Looking Back on Police and People in London

Abstract

In Crime and Justice on modern policing, Robert Reiner provided a compelling account of the importance of the 1980s to the development and transformation of both policing and police research in the United Kingdom. By 1979 the series of factors that would transform policing, police research and public faith in the police in the 1980s were already well in evidence. The relationship between the Metropolitan Police and some sections of ethnic minority communities were seen to be becoming hostile by the mid1970s. This chapter looks back upon the history of Police and People in London, from the initial letter sent by the Commissioner to Policy Study Institute through the proposal and fieldwork to publication and reception, all at a time of rapid change in policing and police research. Sir Kenneth Newman's tenure became associated with notions of 'community policing', 'partnership' and 'multi-agency' policing through his commitment to strategies designed to encourage public participation in policing and police priority-setting.