NCJ Number
82610
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1981) Pages: 3-8
Date Published
1981
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses two models of policing used in two very different high-crime urban areas in England; both areas are characterized by social disadvantage, high unemployment, and problems of 'transplant' populations.
Abstract
The first model was applied in Skelmersdale, a town near Liverpool with a population of about 40,000. The experimental scheme divides all available personnel at the constable and sergeant level into two groups: structured patrol and patrol support. Structured patrol has four area teams working on foot between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m. on a flexible basis, according to local needs for their services. Patrol support provides vehicle backup of 'response' services to the area teams on a normal shift system. The quality of police work has improved and public response is very favorable. The second policing model is in the Handsworth subdivision, an inner city area of Birmingham that has problems relating to immigrant settlement, unemployment, housing stress, crime, and disorder. Police-community relations have improved greatly in the last 3 years due to increased police contact with community leaders. Police have contributed to school programs collaborated with ethnic minorities in dealing with community problems, and have become involved in many of the community's social welfare programs. Policing models such as these suggest that even in high-risk urban areas during an economic recession, intelligent community-based policing strategies, showing a balance of reactive and proventive tactics appropriate to local needs, can do much to reduce crime. Both of these models point to the value of decentralizing decisionmaking and 'devolving' resources to create local 'patch' systems of crime control that are more responsive to local needs than are centralized systems. Four notes are included.