1. strengthened response to Covid
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Residents and businesses in a small rural town perceived they may be vulnerable to county lines criminality and were concerned that this may be taking hold within the community.
The local police led an IE implementation forming a local network of businesses and stakeholders to develop closer links together, and with the young people in the community. A series of activities were undertaken including shared ‘walkabouts’ with members of the community to locations where they felt most vulnerable. Rich picture session revealed no current criminality linked to county lines but did surface the reality of some parts of the community feeling isolated and left behind. |
The local IE working party set up a community network to tackle this issue that was to become increasingly effective in building cohesion as Covid 19 emerged- providing support and reassurance throughout
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2. REGULATORY Inspection Improvements
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The HMIC (FRS) conducted a review of the forces neighbourhood policing and identified a series of areas in need of improvement. IE undertook a review across the force, including with partners and stakeholders. A detailed series of themed recommendations was presented to the force executive team and the Police and Crime Commissioner. The recommendations included changes to governance, training, deployment, volunteering, internal and external communications.
Officers changed how they worked with community members and with partners. Joint initiatives to solve problems developed and information sharing on a tactical level was improved. Police volunteers were increasingly involved in local plans. Communications with community members, partners and voluntary sector organisations were improved with joint risk assessments and joint deployments |
All of the recommendations were implemented and formed part of a 12 month development/ delivery plan. The follow up HMICFRS inspection 12 months later found that the force position had moved substantially and was graded ‘good’ across all categories.
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3. community develop a burglary prevention plan
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Some streets in a high-density residential area had become what the police and local authority were describing as a burglary ‘hot-spot’. Repeat offences were taking place and high value items such as jewellery and personal savings were being targeted. The police and local authority initiated an IE project and were able to identify a number of local ‘assets’ who were willing to become involved in tackling the problem. A series of meetings with community members took place, hardest to reach elements of the community began to get involved and were able to share their insights, and their ability to influence behaviours. Children shared their perceptions with older members of the community and this galvanised a high degree of participation and sense of purpose.
The police were able to support plans that the new working party members developed. Crime prevention equipment was effectively disseminated and the community members managed its allocation and installation. |
Throughout the work the members of the local community became better connected between themselves- across age groups, and with the local police and authorities. This new trusting relationship led to numerous benefits when dealing with subsequent critical incidents. The new collaborations were also able to attract and secure external funding to support local action plans.
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4. Young people gain a voice and help design a town
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A PCSO in a rural town recognised the growing concerns that residents expressed regarding the behaviours and the opportunities for young people. There was a growing feeling by the community that things were getting out of control and that the young people were being drawn into ASB and criminality. A series of Rich Picture sessions were held with residents and with young people, Some dramatic outcomes resulted following these meetings- included the handing over of weapons, the creation of new relationships and the use of the young peoples views to inform town planning decisions
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5. Big steps towards rebuilding relationships and confidence
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Following a tragic critical incident a community in a highly deprived location was identified as having very limited confidence in police and local authorities.
Working with IE and implementing the 8 step plan over 12 months the community and local stakeholders spent time getting to know what strengths existed to tackle local problems. A wealth of community resources were identified. A series of rich picture workshops revealed some significant underlying issues of trust and legitimacy that were not recognised by local police. Tackling these issues and building community connections were at the heart of a series of community led actions that took place. |
The community was able to access additional external funding through its ability to demonstrate how it was fully involved in planning and delivery of local solutions.
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6. Hundreds volunteer to make a better place
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The local authority and police identified a high complex and high demand community within a large town. The location is a diverse community and has historically presented numerous challenges around crime and anti-social behaviour. There was a perception of a highly fragmented community and representatives from local police had few connections and were not recognised by community members.
A local team made up of council, police and community members was formed. They undertook a series of walkabouts to map the assets and challenges. In the space of only a few weeks over 500 offers of active support were logged and collated. The local issues were discussed collectively by the joint team. |
Key issues to tackle were agreed and a series of rich picture session revealed multiple perspectives on some deep-rooted factors. The joint approach was assimilated into the council localities plan and the assets and insights have been adopted to inform actions in the new plan
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7. Technology provides the opportunities
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In a high crime, high vulnerability urban location local partners had no shared method of identifying and mapping community assets. The assets in question include the individual capabilities of community members.
The police force IT team worked with the IE project team and partners to develop a mapping interface, a classification framework, protocol and process whereby such assets can be mapped. The resulting searchable database can be shared with relevant partners. This multi-agency approach continues to develop and is already demonstrating its power in allowing community organisers to access multiple offers of support to tackle numerous community issues. |
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8. Talking Heads on crime
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In a high crime location the existing method of reporting on progress of initiatives was fragmented and no shared process existed between partners. Reports tended to be word only and uninspiring. The initiative was seeking to build momentum during the pandemic, and to inspire support at all levels.
The joint IE, police and local authority team piloted the development of a ‘talking heads’ update report where stakeholders and community members provided short updates to camera of what they were doing and what they intended to do next. They explained why the progress was important. The talking heads briefing now enables numerous stakeholders to experience the enthusiasm of those who are involved and become involved themselves. |
It has enabled leaders to set out how they personally are involved and accountable.
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9. Nine YEAR OLD LEADS ENGAGEMENT
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A community was plagued by burglaries from homes and the relationship with the police was failing. Community engagement activities involved older ladies and those who didn't speak English.
During the engagement process, a child of an attendee was encouraged to draw their experience of the neighbourhood. Their picture was so compelling that it led to the community group actively engaging with the crime problem, implementing a series of projects signficantly reducing their vulnerability. This case and the insight of the 9 year old has now been shared in senior leadership workshops nationally and internationally |
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10. IE principles deliver success in major sporting event
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The British F1 Grand Prix is one of the biggest and most iconic sporting events in the world. The operational policing of the event includes consideration for community disruption through traffic, vulnerability to serious and organised crime and protection from terror attack. Additional aspects of the event involve establishing and protecting heliport, security of VIP’s and ensuring that all attendees and participants feel safe and can enjoy the spectacle.
The 2014 event was totally structured to include the IE principles of asset identification, mapping and networking, developing insight and delivery groups. The deployment of all staff , volunteers and partners was coordinated around this focused and targeted plan and based on the feedback and insights from the communities who were involved. This included local citizens, local authorities, event holders and organisers, emergency responders, local businesses, news and media services. |
Partners and event organisers combined resources around crime disruption activities, and protection of vulnerabilities to attack. A unique ‘on site’ test was conducted during the 3-day event. Not only did the whole operation include less operational police staff than ever before- but was also the lowest recorded crime on record for the event. IE cannot lay any claim to the victory of Lewis on that day!
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11. Bruising Encounters
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As you would expect- trying to develop effective community engagement in some of the most challenging settings, and through successive periods of austerity has led to its fair share of bruising encounters. We think that in a decade of developing and delivering community engagement techniques and approaches we have experienced nearly all aspects of difficulty, resistance and sometimes obstruction. Throw in the challenge of a world-wide pandemic and we may have seen it all. These experiences are always been de-briefed by our team and network of associates and usually lead to solutions being developed. Such a wealth of experiences means that we will seldom be surprised by whatever is thrown up in any community engagement undertaking. We have demonstrated a flexible approach to problem-solving and are proud of how those we work with reflect on the constant ‘can-do’ approach of IE.
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IE always seek to work with ‘active’ leaders- those who are looking to lead change now and who share the philosophy of harnessing the power of an inclusive, diverse and engaged community.
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12. ResEARCH DELIVERS DOZENS OF COMMUNITY PROJECTS
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Evidence based decision-making is crucial. The work that we do is totally focused on improving the evidence base for decisions made through community engagement.
In order to support this work, we have conducted a ten year investigation into the techniques and strategies that we employ in our work. This research has been done at PhD level, with high levels of scrutiny of the 15 projects that were involved in the research. Twenty-seven mechanisms were found to be active, 6 unique to this study, which provide a high-resolution insight into the processes of social innovation, removed from the personal characteristics of the person implementing the work. The purpose of the research was to establish by what mechanisms and in what contexts does the methodology called Locally Identified Solutions and Practices (LISP) applied to neighbourhood policing work as a socially innovative community engagement process in neighbourhood policing?’ |
This study has demonstrated that the LISP Handbook is effective in neighbourhood policing for engaging with high risk vulnerable neighbourhoods. Moreover, the Handbook, allied to an understanding of the underlying mechanisms, has been demonstrated to be an effective, consistent and repeatable methodology for engaging intensively in vulnerable communities affected by severe crime. |