Damned if they do, damned if they don’t? Public sentiment towards the police during the first lockdown

Lockdowns have strained the UK model of policing by consent. Geoff Newiss and Sarah Charman (University of Portsmouth) have seen the complaints and messages of congratulation sent to one English force during the spring and summer of 2020

“Othering” by Consent? Public Attitudes to Covid-19 Restrictions and the Role of the Police in Managing Compliance in England

The aim of this paper is to consider the relationship between an emergent decay of social trust created by the Covid-19 pandemic and the formation of “in” and “out” groups. Data from 37 extensive semi-structured interviews with members of the public in England found that identifying the “other” through normative conceptions of “security and order” was used by participants to legitimize their own presence within the “in” group, while self-reported compliance with restrictions was used to construct identities to be in line with that of the “in” group. These findings have important implications both for social trust within and between communities and toward the police

Homicides which begin as missing person enquiries A study of victims and offences

Includes bibliographical referencesSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:8366. 35965(13) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

‘Giving the right service to different people’: revisiting police legitimacy in the Covid-19 era

The suspension of certain civil liberties and the extension of police powers to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has provoked concerns about the longer-term implications of the pandemic on police legitimacy. Drawing upon pathways to police legitimacy identified within the literature, this paper examines police officers’ perceptions of the impacts on, and potential challenges to, police legitimacy arising from the pandemic. Qualitative interviews, video diaries and focus groups were conducted with police officers in one police force area in England, captured over a five month period in winter 2020/21. The experience of policing Covid-19 left many police officers concerned about the possible consequences for the relationship with the public. The paper cautions that any gains in public perceptions of procedural justice through using enforcement measures only as a last resort, may be offset by losses in other pathways to legitimacy. Expectations of enforcement and increased visibility plus prolonged changes to deployment practices have all heightened a focus on the more instrumental aspects of police legitimacy. Concerns were also voiced that the policing of Covid-19 has accentuated divisions in society, exacerbating the sense of multiple publics to police, with different and often competing expectations of – and beliefs about – the police. Enforcement falling more heavily within some groups and locations risks exacerbating long-standing concerns about distributive fairness. As agents of social control with unique powers to exercise force and compulsion, the pandemic will require the police to exercise continued vigilance on the means by which public consent and support are sustained

Improving Representation and Inclusion in Serious and Organised Crime Policing Roles

The NPCC SOC Portfolio is collaborating with the University of Portsmouth and four forces, to develop a mature understanding of diversity, embracing surface-level characteristics and expanding our understanding of hidden-level diversity. This will provide an evidence-base to define and remove unknown barriers, innovative approaches to attraction, recruitment and retention and greater representation/inclusion within Serious Organised Crime Policing Roles. The legitimacy of policing is essential in keeping communities safe and it has never been more fundamentally questioned. The benefits of a representative police workforce are well-evidenced (CoP Policing Vision, 2025). Despite sustained and multi-seated initiatives to increase representation of established diversity characteristics, progress is glacial, and the challenge significantly more acute in specialist roles tackling Serious Organised Crime (SOC) (eg ethnic minorities data - 18.3% of population, 8.1% of police officers, 4.9-5.7% in Regional Organised Crime Units (Home Office, 2023)). Innovation/research Our research takes the existing challenge of insufficient knowledge of the enablers and deterrents of SOC work and adds the recommendations of HM Government’s SOC Strategy of a focus on internal representativeness plus the evidence that a focus on surface-level diversity characteristics is insufficient to enhance diversity. From that standpoint, our project uniquely aims to consider diversity in its widest form in order to: Develop new knowledge of the enablers and deterrents of moving to SOC roles; Provide evidence of the perceptions of inclusivity of SOC teams; Through network analysis, explore how the interplay of network ties and diversity factors, both surface-level and deep-level, impacts the likelihood of successful or unsuccessful transitions into SOC roles; Provide innovative recruitment and retention policy recommendations to enhance the representativeness of SOC policing; Through a comprehensive dissemination strategy, share learning across all forces and national policing bodies. Insufficient knowledge of the enablers and deterrents of SOC work and a lack of diversity within SOC roles needs attention. When our research successfully delivers this new knowledge, it will be possible to not only measure surface-level and deep-level diversity characteristics within SOC but also to map related network variables, making the pathways to these roles more visible and reproducible across forces, thereby enhancing future equality monitoring efforts. The measurement of social network characteristics will also enable a more innovative approach to recruitment into specialist roles, evidence to inform retention policies and the implementation of further training and/or positive action. Expected Impact/benefits Tools will be developed for policing to evolve and optimise recruitment strategies, remove currently-invisible barriers, and align forces/ROCUs nationally. We expect the learning from this innovation to provide for improved representation against existing diversity metrics, and establish a new baseline of hidden-diversity measures, which can be harnessed, aspiring to a demonstrably inclusive SOC-policing environment. This new knowledge will enable a more inclusive approach to recruitment into specialist roles and the implementation of further training and positive action. A commitment to the five Open Science pillars ensures robust future evaluation of agreed interventions, tracked through the NPCC SOC Portfolio