UK Specific.
Police forces in the UK have a public relations problem. After a decade of funding cuts and several high-profile scandals, research shows only 4 in 10 people trust their local force.
Victims feel like their crimes are going unsolved, which jeopardises the role of police to protect and serve their community.
The UK’s criminal justice system needs some TLC While victim-based crime continues on a downward trend, other offences have seen notable increases from 2023 to 2024, including shoplifting (+30%), computer misuse (+37%), robbery (+8%), and knife crime (+4%). Labour promises specific actions to get these trends under control in this parliamentary term.
It’s now more important than ever for effective police community engagement to drive a culture of dialogue and transparency. So, in response, more and more police forces across the country are stepping up their community policing and focussing on policies like policing with consent.
In this article, we’ll explain some of the expected legislative changes under Labour, and how police forces can build on their commitment to connect with the public and help keep people safe.
Labour’s Plans For Police Reform
The general decline in crime rates does not mean that people necessarily feel safe in their communities. In fact, a survey from April 2024 found that 69% of people thought crime was on the rise! It doesn’t help that public trust in the police has also fallen to its worst level on record, which risks offences going unreported and criminals getting the green light that their actions will go unpunished
The incoming Labour government is promising a raft of reforms to crack down on specific offences and restore the “trust of communities”. Let’s break down 5 of the key changes and what it means for police community engagement:
5. A Return to Community Policing Strategies
Firstly, Labour will introduce a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, with 13,000 extra police and PCSOs working within the community.
The vision is to return to a system of policing by consent — one where visible ‘bobbies on the beat’ deter crime from happening in the first place, rather than reacting to it after an offence has occurred. This is especially important for preventing petty crimes like phone snatching, shoplifting, drug dealing, and anti-social behaviour in town centres and parks.
According to a recent press release, a specialist neighbourhood police training programme is already underway, with plans to roll out across the country from March 2025.
Of course, police forces need the support and local community input to know where their presence is most needed. That’s because while crime statistics are a useful indicator of ‘hot spots’, they don’t take into account public perceptions of danger. Under this community policing model, the police should be consulting with local people about where they feel unsafe and improvements could be made.
Communicating directly with the public and asking for visual information, like using geospatial mapping to pinpoint areas of perceived vulnerability, effectively targets areas for neighbourhood policing.
4. A New Approach to Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour
Some 25 years after the creation of ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders), Labour is once again clamping down on public nuisances with a new category of Respect Orders.
These are a type of civil injunction that will discourage people from repeating unwanted behaviours (think street drinking or littering) that negatively impact communities without necessarily being criminal offences in themselves. This thinking draws on the ‘Broken Windows’ theory — that visible signs of anti-social behaviour create an environment where more serious crime is likely to escalate.
Respect Orders are essentially a rebranding of ASBOs, which were dropped by the Conservative government in 2014. Unlike other civil orders, if someone breaches a Respect Order, then it becomes a criminal offence subject to harsher penalties.
Labour’s plan for policing by consent means Respect Orders will be rolled out with more of a focus on community needs and concerns. Since the Casey Review found institutional biases in the Metropolitan Police Service, it’s likely that Respect Orders will be subject to more thorough and ongoing public consultations to ensure they get the balance right. Typically, these relate to how police can use their powers inclusively — making sure they don’t stigmatise communities by taking a scattergun or unconsciously-biased approach.
3. Crackdown on Violence Against Women and Girls
Earlier this year, the National Police Chief’s Council released a statement on the scourge of violence against women and girls (VAWG), calling it a “national emergency”. This was against the backdrop of several alarming statistics: 2 million women affected annually, a woman killed by a man every three days, and a 37% increase in recorded offences over the past five years.
Labour’s manifesto pledges to halve VAWG within a decade, and advocates for a multi-pronged approach. Victim support will be at the core of the strategy, with domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms to provide immediate support, as well as dedicated legal aid from reporting to trial. They’ll be expanding the powers of the Victim’s Commissioner — which already hosts many public consultations on crime each year — ensuring women’s voices are loudly heard, noticed, and acted on by the police.
On the enforcement side, Labour will establish specialist teams within every police force, adopting tactics typically reserved for organised crime to pursue the most dangerous offenders. They also plan to fast-track these cases using specialist courts across England and Wales, and introduce new offences for spiking and stalking.
A bigger challenge will be to stamp out the root causes of violence, such as misogyny (both in the police force and the public). Labour wants to teach young people about healthy relationships and consent by introducing it into the national curriculum. This is an area where police community engagement could make a positive difference — with officers visiting schools to share testimonies and raise awareness of the devastating effects of abuse.
2. Greater Collaboration with Victims’ Groups
A common criticism of the UK criminal justice system is that it doesn’t provide sufficient redress to victims — highlighted by the fact that 6 in 10 crimes go unreported to the police.
Labour wants to shift this narrative by working more closely with victim support groups and addressing historical injustices of the state. For instance, the 2024 autumn budget has already pledged to pay out £11.8 billion to victims of the infected blood scandal. That comes alongside a commitment to act on the findings of the recent Grenfell Inquiry and the ongoing Covid-19 Inquiry.
In terms of community policing, Labour plans to introduce a Hillsborough Law during this term of parliament. This would establish a “legal duty of candour for public servants”, meaning police officers are held to the same standard as NHS doctors when things go wrong. In short, it means public bodies must act with full transparency and accountability — not seeking to win legal challenges at all costs.
This government is also the first in 40 years to promise a public inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave. These reforms show a general willingness to reconcile with communities over mistakes of the past, and set the police on a new footing for the future.
- Broader Reforms to Policing and the Criminal Justice System
Labour’s changes to community policing are meant to increase the percentage of solved crimes and save money in the long run, but they will of course require a significant upfront investment. For this reason, they also propose a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme to see where resources could be better spent. The idea is to set nation-wide standards for procurement, as well as establish shared services wherever possible to drive down costs. Here, police forces could make use of Budget Simulators to really pinpoint where their expenditure is going each year.
Addressing court backlogs is another top priority. Currently, the backlog of criminal cases is around the 67,000 mark, with thousands of individuals currently held on remand for longer than the legal period of 6 months. To address this crisis, Labour wants to expand the role of Associate Prosecutors so cases can be decided in speedier time.
Finally, we come to prison overcrowding, which has been a big topic in the news recently. With the appointment of James Timpson as Justice Secretary, Labour is signalling a move toward a more rehabilitative justice system to reduce the rate of re-offending. Their manifesto promises to link prisoners with employers and the voluntary sector, making it easier for people to get back into work after prison. They also want to provide more support to children of prisoners, who are at much greater risk of being drawn into a life of crime.
How Community Engagement Changes Policing
Police community engagement is more than just a nice thing to have — it’s been proven to make people feel safer. When the police know where crime is happening (even if it’s not being reported), they can be more responsive to the concerns blighting neighbourhoods.
According to the College of Policing:
“Without the cooperation of the public, policing in developed democracies would become essentially unworkable. In simple terms, the police service would cease to function without the active support of the communities it serves.”
Despite this, only 18% of the public in 2023 said they actually had the opportunity to share their views on community safety in their local area. There’s clearly a lot of room for improvement here.
For a good example, our partners at Police Scotland have made extensive use of community engagement since adopting Citizen Space back in 2019. Their approach has been to “listen, understand, and take action” through regular neighbourhood consultations and a yearly national survey.
Here, respondents can leave comments on an integrated map feature, allowing people to drag and drop pins to show where they feel unsafe. This lowers the barrier to participation for victims of crime, and it does so in a less intrusive way than requesting someone revisit a traumatic incident in detail.
Citizen Space Geospatial then allows the police to export responses as GIS data to see where crime is happening and quickly remedy it — such as increasing foot patrols or working with community groups in the area. It’s an easier system for communities and police to talk to each other.
“Everybody who’s used Citizen Space within Police Scotland loves it.”
– Davina Fereday, Research and Insight Manager, Police Scotland
The Role of Public Consultations In Police Community Engagement
Simply put, public consultations are central to the policing by consent model.
As a matter of fact, it’s already a legal requirement for police forces in England and Wales under Section 34 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. Under this law, there’s a recognition that engagement must go two ways: both informing the public of police activity in their neighbourhood, and asking them about what they’d like to see moving forwards.
With these incoming reforms under the Labour government, police community engagement seems like it will play an even bigger role in keeping people safe. Neighbourhood policing teams will need to know where crime hot spots are in your local area, whether it’s gathering responses from citizens, businesses, or victim support groups. The vision is for a more community-driven approach to public safety, where no one feels unsafe in their homes or on the street, and ex-convicts are given a genuine chance to reintegrate into society.
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Citizen Space is the go-to platform for connecting police forces with communities. Our tools bake privacy, accessibility, and transparency into the policing by consent model, with more opportunities for regular people to speak up on public safety concerns.
Book a free demo and we’ll show you how it works in action.
