RSS feed for Applying your community engagement skills

Introduction

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

This course is the last of 10 courses developed on the theme of community engagement. The courses cover a wide range of topics that should have equipped you with the ability to make good decisions when dealing with members of the public, especially in a community policing setting. This course brings all of these ideas together in one scenario. We strongly advise that you do not start this course until you have completed the other nine courses, which can be found here: Community engagement and policing.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

understand the practical tools and ideas in the set of courses on community engagement
improve your ability to assess the stakeholder needs of a wide community
apply skills to plan out and deliver communication with large numbers of engaged community members
make key decisions about how to tackle some tricky problems a community is facing
use data in a practical way to assess local crime figures
conduct research into the evidence base for a suggested police initiative
draw on what you’ve learned from the topics covered by the community engagement courses for use in your own setting.

1 Setting the scene

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

You are going to be presented with an unfolding scenario that uses the knowledge you have gained from completing the Community engagement and policing courses. You will start by first reading an initial description of a fictitious location we have called Sandford.

You take the role of a police officer who is working in a new and slightly challenging location who has to build relations with the local community and address the issues they are facing. As you read through the description try to relate the situation described to similar towns or cities near you.

Review the scenario carefully to understand the situation you are in. You may wish to take a few notes about some of the key features of the location.

Scenario: Sandford Town part 1

Sandford is a well-established large town that is currently enjoying a period of economic redevelopment and population growth after a long period of post-industrial economic decline. The area of Sandford we are concentrating on is a suburb on the edge of the town that is experiencing changes associated with the redevelopment process.

As an area of urban regeneration, old terraced housing is being cleared away for modern social housing developments. Most recently a modern block of flats has been built on behalf of a local housing association. The nearby university is also investing in new student accommodation in association with a private company who have built the student facilities. Other areas of the suburb are still ‘work-in-progress’. Next to the new block of flats is an area of cleared land which is awaiting new house building, where children have started to gather to play football and socialise. On the border of the wasteland is an uninhabited terraced street, in a state of disrepair, awaiting demolishment.

There is a community centre that is located in a 1970s-style shopping area that contains a small set of shops, including a GP practice, pharmacy and a mini-supermarket. There is a much larger supermarket a mile further down the road.

Figure 1 A local shopping area

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a small parade of shops positioned around a very small main square. There are around six visible units but there are probably more, but positioned out of shot. There is a middle-aged man walking through the parade and past a couple of benches.

Figure 1 A local shopping area

2 Sandford Town

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Continue reading through the scenario to understand the situation you are in. You may wish to make a few notes about some of the key features of the location.

Scenario: Sandford Town part 2

One of the first residents of the flats that replaced the terraced houses is a heroin user, which is not known by the landlord. As a vulnerable person, his dealer takes over the property to sell heroin and crack in return for a small supply to the tenant. His drug dealing attracts drug users who come to the flat at all hours to buy their drugs.

Heroin and crack users look for safe secluded locations near their supply and soon break into the derelict houses to take the drugs. They also need a constant source of cash, maybe around £200 a day for heavy users. The area around the dealer, roughly a space of one mile radius, gradually becomes subject to an increase in serious crime. This includes muggings, burglary, carjacking, serious assaults as well as an increase in offences such as shoplifting and theft from motor vehicles. Students become frequent victims of robbery passing through the area as they are seen as soft targets often carrying items such as laptops and mobile phones.

Figure 2 Serious crime is on the increase

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a person wearing a balaclava breaking into a property with a crowbar.

Figure 2 Serious crime is on the increase

Alongside crime, Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) becomes an increasing problem in the immediate area and complaints to the council and local police increase. The wasteland area becomes covered in litter including drugs paraphernalia discarded by users, some of which is hazardous to health, especially curious children. A high volume of unknown visitors to the block of flats has been noticed by other residents who report it to the landlord.

Inevitable interactions occur between users crossing the waste area and children there resulting in altercations and violence. Drug and alcohol abuse often come hand in hand resulting in an increase in drug/drink driving in and around the area.

Some users sleep rough in the derelict houses causing them to become a health hazard due to increased structural damage, human refuse and drug paraphernalia. Inquisitive children are put at great risk if they go exploring in the houses.

Figure 3 Derelict buildings

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a derelict building, perhaps a factory, taken at night. The building is located alongside a small river and its reflection can be seen in the water.

Figure 3 Derelict buildings

Considerations

Children may often be seen as the source of ASB in an area but in this scenario they are potentially the biggest victims. At the beginning of the scenario the cause of the problems is unseen and unknown but will become increasing clear as things deteriorate.

Tackling this scenario would need a multi-agency approach between the police, council, housing executive/association, probation, drugs workers and any other stakeholders.

Possible remedies

securing the derelict properties, thorough cleaning of wasteland
crime prevention advice tailored to residents and students (target hardening)
crime prevention advice to children educating them about drugs paraphernalia etc. and the hazards around derelict properties
police enforcement around the drug dealer/users and support for the vulnerable tenant
crack house closure (England and Wales) under ASBO legislation.

3 Collaborative problem solving

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

This section tests your knowledge of the course Collaborative problem solving for community safety. You may wish to refresh your memory of the course content .

Figure 4 Community meeting

Show description|Hide description

A photograph showing a number of people sitting down facing a stage with their backs to camera. The stage is in the background. One person has his arm raised to ask a question.

Figure 4 Community meeting

In Week 2 of Collaborative problem solving for community safety you were introduced to a number of key tools for exploring and analysing stakeholders. You were also introduced to the Brixton Splash case study and considered how these tools might be applied.

These tools included:

1. Mapping primary and secondary stakeholders.

Primary stakeholders: individuals and groups that have a direct, specific interest in how community policing is run, its mission, its effectiveness and other day-to-day issues.
Secondary stakeholders: those who may also have an interest in the community policing but perhaps not as directly or as specifically as primary stakeholders.

2. Evaluating and mapping stakeholder power and interest using the power/interest grid.

3.1 Applying this to Sandford Town scenario

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Now place yourself in the scenario. Imagine that you are new to the district and need to quickly get up to speed on the local issues and perspectives. You have decided that you need to understand the key stakeholders and their needs.

How would you do it? Is there a structured or methodical approach you should take?

Activity 1 Primary and secondary stakeholders

Make a list of the primary and secondary stakeholders you can see in the scenario.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Understanding communities and community stakeholders is key. In many ways the stakeholders in scenarios such as this are obvious: there are the local residents and residents’ associations, local politicians, government agencies providing social supports to the community, local third sector organisations providing support to the local community as well as many others. In undertaking an exercise such as this, however, you should also consider the less obvious stakeholders. These might be local shop owners who have to deal with various challenges caused by anti-social behaviour, rubbish and waste collection services who might have to collect refuse containing used syringes and other paraphernalia, or even the local media and newspapers.

The logical ‘next step’ after identifying key stakeholders is to analyse them in terms of their attitudes and perspectives. This can help to provide additional, meaningful insights and supports a clearer understanding of how you might engage with them.

Activity 2 Power and interest

Having identified both primary and secondary stakeholders, you should now attempt to map them based on their relative levels of power and interest.

The diagram below maps out the type of analysis you may have come up with. You should reflect on what this tells you about the current situation.

View larger image

Figure 5 Power and interest of stakeholders matrix (Source: adapted from Johnson and Scholes, 1999)

Show description|Hide description

Two columns with a heading labelled ‘Level of interest’

Two subheadings labelled ‘Low’ and ‘High’

Listed under ‘Low’ is: ‘e.g general public’ and ‘e.g policy makers’.

Listed under ‘High’ is: ‘e.g service users, staff (often)’ and ‘e.g funders, members’

Two rows with a heading labelled ‘Power’

Two subheadings labelled ‘Low’ and ‘High’

Listed Under ‘Low’ is: ‘e.g. general public’ and ‘e.g. service users, staff (often)’

Listed Under ‘High’ is: ‘e.g. policy makers’ and ‘e.g. funders, members’.

Figure 5 Power and interest of stakeholders matrix (Source: adapted from Johnson and Scholes, 1999)

3.2 Your own application of stakeholder analysis

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

This type of stakeholder mapping can be useful for thinking about how you might engage with the different stakeholders in your community role, whether that be in a service organisation like policing, emergency response, health or social care, or as an active member of community groups like the parish council or Neighbourhood Watch.

In general, most ordinary members of the community are low power/low interest, but by studying this course you are perhaps indicating that you have a higher interest. If you are an employee or volunteer in a community-based organisation/service, it is likely that you will be low power/high interest, but if you are in a locally elected role your power will tend to be higher.

If you are in a senior role in an organisation with a branch in the community, or are involved in national policy making which affects communities, you are likely to be high power/low interest. If you also live in a community affected by policy decisions you may face a conflict of interests.

3.3 Taking stakeholder analysis further

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

So far you have used one of the most common frameworks when assessing stakeholders. There are many more ways to both analyse stakeholders and also use the information it generates. One of the ways in which stakeholder analysis can be used is to understand how stakeholders are affected by change.

Activity 3 Organisational change

This interview with Dr Paul Walley highlights how he has previously assessed stakeholders when working on projects that involve organisational change.

Watch the interview and then reflect on how this approach might be used to think about the scenario.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video: Paul Walley

Video: Paul Walley

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Video: Paul Walley

PAUL WALLEY

So I’m Paul Walley. I'm the Director of Learning for the Centre for Policing Research and Learning.

QUESTION

What first got you involved or interested in stakeholder management?

PAUL WALLEY

My interest is first provoked when I reviewed the progress of an IT project. The project didn’t seem to be going very well. And it became apparent quite quickly that one of the main issues was that of managing the stakeholders in the project.

Their failure to engage the stakeholders has had a significant detrimental impact on the progress and outcome of the IT project they’ve been managing.

QUESTION

Was addressing this problem about looking at the user requirements of the IT project?

PAUL WALLEY

Initially, the technical spec and the user requirements was very much part of the problem.

The project team had not looked at user requirements, and so the specification for the system was incorrectly defined. However, the additional oversight was how the stakeholders were engaged at any level in the inevitable organisation change that had to take place. It was as much about working with the stakeholders on the change process as the technical spec

QUESTION

Would these insights also apply outside of IT to a wider set of issues?

PAUL WALLEY

Yes, it’s of immense value in any situation where there are stakeholders. But people don't often see how political or sensitive these issues are in many of the situations that they’re in. In the course, we’re looking at stakeholders where an economic development of a local community is taking place, how things should be done and what problems should be solved.

Even where people agree on what actions should take place, there will be winners and losers with any change that occurs. Even where people agree on what actions should take place, there will be winners and losers as change occurs. Some people may support what's happening, but may be inconvenienced by this. Others will be dead against the change and others will be supportive and can't understand why anyone resists.

QUESTION

How would you recommend people look at stakeholders in a different way?

PAUL WALLEY

Once you think you’ve got all your stakeholders involved and defined, you should understand the extent to which they have both positive and negative emotions for what is being done. Don’t overlook the fact that people can have both positive and negative emotions at the same time. And these give you an insight into their attitudes towards what you’re doing.

You should identify I think four key groups. There are the people who are inconvenienced most and benefit the least. And they will rationally resist you or try to obstruct you in trying to achieve what you’re doing.

There are people who have little or no interest in what you’re doing or some very slight negative emotions. And these people won't obstruct you. But they’ll just be very difficult to engage. The people who can’t see anything bad in what is happening, and perhaps really benefit from the changes that are taking place,

they’ll support the change, but they’re not very good at bringing others on board with the changes because they can’t really explain some of the negative sides. And so they can't see some of the sensitive issues that other people can see.

And then finally, there are some people who can see both sides of any contentious issues. They’re really good at engaging in debate and engaging others. So they carry a lot of hidden influence. These are the people you should harness to bring other people who might be wavering into supporting what you’re trying to achieve.

QUESTION

You mention rational resistance to change. Is that how you see it?

PAUL WALLEY

Yes, don’t see resistance to change as an entirely negative consequence. In fact, you should often learn from resistance to change to guide your approach to stakeholders. Are you communicating well enough with people? Because that can engender resistance in itself. Are the right ideas being implemented? Don’t forget you can actually be wrong in what you’re trying to do, and some people might have a good insight into better ways to do things.

Are people being negatively affected in ways that nobody understands? Have you understood some of their concerns? Or is it that really it's not exactly resistance, but simply response to change? And do you need to give people more time to make some of the adjustments?

End transcript: Video: Paul Walley

Download

Video: Paul Walley

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

From the interview there are two main points to consider:

Your stakeholders may have very diverse needs and won’t always agree on what needs to be done. Part of the task sometimes is to be able to reconcile different views or needs.
The stakeholder analysis provides some good information about how people may respond to change and how they may need to be engaged.

4 Use of data

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Over the weekend a number of the shops in the precinct suffered minor damage, such as broken windows. One newsagent reports that someone had tried to gain access via the front door, possibly targeting the cigarettes behind the counter, but the attempt failed. This has led to local business owners contacting local councillors to complain about the repeated problems. The general message has been that ‘the situation seems to be getting worse and other areas don’t have these problems’.

As a consequence, you have been invited to attend a forthcoming community meeting involving local councillors and business leaders who wish to discuss their views about increasing crime. You need to be armed with some of the latest data to objectively study what is going on.

The following interactive allows you to look at general crime patterns across your area.

Activity 4 Identifying crime data patterns

Part A

Follow steps 1–3 and input all the information requested. Then answer the questions.

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Step 1: Select the date range September 2016 to January 2021.
Step 2: Select the crime ‘Anti-social behaviour’
Step 3: Select your police region, e.g. Police Service of Northern Ireland

i.What patterns and trends do you see in your graph? Think about the crime pattern over the past two and a half years (has it gone up or down), and seasonal patterns.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Comment

The data shows that reports of anti-social behaviour generally varied between 4,000 and 6,000 incidents per month across the force as a whole. Although the data appears to be cyclical there isn’t a clear time-of-year seasonality as some of the peaks are in summer and others in spring or winter, so there aren’t too many obvious conclusions about causes. The obvious spike occurs in late 2019-early 2020 and there is a clear underlying potential cause.

ii.Now return to the interactive and add another force to the data set. (Pick any you think may offer some similar characteristics). Compare patterns of anti-social behaviour. Are they similar?

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Comment

In the example above, it is remarkable that the data shows some apparent similarities, with the same spike in incidents from late 2019. In the case of South Wales the spike was just as high (and as a proportion, it was worse) but the peak did not last as long and incidents fell quickly. In such a case it would be worth asking if there were any differences in police or community reactions to the demand spike.

Assessing other offences

The same interactive can be used to assess patterns for other policing demand and activity. You may wish to look at a few other types of crime.

Are there any crimes where the general pattern is decreasing significantly?

The following table lists those with clear patterns, with the caveat that some of the recent changes may have been affected by COVID-19 lockdowns and changes in patterns of home occupancy created by working from home (Northern Ireland data).

Increasing crime rates	Decreasing crime rates
Drug offences	Burglary
Violence and sexual offences	‘Other’ theft
	Robbery
	Shoplifting
	Theft from person
	Vehicle crime

Other sources of data

There are also opportunities to look at local postcode crime patterns, should you wish to do so.

What message will you give to the community and business leaders based on this data?

Your message based on the above data shows general decreases in many crime patterns but some spikes in anti-social behaviour. If you chose to look at crime patterns based around postcodes you may find some variations. Where a general trend is down but a local trend is up then you need to look at possible explanations for the differences. In this scenario could it be that the local situation is worse because of an urgent need to improve the areas waiting for redevelopment? Is there evidence here that derelict sites are creating opportunities for more anti-social behaviour?

5 Sure, I know how to talk to people

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

After several months of hard work by all community stakeholders, the local residents’ association has called a meeting to discuss progress on key initiatives. They are keen to get some updates from the police on developments in recent months, steps the police have taken to combat anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood and plans for the coming months.

The meeting is open to all interested members of the local community and it is expected that there will be a strong turnout. This will likely include representatives from a range of community organisations, each with their own perspective on the challenges faced and potential solutions.

Figure 6 Anti-social behaviour can take many forms

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a large group of young people. Most are wearing dark clothing and have their hoods up.

Figure 6 Anti-social behaviour can take many forms

In your role as community liaison, you have been asked to lead the presentation for the police and to respond to any questions which might emerge.

You know the data and you’re comfortable talking about statistics and specific measures taken by the police. However, you are conscious that you will need to tailor your presentation to meet the needs of the audience and to ensure that your key points are communicated effectively.

Activity 5 Adaptive and maladaptive behaviours

In Sure, I know how to talk to people!, you learned about the Interpersonal Circle.

Revisit your learnings from that course and note down some examples of adaptive and maladaptive behaviours you might expect to encounter at a community meeting.

Using the insights from the interpersonal circle, make some brief notes on how you might respond to those behaviours.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

As discussed in Sure, I know how to talk to people! the interpersonal circle – also known as the interpersonal circumplex or interpersonal wheel – is a psychological tool that helps explain why we experience various reactions when engaging with people.

Interpersonal plotting tool

Active content not displayed. This content requires JavaScript to be enabled.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

While it is important to think about various adaptive and maladaptive behaviours and your responses to them, the real value of the interpersonal circle is felt when you are able to consider how you might response to real people in real situations. The following activity asks you to do just that.

Activity 6 Reflecting on the needs of the community

Drawing on the challenges outlined both in the main scenario and above, your task is to reflect on the communication needs of three members of the local community. Specifically:

A public representative
A concerned parent with young children who often play in the wasteland area
An elderly resident who is nervous to walk to the shop to pick up necessary food items.

For each you should make some notes on:

Their preferred mode of communication.
How you might need to tailor a message to their particular needs.
What barriers to communication might you expect to encounter.
The steps you might take to overcome these.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

In undertaking this activity you will inevitably find both consistent themes and vital differences between your approach to communicating with different people. These will likely be driven by your relationship to that person as well as by an understanding of their communication needs. Ultimately, successful communication relies on engaging with and understanding others, so taking the time to do so is key.

6 Empowering communities

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

For years now the local community centre has been a hub of the community. The centre regularly hosts all sorts of meetings and events, from parent and toddler groups to active retirees. It has also recently been used by members of new communities in the area to gather and host cultural events. These events are always well attended and underline the Community Centre’s place as an open and welcoming environment at the heart of the community.

Of late, however, the community centre has been attracting the wrong kind of attention. Anti-social behaviour has been spilling over from the nearby shops, particularly late at night. On a number of occasions the alarm has been activated by people trying to break into the centre, though thankfully these attempts have not been successful. It has also become more and more common for used syringes to be found in the doorway to the centre when people arrive in the mornings.

Figure 7 Drug use

Show description|Hide description

A close up of a man in a public place smoking drugs. His face is partially concealed by the cap he’s wearing.

Figure 7 Drug use

Leading members of the community are keen to take some appropriate action, but they are really at a loss as to what to do in order to make a positive, lasting impact on the situation. In simple terms, they are unsure what they can do and also unsure whether they have authority to do anything to help improve the situation.

They have now turned to you as a trusted member of the community for support and guidance.

Activity 7 Residents’ association meeting

You have been asked to address the next meeting of the residents’ association which is due to take place at the community centre. The chair of the residents’ association has asked if you might draw upon your own experience working in the community to provide some insights into how the community can be empowered to more effectively deal with crime and anti-social behaviour.

In preparing this you should refer back to the Empowering communities course to inform your thinking. You should also spend some time reviewing and considering the comments made in the following clip by Jane Roberts, previously Leader of Camden Borough Council in London.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video: Jane Roberts

Video: Jane Roberts

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Video: Jane Roberts

QUESTION

Could you start by telling us your name and background?

JANE ROBERTS

My name is Jane Roberts. My background is a bit hybrid, so my professional background, I’m a medical doctor I specialised in child psychiatry, and I was a hospital consultant for many years. In parallel, I also pursued a career in elected local politics, so I was a councillor for many years from 1990 until 2006 in Camden in London.

And for nearly six years at that time, latterly I was leader of the council, and that was a period in which we actually thought quite a lot about anti-social behaviour at the time, but then more recently, I’ve gone more into academia.

I pursued some research with Professor Jean Hartley first at Warwick and then at the Open University. And so in the last few years, I’ve been doing more in terms of academia and social sciences, as well as taking up a range of non-executive roles.

QUESTION

How would you define or understand anti-social behaviour?

JANE ROBERTS

When people talk about anti-social behaviour they automatically pivot to a young teenager who’s causing mayhem in the neighbourhood, and that is an issue, don’t get me wrong. But actually I think anti-social behaviour should be thought over much more broadly, and I can give you some specific examples.

But actually, the time at which I was most involved was around the early 2000s, and there was an act, there was legislation at that time with regard to anti-social behaviour in 2003, and that talked about anti-social behaviour as being anything that was committed by a person that caused alarm, distress, or harassment to a person who is not of the same household.

And I was interested to see that understanding of the meaning of anti-social behaviour was repeated in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011. It seems to me pretty good. So why I say that is because certainly from my experience in Camden, two experiences really, I mean, we took out anti-social behaviour order, ASBOs, as they were called.

And I’ve got quite a lot of reflections on ASBOs. The first we took out was against a barista, and another we took out was against the multinational corporation Sony. So we did take out some anti-social behaviour orders on young men, young lads, really, but I do think it’s important to frame it much more widely than that.

QUESTION

How can local communities best address issues they face?

JANE ROBERTS

Well, I think these issues are often easy to describe, and I think – but I do think it requires a range of people to come together and to work collaboratively in order to really make a difference on the ground. And I’m thinking about local communities that’s individuals say in a street, on a housing estate that come together either within formal structures, whether it's an association, tenants association, whether it’s just a group of like-minded people who are fed up with whatever’s going on.

I think the local authority is absolutely key in all of this, and health organisations are really important as well. Policing, and I’ve been more involved in research and policing in later years, ideally, should be further downstream.

And I suppose that’s the other thing I’d say is I think you’ve got to look really very widely at the sort of spectrum of interventions very far upstream, which I think includes things like really good provision for early years where you look at the quality of the provision that you have, sure staff for example, I think was a fantastic way of bringing communities together actually as well as providing both child care and assistance and thinking, reflection about parenting.

And actually all the studies that have been done by people like the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the IFS, subsequently in the long term have shown their impact over the longer term. So lots of upstream things that local authorities working with others are in a position to do from a preventative point of view, youth clubs are the easy bit, and actually it’s not just youth clubs, it's a range of activities that you can do, which is very much tailored to local communities.

And then way back downstream, there are all sorts of things that you can do with regard to tackling it in the immediate. So I think I think it’s both a very wide spectrum of where you tackle anti-social behaviour, and I think it’s a wide group of people and stakeholders who need to be involved.

But I think the key ones are individuals and local communities together with their local councillors within a broader policy framework that the council should have, and then from a policing point of view, I think it’s the PCSOs and the neighbourhood police that are really, really important in all of this.

And with everything, it’s about how well do you know local people, individuals, and groups. What’s the extent to which there's proper interchange? You get to understand each other, you get to understand where you're coming from, you develop relationships such that you cooperate, that you've got some trust, and that all takes a period of time. You need continuity.

So nothing is worse actually than having, I don't know, so for example, in some parts of the country, the private rented sector is quite significant, and therefore you often get a faster turnover of people. You can often get quite a fast turnover and policing people in a local counsel, and actually as with anything, you really need to develop trusting relationships in a local patch over a period of time.

Now that’s not very specific, but actually you’re not going to get anywhere unless you've really got that sort of series of local communities and communities in place.

QUESTION

How important are considerations of justice and fairness for communities when addressing local issues?

JANE ROBERTS

Oh, I think fairness is deeply ingrained, actually. I think it’s deeply ingrained. I mean, it goes from noisy neighbours, and I would not underestimate, and I’m very persuaded of this, actually from my own personal experience, but also as a local councillor. I’m very persuaded of the distress, the immense distress that is brought about by noisy neighbours.

It’s miserable for people, and I think actually the most important thing is that people take all of this seriously. It’s very easy, particularly when resources are constrained as you go for the big ticket, easy items to crack, and at times, anti-social behaviour and the distress it causes people. It’s regarded by some, certainly not me, as it can be low level, lower importance, and yet the distress it causes to people is profound.

Noisy neighbours, noise in the street, next to a pub which just has lots of brawls at closing time, really people causing real disruption to the local realm. As hard as people try to look after where they live, it gets trashed. It causes real distress to people.

QUESTION

What role should local councils and authorities play in supporting communities to address their challenges?

JANE ROBERTS

Not least because of my local government background, I think local government is absolutely crucial here in two ways. One at a sort of a larger policy framework, having proper policy framework in place across the council, in terms of understanding what we mean by anti-social behaviour, taking it seriously, and having dedicated resources in place in order to tackle it. That's the overall policy framework.

But then I think ward councillors are really, really important here, and actually that can be replicated. I’ve never worked in parish councils or town councils, but we are talking hyperlocal here, and some of these issues, you do need the hyperlocal, albeit within a wider strategic framework.

And then as we found in Camden in the early 2000s, having that national legislation to back it up, so you’ve got – and working very closely with the police. We had good relationships with the police at a more strategic level in the borough, but also down in neighbourhood teams at all those different levels.

So you’re working together in order to tackle it effectively, and it’s tricky because even though I’m not involved at a local government elected level now, I know that my local council Camden as many others has had its budgets essentially cut by around 50%. Now that’s tricky.

When most of your budget will go on understandably safeguarding child protection and older people’s social care, then it is tricky. And I'm sympathetic. I’m sympathetic, but I really hate it. I think anti-social behaviour is a real bane of some people's life, and it's really important that it’s taken seriously with proper thinking and resources in place to tackle it effectively.

QUESTION

How can policing bodies better support local communities?

JANE ROBERTS

So I think you have got to have police really connected at a local level. Sometimes I worry that I think there’s quite an interchange of police personnel at a neighbourhood level, and we know that neighbourhood policing in many places has been cut back. I know there’s been a contention, neighbourhood policing doesn’t cut crime, but actually it does cut the fear of crime.

There is something about going back to me saying building capital with your local police, neighbourhood police. So they know who you are. You know who they are. That actually is really, really important, and you need some continuity there. So I think personally, I think neighbourhood policing is important. Clearly, it’s got to be balanced against all the many other activities that the police have to be involved in.

They get to know their patch, essentially. They get to know the local councillors because otherwise you just go around in circles, doing the same thing, and everybody passes the buck to somebody else, and nothing actually happens. So I think at a hyper local level, they’re very important. I think at a borough commander or chief constable level working with a local authority.

Again, you’ve got to have the policy frameworks in place, and the resources. So you have a team. You have a team, the local authority working closely in conjunction with perhaps even under dual management. It doesn’t matter what the management arrangements are, but you have a structure in place that you work collaboratively and you’re working to the same agenda, and people get to know one another, and they get to know people on the ground.

End transcript: Video: Jane Roberts

Download

Video: Jane Roberts

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Reflect on the interview. How do the interview answers help guide your preparation.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Jane Roberts shares her insights into some of the challenges and opportunities of empowering communities. Jane particularly highlights the importance of communities being given the opportunity to take ownership of their local challenges, though with the support and engagement of relevant authorities. In her discussion of ASBOs, Jane also highlights the important role that local authorities can play in putting in place structured responses to issues that might emerge locally, in a way that individual residents or even groups of residents might not be able to do.

7 Justice, fairness and mediation

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Despite several months of concerted effort by police and social workers, It is becoming increasingly apparent that the drug problem both in the flats and on the street is worsening. More and more people are coming into the area looking to buy drugs and seeking out places to inject. This is leading to greater levels of anti-social behaviour and increased risk for vulnerable people living locally, including both the young and the elderly.

Figure 8 The sight of people sleeping rough or under the influence of narcotics can be quite scary for vulnerable members of the community

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a man lying across a public bench, on his back. He appears to be sleeping or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Figure 8 The sight of people sleeping rough or under the influence of narcotics can be quite scary for vulnerable members of the community

During a recent fight, the doors at the entrance to the flat complex were kicked in and a brick was thrown through a window. As the fight was caught on CCTV, both the police and local community leaders know who was involved in the fight and was responsible for the damage caused. The primary culprits were local youths who have recently become involved with some low-level criminality, including street dealing.

The local residents have had enough and are demanding that action is taken. As a local police officer they are looking to you to take the lead and bring the full rigours of the law to bear, ensuring not only that justice is done, but also that it is seen to be done. But what kind of justice?

Figure 9 The local environment has become blighted by anti-social behaviour

Show description|Hide description

A photograph of a walkway which is littered with rubbish and debris.

Figure 9 The local environment has become blighted by anti-social behaviour

While most people are familiar with the idea of legal sanctions applied through the courts, there are of course other ways to approach justice. In the course Justice, fairness and mediation you were introduced to a range of forms of justice. These included:

Restorative justice
Alternative dispute resolution
Mediation

Activity 8 Forms of justice: advantages and disadvantages

Reflect on the situation outlined, or similar situations you may have been involved with.

Based on both your experience and what you learned in the Justice, fairness and mediation course, list the advantages, disadvantages and potential impacts of each of the three forms of justice discussed.

You should try to consider each not just from your own perspective, but also from the perspective of the community members directly impacted by the anti-social behaviour described.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

8 Engaging with children and young people

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

During a regular, scheduled meeting with the head of a local school you are asked your thoughts on some of the key vulnerabilities of young people and how they can be dealt with effectively. The school is relatively close to the flats and its pupils include children who live in the flats and so are exposed to drug dealing and anti-social behaviour on a daily basis. Their parents are not happy about this, but they feel that there is very little they can do about the situation without risking a confrontation with the dealers in the area.

The head was very interested in what you had to say about vulnerability and suggested that it would be great if you could attend a forthcoming meeting of the school’s parents’ association to share your thoughts. As is highlighted in the scenario, while children may often be seen as the source of anti-social behaviour, they are potentially the biggest victims.

In particular, the head is keen that you might outline some thoughts on:

steps to better engage with children and young people, and
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) particularly, how these can be recognised and managed

After discussing this with your superintendent you have been authorised to go ahead and present on these two topics at the next parents’ association meeting.

Activity 9 Adapting style and tone

1. You should first review the Engaging with children and young people course and test your knowledge by answering the following true/false questions:

True

False

The correct answer is a.

False

True

The correct answer is a.

True

False

The correct answer is a.

True

False

The correct answer is b.

True

False

The correct answer is a.

2. You should develop a short presentation summarising key points on both engaging with children and young people more broadly and also ways that ACES can be recognised and managed. You may wish to present this to your colleagues once complete to support their learning.

9 Step up to leadership

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

It is a fairly ordinary Monday afternoon. For a change you had Sunday off and spent a relaxing time with your family, thinking about anything but anti-social behaviour. As you walk your regular beat with a colleague a woman comes running out of a nearby house and starts yelling at you to come and help. You have met the woman before and know that she is normally quite calm and relaxed, so you know immediately that something serious must be happening.

As you approach her she explains in a loud and agitated voice that a group of teenagers from outside the area have been hanging around and drinking in the laneway behind her house. At first she ignored them hoping that they would just go away, but they have now started fighting and bottles have been thrown at people’s houses, including hers.

While your colleague attempts to calm down the local resident, you take a moment to reflect on the situation and think about the best course of action. Your first response is to contact the station and ask your supervising officer for guidance on what to do and how best to handle the situation, however, the distress shown by the woman (not to mention the loud yelling coming from the back of the house) makes it clear to you that more immediate action is needed.

Activity 10 What makes a good leader in policing?

In Step up to leadership, Constable Michael Allen of the PSNI discusses what both good and bad leaders in policing do, and how people can step up and become better leaders.

Drawing on the insights shared by Constable Allen, reflect on the situation described above along with the broader case study and make notes on the following questions:

What could you do to ‘step up to leadership’ in this situation?
How would you work with your colleagues to demonstrate leadership in this situation?
How would you demonstrate effective leadership to the local community members in this situation?

Having reflected, spend a few moments summarising the implications for your leadership, most particularly in challenging situations.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Leadership in any context can take many forms, and this is just as true in policing as elsewhere. A key theme developed during the Step up to leadership course is the need for police at all levels to do exactly that – step up to leadership. Rather than being a trait or behaviour possessed by just a few, stepping up to leadership in a policing context can be understood as an attitude that anyone can develop.

Importantly, being a good leader in policing involves recognising the needs and concerns of a wide range of very diverse stakeholders and addressing those wherever possible. This does not mean simply trying to keep everyone happy, but it does imply that leadership in policing involves recognising stakeholders, understanding their challenges and needs, and involving them in decisions that impact them to the greatest extent possible.

10 Evidence-based policing

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

This section focuses on evidence-based policing, framed around a typical conversation between three concerned members of the community.

At a local café one morning you overhear the following conversation between three members of the local community:

CONCERNED CITIZEN 1

‘We need to do something, we cannot just let things run on like this. I am just fed up of all the crime and anti-social behaviour. It is ruining what used to be a lovely place to raise a family!’

CONCERNED CITIZEN 2

‘Well, in America they do things completely differently. They don’t tolerate any of this rubbish. Why don’t we follow their lead? We need to be much stricter and really show these louts the consequences of their actions.’

CONCERNED CITIZEN 1

‘Yeah, but that’s America… and what evidence do we have that the same techniques would work here?’

CONCERNED CITIZEN 2

‘Have you ever heard of ‘Scared Straight’? They take young offenders into prisons and show them what the future holds for them if they don’t just smarten up and get their act together. That’s what we need to do… some real discipline!’

CONCERNED CITIZEN 3

‘Mmm, I’m not so sure… And what evidence do we have that it even works in America… it is all well and good to see something on a crime drama on TV, but we live in the real world and are dealing with real-world problems! We all want things to be sorted around here, but we need to do it properly! We definitely do not want to make things worse.’

New ideas about policing and approaches to dealing with challenging situations emerge all the time. While there is a real benefit to home-grown innovation, it is also important to learn from the experience of other police forces around the world. What have they done that has worked? What have they done that has not worked? And why? As Concerned Citizen 3 highlights above, what works in one place – in this case, America – might not work elsewhere due to a range of factors: social, historical, economic and legal amongst other things.

Moreover, how do we even know that they really work so effectively in other contexts? New crime reduction initiatives might appear effective at first and might grab the headlines, but the reality is that it can take years before we really know the full impact and whether new approaches are really so effective.

A prime example, highlighted by Concerned Citizen 2, is ‘Scared Straight’. This was a high profile intervention which involved bringing young offenders and also those at risk of offending into prisons to meet people who had ended up in a life of crime. The idea is quite simple – seductively so… expose young people to the harsh realities to a life behind bars and they will, so the thinking goes, be ‘scared straight’. The reality, however, is quite different: extensive research has shown not only that Scared Straight programmes do not work to nudge young people away from a life of crime and criminality, they actually make things worse (Wilson, 2011).

So, what might on the surface seem like a great, common-sense idea can actually have the opposite effect. But how can you tell? And where might you get evidence from?

Activity 11 Benefits and challenges

Drawing on the insights shared by Constable Allen, reflect on the situation described above and the broader case study, making notes on the following areas:

The evidence-based benefits.
The evidence-based challenges.
Your conclusions on whether it would help the community deal with the anti-social behaviour issues outlined in the scenario.

To do this you should use an internet search engine of your choice to search for evidence both for and against the Scared Straight programme.

You should summarise your thoughts in a brief paragraph you can share with a colleague.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

There are many sources online discussing various Scared Straight programmes. The key to looking for evidence online is finding and then drawing on evidence-based research.

The College of Policing has assembled a detailed overview of a wide range of crime prevention interventions. These can be viewed on the College’s Crime reduction toolkit.

As you scroll down the list you will see, for example, that there is evidence-based detail on programmes such as Scared Straight, as well as a whole range of other interventions.

Having undertaken your own research on Scared Straight it would be worthwhile to compare your findings with those outlined by the College of Policing.

11 Innovation

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Following on from a recent community meeting at which the ongoing challenges of anti-social behaviour in the flats was discussed, the Superintendent has called her leadership team together to discuss ways of tackling the crisis. The community meeting was quite heated with local community members calling for more resources and a more structured response to what they see as a crisis of anti-social behaviour.

Together with community partners, the police have tried a number of different approaches to tackle the problems. Yet no matter what the police have done, the impact only seems to be short-lived and in some cases the actions taken have simply pushed the anti-social behaviour problems into other communities rather than resolving them altogether.

The Superintendent and her boss, the District Commander, are both clear: new ideas, new thinking, and new approaches are needed, but what will they be and how will they work? And how can things be done both quickly and cost effectively to meet the needs of the local community?

At the end of the meeting the Superintendent has asked you to be in charge of a new innovation team to lead innovation efforts. There will be a follow-up meeting with community leaders in two weeks time and she expects you not only to have assembled a strong team but also to have put in place a plan for developing and implementing innovation approaches to the local problems.

Activity 12 Innovation

As the person in charge of the innovation team, reflect on the following questions and develop thoughts on what you would do.

The Innovation in policing course outlines a number of approaches to innovation. Drawing on that course, which approaches do you think would be most appropriate for addressing the specific challenges encountered in this community, and why?

A key step of the design thinking process outlined in the Innovation in policing course is empathy – putting yourself in the shoes of others to understand their needs, concerns and challenges. How might you put yourself in the shoes of the local community in order to develop policing solutions that work for them, as well as meeting the needs of the police?

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Download this video clip.Video player: Video: Laurie Knell

Video: Laurie Knell

Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript: Video: Laurie Knell

LAURENCE KNELL

My name is Lawrence Knell. I’m an associate lecturer with the Open University, and a visiting research fellow with the Open University Centre for police research and learning.

QUESTION

How could innovation help address the challenges outlined in the scenario?

LAURENCE KNELL

Innovation forms an important part of finding new ways of doing things, new approaches, new understandings, but very importantly, new solutions to existing problems. In terms of the scenario which we describe, innovation could help key stakeholders work together to understand the problems they’re facing in a different way and develop solutions that may not previously been tried.

Although having said that, these solutions may well have been tried elsewhere, and that’s a very important part of innovation integrating approaches that have been tried, tested, and perhaps even succeeded elsewhere for the benefit of all. Innovation would also help provide new insights and demonstrate a proactive approach to key stakeholders and to the local community. And this is absolutely vital when it comes to bringing stakeholders with you and finding workable solutions.

QUESTION

Which innovation approaches would be most beneficial?

LAURENCE KNELL

There are many different approaches to innovation that could be taken as a simple starting point techniques such as brainstorming would be really useful as a way of eliciting ideas, thoughts, and insights from various members of the community and various stakeholders. Building on that, however, a really interesting and developing technique of innovation is called co-creation. And co-creation is where you actively involve stakeholders in this case, members of the community in the problem finding and problem solving stages of the innovation process. What this does then is give them a sense of involvement, a sense of engagement, but also very importantly, a sense of ownership of the final solution that has been developed.

As I’ve already mentioned, a really important approach to innovation can be taking ideas from elsewhere. And in innovation speak, this is known as creative swiping. So it can be really important for communities but also for police to look at approaches that have been tested in other contexts and think about how relevant or appropriate they might be here. Now, it’s important to remember, however, that just because something has worked in a different jurisdiction and a different country or with a different cohort of stakeholders, doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to work here as well. So care always has to be taken to adapt any approaches to the specific needs and the specific challenges faced in your context.

QUESTION

Why is empathy so important for innovation?

LAURENCE KNELL

Empathy is vital for innovation in order to really understand how people are feeling, what people are experiencing, what challenges people are seeing. And as a consequence from that platform, you can then develop solutions that really meet their needs. Putting yourself in the shoes of the community is vital in order to develop solutions that meet the needs of the community rather than perhaps meeting your needs if you are an external stakeholder, for example, in policing.

And this is always a risk. It’s very easy for someone to come in from the outside and say, this is what I see. This is what you need to do.

But how will that impact people on the ground? And what impact will that have? Well, a really important place to start is by developing empathy.

QUESTION

How can police and local communities innovate?

LAURENCE KNELL

Building upon the points already made. There are a number of key things that police and local communities can do in order to innovate more effectively. First of all, take time to really understand the problem. It's easy to think about gut reactions or it’s easy to draw upon prior experience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will address the problem that we’re seeing here and now.

Secondly, consider alternative solutions. There are always many ways of solving any particular problem, whatever that problem might be. So take the time to consider a range of different solutions – the pros, the cons, the cost, the benefits, and, of course, the various impacts. And find the one or indeed the multiple solutions that might be beneficial for you, and try them out.

Key to that is looking for evidence-based approaches from elsewhere and then working towards some pilot, some testing phase before full implementation. The last thing anyone wants to do is to implement a solution without having fully tested it and understood whether it will meet the needs of your particular community, your particular context, and your particular set of problems.

It can be costly. It can be time consuming. And it can also have significant negative impacts for all stakeholders involved, including first and foremost, the community. As a consequence, taking the time to really test and pilot ideas upfront, perhaps in a small measured and managed way, can yield significant benefits for the longer term.

End transcript: Video: Laurie Knell

Download

Video: Laurie Knell

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Course summary

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

In this course you have been able to apply your skills in tackling community issues and communicating with people. There has been some further extension to what you have covered including:

further understanding of stakeholder management
working with data to understand crime patterns
conducting your own evidence-based research

You can now reflect on the learning across all of the ten courses. How well did you do in finding the right actions to take in this scenario? Is there any further work you can do to build skills?

For more free courses related to themes relevant to policing visit Centre for Policing Research and Learning.

References

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

Wilson, T. (2011) Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change, London: Penguin UK.

Acknowledgements

The Open University — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 12:38:00 GMT

This free course was written by Paul Walley and Laurie Knell and was first published in June 2023.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Images

Course image: courtesy, Jeremy Morton/South Leeds Life.

Figure 1: Brian Hickey/Alamy Stock Photo.

Figure 2: TheDigitalWay/Pixabay.

Figure 3: Akin Cakiner/Unsplash.

Figure 4: Felicia Buitenwerf/Unsplash.

Figure 6: Hajran Pambudi/Unsplash.

Figure 7: Grav/Unsplash.

Figure 8: 1000words/Dreamstime.com.

Figure 9: Hans Ripa/Unsplash.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Don't miss out

If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/ openlearn/ free-courses.

RSS feed for Applying your community engagement skills

Introduction

1 Setting the scene

2 Sandford Town

Considerations

Possible remedies

3 Collaborative problem solving

3.1 Applying this to Sandford Town scenario

Activity 1 Primary and secondary stakeholders

Discussion

Activity 2 Power and interest

3.2 Your own application of stakeholder analysis

3.3 Taking stakeholder analysis further

Activity 3 Organisational change

Transcript: Video: Paul Walley

Discussion

4 Use of data

Activity 4 Identifying crime data patterns

Part A

Comment

Comment

Assessing other offences

Other sources of data

5 Sure, I know how to talk to people

Activity 5 Adaptive and maladaptive behaviours

Activity 6 Reflecting on the needs of the community

Discussion

6 Empowering communities

Activity 7 Residents’ association meeting

Transcript: Video: Jane Roberts

Discussion

7 Justice, fairness and mediation

Activity 8 Forms of justice: advantages and disadvantages

8 Engaging with children and young people

Activity 9 Adapting style and tone

Question 1a

Question 1b

Question 1c

Question 1d

Question 1e

9 Step up to leadership

Activity 10 What makes a good leader in policing?

Discussion

10 Evidence-based policing

Activity 11 Benefits and challenges

Discussion

11 Innovation

Activity 12 Innovation

Discussion

Transcript: Video: Laurie Knell

Course summary

References

Acknowledgements