Balancing act

Comedian Jeff Marder is attributed as joking: “We live in an age when pizza gets to your house before the police do.”

Qualifying this statement by introducing the quote as being a joke, delivered by an established comedian, softens the effect and legitimises our response in laughter.

However, jocularity aside, the Crime and Policing Bill’s presentation to Parliament this week by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has reinforced the Government’s commitment to its Safer Streets strategy.

It is a consensus on the political determination to write into legislation powers necessary for policing to enact the Government’s will to improve the lives of millions of UK citizens.

This is the goal; however, acknowledgment of conflicting indoctrination by propaganda illustrates an environment far more difficult to navigate and identifies a forthcoming demand on policing resources not yet recognised.

The College of Policing’s Neighbourhood Policing Programme is eagerly awaited and will be a significant contributor to the success of the Crime and Policing Bill.

A separation of understanding in what our communities’ expectations are of law and order and that of political ambition is widening. Official announcements or media discussions appear to be on different subjects, if not different levels, for, who is being targeted by the marketing, who is it that they are trying to convince, the electorate or their dogmatic adversaries?

Conversations around two-tier policing are causing attention to focus on the question of confidence in the police and that of trust in one of our most valued of public services. The incongruity of contradiction between the improved standards in policing reported by the establishment compared with conflicting media stories is undermining progress; even though evolution of the law and order agenda is arguably, at its most prolific. Artificial intelligence expertise is progressing faster than at any point in the history of technological innovation, research doctrines abound on the most complex of societal issues, and statistical analysis dominate understanding of crime patterns, criminal behaviour and modus operandi as never before.

Nevertheless, this divergence of attention is undermining the reassurances as deviation continues to emphasise a separation of opinion, while forces across the length and breadth of the country are endeavouring to design local initiatives and selectively homogenise implementation of national guidelines to address their specific, local requirements.

To a one, reassurance propaganda emanates from the forty-three police force headquarters who are unified in conviction; an uncompromising commitment by UK policing to provide safe environments for its citizens; be it Avon and Somerset Constabulary which has 16 campaigns highlighted on its website, to Cumbria Constabulary which is promoting its Neighbourhood Policing Pledge.

These initiatives are mirrored by West Midland Police, which administers Operation Advance, an intensive force-wide policing initiative that runs throughout the year, or to Merseyside Police, which is one of a number of forces employing Project Servator in its fight to disrupt criminal activity.

Strategic reform and innovative allegiances deliver holistic advancements. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioner’s (APCC) report, Towards better local partnerships systems in England and Wales, highlighted the value of PCCs and partnerships; ‘multi-agency collaboration and PCC oversight are key to cutting crime, says the APCC report. Its publication on February 18 examined high-level strategic boards and how to build upon current successful collaborations.

Technological innovations dominate strategies; the Emergency Services Network (ESN) is to replace the Airwave network, transforming the service, including extending its security to the most secluded rural areas in the country.

A proliferation of consultations is saturating the marketplace; the Home Office established the ‘Accelerated Capability Environment’ (ACE), which is providing thought-provoking, practical and innovative advice at the very highest level. At its recent 2025 Digital Policing Summit, it significantly included discussion of the Government’s Safer Streets initiative. Reassuringly the conference highlighted the importance of delivering on greater multi-sector collaboration, developing local priorities, sharing information, and empowerment at the expense of bureaucracy.

These positives are starkly put into perspective in the eyes of its recipients. What the average member of the public endures has a far more significant impact on their opinion as it is reinforced by their local experiences; what must be understood is that the public are exposed to all the negative aspects society has to offer on a daily basis.

Taking random examples from media clearly legitimises those concerns; in the East Yorkshire town of Howden Marsh on the February 9, volunteers planted 400 tree saplings at a nature reserve, but within 24 hours vandals had ripped (for a second time) some out of the ground and thrown them around. A report stated a spokesperson for Humberside Police said it had ‘stepped up patrols’.

Merseyside Police recorded an assault on February 15 where a man in his 20s was dragged from his flat in Wavertree, Liverpool sustaining serious facial injuries. On the same day in Connah’s Quay, Flintshire, scores of gravestones were demolished by a vandalism rampage. North Wales Police has appealed for witnesses. On February 17, Newport Magistrates’ Court in Gwent, heard a case involving anti-social behaviour whereby 16 men were involved in a ‘barbers’ turf war’ incident at Blackwood; one man had been stabbed over the potential opening of a new salon in nearby Newbridge.

Likewise, the presentation of news articles relating to errant police officers reinforces the scepticism; it undermines policing’s integrity and strengthens conviction in the misbelief of two-tier standards.

Three Warwickshire Police officers are suspended pending an investigation into alleged inappropriate use of WhatsApp messaging, or an ex-Bedfordshire police officer, Natasha Conneely jailed for removal of a burglar’s tag. A similar disclosure by West Midlands Police announcing 50 officers were sacked or quit in the latest two-year period undermines trust and confidence, or the disclosure that 140 Dorset Police officers were accused of misconduct over a recent four-year period. News the IIndependent Office for Police Conduct is to investigate the actions of a senior officer in the case of a psychotic person who died after being hit by a train, and in a separate matter the death of a man two days after being restrained by officers in South London; they all contribute to the misperception, it does not appease the doubters, it merely reinforces their negativity.

The Home Office’s Parliamentary questions session on Monday (February 24) illustrated a countrywide concern for our rural communities; exemplified by the MP for Stafford, Leigh Ingham, who raised the issue of anti-social behaviour in the village of Turleigh, requesting confirmation of the policy for named neighbourhood police officers.

This is the same constituency the Home Secretary visited in the past fortnight to view Operation Transom, a local collaborative initiative between the police and Stoke-on-Trent City Council devised to address the misuse of off-road bikes.

The Government’s Minister for Policing, Dame Diana Johnson MP, in her response to Ms Ingham, mentioned police intelligence, as she had in an earlier question citing Operation Opal in a question on shop theft. This brings us neatly to buzzwords used to address one side of the debate; an emphasis on capturing intelligence in the routine of everyday policing is an attention-grabbing idiom, it is clearly not just a romantic notion but is seen as a pragmatic approach in the cause.

My interest is in developing intelligence opportunities within neighbourhood policing policies. The strategy of a government that has already allocated a significantly substantial financial settlement of up to £19.6 billion in its 2025/26 funding, focuses my attention on building resilient structures within information pathways to maximise intelligence flows.

The College of Policing is all set to announce its new Neighbourhood Policing Programme, which will train and qualify locally based officers in the skills to deliver community-based services. Coincidentally or intentionally, the collge recently opened a consultation on its Intelligence Management Standards guidance (the process is live until April 25). It is seeking views on its instruction which will overlap considerably with the new neighbourhood policing mission. Review of the consultation paper indicates advice remains primarily with information channels being delivered through the intelligence cycle, emphasising the distinction between information and intelligence. Here management is clear for neighbourhood policing, be it strategic or tactical, intelligence it is to comply with a force’s control strategy. Data voluntarily obtained must be for a policing purpose and be compliant with a force’s community intelligence collection plan.

This brings us to the crux of the matter for policing. The Crime and Policing Bill delivers what government, society and the police desired – a comprehensive review of legislation providing pragmatic additions to counter everyday criminal activity.

What a consequence will be is that demands on police forces will increase exponentially. The Bill contains innovative proposals in its Safer Streets mission by including measures addressing policing specialisms: terrorism, child sexual abuse, and cybercrime. At the other end of the spectrum, prolific crimes that are a blight on everyday life, anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls, knife crime and shoplifting, have been similarly identified.

PCCs primarily secure force budgets, determine the precept, plus set the police and crime objectives ensuring crime plans deliver an effective and efficient police service. Chief constables are directly accountable for operational delivery of that service. At this the highest level, they will be examining the consequences for day-to-day delivery cognisant of the Crime and Policing Bill’s demands.

A realisation for policing is the additional nine per cent in officer numbers will carrying a heavy burden, be it on the named officers in every community irrespective of density of population or those deployed into the vastness of rural areas. Not only are community officers entering a new era, their colleagues engaged on routine response patrols will experience the benefits of the legislation; the new ‘golden hour’ provision permitting warrantless entry will demand response times presently unheard of. Shops, stores, out-of-town retail parks and major retail chains will place an unprecedented expectation on police attendance currently shackled by the £200 baseline being obliterated. Please note; recorded shop theft offences reached 490,000 in the year ending September 2024, this will pale into insignificance with the enactment of a long overdue offence of violence against shop workers.

An intelligence-led policing methodology is going to be vital for the success of neighbourhood policing’s contribution to the Crime and Policing Bill. The formal structure of investigation support will be enhanced through DVLA access, drug testing powers, removal of foreign national offenders under caution and enter & search authority. However, statistics are sobering, according to the June 2024 Crime Survey there were 747,000 vehicle-related offences, 363,000 thefts from persons and 409,000 burglaries across England and Wales. The picture is unrelenting, but the task is not daunting. Police forces have the expertise, experience and workforces to prevail; what will assist is an understanding and an insight into communities, be they geographic or defined by gang culture, ethnicity, political persuasion, affiliation or influence, whichever way they define themselves.

The Bill’s aspirations are ours, for each of us it is our right. The range of the legislation will immeasurably improve police capabilities, from within the home to diversion from terrorism. It is cognisant of urban and rural requirements alike, it is pragmatic in strengthening powers, it is relevant.

I propose the same level of innovation for the community intelligence structures necessary to support the forthcoming demands on neighbourhood policing, in particular those neighbourhood pathway programme qualified officers.

The excitement and enthusiasm demonstrated in the presentation of the Bill is calculated in part to invigorate communities and citizens alike. Rightfully so, but, a consequence may be information overload and I envisage it will be for a Community Intelligence-Led Policing Methodology to provide that secure information process.

Steve Dodd is a retired South Wales Police detective. He is a subject matter expert on police intelligence having authored the force’s Community Intelligence Force Policy. An adviser on the College of Policing’s Intelligence Professionalisation Programme, he was deployed on the Government’s working group on the Western Balkans Serious Organised Crime strategy. An international liaison officer, he is an international airline certified extradition officer, plus National Financial Investigator qualified. He is currently writing his ‘Community Intelligence-Led Policing Methodology’ including the octahedron pyramid, a transtheoretical approach, and an inverted strategy thesis.