The Alderson perspective – relevant for today

The recent passing of former Devon and Cornwall chief constable John Alderson provides a timely reminder to reflect and consider the relevance of his philosophy and practice to the police service today; not least because his overall approach to community policing along with his promotion of the use of discretion and encouragement of innovation sit easily with the vision for policing articulated by the present government.

Despite retiring almost 30 years ago, his name remains synonymous with community policing around the world; but why? Arguably it was due to his ability as an orator and his tenacity as a leader; as one of his staff stated “it was what we were already doing but he gave it a name”. His tenure as chief constable from 1973 to 1982 gave him the opportunity to build on philosophies developed in the US to deliver what he referred to initially as proactive policing. This represented a return to preventive policing in an era when reactive policing was dominant. Much of what he promoted later drove the crime and disorder agenda .

In his book Policing Freedom he argued: “The purpose of preventive policing in the broad sense is to find ways of bringing joint resources to bear in times of social change and economic deterioration. Without new ideas and the will to fly in the face of tradition, we may witness a police service beginning to feel unable to cope and having to rely more and more on technologies, ‘coppery’ and response time evaluation for self-esteem. The fusion of social policing and legal policing has a better chance of success than either would enjoy separately. The necessary change must begin in police culture, attitudes and habits and these changes should reflect and be reflected in policies. Police efforts to harness ‘society against crime’ would exhibit care, education, persuasion and ultimately enforcement.”

This statement was made at a time when crime volumes and demand for service from the public had increased exponentially. Today, crime has decreased but the load per officer is increasing as resources are reduced. This makes the statement wholly relevant to the challenges faced by UK policing now and suggests that Mr Alderson might have a significant amount to offer as the service strives to deal with a rapidly changing landscape.

From the concept of proactive policing he evolved a system of community policing which was successfully implemented across the force area. The model was based on a local officer dedicated to a local area patrolling on foot. Support services were provided at the divisional and force level, with great emphasis being placed on diverting young people away from crime and engaging the whole diverse community. The method was to analyse community problems and then work with the community to find a solution. Policing delivery was broadly defined at three levels;

•primary or proactive policing which engaged the whole community to diminish anything forbidden by the criminal law;

•secondary or preventive policing which consisted of foot and mobile patrols in the locality and providing crime prevention advice; and

•tertiary which involved response and detection.

Building on Peel’s principles of policing, Mr Alderson cited the objectives of community policing as:

•To contribute to liberty, equality and fraternity;

•To help reconcile freedom with security and to uphold the law;

•To uphold and protect human rights and thus help achieve human dignity;

•To dispel criminogenic social conditions through cooperative social action;

•To help create trust in communities;

•To strengthen security and feeling of security;

•To investigate, detect and activate the prosecution of crimes;

•To facilitate free movement along public thoroughfares;

•To curb public order; and

•To deal with crises and help those in distress involving other agencies where needed.

He emphasised the importance of policing with, rather than poli