Policing Neighbourhoods: Exploring the Geographies of Crime, Policing and Performance Assessment

Abstract

Recent developments under the Public Service Reform agenda in the United Kingdom have increasingly focused upon public accountability and the needs of local communities. Similarly, crime, fear of crime and the efficacy of public service delivery have become central to the domestic political debate in recent years, with all three main political parties campaigning on local policing issues in the run up to the 2005 General Election. This article explores the drive for robust performance assessment frameworks across different policing geographies and highlights some of the inconsistencies between the new localism agenda and current data infrastructures and analytical techniques. The significance of neighbourhood composition is expressed, and the potential of local analytical techniques for both performance assessment and resource determination is highlighted. Specifically, the value of geodemographic neighbourhood typologies, spatial analysis and geographical expertise in the evaluation of policing performance and the refinement of local service delivery is discussed.