In November 2019, Policing Insight launched The Police Student, a content stream designed to support degree-entry recruits to the police services. Written by our Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly, this content explores the syllabus that police students will encounter, providing accessible articles that can support their study.
Neighbourhood policing is the cornerstone of UK policing, according to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue. This new series of The Police Student explores it as both a philosophy and a practice, and what student officers need to know about neighbourhood policing as you start your careers in an era of competing demands and limited resources.
Dr Carina O’Reilly,
Academic Editor
Neighbourhood policing is the cornerstone of UK policing, according to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue. This new series of The Police Student explores it as both a philosophy and a practice, and what student officers need to know about neighbourhood policing as you start your careers in an era of competing demands and limited resources.
The first article looks at what neighbourhood policing is and why it matters – how it contributes to police legitimacy and public confidence in a way no other policing strategy can manage. It then traces its evolution and why it’s become institutionalised in the UK, despite austerity.
In the following articles, Dr O’Reilly looks at the three main mechanisms of neighbourhood policing – what they are, and how and why they work. Visibility looks at what it means to be seen and to be accessible, why foot patrol is so important to the public, and the tensions between providing a visible presence and meting other demands.
Engagement looks at how officers build relationships with communities, including who gets heard, and the strange endurance of the public meeting. Then problem-solving looks at what a problem is, why it matters that the police tackle them, and how best to solve problems in a way that the public will understand. We also look at partnership-working – underlining that the police can’t fix crime and disorder alone.
The next few articles look at trickier issues, and future challenges. Can neighbourhood policing help strengthen communities and build social capital? How do we measure success? Can digital engagement replace face-to-face engagement or only reflect the activity taking place on the ground? Finally we look at the pressures of sustaining neighbourhood policing under budget pressures, responding to changing crime demands, and managing public – and political – expectations.
Every article reflects challenges that you as student officers will face, asking what these issues will mean to you on the ground: delivering practical advice, and helping you understand why neighbourhood policing is so central to the British model.
The list of articles in the community and neighbourhood policing series are:
- What is neighbourhood policing and why does it matter?
- Why do we do it like this? The evolution of neighbourhood policing in the UK
- Being seen to be there: Visibility, foot patrol, and reassurance
- Engaging with the community: who do we talk to and how?
- Problem-solving policing in practice
- Playing well with others: Partnership working and the limits of police power
- Building neighbourhoods or just policing them? Social capital and the role of the police
- Measuring success: crime rates versus confidence
- Neighbourhood policing in the digital age: Social media, online engagement and virtual beats
- Future directions and challenges for community policing
Click here to read the first article in the community and neighbourhood policing series.
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