Transforming Neighbourhood Policing
"The power of the police comes from the common consent of the public." Peelian Principles of Policing. Neighbourhood policing relies on consent, legitimacy and consistency. Intensive Engagement is a package of tactical and strategic activities that have been proven to significantly improve neighbourhood policing. There are over 100 different techniques for engaging with the community, including 'appreciative enquiry', 'positive deviance', 'participatory budgeting' and 'world cafe', to name some of the more fashionable. Each of them can be thought of as 'tools in the toolbox' of an effective neighbourhood police officer. But nobody, until now, has come up with the instruction manual on how to do 'community engagement' in a way that is consistent and repeatable, flexible to the local situation, and which has a measurable impact on police performance and legitimacy. None of these community engagement tools work, unless you have the frameworks and processes in place to receive the community information and sustain the engagement.
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I have longstanding concerns that the bedrock of neighbourhood policing is being eroded.
A dedicated neighbourhood policing team in a local community is able to build trust and confidence in a much deeper way than response officers will ever be able to........Where the work of neighbourhood teams is inconsistent, unstructured or insufficiently supported, it leads to a patchy understanding of threat, harm and risk within communities. Without the intelligence provided by neighbourhood teams, forces cannot properly analyse and exploit data from other services.
State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2016
Intensive Engagement builds on the principles of 'problem-oriented policing', but directs that towards 'community-oriented policing' in which the neighbourhood engages in joint problem-solving activities, building trust and legitimacy, and tackling the social problems as super complex issues.
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At the neighbourhood level, the Intensive Engagement process provides a proven toolkit of techniques and strategies that go far beyond current practice. Police officers and PCSOs are trained to use the toolkit in a systematic and sustained manner to achieve real change in the neighbourhood.
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Just training staff about a problem-solving technique does not change practice. Senior managers need to be supported to understand how their organisational culture and norms prevent real change. Intensive Engagement provide leadership seminars and direct contact with experts to ensure that the tactical efforts are not wasted.
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"The LISP approach to intensive engagement with citizens in policing is the 'Haynes Manual' of community policing"
Is Intensive Engagement right for you?
Intensive Engagement doesn't do community engagement 'for you'. The Intensive Engagement toolkit develops the capacity of police forces to implement and sustain community involvement in neighbourhood policing.
- Are you responsible for policing a high crime area?
- Have you been told to 'engage' with the community?
- Are you new to neighbourhood policing?
- Have you a crime wave and conventional policing tactics haven't worked?
- Are you being held to account for crime patterns that just won't budge?
- Do you need something more effective than 'super-cocooning?
- Do you need to connect to a vulnerable or misunderstood community?
- Do you want to improve trust in policing?
Intensive Engagement doesn't do community engagement 'for you'. The Intensive Engagement toolkit develops the capacity of police forces to implement and sustain community involvement in neighbourhood policing.