Neighbourhood Policing Teams Research Articles

Police practitioners and place managers’ understandings and perceptions of heritage crime in Nottinghamshire

‘So you know, as daft as it sounds, if you’ve got a building, that really isn’t a priority, is it?’ Despite the wealth of heritage sites in the UK, the topic is a marginalised area of criminological study here. It has been argued that there is discordance between the concepts of ‘heritage’ and ‘crime’. One is holistic; the other set in the law. Through a programme of semi-structured interviews with ‘heritage place managers’ and questionnaires delivered to neighbourhood policing teams in Nottinghamshire Police, this research aimed to examine this clash. In particular, it aimed to compare and contrast heritage place managers’ understandings and experiences of heritage crime with those of police practitioners. It was found that the two groups differed markedly in this respect, creating feelings of frustration and stagnation for both. Such findings are of particular concern in the light of statistics which demonstrate that heritage crime is occurring frequently across the UK, and evidence that offenders are targeting new heritage assets and sites in response to changing legislation. Budget cuts, which continue to impact upon policing priorities in Nottinghamshire, further compound the problem. The conclusion of this article details the potential impacts of these findings and suggests changes relating to both the heritage and policing sectors.

‘I wannabe a copper’: The engagement of Police Community Support Officers with the dominant police occupational culture

Drawing upon ethnographic research with Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) working in two neighbourhood policing teams in northern England, this article presents a typology of PCSO orientations to work and for the first time details the ways in which PCSOs utilize aspects of the dominant culture to manage the discord between aspirations and opportunities within the PCSO role. Engagement with aspects of the dominant culture varied according to career aspirations and orientations to work; ‘Frustrated PCSOs’ were most likely to endorse cultural characteristics as a means of facilitating integration and enhancing opportunities for crime control, while Professional PCSOs selectively endorsed aspects of the dominant culture in an effort to diversify their deployment, enhance their effectiveness and to support the acquisition of craft skills, thereby strengthening any future applications to become police officers. The article concludes by considering the resilience of the traditional police culture, particularly the dominant crime-fighting ethos therein and the implications presented for the future of the PCSO role.

The expert citizen

At a time when police agencies across the western world are struggling to maintain an effective service and also support and retain legitimacy within communities, important questions have been asked as to how this is to be achieved. The changes imposed upon police agencies in the UK, for example, mean that there could be a reduction in the number of front-line uniform officers and a lack of ‘engagement’ with ordinary members of the community which ultimately may have an impact upon the legitimacy of the police with the communities they service. This in turn may actually affect the very nature of the democratic policing model alleged to exist in England and Wales. This article explores one way in which it is envisaged this legitimacy may be upheld, by use of the expert citizen. This concept is critically explored within the framework of police legitimacy and the democratic policing model, which manifests itself in England and Wales through the idea of community policing and neighbourhood policing teams.

Police community support officers in England: a dramaturgical analysis

Police community support officers (PCSOs) have become an integral part of neighbourhood policing teams (NPTs) in England and Wales since the national roll-out of neighbourhood policing in 2008. Most research on PCSOs examines their outward-facing role, such as in the extent to which these police staff have become community engagement or enforcement-orientated. While this is important to consider, what is also important is the manner in which PCSOs have been accepted by the police organisation internally. This can have a bearing on the degree to which PCSOs are able to fulfil their roles in neighbourhood policing. The research reported here is based on a six-month observational study of PCSOs in England. Using Goffman's dramaturgical framework and concept of performance teams, this article argues that PCSOs and police constables (PCs) comprise separate performance teams within each NPT group, although the degree of separation between PC and PCSO teams varied from one NPT to another. One element of this relationship which was generally consistent was that police officers and supervisors tended to value more highly PCSO work which was enforcement-orientated. This challenges PCSOs to enhance this side of their performances in spite of their limited statutory powers. Some PCSOs experienced this as a daily pressure to justify their existence to police colleagues, leaving them as disillusioned and unsatisfied staff. This was clearly expressed in the use of space in these police stations in that PCSOs sought out spaces where they could relax in their own exclusive ‘back stage’ areas, away from police colleagues.

It is what you do as well as the way that you do it: the value and deployment of PCSOs in achieving public engagement

Resurgent efforts to reconnect the police with local communities and encourage more positive engagement with the public gained momentum over the last decade in England and Wales in the recent move from community to neighbourhood policing. Drawing on data from two ethnographic studies conducted in two English forces, one with a community police team and the other across two neighbourhood policing teams, this paper considers whether neighbourhood policing, specifically the introduction of police community support officers (PCSOs), has achieved more meaningful engagement where its predecessors have struggled, or whether the obstacles and pitfalls that have hindered previous models remain. It demonstrates that PCSOs are achieving more inclusive engagement in local communities, but their efforts are mitigated by their structured position in the organisation, aspirations to become police officers and the organisational environment in which they work. In light of such constraints, we argue that the capacity of PCSOs to break down barriers between the police and disaffected members of local communities and facilitate more representative public participation in policing would be greatly enhanced if they are driven by crime prevention and capacity building rather than crime control imperatives.

Can we speak in confidence? Community intelligence and neighbourhood policing v2.0

Informed by empirical data collected in the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) in four sweeps between 2007 and 2010, this article examines the impact of a community engagement methodology encouraging citizens to articulate their local security needs to Neighbourhood Policing teams (NPTs). By acting on this community intelligence police are able to ‘tune’ their interventions towards those problems generating most social harm. In so doing, the data suggest police are able to improve public confidence and increase overall community well-being. This case study of Sutton is used to illuminate some broader patterns and trends in how policing in England and Wales is being reconfigured in response to a set of economic and ideological pressures. It is suggested that the combination of forces are liable to induce a revised version of the principles and practices associated with the initial model of Neighbourhood Policing (NP).

'Nice to do' and Essential: Improving Neighbourhood Policing in an English Police Force

In this paper, we outline findings from an innovative action research project in an English police force that aimed to enhance community engagement in four neighbourhood policing teams. We describe the principles that lie at the heart of neighbourhood policing and how, for a variety of reasons, these were often seen to be peripheral rather than essential to the teams’ activities. We describe how a lack of understanding about the role of neighbourhood policing, limited knowledge about communities and their differing needs, narrow methods of engagement and consultation, as well as the perception that community engagement was ‘nice to do but not essential’ all reduced the potential benefits of neighbourhood policing. We then discuss the ways we sought to tackle these issues using action research.

Gathering community intelligence: initial findings from south Wales

The current drive for community engagement and the introduction of neighbourhood policing teams has highlighted the importance of gathering intelligence from communities. This article explores one initiative that seeks to do this, by discussing the method involved and the initial findings, which should inform crime reduction partnerships, the police and policy‐makers.

'Numties in Yellow Jackets': The Nature of Hostility Towards the Police Community Support Officer in Neighbourhood Policing Teams

'Numties in Yellow Jackets': The Nature of Hostility Towards the Police Community Support Officer in Neighbourhood Policing Teams