10 Lessons from the past: manufacturing ‘policing by consent’
Figure 9: Dorset police run a ‘Meet your Local Police’ event as part of efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour (August, 2024) [Description: A photograph showing a smiling woman in a green tee-shirt taking a selfie with a uniformed male police officer in uniform and high visibility jacket. They stand beside a banner reading ‘Dorset Police; Meet your local police.’ A boy in a baseball cap stands beside them watching.] Source: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/dorset-police-pose-for-a-photo-with-members-of-the-public-news-photo/2165017194?adppopup=true
Looking at the history of ‘policing by consent’ can help answer two questions:
- Are declining levels of trust in the police really a new problem?
- What does history indicate about the factors which build/destroy legitimacy and consent?
You have learned that, for most of period since 1750, public acceptance of the police has been mixed at best. Both the introduction of the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and the roll out of other new forces to counties and boroughs, were slow and contested. The ‘New Police’ were often actively resisted (sometimes violently) by the working classes and other groups.
It was only at the end of the nineteenth century that a more peaceable ‘policed society’ developed. Arguably, only the period between c.1945 and 1965 has witnessed unambiguous ‘policing by consent’, and this was largely due to social factors outside the control of the police. Trust in the police declined from this high point but we should recognise that it is probably still higher today than at almost any historical juncture bar 1945–65.
The challenge of maintaining ‘policing by consent’ is a real one, but certainly not a new one. What can history tell us about manufacturing and sustaining legitimacy?
When the police in its modern form were being developed, the idea of ‘policing by consent’ had to be actively constructed. This was done rhetorically at first. Both politicians and police officials developed a dialogue of ‘the police as the public and the public as police’. History shows the need for a clear and consistent message reinforcing the importance of ‘policing by consent’.
Once a so-called ‘policed society’ existed - one in which the existence of the police (if not all aspects of their work) was generally accepted - history hints at what worked to reinforce or destroy legitimacy.
- Fairness (what is now called procedurally just tactics) is important. Respectful behaviour, giving suspects a chance to tell their side of the story etc, makes a measurable difference. Equal policing of all groups (not under- or over-policing any one group) and avoidance of the use of force wherever possible have also historically served to increase consent and trust.
- Professionalism: History shows that professional standards really matter. Corruption scandals, the improper use of force, ‘bending’ the rules of arrest, detention and interrogation, have historically had a disproportionate and long-lasting impact on trust.
- Representation: It is important that the police workforce is reflective of the society being policed – not just its demography but also its attitudes and opinions. Prevalent public views on important issues change over time. Police working culture tends to change more slowly. The net result of this is that policing priorities tend repeatedly to fall out of step with public expectations, damaging trust and legitimacy.
Many of the issues raised this week will be covered in more detail later in the course. Next week focuses on the historic policing of Black and Asian citizens, showing how the legitimacy of policing ‘by the people, for the people’ was called into question by police practices in the later twentieth century.