers or civil servants during counter-terrorism operations.
Source: Police and the Media, Second Report (Session 2008-09), HC 75, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jan
The police service inspectorate in Scotland said that a steering group should be set up to provide national co-ordination and management of policing.
Source: Independent Review of Policing in Scotland, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (0131 244 5614)
Links: Report | SG press release
Date: 2009-Jan