Being Hated: Stranger or Familiar?

Even though there have been several concerns expressed about the concept of hate crime, very little doubt has been accorded considerable legal, social and political purchase since the early 1990s. Hate crime has generated a lively debate over its own definitional limits and the findings of a study of allegations of racial and homophonic harassment recorded by the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) are provided.

Since the bomb attacks that occurred in London on July 7, 2005, hate and faith-hate crimes and other incidents have become a major focus of the police and government in the United Kingdom. This article presents some of the research that has taken place on the nature and policing of hate crime over the past 5 years in the London Metropolitan Police Service. Focusing in particular on recent research into anti-Semitism where a new typology of incidents has been developed, the article reveals that the majority of hate incidents reported to the police in London are perpetrated by people with whom victims come into contact in their daily lives, rather than predominantly by strangers or extremists. This provides the police with a number of challenges for both strategic thinking and operational practice. It also highlights the continual need for close liaison and consultation with minority communities and vulnerable groups within London.

This paper looks at the relationship between racist harassment and children and young people in Northern Ireland. It reviews the evidence from police records of cases where children and young people have been subjected to and victimised by such harassment, abuse and violence, and uses the same data to reveal the role of young people as perpetrators of racist harassment--both to young people and also towards adults from the minority ethnic communities. The material is drawn from a larger study on racist, homophobic and sectarian harassment, funded by the Office of Minister and Deputy First Minister, but this paper focuses on 152 of the 881 cases reported to the police between 1996 and 2001 in which children and young people were the victims of some form of violence or abuse. Worryingly, the research reveals that young people report a higher proportion of cases involving physical abuse than adults. The paper also looks at the prominent role that young people play in the racist harassment of members of minority ethnic communities. The police data suggest that young people are involved in more than 50% of cases reported to them. Having provided a basic analysis of the issues, the paper also reviews the main policy responses in relation to racism and children and young people, primarily through the education system, and concludes by offering some suggestions as to what is needed to develop an effective strategy to respond to this emergent problem for the immediate future.

Policing is labelled as a 'gendered' occupation (Davies and Thomas, 2008; Westmarland, 2001) and its gendered organisational practices work to the disadvantage of women (Martin and Jurik, 2006). This paper explores employee perspectives on gender diversity and inclusion in the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The empirical evidence in this research shows that employees perceive the work systems and processes in the MPS as favouring the masculine police archetype. Female officers are generally confined to the boundaries of femininity but at the same time they are expected to behave like a 'model employee', which involves assimilating the masculine police archetype. The experiences of most female respondents depict the gendered division of labour (Davies and Thomas, 2008; Westmarland, 2001) that is linked to the business case, and which underpins the access-and-legitimacy perspective on workforce diversity (Dass and Parker, 1999; Ely and Thomas, 2001). Implications for practice and future research are considered.

This paper examines issues concerned with police corruption and its control in England and Wales. The topic of defining police corruption is addressed, some current areas of risk are described and anti-corruption strategies, particularly those pursued by the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), are examined. What appears qualitatively and quantitatively different in the approach of services such as the MPS and Merseyside Police is the use of an adequately resourced, dedicated anti-corruption unit. This strategy has been buttressed by preventative measures involving management/administration and ethics/training. Dedicated units have been controversial, and preventative measures raise questions concerning evaluation. Nevertheless the approach to corruption bears comparison with that adopted by other major police services in other jurisdictions and represents a break with previous and unsuccessful efforts at corruption control in major police forces in England and Wales.

It is practically impossible for police officers to do their jobs without biases or prejudices. Even when the office of the Police Constable does not allow it. The purpose of this paper is summed up in three headings: first, to highlight the extent of racism in the London Metropolitan Police for over three decades This is evidenced from several case studies of black police officer’s mistreatment in the London Police Service. Second, the effect of police culture as a breeding ground for racism in the police and third, providing an understanding of the trio concepts of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotype. The author relies on racial Postcolonial theories that have created and sustain a culture of racial superiority over the years. This is a qualitative study; the author relies on the reviewing of previous literature relating to the topic of police racism. Some of the findings are: it has proven very difficult to find a solution to racism so long as the racism in the wider British society has not been dealt with effectively enough to accommodate the constructed other. Police culture needs to be outlawed in the police service and racism needs to become a dismissible police unlawful act.

Progress in dealing with racial harassment and violence, including among social landlords, has been limited. Situating racial harassment within the current context of hate crime, this paper synthesises insights from studies into community cohesion, the sociology of racist victimisation and criminology research, and extensive qualitative research carried out in Glasgow. Issues examined include: the relationship between fear of racial harassment and locational choices; varying perceptions of the significance of racial harassment between housing organisations and ethnic minority individuals; the role of allocation policies; risk assessment and coping strategies; and the relationship between racial harassment and a wider culture of violence. It is argued that while there is scope for more effective implementation of existing policies, the deep-seated nature of the problem demands a shift in emphasis from an events-oriented approach which targets individual perpetrators towards longer-term community-based interventions.

[Traditional British policing is relatively low on numbers, low on power and high on accountability;…..it is undertaken with public consent which does not mean acquiescence but a broad tolerance indicating a satisfaction with the helping and enforcement roles of policing.” (Joint Consultative Committee 1990:4) Perhaps it is time to return to basics and to reassign every constable to a geographical area ‐ making them all ‘community constables’. (Waddington 1993: 189) A new style of geographic or sector policing introduced by London's Metropolitan Police Service represents a fresh attempt to re‐establish policing by consent. This paper assesses the extent to which it has succeeded. Research conducted by the authors on the introduction of sector policing reveals that neither the new institutional structure put in place by sector policing, nor changes in the deployment of front line officers, seem likely to succeed in achieving this aim. Resistance to change in the relationship between police and public by op...

We estimate causal peer effects in police misconduct using data from about 35,000 officers and staff from London's Metropolitan Police Service for the period 2011-2014. We use instrumental variable techniques and exploit the variation in peer misconduct that results when officers switch peer groups. We find that a 10% increase in prior peer misconduct increases an officer's later misconduct by 8%. As the police are empowered to enforce the law and protect individual liberties, integrity and fairness in policing are essential for establishing and maintaining legitimacy and public consent1-5. Understanding the antecedents of misconduct will help to develop interventions that reduce misconduct.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has long been a global icon for liberal, community oriented policing by consent of the people. Yet, for over a century the mode of governance of the MPS reflected a tension between the attempt to provide a locally responsive service and its national role in protecting the monarchy and state. It was simple and military in form, providing scant voice for local populations. The great transformation in London's population helped to shift towards more democratic modes of locally accountable governance and towards a greater emphasis on partnership. This article traces the growing complexity of these new modes of governance and notes that this presents obstacles both to would-be autocrats and also to the more effective coordination of agencies in trying to govern the crime problem and ensure security.

Recent contributions using police recorded calls-for-service and/or crime data to estimate impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on the incidence of domestic violence (DV) have reported relatively modest effects. This may reflect a low reporting-propensity, exacerbated by the lockdown measures. Combining five years of daily Google Trends data for a set of DV-related search terms with daily data on DV crimes recorded by the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), we propose a method for generating a search-based DV-index, exploiting that both sets of data reflect the same inter-temporal variation in the (unobserved) DV incidence. Estimating the same model for the impact of lockdown on police-reported DV crimes and our search-based DV-index, we find a similar timing, but a substantially larger impact on the latter.

The article examines the features of the formation of the police system of our time. In the 18th century, the British law enforcement system was on the verge of grandiose reforms. Rapid economic growth and social shifts have revealed the need to ensure public order and security, suppress riots, protect goods and goods in a new format, which required the creation of specialized law enforcement units. The modern form of police law enforcement was implemented in 1829 by Robert Peel, who created the Police Service, the territorial police force responsible for ensuring law and order in Greater London (Metropolitan Police Service).

In a context in which research evidence indicates high rates of alleged sexual victimization amongst adults with psychosocial disabilities (PSD), this paper sets out to explore some of the challenges that are posed to the criminal justice system by these types of complainants. We do so by drawing upon rape allegation data recently collected by the London Metropolitan Police Service over a two month period. Our analysis of this snapshot of Metropolitan Police rape reporting suggests that a significant number of rape complainants have recorded PSDs, and that these complainants are significantly more likely than those without recorded PSDs to experience additional, circumstantial vulnerabilities, including intellectual disability, alcohol and/or drug dependency, and repeat victimisation. Our findings also suggest that cases involving complainants with recorded PSDs are significantly more likely to suffer attrition – to ‘drop out’ of the criminal justice system - due to police or prosecutorial decision-making. In this paper we reflect upon possible explanations for this heightened attrition rate but also use our snapshot analysis as a stepping off point from which to highlight the need for more sustained critical research on the treatment of complainants, and the adequacy of police and prosecutor training and practice in this area.

PurposeEmergency services face increasing frontline pressure to support those experiencing mental health crises. Calls have been made for police and ambulance staff to receive training on mental health interventions, prevention of risk and inter-professional collaboration. Mental health simulation training, a powerful educational technique that replicates clinical crises for immersive and reflective training, can be used to develop competencies in emergency staff. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of mental health simulation training for police and ambulance staff.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 199 participants from the London Metropolitan Police Service and London Ambulance Service attended a one-day simulation training course designed to promote effective and professional responses to mental health crises. Participants took part in one of six simulated scenarios involving mental health crisis before completing structured debriefs with expert facilitators. Participants’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards mental illness were measured quantitatively using pre- and post-course questionnaires while participants’ perceived influence on clinical practice was measured qualitatively using post-course open-text surveys.FindingsStatistically significant improvements in self-efficacy and attitudes towards mental illness were found. Thematic analyses of open-text surveys found key themes including improved procedural knowledge, self-efficacy, person-centred care and inter-professional collaboration.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that mental health simulation is an effective training technique that improves self-efficacy, attitudes and inter-professional collaboration in police and ambulance staff working with people with mental health needs. This technique has potential to improve community-based responses to mental health crises.

This paper explored how city-level changes in routine activities were associated with changes in frequencies of police searches using six years of police records from the London Metropolitan Police Service and the New York City Police Department. Routine activities were operationalised through selecting events that potentially impacted on (a) the street population, (b) the frequency of crime or (c) the level of police activity. OLS regression results indicated that routine activity variables (e.g. day of the week, periods of high demand for police service) can explain a large proportion of the variance in search frequency throughout the year. A complex set of results emerged, revealing cross-national dissimilarities and the differential impact of certain activities (e.g. public holidays). Importantly, temporal frequencies in searches are not reducible to associations between searches and recorded street crime, nor changes in on-street population. Based on the routine activity approach, a theoretical police-action model is proposed.