1. ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL
IMPROVING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN THE METROPOLITAN POLICE.
June 2014.
A report by Mahamed Hashi
Chair of Community Network Forum and Co-Chair Lambeth Stop and Search Monitoring Group
(This report sets out my individual views as an Member of the above groups but is not the
agreed view of the above groups)
Since around the early 1970’s a lack of public confidence in the police has
flourished, more so understandably amidst Black and Minority Ethnic
Communities. Currently the Mayor has determined that one of the main targets
within the MOPAC 7 (Mayors Office of Policing and Crime) Agenda aims to bring
about, by 2016, a twenty percent rise of public confidence in the Police.
The research conducted in this report specifically focuses on London as a whole
and looks constructively at some of the relevant issues raised amidst such a
diverse city proudly known for its wide ranging BME (Black and Minority Ethnic)
Communities. The report identifies strands of how the Police lose the public’s
confidence as well as proposing positive methodology in solutions to assist the
MOPAC 7 Agenda in bringing about the much needed improvements to public
confidence.
Notably the qualitative and quantitative determination of such a twenty percent
increase in public confidence remains questionable, as the most honest method
of statistical measurement eludes the Police. Recent media revelations regarding
fraudulent composition of Police statistics included the UK Statistics Authority
necessity to withdraw gold-standard status following “accumulating evidence” of
Police figures being unreliable despite composition of such figures dating back to
the 19th
century. To this, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary earlier this
year reported expectations of finding amongst England and Wales’ 43 police
forces “a degree of fiddling, some of it owing to dishonesty”.
This report concentrates on feedback received from large numbers of community
members spanning a variety of ages, in particular some of the harder to reach
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2. elements of those communities such as young people within the Somali, Muslim,
Sikh and Hindu communities where language and culture presents obvious
barriers to fuller engagement for its members.
What is stop and search?
Police powers of Stop and Search’ in the UK largely originate from statute law,
including The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984. These powers permit
an Officer conducting the Stop to search someone if the Officer has “reasonable
grounds” to suspect that a crime has been or is about to be committed. PACE has
eight codes (A-H) which cover a variety of issues from stopping someone in a
vehicle to detaining someone who is suspected of terrorism.
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3. Issue One
The phrase ‘reasonable grounds’ causes an issue for people who may wish to
challenge the grounds stated by the Officer/s conducting the Stop and Search.
Engagement for this report revealed a young man’s experiences as ‘four officers
in their police van drove past me in my car on the opposite side of the road. Five
minutes later they had spun the van around and were searching my car. Their
reason was because they had smelt weed. How the hell can they smell weed from
my car if they are in their van on the opposite side of the road and my windows
are closed?’
According to that young man this occurrence was not uncommon. He continued
‘They always do things like that just to waste your time and harass you. That’s
why no one likes them’.
That young man’s view, which was also agreed with amongst a group of his peers,
expresses the levels of distrust the group of young people have been left with
from their experiences of the Police. A recent youth report by the Metropolitan
Police Association found that 40% of young people were not confident in the
Police’s ability to meet their needs. This was further supported and highlighted
within a poll conducted by the Safer London Foundation. It found that 50% of
young people felt that the relationship between the police and young people was
negative.
Solution One
When considering how public relations between young people and the police
could be improved, 57% of the young people questioned felt that officers should
afford young people respect. One young lady said ‘Not all young people are
criminals or involved in crime, but we always get approached like we’re all in a
gang or some other rubbish. Even me as a girl keeps getting moved to by the
police because I wear baggy clothes and look a certain way’.
Research for this report suggests that police must illustrate that they know how
to properly approach and engage with young people without offending or
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4. oppressing young people as well as demonstrating the Police’s role as keepers of
the peace.
A solution would be improvements in training for Officers on how to best engage
with young people.
In line with this solution there was much support for the suggestion that the
training be delivered through collaboration with local organisations that are in a
better position to recognise particular and/or sensitive needs of the community’s
young people. Local organisations could also help to develop positive and
effective engagement with their community’s young people. This would help to
ensure that local issues, including geographic and borough or community based
issues were suitably factored into any police strategic and consultative
engagement exercises. A positive example of this could be the involvement of
local organisations from South London being contracted to work with young
people from South London instead of using organisations from further afield, thus
making it easier to acknowledge and tackle specific problems that young people
identify rather than dismissing or undervaluing those issues.
Also identified was a positive necessity that chosen organisations should work to
develop and maintain good strong working relationships between the police and
young people, the effects from which would continue to be built upon and
strengthened long after initial projects have established the ground work for such
continuance.
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5. Issue Two
Gathering research views for this report revealed that community members felt
that the police have comparative issues integrating with the communities they
serve. Amongst the views gathered there was the feeling that the Police are
considered to be ‘just a uniform’, ‘not reflective of the people they serve and not
even trying to be a part of the communities in which they work to police those
areas’.
Solution Two
This acknowledges the importance of Officers feeling that they are an integral
part of the communities in and around the proximities of their work and
essentially that there be active encouragement to help Officers develop a sense of
local pride in the communities they are serving. It was also felt equally important
that the local communities are guided and assisted to appreciate that the Police’s
work remains necessary for the good of all the diverse communities so as to
enable greater confidence in the intentions of the Officers whom community
members engage with as well as the ability of the Officers working in their
communities.
This could be achieved through different methods such as:
More community initiatives that involve local officers engaging with
Youths/ young people and with organisations benefiting older generations
as well as with young people at schools, youth clubs and similar. This will
allow young people, older members of different communities and local
Officers to become familiar with each other in neutral and safe
environments. This can also link in to Solution 1 (as detailed above).
Another example could include having local police officers visit schools and
young people populated clubs, dressed in casual clothes. This would be
done not to hide their identity as officers but rather to remove a potential
barrier from the engagement. They could also be involved in running
workshops around methods of expressing concerns and introducing a
solution focused dialogue. This would concentrate on how to move the
relationship between young people and officers forward.
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6. Community police must focus more on positive interaction with the public.
A number of people complained about the fact that they just ‘see’ officers
walking through their areas but have never had any interaction with them.
They felt that this caused them to see the officers just as a ‘uniform’
because they did not know the person. A small gesture such as a smile and
a ‘good morning’ could make all the difference according to some of the
participants. According to research conducted by the Metropolitan Police
Authority 23% of the contact people had with the police was a result of
being suspected of a crime and 18% was a result of Stop and Search.
Community groups such as the Neighborhood Panels and the Community
Police Consultative Group should be promoted as an avenue of support for
community members who may have an issue dealing with the police. This
may again help raise confidence in the police and promote transparency.
Less arrest-focused/ target-led policing. ‘Stop and Talk’ approach could be
introduced. This would involve the officer/s initially greeting young people
respectfully as well as typically harder-to-reach members of local
communities in an area and then working progressively towards having
regular informal conversations between them over a number of weeks. This
enables and encourages Officers to develop far more ‘no-conflict’ contact
with young people, enabling and encouraging the aim of changing
preconceived perceptions of each other. This solution may be more
workable and appropriate for Safer Neighborhood Teams where the
advantages of efforts made would be felt by families, entire communities
and the areas in which we all live, work and visit.
The Police working more closely with local grassroots organisations in order
to better understand the culture and impact of current issues or trends
which may be affecting areas and communities. It is important that officers
understand the cultural capital of their areas of operation which will allow
them to gain an understanding of the values of the community and what is
important and sacred to them.
Another method of gaining the public’s confidence would be to involve a
therapeutic aspect to policing. This would manifest itself in the approach
and handling of victims of crime. This could come in the form of advice in
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7. regards to insurance claims, information regarding compensation and other
issues which will affect the victim as a direct result of the crime they have
suffered. This would show the victim that in their time of need the police
were there to support them and help them get through. One young person
explained ‘When I was the victim of a shooting in 2008 the police attended
my hospital bed 3 times within the first 3 weeks of the incident happening.
When it became apparent that I did not see the assailant they disappeared.
This made me feel like I had done something wrong or was suspected of
something’.
This aspect of policing is extremely important but frequently forgotten;
however it is a vital part of rebuilding trust with communities while costing
nothing.
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8. Issue Three
The issue highlighted here by the young people who contributed to the focus
group was Police Accountability and the often misguided self-perceptions of
Officer’s accountability.
It was felt that the police too often demonstrated the use of ‘double standards’.
Comments expressed from the focus group include: ‘What should you do if a
police officer stops you for a fake reason or if an Officer assaults you or does
something else they’re not supposed to do? Report them to their friend that’s
sitting next to them while they’ve done it? No thanks. I’d rather keep it to myself.’
The young people felt that ‘complaining would cause greater issues for them in
the future’ and that once other Officers heard that the young people had
‘informed’ on their fellow Officers they would then be targeted by more of them’.
This is a huge issue in relation to building the confidence of young people towards
the Police.
Solution Three
Young people need to feel that Police Officers are accountable for their actions.
They also consider it important that there be accountability in relation to the
actions of other Police colleagues.
Methodology that could achieve this includes:
Behavior constituting Gross Misconduct committed by an Officer amidst
the presence or in close vicinity of fellow Police colleagues should lead to
the accompanying colleagues sharing relevant levels of practical
responsibility for the offending act of Gross Misconduct. This would deter
Police Officers from ‘turning a blind eye’ to colleagues’ wrong-doings and
would greatly assist young people to feel less isolated around issues of
unacceptable Police behaviour. It was felt that responsibility for continuous
improvements should be carried to a greater extent by the entire Police
Team around any individual Officer and that the Team should have to
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9. accept levels of accountable for wrong-doings of individual colleagues.
Examples of this methodology are known in Joint Enterprise working.
Reasonable suspicion means that there must be some basis for the officer’s
belief (that you have or are going to commit a crime), related to you
personally, which can be considered and evaluated by an objective third
person.
The term Reasonable Suspicion should be elaborated on publicly to allow
people to understand its use and to ensure more suitable use of the term.
This would enable younger people easier acceptance of its use as a valid
reason. More than 80% of the young people in the focus group who had
experienced a Stop and Search felt that the experience would have been
made easier had there been any credibility to the stated Reasonable
Grounds upon which the stop had taken place.
Young people must be taught about their Rights as well as how to
maneuver their concerns through the Police Complaints Procedure/s. If
young people are equipped with that knowledge then they will be more
confident in their engagement with Officers and vice versa. Similarly, Police
Officers may then be less likely to behave inappropriately in the knowledge
that concerns raised formally would receive more objective consideration.
Such training should be offered through local organisations that have
established a good rapport with the communities around them. This would
also enable the introduction of a suitable police presence such as from
Professional Standards Departments. This would afford young people
improved confidence to report their complaints through correct channels
and would also encourage greater overall belief in Police Accountability.
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10. Issue Four
Confidence in Police statistics has dropped to rock bottom due to current media
reports of ‘made up statistics’. Young people asked ‘How can we believe and trust
in a police service that cannot be trusted to publish the correct statistics? Also
‘what good are statistics that the public find too complicated to understand?’
Solution Four
This requires the Police Service to work closely with the Borough’s Stop and
Search Monitoring Network / Groups who are currently being given training by
MOPAC (Mayors Office of Policing and Crime) in order to assist them in
understanding the statistics that MOPAC currently produce. However, such
training makes little difference where the Police data for statistics are being
doctored. All the local Stop and Search Monitoring Groups should be doing
random spot checks of their Boroughs files on Stop and Search as well as viewing
available video footage (if the Borough is operating body worn cameras). It is
essential that the Police work closer with their Boroughs Professional Standards
leads to ensure that complaints are being dealt with in a professional and
courteous way which inspires the confidence of the public (this would again be in
line with the MOPAC 7 aim).
Taskforce Community Reference Group is a good example of this practice. At a
recent meeting the Group was presented with an anonimised (names and
addresses deleted) pack of a number of Stop and Search reports, chosen at
random, which had been written up by Officers. A large number of these were
marked ‘No Further Action’ (NFA). We were able to see what each Officer had felt
were ‘Reasonable Grounds’ and we gave our opinions on how the Stops could
have been improved.
We were also shown similar examples of completed complaints investigations
through a number of stages as well as the criteria used to assess them. There
would be merit in sharing such examples with suitable Community Groups who
work with young people to improve confidence in / transparency of the Police
complaints processes that many people still neither understand nor even know
exists. It remains commendable that the chair of this group, Commander Mark
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11. Bird, has shown courage in introducing this to the Taskforce Community
Reference Group and there is hope that more groups will follow this example.
Conclusion
A recent report published by the HMIC (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of
Constabulary) found that 27% (8, 783) of stop and search records showed a lack
of justifiable grounds for the stop to be made. It found that this was due to poor
understanding of the term ‘reasonable grounds’, poor supervision or an absence
of direction and oversight.
It was also found that half of the forces had no training in place for officers to
allow them to understand and appreciate the impact stop and search can have on
communities and less than half complied with the requirements set out in the
code of practice (PACE 1984) to put in place a procedure to allow the public to
scrutinize their stop and search records.
London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with around 40% of its 8
million residents being from the Black and Minority Ethnic communities and over
300 different languages being spoken.
The aim of this report was to engage members of the community to identify and
extract their views on how they feel about the police with an emphasis on
solution based dialogue.
Diversity is vital to gaining the trust and confidence of the police. Diversity in this
context refers to the application of appropriate, sensitive and sensible policing.
Speaking to Londoners we found that although people generally felt that the
colour/race of the officers didn't matter, they still felt that they would trust an
officer more if they understood the challenges affecting their culture and
community
Traditionally the police have been defined by their uniform rather than the
person behind the uniform, so by far the hardest challenge is to redefine the role
of the police and address the negative perceptions that exist.
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12. The start of this process is that the police represent the communities that they
are policing not just by increasing the membership of BME officers (which is vital)
but by also encouraging cultural literacy and best practice within the police
service
To conclude, the following is an extract from the findings of the HMIC’s report:
Stop and search powers: Are the police using them effectively and fairly.
‘Very few forces could demonstrate that use of stop and search powers was
based on an understanding of what works best to cut crime; and rarely was it
targeted at priority crimes in their areas. Forces had reduced the amount of
data
collected to reduce bureaucracy, but this had diminished their capability to
understand the impact of the use of stop and search powers on crime levels
and community confidence. Better use of technology could assist by providing
frontline officers with real-time information and the ability easily to record
information that could improve the use of the powers’
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13. References
1. Children’s experience and attitudes towards the police, personal safety and
public spaces: Findings from the 2009/10 British Crime Survey interviews
with children aged 10 to 15
2. Hoodie or Goodie, Victim Support, 2007
3. Listening and learning: improving support for victims in London, Victim
Support, 2012
4. It’s a fair cop? Police legitimacy, public cooperation, and crime reduction:
An interpretative evidence commentary by the National Policing
Improvement Agency and London School of Economics
5. HMIC Without fear or favour – a review of police relationships, 2010
6. After the riots: The final report of the Riots Communities and Victims Panel,
2012.
7. Seen and Heard – young people, policing and crime: An MPA report, 2008.
8. Independent Police Complaints Commission’s Confidence Report 2011
9. Seen and Heard – young people, policing and crime: An MPA report, 2008.
10.Children’s experience and attitudes towards the police, personal safety and
public spaces: Findings from the 2009/10 British Crime Survey interviews
with children aged 10 to 15.
11. section 39, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
12. https://www.gov.uk/police-powers-of-arrest-your-rights
13. http://www.hmic.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/crime-data-
integrity-interim-report.pdf
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