Examining the nature and extent of public participation in neighbourhood policing

Abstract

Situated within the ‘New Localism’ agenda neighbourhood policing, a contemporary form of community policing operating in England and Wales, has sought to increase citizen participation in shaping the direction of local policing. Whilst public participation has been viewed as central for the operation of community policing by its advocates, others have been much more critical about what can be achieved. Concerns have been raised that participation has been low and ‘regressive’ rather than ‘progressive’ in its effect. Using binary logistic regression models constructed from Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly British Crime Survey) data, this study confirms that the majority of the population do not participate and demonstrates that awareness of and participation in neighbourhood policing are shaped by an interaction of factors related to demography, the life course, neighbourhood attachments, facets of social class, perceptions of crime and disorder and attitudes to the police. We conclude that while neighbourhood policing is likely to be consumed by the ‘usual suspects’, there is also evidence that neighbourhood policing does not have a wholly regressive effect.