Evidence-based guide for improving public confidence in the police launched by College of Policing

The aim is to more clearly set out what police forces, police and crime commissioners and mayors should – and should not – do to rebuild trust in their communities.

The guide, titled ‘Improving public confidence in the police: an evidence-based guide’ clearly sets out the best available evidence on public confidence in the police, as well as the policing activities that are most likely to have a positive impact.

The guide will support senior police leaders and police and crime commissioners to help achieve the government’s Safer Streets mission aims of reducing serious harm and increasing public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system.

Led by Dr Paul Quinton from the College of Policing, the practical guide highlights the importance of implementing neighbourhood policing, improving contact with victims and suspects, making fair decisions and treating people respectfully, and adhering to ethical and professional standards.

While many elements will be familiar to practitioners – such as a more visible neighbourhood policing – the new guide provides a “solid evidence base” to give police leaders the evidence needed to effect positive change in their forces and communities, the college says.

“The policing approach in England and Wales is respected around the world and is often cited as an exemplar of policing by consent,” said the college. “But public confidence was adversely affected by austerity, which saw a significant reduction in the number of police officers and the erosion of neighbourhood policing. Coupled more recently with a series of high-profile incidents involving serving police officers, public trust and confidence in policing has fallen to record lows in recent years.”

The guide highlights a series of policing activities which have been shown to have a direct impact on the public’s perception, allowing police leaders to prioritise their efforts to make the biggest difference in improving trust.

For instance, the research shows that neighbourhood policing can have a positive impact on public perceptions when its three core components – a targeted visible presence, community engagement and problem-solving – are implemented in combination.

The guide also highlights how good procedural and distributive justice are associated with higher feelings of police legitimacy; the former being the perception of fair decisions and the latter being the perceived fair distribution of costs and benefits. When members of the public trust officers and staff to make fair decisions and treat people respectfully, they are more likely to see the police as legitimate.

The core activities that are known to have the biggest impact on public trust and confidence include:

• Implementing neighbourhood policing;
• Having a targeted visible presence in crime and anti-social behaviour hot spots or places with low trust;
• Community engagement to identify the crime and anti-social behaviour issues that matter to people locally;
• Carrying out effective problem-solving to tackle the issues that matter the most to local people;
• Policing with procedural and distributive justice;
• Making fair decisions and treating people respectfully;
• Not being seen to over-police and under-protect communities;
• Improving police contact with victims;
• Responding to the needs and concerns of victims;
• Focusing as much on the process as the end result;
• Improving police contact with suspects;
• Minimising the number of negative experiences;
• Explaining enforcement action and preserving people’s dignity;
• Tackling police wrongdoing; and
• Working within the law and adhering to ethical and professional standards.

Dr Quinton said: “Sir Robert Peel famously reportedly said the police are the public, and the public are the police. We are incredibly fortunate to have a system of policing by consent – but that is reliant on the public having trust and confidence in the police.

“This guide will be vital starting point for senior police leaders to restore public trust in the police, and lays out a series of recommendations, backed by evidence, to allow them to make the most difference in a challenging environment.”