Week 2: Policing by consent
Introduction
The ‘style’ of policing said to be practised in Britain – largely unarmed, locally controlled and focused on community engagement – is sometimes described as ‘policing by consent’. It is seen to rest on centuries of tradition and broad popular acceptance of the police within society. Police officers are, in this view, merely ‘citizens in uniform’, doing what any reasonable person would do in their place. But this rosy view of public acceptance of the police has been called into question in recent decades. Emerging evidence indicates declining levels of trust in the police, perhaps to the extent that a British tradition of ‘policing by consent’ is in danger.
What are the historical roots of this complex issue? Is this a new problem, or something that the British police have contended with for decades?
Figure 1: A protestor holds a ‘Defund the Police’ placard during a demonstration outside Downing Street in October 2021. [Description: A photograph showing a group of protestors outside government buildings in London, with some wearing masks. A placard painted in large red letters reads ‘Defund the police’ Other protestors have climbed onto the window ledges and balustrades of the building in the background.] Source: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/protester-carries-a-placard-supporting-calls-to-defund-the-news-photo/1219014555?adppopup=true
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
- appreciate why the idea of ‘policing by consent’ is so important in Britain
- discuss the development of policing in Britain and the fluctuating levels of trust in the police historically
- understand how knowing about police legitimacy in the past is relevant to day-to-day policing and public debate today.
You’ll start, however, with an introductory video which outlines the issues the British police are grappling with and provides a brief overview of the history relevant to these complex present-day problems.
Video