I do much more than police work. But if I don’t do it, who will?
The police have been accused of mission creep. Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, says the increase in police budgets in recent decades has had the effect of “crowding out” other professions, and police officers have adopted all manner of roles – “probation officer, social worker, schools liaison, disaster manager, event steward”.
Is this fair?
Slash police budgets – it will stop officers doing other people's jobs
Richard Garside
Read more
I have been a police officer since 1994 and there is no doubt that things changed dramatically when Tony Blair was elected prime minister in 1997.
Firstly, police started worrying about targets and value for money: subjects I had not experienced during my first three years’ service. Indeed, before 1998 a superintendent was a god-like figure you rarely saw or heard from unless something bad had happened. After 1998 superintendents became massively visible and were usually seen carrying some kind of spreadsheet. This was the birth of performance culture.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was also introduced, heralding a new dawn in partnership working. It became mandatory for all other statutory bodies, such as health and education, to consider crime reduction in their planning.
I was working as a neighbourhood beat constable at the time and witnessed for myself that this new arrangement was not without its problems. I found that it was almost always the police who were leading on initiatives or chairing the meetings. This wasn’t a case of crowding others out – we just simply couldn’t get anyone else to take charge of anything. There were notable exceptions, but generally it was the police in the driving seat.
Despite all of this there were some great achievements. Working alongside the council, local activists and community groups helped us to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. These results could not have been achieved without police work. Proper police work. Surveillance, enforcement, visible presence. Alongside this proper police work came planning meetings, school liaison, community meetings and working with and alongside social workers, council housing staff, drug workers, teachers and even town clerks. We learned from each other and worked as a team.
When I returned to neighbourhood work in 2004 and again in 2008 something was different. The relationships had not developed as I thought they would.
Most telling was the relationship I had with a council housing team in 2004. Here was a team of good, dedicated people who I fell out with spectacularly, after I stopped doing their work for them. They were constantly writing to the police asking for details of incidents of violence or anti-social behaviour and then asking police to support requests made by the tenants affected for a housing transfer. But they did nothing about the perpetrators.
Not only was correct procedure not being followed, but this was not really a matter for police involvement in the first place. The council had become almost reliant on the police to provide them with information and opinion before they would take (in my view, the wrong) action.
This is where I agree with Garside. There has become a reliance on the police to take action or responsibility. But this is not down to budgets, rather I believe it’s due to accountability. Despite the loud public voices decrying police lack of accountability, I cannot think of another British organisation subject to such intense and ongoing scrutiny.
Police have ended up developing specialist roles and functions – described by Garside as “mission creep” – because they keep being criticised for not doing more to protect someone. Often the police simply cannot say no, even when there is little legal basis for police involvement. There are ongoing investigations by the IPCC, for example, of where police have not responded to a “concern for welfare” of an individual.
More responsibilities for police staff and volunteers, says home secretary
Read more
I had a particularly busy late shift this week which involved no less than nine high-risk missing people (suicidal, of vulnerable age). I also reviewed just as many lower-risk missing people, authorised seven taser deployments (none fired but all in response to knives or other weapons) and considered three jobs which did not meet the criteria for armed deployment at all. All of this took place within six hours.
If we were to reduce the police budget would it lead to the utopia that Garside suggests, where other agencies might be better funded and therefore willing and able to undertake work instead of the police? That relies on the money taken off the police being reinvested directly into the other agencies. If that were to happen it might lead to better upstream intervention, greater community care and less crisis.
But the main flaw in the argument is that this isn’t going to happen. The money being taken off the police isn’t going to be reinvested in other public sector bodies – it just won’t be spent. All we will see is ever-increasing gaps which vulnerable people will fall through.
But what we won’t see is a lowering of the expectations of the police. Calum Steele, president of the Scotland Police Federation, has come up with a wonderful quote to sum this up: “Savings must be made – nothing must be cut.” Senior officers are now trying to start the debate on what it is the public expect, saying that with the budget cuts as forecast they will be unable to do everything they have traditionally done. The media and public have been outraged.
Garside is right that this is a situation only the government can sort out. The role of the police needs to be clearly identified, including what is not their role and whose it is instead. But that discussion shows no signs of coming from government. Rather than loosening the grip which has led the police to act as it does, government is strengthening the investigation and inspection regimes which scrutinise policing. This will lead to more defensiveness, risk avoidance and role creation.
This is an edited version of a blog originally published here by Nathan Constable, a pseudonym for a serving police officer
Sign up here for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic