This page is here to give people an update on the ongoing updates on the neighbourhood policing website. We recommend that regular users come here first to get a quick update on recent additions.
NEWS
DECEMBER 2009
Google workshops for all forces, the Digital Engagement Review and who’s on twitter?
As 2009 draws to a close, we are continuing to lead work around police use of digital engagement. We recently contacted all forces in England and Wales (43 plus British Transport Police) with the aim of building up a bigger picture of how Forces are using social media and social media monitoring. I hope to update you on our findings in the next issue.
With the excellent support of my colleague Amanda Smith, we have been meeting with the team at Google to discuss how we can best work together. They have kindly agreed to host a workshop for Forces in how to best get use out of Google tools. The workshop will take place at the Google Offices in London on Monday 25 January and will cover tools such as Google insights for search, Keyword volume, ad planner, Wonder Wheel, Blog search, alerts, YouTube Insight and Insights for audience. The invitations for this workshop have been sent out together with the digital engagement review questionnaire so please make sure your force has taken this offer. If in doubt, please give me a shout.
I was also recently contacted by ‘Police Review’ who are continuing to develop their interest in how the police service are using social media. The article, which can be accessed here, showcased the really good work that has been achieved by Sgt Peter Allan of Sussex Police, Inspector Dave Barf of North Yorkshire Police and Chief Inspector Mark Payne of West Midlands Police. As ever, the great work being carried out by Sarah Drummond and Lauren Currie of mypolice.org. was also featured. I have now started to compile a list of police officers who are using twitter, which you can find via Twitter, searching for the following: @nickkeane/ukcops-who-tweet. If you are aware of any others, please let me know.
All in all, it’s been an excellent year, filled with practitioner events, collaboration with our Field Officers, liaising with forces, the emergence of police use of collaborative platforms, the Policing 2.0 conference, working with Google, Dave Briggs, Talk@local and MyPolice, and finally being invited to 10 Downing Street. 2010 is already starting to shape up as being equally engaging and exciting. I look forward to seeing you all there!
Nick Keane – Knowledge Manager
NOVEMBER 2009
The potential to reinvent Government in the Digital Age
On 17 November 2009, at the invitation of the Cabinet Office, I attended a seminar at 10 Downing Street. The event was opened by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and chaired by Liam Byrne MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Also in attendance to address the seminar were Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, Martha Lane Fox, Noel Shanahan, Chief Executive of the DVLA and Brian McBride, Managing Director UK of Amazon. Participants included Andrew Stott, Director of Digital Engagement at the Cabinet Office and mostly executive level representatives from the National Endowment of Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA,) M & S, Microsoft, Yahoo, Channel 4, NHS Direct, Google UK and Facebook UK.
The event was hoped to facilitate discussion of recent government initiatives in relation to data release, the ‘digital divide’ and how best public services can engage online with the citizen.
The Prime Minister announced that as part of a government drive to create greater transparency in the availability of data, from next year the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps. He said that the government and ‘Ordnance Survey’, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will open up the data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mapping information. Reference was also made to the recent Crime Mapping initiative.
He stated “we are determined to be the first government in the world to open up public information in a way that is far more accessible to the general public,” before continuing to speak of his vision for public services to shift ‘from the impersonal to the personal’ and ‘coming from on high to interactive.’
Further details of this work can be accessed at the following website: http://blogs.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/digitalengagement/
Liam Byrne backed the PM’s address, referring to the forthcoming white paper ‘Smarter Britain’ which is due to be released in “two weeks time”, and represents a continuation of the government’s earlier Digital Britain portfolio:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6220.aspx
Sir Tim Berners-Lee has also recently been working with the government to identify specific data sets which can be released into the public domain: 1100 have been identified to date and subsequently released to IT developers to repurpose and share. This work is currently being beta tested at http://groups.google.com/group/uk-government-data-developers/, however please note that this is a password protected site.
Noel Shanahan, Chief Executive of the DVLA shared their experiences of using online services, (http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/), stressing the importance of knowing the customers, the use of customer segmentation and understanding the services that people want, essentially the need to “keep it simple, keep it fast and keep it easy.”
Martha Lane Fox, the government champion for Digital Inclusion, later spoke of her work on the ‘digital divide’, noting that there are currently 10 million people in the UK who have never used the internet, 4 million of whom are disadvantaged, 39 % are over 65 and 38 % are unemployed. People who have access to online services are 25% more likely to get a job and 10% more likely to remain in employment. Children who are digitally engaged also tend to perform better at school. Her interesting work on this area can be accessed at http://raceonline2012.org/
Brian McBride spoke about how Amazon UK works with their customers. He stated that “all the technology in the world is meaningless unless your people’s attitude and behaviour is customer focused” and that services often make the mistake of trading “short term gain against long term loyalty.” McBride believes “smart use of technology is frugality” and drew attention to Amazon’s management induction scheme that also includes two days spent in the customer call centres.
The event clearly demonstrated the Government’s interest in three key themes:
• Opening up / freeing up access to data
• The ‘digital divide’
• Using experiences of private sector companies, including Amazon and First Direct, to learn how digital engagement can be pushed forward without losing customer loyalty and damaging or ‘brand’ of the public service
All of which have implications for the police service and the NPIA, specifically the Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme.
In the discussion around releasing data, the crime mapping project was given a positive mention and in discussing digital engagement, Channel Four’s commissioning editor, Tom Loosemore, who funds digital engagement initiatives including patientopinion.com, referenced the initial work they are funding with mypolice.org – the citizen website that is currently being created and with whom we have engaged as part of the Policing 2.0 conference. (http://www.mypolice.org/)
If you would like any further information on these issues, I am always available to discuss these issues and any matters arising.
Nick Keane - Knowledge Manager
OCTOBER 2009
The Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme delivered the
Policing 2.0 Citizen and Social Media event in Coventry in October. It was the first national conference in the UK which looked at how police forces and communities are increasingly engaging with each other through social media.
Over 140 people from 40 forces attended, together with a number of people who regularly use social media as part of their work. The conference was opened by ACC Gordon Scobbie from West Midlands Police and included a range of presentations covering an overview of the current position, how forces and citizens are engaging, and an exploration of the rules and governance around police use of social media. In keeping with the social media theme, the conference used the micro blogging site twitter.com and used a searchable tag (#polcasm), allowing attendees to follow the conference in real time and catch up with comments afterwards.
The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive with particular mention given to the work of Dave Briggs (http://davepress.net/about/) and William Perrin from www.talkaboutlocal.org. In addition, the event saw the first high profile presentation to police officers in England and Wales from Sarah Drummond and Lauren Currie of www.mypolice.org; the website currently under development to enable further engagement between police and communities.
If anyone would like to know more about the event or the ongoing work by the NPIA with regard to social media, please do get in touch. In the meantime, the presentations from the day can be accessed at www.neighbourhoodpolicing.co.uk.
SEPTEMBER 2009
For a while now The West Midlands Police have been aware that 5 September had been identified by a group called the English Defence League for demonstrations against Islamic extremism. The demonstrations were planned to be held in Birmingham. What was interesting has been seeing how that force has engaged with a range of methods, including social media, to manage public understanding and expectations around the planned demonstration. The West Midlands twitter page was used to post updates, provide links to more detailed updates on the West Midlands Police website. This was done before, during and after the day. Interestingly they used videos produced by the West Midlands Media Team as part of their updates, with a crucial posting by Detective Chief Inspector Sue Southern on the evening of the demonstration (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxzyjizp2JU), the Police Service are still exploring how to employ different forms of media to support the policing of demonstration and I believe that the West Midlands have produced excellent learning from this event. I have no doubt that Chief Inspector Mark Payne from the West Midlands Police Press Office will be referring to this during the Policing 2.0 Citizen and Social Media conference. For anyone who is unable to attend the conference but are still are interested in following we will be using the twitter hash tag #polcasm for any postings by delegates.
As ever if you have any examples of good practice in relation to Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing, please don’t hesitate to contact me
Nick Keane
nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
AUGUST 2009
I have been contacting all police forces in England and Wales about their use of social media (twitter, facebook etc) and the results have been interesting. While some forces are engaging with the use of social media other have not, but even then where forces have not engaged with it there is a hunger for a more informed discussion around the issues. To that end, as mentioned in the previous newsletter, on Thursday 22 October we are holding the first national conference on Police use of social media. Policing 2.0 – the Citizen and Social Media. The venue is the NPIA Conference Centre, Ryton – on Dunsmore, Coventry. We have arranged for speakers from early adopter forces to speak about the issues that they have encountered and we have speakers from the world of social media (non- police) who will speak about their knowledge and experiences. Invitations will be going out to all forces in the next month. In the meantime if you have any enquiries or good practice you would like to share, please contact me.
This month we visited Plymouth BCU and saw the work, initiated by Chief Superintendent Jim Webster, to empower officers, staff, partners and members of the community to work collaboratively to reduce crime, the fear of crime and increase community cohesion. The basic premise is to start with a small amount of investment (£500) and to empower staff to work locally with their community to benefit from the investment. Further information can be found at http://www.partnership-talents.org.uk
As ever, if you have something good to share or are interested in our work please contact me.
Nick Keane
nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
JULY 2009
Whilst June has been punctuated by some annual leave, I have still had the time to get out of the office to meet with some interesting Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing folk. Special thanks to the southern region forces who I joined for their regional meeting in Exeter, and to the officers and staff from West Midlands, Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Constabulary for their hospitality. Finally, thank you to Chief Inspector Gavin McMillan and A/Inspector Helen Truman of Hampshire Police with whom I ran a community engagement workshop.
Again the micro blogging site twitter is attracting a fair bit of activity, Norfolk Constabulary are the latest force to start using it, http://twitter.com/NorfolkPolice and Chief Superintendent Robin Smith the BCU Commander from East Sussex is one of two Commanders engaged. See: http://twitter.com/ChiefSuptSmith.
As usual I have had a number of lively discussions with police officers and staff on the topic of ‘social media’, and its impact on the police service. One of the recurring themes is whether forces should use it or not. My advice is not to ignore it. The point about social media is that the conversation carries on whether or not you’re engaged.
On the same theme I have been following the development of www.mypolice.org which is being developed outside of the police service by Sarah Drummond. You can follow its development by clicking here. Sarah would like to hear from police forces interested in developing a partnership with the site mypolice.org. Let me know if you’d like me to hook you up with Sarah.
Finally I am very grateful to Jeremy Crump, NPIA Head of Strategy who has brought to my attention to the work of Neil Williams, Department for Business, Universities and Skills who has developed a Government template for the corporate use of twitter, which is available here.
As ever if you have examples of good practise in your area get in contact with me. I am particularly interested in examples of good practice around tackling graffiti.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
JUNE 2009
Earlier this month I spent an excellent morning with Ian Davies, the North Wales Police Citizen Focus Project Manager at Colwyn Bay Headquarters. Ian showed the work that they had done looking at the governance and risk issues surrounding the setting up of their website YGlars (www.yglars.com). This is a comprehensive piece of work which when suitable should be shared with all forces. The impact of social media continues to be felt, and the YGlars site supports the use of Facebook sites by all neighbourhood teams.
Followers of twitter may be interested to see that the National Policing Improvement Agency is the latest to join up as NPIA. However our interest in web 2.0 goes beyond the uses being put to it by the police service and also takes an interest in the ways that citizens are using it. This month a Science Innovation Camp was held in Glasgow. This is where IT people and interested parties get together to discuss new ways to use social media and the winning innovation is a new website being developed to allow citizens to contact and comment on their local policing. The site is currently being built and time will tell how (or whether it evolves), however keep an eye out for www.mypolice.org as it is built.
A number of new case studies have been entered on the neighbourhood policing website, including how a Rochdale Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) worked with his local neighbourhood in cleaning up the community, how a local soccer legend kicked off Blackpool’s new Smartwater scheme and how Norfolk Police used the local school intranet scheme to increase their engagement to local school children. All case studies can be viewed by clicking here.
I’m grateful to Duncan Collins, a Neighbourhood Policing Team Commander from Hull in Humberside for contacting me with details of the Super Police Kids scheme which they are using to allow PCSO’s to work closely with primary school children, click here for more details. Over the next few weeks I shall be working in Kent and Lancashire as part of the NIM and Citizen Focus Review and going to South Region Citizen Focus Meeting in Exeter where I shall be talking about social media, communities of practice and POLKA (the Police Knowledge Area). So if you see me say hello. As ever if you have any examples of the good work going on in your force or neighbourhood please contact me.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
MAY 2009
There have been a number of interesting additions to the neighbourhood policing website with a range of case studies around recent initiatives.
From Greater Manchester Police two differing examples of how they are engaging with their communities, from Stockport North Neighbourhood Team is there work running a community fun day while from Bolton an how they ran a community clean up which included visiting 1200 homes giving crime prevention advice. Details of both case studies can be found here.
Durham Police have been running a successful operation against off- road bikes, called Operation Pikespoint, this initiative has been submitted for a Tilley Award, and further details are available here.
Norfolk Police have been praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown for their work in putting the citizen at the heart of their policing, full details can be accessed here.
Finally Harlow Police have been successful in cracking down on antisocial behaviour in their main shopping centre, further details are available here.
I have been working in the City of London and Derby delivering the Intelligence and Community Engagement workshops together with the Learning and Development department of NPIA.
Over the next month I shall be working in Durham, Merseyside and Wales. As ever if you have examples of good practise you wish to share please contact me.
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
APRIL 2009
Some people will be aware that in February the Froward to Basics practitioner event which was due to be held in central London was cancelled owing to the heavy snow. This April in sunnier weather the event was finally held in the Russell Hotel, Russell Square, London together with attendees from Kent, City of London, British Transport, Surrey, Sussex, West Yorkshire and Bedfordshire. The event went very well with presentations from the Prevent Delivery Unit, Hampshire, Kent and City of London Police. Where possible the presentations have been placed in the document library, including the Prevent presentation which is available here. A big thank you from me to everybody who assisted in making the seven (and a half) events possible, including the officers from the many forces I visited, our Field Officers and members of the Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing London team.
One of the well received presentations was by Detective Superintendent Colin Cowan of the City of London Police, who has been instrumental in the development of the Business Policing Model. The model aims to bring the principles of neighbourhood policing to policing the business community. City of London have worked with Professor Martin Innes of Cardiff University (who originated the Signal Crimes theory) and are trialling the model over the next few moths. Further details can be found here.
Amongst the new case studies on the website, West Yorkshire Police have been using the Policing Pledge as the basis for engagement and the work of this by the Wakefield Central Neighbourhood Team is here. Social media is again assisting police forces to engage with Cumbria Police using a web chat to engage in Barrow, further details are here.
I’m still looking at the implications of the micro blogging site twitter (I’m there as nickkeane) and now Nottinghamshire Police are the seventh force to establish a presence on that site.
Over the coming month I shall be working with the NPIA Learning and Development team around the national roll out of the Intelligence and Community Engagement workshops, continuing to work with the NIM review team and visiting Hertfordshire and Northumbria Police.
If you have any examples of effective practice or anything else of interest please contact me nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
MARCH 2009
Last month was extremely busy with the Forward to Basics events in Llandrindod Wells, Leeds, York, Bournemouth and Ryton on Dunsmore. The presentations covered a range of themes including Neighbourhood and Prevent (presented by the Prevent Delivery Unit), collaborative working, citizen focus and community engagement. A number of the presentations are now available in the document library here. Noteworthy amongst them are the presentation by West Mercia presentation on PACT, South Yorkshire and Humberside presenting on community engagement and North Yorkshire presenting on using social media. All are available here.
Social media continues to generate considerable interest. There are now six police forces using the micro blogging site twitter, the latest of which is Avon and Somerset Police (available on twitter as aspolice). Returning to the Forward to Basics event Ed Rogerson and Dave Barf from North Yorkshire presented on their work using facebook and running virtual meetings for community engagement. Ed’s work including setting a neighbourhood facebook site which impacted on graffiti and I’m grateful that Ed has shared his guide for police officers using facebook which is available here. Any other forces who are working in this area and want to share their experiences please let me know. Again I’m on twitter as nickkeane.
Congratulations to Cumbria Police who have received a national award from the Princess Royal or for their offender management work with the Scafell Project. More information can be found here.
I’m grateful to Kent Constabulary who are progressing in the work of Citizen Focus and sharing their work. A recent addition to the document library is their Training Strategy on Citizen Focus which is available here.
Next month I’ll be visiting Northumbria to view the new ICE (Intelligence and Community Engagement) work being carried out by NPIA Learning and Development, going to Durham and working at the final Forward to Basics event in London on 23 April.
If you have any examples of good or emerging practice, please contact me.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
FEBRUARY 2009
Going into the second month of 2009 and things are very busy. The Audit Commission have produced two recent reports that practitioners and policy makers will find interesting; the Comprehensive Area Assessment framework report looks at the assessment frameworks for partnership working and can be accessed here. The second report is entitled “Tired of Hanging Around” and concerns using sports and leisure activity to prevent anti-social behaviour in young people and in a nice coincidence Bradford Police have held a free soccer event in the February half term to engage with young people, further details are here.
An excellent example of citizen focused policing comes from Kirklees where the local community are being engaged to identify how their local police are contributing and how they should be recognised. Further information is here.
The Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Guide to Neighbourhood Profiles is now complete and available. It is the result of a great deal of collaborative working with analysts, practitioners and policy makers. It covers issues such as the purpose and use, the content, collecting and managing community intelligence, information sharing and links to the Prevent agenda. It can be accessed here
Finally further developments in the use of web 2.0 or social media. Heath Park Neighbourhood Team in Wolverhampton are now on facebook. Four UK Police Forces are now using twitter, they are Gwent, West Midlands, Cumbria (with Street Safe) and West Yorkshire. If I was asked which of these is using the media to its fullest potential at this stage I would say West Yorkshire who balance appeals for public support around critical incidents with good news stories of successful policing operations. This gives a good blend around news, appeals and people’s perceptions of police issues in their area. However it’s a fast changing area and if your force is engaging with the new media please let me know. We are hoping to run a workshop around social media at the Forward to Basics event in York in March.
For the remainder of the month I shall be visiting Leicester, Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Kent and West Midlands. As ever if you have any examples of good practice that you would like to share with colleagues please contact me.
Nick Keane
nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
JANUARY 2009
The NPIA Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme will be running a series of event for Police Officers and Partners. The first of these will be held on Tuesday 27th January 2009 at the Wyboston Lakes Robinson Centre, Wyboston, Bedfordshire. This event will be specifically targetted at the regions of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. It will involve a series of workshops covering Citizen Focused Policing, Neighbourhood Management, Prevent and Neighbourhoods and Innovations in Engagement. To register an interest contact pritti.kerai@npia.pnn.police.uk
Nick Keane
nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
DECEMBER 2008
In the final newsletter before Christmas and the winter celebrations, Greater Manchester Police have produced a Festive Security Information Sheet which gives advice around securing your house, vehicle and property over the festive season. This can be accessed here.
In addition, and its Manchester again officers from the Cheetham and Crumpsall area working with Trading Standards seized quantities of counterfeit clothing, this has now been passed onto a charity ‘His Church’ which will relabel the clothing and pass them onto war torn locations and deprived parts of the world.
Further details are in the case study section here.
Finally having delivered in various locations over the past two years, last month saw my final delivery of the Intelligence and Community Engagement workshops, these were delivered in Surrey and Nottingham. If I were to thank the people who have assisted in the development of the workshop it would fill the page however special mentions need to be given to Brian Livesey, Andy Pratt and mainly Ian Crichlow for their support throughout the process. The workshops delivered in Woking and Nottingham were both productive and enjoyable. The job of ensuring the national roll out of ICE now passes on to Helen Schofield who is the Head of Learning Programmes in the NPIA. Her e mail is helen.schofield@npia.pnn.police.uk
Next month I shall be working in Warwickshire and Ryton on Dunsmore and in addition overseeing the production of the Neighbourhood Profiles Guide.
In the meantime if you have any case studies or documents to share, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
NOVEMBER 2008
Last month saw me visiting Merseyside, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, together with Steve Basterfield to look at the ongoing work around Neighbourhood Policing and the Prevent. In addition I worked in Dorset delivering further Intelligence and Community Engagement Workshops, special thanks to the staff who made the day so enjoyable and to Ross Brown and Caroline Quill for their support.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a valuable study on the issue of territoriality, that relates to the processes by which people (most often young people) decide which parts of their neighbourhood they can visit and which parts they avoid. This has significant impact on issues such as anti social behaviour, feelings of safety, community cohesion and the formation of gangs. The report discusses these issues and includes recent case studies which have worked to address this problem and how this can assist in forming local policies. “Young People and Territoriality in British Cities” can be accessed here.
Kent Police have produced a guidance paper looking at the use of current and new media opportunities, including text to speech software, which assists blind/partially sighted people, British Sign Language issues, podcasting, video/audio clips and blogs. Last month we posted a short article on social networking sites, the briefing paper discusses this and how some sites are losing their popularity. For a number of reasons including the Glastonbury Effect, which applies to areas where a different demographic begin to use media previously used by young people. The briefing paper can be accessed here.
In September the Home Secretary announced plans to use £5 million to recruit community crime fighters. We are still receiving further details of this initiative; however Miriam Minty of the Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Group ion the Home Office has prepared a briefing paper with the latest details. This can be accessed here.
Next month I shall be delivering ICE Workshops in Surrey and Nottinghamshire, working in Coventry and Bramshill and reviewing the emerging practice from the Prevent visits. As ever if you have any examples of effective practice around Prevent and Neighbourhood Policing in general, please contact me on my (new) e mail address.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
OCTOBER 2008
There has been much going on as usual. This month has seen me travelling around, looking at and engaging in work around the Prevent agenda. The start of the month I worked with Greater Manchester Police in embedding the Intelligence and Community Engagement Workshop. Special thanks need to go to the teams who participated and Michelle, Jacqueline and Jenny.
Then I worked with Field Officer Tim Peacock in Northamptonshire looking at their work around Neighbourhood Policing and the Prevent agenda. An especially impressive piece of work, which I’m sure Tim will also mention in his regional update, was introduced by Inspector Martin Kinchin. This work involved working the neighbourhood teams through scenarios which checked the diversity and validity of their Key Individual Networks. A PowerPoint introducing the process, entitled Operation Kin is available in the document library here.
One of the issues engaging Northampton and probably many forces is the interaction with local authorities engaged in preventing violent extremism. So I’ve included information on the work undertaken in Cambridgeshire called Linking Communities which is based in Peterborough and looks at improving relations between sections of the diverse Muslim communities and wider communities. Details of this can be accessed here.
An important issue for forces in engaging communities is in understanding how they are changing, whether from external influences or internal issues, to highlight this I have added a recent report from the Audit Commission which is called “Don’t Stop Me Now – Preparing for an ageing population”. which highlights the issues to be considered in the ageing population in England which is increasing. Unless your name is Cliff Richard this includes you. It can be accessed here.
In addition there is a new report out which has been sponsored by the Department of Communities and Local Government, it is called Faith Matters and discusses a meeting between representatives of the Muslim and Sikh communities discussing what divides and unites them. The groups reported on the impact of both the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the London Bombings upon them and also included a section where the different faith groups were able to ask direct questions of each other clarifying perceptions that may have been held. This is accessible here.
Two new case studies have been added highlighting work being done around Neighbourhood Management in Bolton and Derby which are available in the case study section here.
I will be working in a number of forces over the next month, including Cumbria, Leicestershire, the Metropolis of London and West Midlands. If you have examples of effective practice or even something which you think other forces or colleagues will be interested in, let me know.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Manager
Nick.keane@npia.pnn.police.uk
SEPTEMBER 2008
Clive Perry and I visited Thames Valley and spoke with Julie Currill the Police Volunteer Support Team Programme Support Officer and Terry Wilkins, Police Volunteer Scheme, Programme Coordinator and discussed their excellent work with volunteers. In addition people will benefit from the NPIA Police Service Volunteers website which is at http://www.npia.police.uk/en/9814.htm which includes good practice and the newsletter for volunteers which has recently been launched. As they already collect best practice we will not duplicate efforts, however two documents from the force have been included in our document library they are the TVP recruiting brochure which includes a page on volunteers and the volunteer recruiting leaflet. These can be accessed here.
Our Field Officers are starting to visit forces to look at effective practice around Neighbourhood Policing and the Prevent agenda. With Steve Basterfield I visited Lancashire and one area which will interest forces is the Act Now process which is used to engage community members and police officers around the policing of terrorist incidents. A document has been produced which includes details of the work and the evaluation of workshops which have already taken place, this can be accessed here. In addition the National Community Tension Team has been working with the National Youth Parliament and arranging regional conferences where young people are engaged around their perceptions of terrorism. Further details can be obtained here. Finally and with the assistance of Michelle Barlow of the Greater Manchester Prevent Team I attended the play “Not in my name” which has been developed by Lancashire Constabulary and Burnley Youth Theatre to assist in engaging school age children around the issues of violent extremism. Further details can be obtained from Rozila.Kana@lancashire.pnn.police.uk
Following the themes of previous months I am still looking at how forces are using new technology and West Midlands Police have posted new videos on the site Youtube. The most recent of which deals with homophobic crime can be viewed here
Next month I shall be visiting Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and the Metropolitan Police. If you have any good practice to share please let me know.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Manager
Nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
AUGUST 2008
Another busy month sees a number of key strategic documents which have been published lately. These are all available in the document library and include “From Neighbourhood- to the National. Policing our communities together” the Government Green Paper on policing and the Youth Crime action Plan for 2008. In addition and accompanying these is a synopsis of the Green Paper which we have received courtesy of South Wales Police. The fact that a number of key documents have been published recently, including the above there is also the Flanagan Review, The Casey Review and the Community Empowerment White Paper. Christian Lange has produced a composite document which shows the links between these documents. All of these are now in the document library here.
A number of new case studies have been added, two in particular are worthy of your attention, I have previously mentioned that forces are beginning to explore the opportunities (and problems) of engaging with communities through new technology and this included the Whitby Safer Neighbourhoods Team engaging through the social networking site, Facebook. The team, led by Inspector Dave Barf of North Yorkshire Police have now piloted a Virtual Community and Police Meeting or VCAP. In addition Brixham Police in Devon and Cornwall are starting to use Youtube. More information about these is in the innovations section of the website here.
During the coming month I will be in Avon and Somerset, Sussex, Surrey, Gloucester and Dorset. And as ever any contributions which you would like to share with colleagues through the website are welcome.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Manager
Nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
JULY 2008
Another busy month has gone by with visits to Merseyside, Hampshire and West Mercia. In addition Ian Crichlow from the National Community Tension Team and I have run four more Intelligence and Community Engagement (ICE) workshops in Thames Valley and Greater Manchester. Special thanks go to Lisa Stanhope, Michelle Barlow and Dean Stott for their support during the visits. In addition the police staff in both forces were very professional and a pleasure to work with. Further plans for the roll out of ICE are being decided at the moment but in the interim both Ian and I continue to offer support to forces around engagement, community intelligence and the Prevent delivery plan.
The Prevent Violent Extremism Strategy – a guide to local partners in England has been launched. It includes guidance around the role of neighbourhood policing teams and the national Indicator (NI 35) which will assist in setting the performance framework for police and partners in this area. The relevant documents can be accessed here.
The government have just published a report on a consultation process “Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime” also known as the Casey Review, it includes 32 recommendations on issues including neighbourhood policing teams, community support officer’s powers, the Partners and Communities Together process and officer abstractions. The full report and summary report can be accessed here. In addition there is a summary of public responses to the consultation, so if you are interested in the responses to the question “What kind of things people should expect from a first-rate local police service?” Access the report here.
Cumbria Police are once again demonstrating their commitment to excellence – three case studies around addressing anti social behaviour and a performance framework for community engagement can be accessed in the document library here. One of the case studies won the North West Regional award for problem solving, so congratulations to PS Richard Farnworth and colleagues.
Two more neighbourhood policing teams have entered the world of social networking – both Whitby and Barnsley in North and South Yorkshire have sites on Facebook. If you are aware of anything similar or further examples of innovation or good practice; let me know.
Nick Keane
Nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
JUNE 2008
As I mentioned in last weeks update, the issue of new technology continues to be of interest in neighbourhood policing. A prominent feature of new information technology is that enables greater participation by people and a faster flow of views, opinions and information. The fact that anyone with internet access can contribute their views carries a number of risks and benefits, on 7th July 2005 over 2,500 people updated the open source Wikipedia following the events of that day. Some forces have established a presence on social networking sites, amongst them Suffolk Police are on the Bebo site and Greater Manchester Police are on the Facebook site. Both these moves are being followed by people in the UK and around the world. In Suffolk the Police have used SMS technology to increase their contact with hearing and visually impaired people. Read more about this here. In addition Cambridgeshire are using Bluetooth to contact people via their mobile phones, further details are in the innovations section of the case studies and accessible here.
Abstractions from neighbourhoods feature in the recent additions to the document library with contributions from Dyfed-Powis Police who have submitted their abstraction policy and from Derbyshire Police who have submitted a PowerPoint on their current abstraction policy. Both are available here.
Dorset Police have a good case study highlighting the work by P.C. Andy Watkins looking at young people being out late in the neighbourhood, he’s launched a Parents Support Pledge. Andy was out on patrol late one evening when he met a young resident who his parent’s thought were at a friends for a sleepover, Andy has introduced a contact scheme where parents can let him know the times their children should be out and a contact when they are encountered out of hours. Read more of this initiative here.
The Department of Communities and Local Government have published guidance for Local Authorities on Community Cohesion, Contingency Planning and Tension Monitoring which is available here.
Ian Crichlow from the National Community Tension Team and I are currently working with a number of forces looking at the role of neighbourhood policing and community engagement including around the Prevent agenda. We will be running Intelligence and Community Engagement workshops in Thames Valley and Greater Manchester in June. In addition I will be visiting Hampshire, West Yorkshire and Merseyside.
As ever keep sending your examples of good practice and innovations to me.
Nick Keane -Knowledge Manager
MAY 2008
April was another busy week for those of us who are “learning the knowledge”. To follow on from last month’s article on knowledge management, time and again I am reminded of the importance of tacit knowledge “know how” that people possess. Let me illustrate, this month Ian Crichlow from the National Community Tension Team and I ran workshops for BCU Commanders at the Prevent Conference – to support the workshops we prepared a PowerPoint on the role of Neighbourhood Policing in preventing counter terrorism which is available in the document library here. However if you access the PowerPoint while you will get some understanding of the themes we discussed you will only be partially informed, you’ll have accessed the explicit knowledge but not the tacit, for that you would have to speak with Ian or myself. That’s part of the challenge of the complexity of today’s world – we need more contact to gain knowledge and understanding. Next month at least three of the meetings I am attending are discussing this issue and one of the key themes that informs this issue – web 2.0 technologies.
Early this month I attended the Welsh Neighbourhood Project Manager’s meeting in Cardiff, amongst the speakers was Lisa James from the Welsh Assembly Government who discussed Local Service Boards, their work looking at improving citizen focussed delivery in Wales. Lisa’s PowerPoint is in the document library here – as are her contact details.
Kent Police have introduced Neighbourhood Task Teams who are supporting neighbourhood teams in community engagement and collaborative problem solving – further details of the work in Kent forwarded from Inspector Bill Willis are in the document library here.
Merseyside Police are still sharing excellent examples of their case studies dealing with neighbourhood policing issues including work on bogus callers which has been added to the innovations section and a day in the life of a PCSO Lesley Ashlow – all the case studies have been added to the case study section here.
Dorset Police have also produced guidance on their Safer Neighbourhood Teams and have forwarded a number of case studies – unusually I have included them in the document library owing to the format and photos included. However if people are interested in how to do real collaborative problem solving – have some fun AND be good for the environment – please read Dorset’s scavenger hunt case study – all their work is available here.
Next month I shall be working in Hampshire, Kent, Cleveland and West Mercia. As ever if you are doing good work which needs to be shared with colleagues – let me know.
Nick Keane - Knowledge Manager
Nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
APRIL 2008
Being a knowledge manager brings me into contact with a number of interesting people and March, was no exception including a meeting with Judith Johnson, Oliver Wright and colleagues from Thames Valley Police. The conversation revolved around the training that police staff get and what staff do following the training, part of which was the gap between what is discussed in the classroom and what happens out on the streets. Knowledge management looks at these issues through a number of different approaches and one of which is the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge. “Explicit” knowledge refers to all the facts you know and can consciously report, an example of this would be the definition of theft under the Theft Act. “Tacit” knowledge refers to the knowledge, wisdom and experience you carry internally. It is more concerned with “know how” rather than “know what.” It relates to the skills you require as you go through life. There is no universal best practice on how to console a friend, end a relationship or solve a moral disagreement. They are all dependent on the context in which they occur. So frequently I get requests for “the best way” to do a specific activity and spend a lot of time unpicking the context of problem before pointing in the direction of the right person or solution to view. The challenge for forces when they look at who knows what in the organisation is not just who knows what but what is it they know and finally can it be shared or transferred.
Some recent useful additions to the document library are a guidance paper on police officer photos on the internet and an excellent manual from Dorset Police on the Partners and Communities Together. Both can be accessed here
This month I shall be visiting Cumbria Police where they have been applying the Intelligence and Community Engagement Workshops, Greater Manchester for further discussion around Prevent and attending the Prevent Conference for BCU Commanders where Ian Crichlow and I will be taking a workshop on community engagement.
If you have any examples of good practice or any enquiries please contact me.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Manager
Nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
MARCH 2008
There are now over 200 case studies demonstrating excellent neighbourhood policing and partnership working on the website, there are ideas you can use in your neighbourhood and if you and your good work is not there let me know.
February has seen me visiting a number of regions with special mentions go to Chief Inspector Ollie Wright in Thames Valley and Inspector Paul Morrissey in Gloucestershire Police who have been very supportive in arranging visits and ensuring that the good work that their forces are carrying out get recognised on the website.
There are a number of new case studies which people will find useful. Durham Police have worked to introduce shatterproof beer glasses into local pubs and are also trailing the use of DNA Grease to reduce crime. While Humberside Police are looking at positive rewards and diversionary activity through the Funhouse scheme. Lancashire Police have highlighted the positive effect of the FLARE project (Fire, Lifeskills and Rescue Awareness) in reducing re - offending in young people. North Tyneside Police have worked with local students to design anti criminal damage posters. Essex Police Authority have approved the reintroduction of mounted police officers as part of neighbourhood policing. Finally Northumbria Police have an excellent case study around the recycling the proceeds of crime, it’s green, it’s ethical and it (with the others) is in the case study section here.
The document library has a number of useful additions; Gloucester Police have developed guidance for school around actions to be taken when pupils come on the premises with knives. In terms of Community Support Officers West Yorkshire Police have shared their PCSO deployment policy and Leicester Police have developed a newsletter for their PCSOs, excellent work led by Superintendent Rob Nixon. Merseyside Police have been running a project around safety in public parks called Safespace, the evaluation of which is now available. Finally one in seven person in the United Kingdom is either deaf or hard of hearing, the Royal National Institute of the Deaf have produced guidance called Louder Than Words which all forces will find useful. This and the other documents mentioned are available here.
This month also saw a visit to the Neighbourhood Policing of officers from Bahrain, especial thanks to West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and the Met who assisted with the visit. In addition I attended a very informative workshop on Neighbourhood Policing and Counter Terrorism hosted by Gloucestershire.
In March we already have visits planned to West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and West Mercia in addition I will be taking some (well earned) annual leave.
But keep the good work and the good news coming!
Nick Keane
Knowledge Manager
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2008
We continue to work with the National Community Tension Team with the Intelligence and Community Engagement work which looks at Community Intelligence and the role of Neighbourhood Teams in the Prevent strand. For further information contact me nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
The Jill Dando Institute have completed guidance on Partnership Strategic Assessments and included an example of one recently completed by the Safer Middlesborough Partnership which forces will find useful. It can be accessed here.
There is an abundance of good practice and useful documentation from Surrey Police including a report on their reorganisation of their intelligence functions which have been aligned on geographical areas which has resulted in improved relationships and support of neighbourhood teams. They have commenced a partnership learning needs analysis with Surrey County Council which will support joint training. They are using Yahoo e mail groups for community engagement and have worked with Runnymede Council to support e reporting of anti social behaviour issues. All are available in document library here.
Resource allocation remains an issue and Hampshire Police have produced a PowerPoint which demonstrates their methodology and Staffordshire Police have produced a report on their hybrid officer process. Both are in the document library here.
Throughout February I will be visiting amongst other Thames Valley, West Yorkshire and Leicestershire. In addition I will be working with the NPIA International Faculty supporting a visit from Bahrain Police looking at Neighbourhood Policing. This will feature in the next newsletter.
In the mean time if you have any good practice or documents to share please contact me.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Management
DECEMBER 2007
Recent and ongoing events have brought data protection issues to the fore and a number of forces have asked for guidance. Three additions to the document library will assist; the Information Commissioners Office has issued a Framework Code of Practice on the sharing of Personal Information, the Association of Chief Police Officer’s Guidance on the Management of Police Information and finally we have liaised with the National Community Tension Team, who have shared a copy of their Key Individual Networks form which is data compliant. All are available in the document library.
Examples of good work around embedding NP have come from force visits and include South Wales’ community engagement and resource allocation strategies; Northamptonshire’s methods of communicating their neighbourhood engagement processes; Leicestershire’s Police Citizen Focus process incorporating a dip sampling process, questionnaire and survey; Wiltshire’s Anti-Social Behaviour process and Suffolk’s excellent presentation around Community Intelligence. All are available here.
In the Innovations section there are examples of refreshing the Partners and Communities Together process, working with people with mental health issues, Night Marshalls, Humberside Police using an innovative approach to training Police Community Support Officers and Suffolk Police working with an award winning community website.
The Anti-Social Behaviour section contains case studies from South Wales, Cumbria, Merseyside and Northumbria.
The Community Engagement section contains examples from Norfolk including the Norwich Street Leader Project; from Lincolnshire around using boxing and self defence classes and from Cumbria with the Neighbourhood Management Network Community Volunteer of the Year and their Scafell Project which has been recognised by the Prime Minister for its excellence.
There are 35 new case studies, including one from Northumbria Police who have been working in Gateshead to ensure that shopkeepers have a happy and safe Christmas and I wish the same to you.
If you have any case studies, policies or processes which you would like to share please contact me nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk .
NOVEMBER 2007
Another busy month for knowledge management and neighbourhood policing, with visits to Merseyside, Essex, West Mercia, Leicester and West Yorkshire to see a number of excellent initiatives. A special thank you to all the officers who made time in their days to meet with me.
In Liverpool I gave a presentation on Neighbourhood Policing and Profiles at the Association for Geographic Information Crime and Disorder SIG ‘crime mapping for problem solving and intelligence development’ seminar.
As embedding visits continue, there are new documents on our website you will find useful and informative. Nottinghamshire Police have developed an Activation Process which monitors how Neighbourhood Policing is being rolled in the force. This is available here.
Cumbria Police have good examples of their work with the Excellence in Policing KIN presentation and the review of their KIN policy. In addition they have their neighbourhood policing team training plans, their internal communications through the Staff Matters Newsletter and their guidance on call handling. All of which are in the document library.
Reports from Cambridgeshire include an excellent PowerPoint on their benefits realization work. While from West Yorkshire there is their crime allocation protocol, crime screening policy, Neighbourhood Policing awareness and youth engagement strategy, PCSO Deployment Strategy, Reassurance Mapping, and their QUADS (Quality Assurance Dip Sampling).
Among our new case studies are the Longhill Youth Project from Humberside and handing the community back to the community from West Mercia. Also give yourself a treat and read the drugs awareness talk case study.
In November I shall be visiting Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and will be at the NP Communications Conference talking about knowledge management and its importance to policing. As ever if you have good stuff to share or any questions: nick.keane@acpo.pnn.police.uk
OCTOBER 2007
September was a busy month with visits to a number of locations including Birmingham for the Problem Oriented Partnership Conference and Westminster and Altrincham for the Analysts Events.
Community Tension Team
The final pilot of the Intelligence and Community Engagement was delivered in Cumbria in partnership with Ian Crichlow from the National Community Tension Team. Once again the training was well received by the neighbourhood policing teams and the observers. Thank you to Inspector Dave Willetts for all his support in arranging this. Over the next month all the pilot sites will be evaluated and a decision will be made between our team and the National Community Tension Team on the best way to take this forward.
Embedding visits
The embedding visits are going well and as a result there are a number of new documents in the documents library, including an abstraction policy from Sussex Police and their work around mapping emerging communities. Excellent work from Lancashire including work on restorative justice, citizen focus policing and a welcome pack for incoming communities. This work is available in the document library and accessible here
New case studies
In addition there are over 30 new case studies in the case study section. We have created a new section for Neighbourhood Management this not only carries forward one of the recommendations of the interim Flanagan Review but looks at the current pathfinder sites. A number of case studies report on how Merseyside Police are developing in neighbourhood policing, partnership working and community engagement. The case study site can be viewed here
Visits
This month, I am visiting a number of forces including West Mercia, Leicestershire, Merseyside and Essex.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Management
AUGUST 2007
Intelligence and Community Engagement training
The piloting of the Intelligence and Community Engagement training continues and last month, Ian Crichlow from the National Community Tension Team and I delivered the training to PC’s and PCSO’s from Harlow and Epping Forest in Essex. The training was championed by Chief Inspector Paul Eveleigh, the District Commander of Harlow and supported by Sgt Vic Faccini. The staff participating engaged with the training and a lot was gained by all parties. This month we are working with Dorset Officers.
Cohesion and Integration
Cohesion and Integration issues continue to be of importance and two documents have been added to the document library around those subjects. The first is more strategic, a series of articles discussing Cohesion and Complexity put together by the Solace Trust, the other is more tactical, a pilot titled Understanding and Monitoring Tension and Conflict in Local Communities. It is guidance designed by the Institute of Community Cohesion and the Metropolitan Police and is aimed at Local Authorities, Police and Partner Agencies.
Working with Wardens
The Home Office, together with Communities and Local Government and the NPP, have put together a document of case Case Studies of joint working between Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Neighbourhood Warden Schemes and Neighbourhood Managers. This is available in our document library.
Using sport to build bridges in a community
In Cumbria, Hate Crime Officer Eric Field found that the male Muslims in his area (Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Turkish) had a real love of football but due to work and lack of opportunity they didn’t play. In a partnership with the local Muslim society, the local borough councils’, Cumbria AWAZ (BME support group) and Gretna FC Community coaches, a six week coaching plan was implemented with the councils’ funding the project. Local Police Community Officers joined the sessions to forge links and raise the group’s confidence in the Police. The group now have their own team and play regularly, and have an open invitation to other minority groups to join them in their training, such as the Chinese community. Other Muslims throughout the county have/or are planning to follow the group and form their own team, and these teams regularly play each other. A full case study of this is available here.
Further case studies
Others new case studies that have been brought to my attention include the work of a Dorset PCSO engaging vulnerable people in their villages and youth engagement work in Dudley, in the West Midlands.
Additionally an ‘innovations’ case study is an update on Head cams being used by officers. More information on all these can be accessed in the case study section of our website.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Management
JULY 2007
Surrey Police have produced guidance on Community Impact assessments for use where police/partners are aware of incidents, events or issues which may have an adverse impact on community tranquillity or may cause an increase in community tension.
Neighbourhood Profiles remain a point of interest and will feature in our upcoming workshops for analysts. There is a new category in the document library where a number of examples are available. The Thames Valley Police version is called Demographic and Social Trends Analysis and is available here and Cambridgeshire Constabulary is available here.
Paul Chandler, Performance Officer for Gloucestershire Constabulary, and colleagues, are developing a piece of work on the effect of socio-demographics on policing demand which is available here.
A Metropolitan Police guide to Street Briefings is available here.
Nick Keane
Knowledge Management
MAY 2007
It’s good to highlight work taking place in neighbourhoods which reflects good practice in a number of areas, the Quinzone programme from Quinton in Birmingham not only provides evidence of a good governance structure with partners, the police making links to other partnership work in this case an Education Action Zone, innovative work and proactive thinking in reality and progress with that vital group, young people. The short case study provided here only starts to do it justice.
A new and interesting web link is www.neighbourhoodfixit.com which is a public facing website for members of neighbourhoods to identify areas of local graffiti, street lamps out or damage to street furniture.
The Audit Commission have recently published a report on responding to the challenge of migrant workers; the Crossing Borders report is available in the document library (summary, full report).
Finally we have created a new section of case studies, titled Cohesion, which highlights some of the progressive work being carried out by neighbourhood officers addressing cohesion related issues. Here you can read about the work of Constable Keith Sinclair engaging with incoming communities from Poland, or Constable Becky Handy from West Mercia working the PACT process and supporting it with surgeries for groups that can’t attend the meetings, Community Support Officer Jan Foster engaging with incoming communities in Sussex or Constable Sue Sanderson working with young Asians in Burnley, Lancashire. The reality is that there is more of this work going on around the country and if you have details please forward it to us.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
MARCH 2007
A number of updates have been added to the website over the past month:
PRIME. Hampshire Constabulary has developed a collaborative, problem-solving, web-facing partnership system (PRIME) which allows all partners to work on initiatives and go through the problem solving process in a structured fashion.
Gloucestershire Police - Polish Forum Gloucestershire Police have been working on building links with the Polish community. Together with their partners, including Cheltenham County Council, the CDRP, the local Polish newspaper and others, they held an event designed to engage with new incoming Polish residents. To advertise it, posters were placed in the local Polish delicatessens, articles placed in the free newspapers and signs to the event were produced in Polish.
Leicestershire Constabulary has updated a number of key documents recently, including its neighbourhood profiles, neighbourhood problem solving plans, a Key Individual Network data base and a neighbourhood management document. These are all currently available in the document library.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
FEBRUARY 2007
A number of updates have been added to the website over the past month:
The BCU Commanders’ self assessment process template has been amended to include an action plan.
Staffordshire Police held an innovations fair at their headquarters in January and a number of pieces of innovative work were highlighted including the Safer Neighbourhoods Interview Questionnaire (SNIQ) is now available on our website: Part 1, Part 2 and initial analysis of results.
Georgina Holland, who is the Community Safety Manager for Arun District Council, and spoke at the NP practitioner event in Southampton, has prepared a PowerPoint around Anti Social Behaviour and a useful questionnaire for practitioners.
Two further 60 second briefings are now on the website, the guide to dealing with criminal damage and the guide to tactical evaluation.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
JANUARY 2007
Welcome to the first practitioner update of 2007 and may we wish you a Happy New Year.
The Neighbourhood Policing Self assessment guidance has been published, this will enable Forces to assess their performance in the implementation of Neighbourhood Policing and a copy of it is available here
In the last month of 2006 the Neighbourhood Policing Programme held a further ACPO lead event at Bramshill where presentations were given on the latest news on Community Support Officers, National Security and Counter Terrorism and the Centrex Leadership Academy. All these presentations are available on document site.
There is an updated 60 second briefing on Professionalising the Business of Neighbourhood Policing which can be found in the How to Guides section on the site.
An important ongoing issue in Neighbourhood Policing is the work in partnership development and the development of Local Area Agreements by Local Authorities. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published guidance on LAAs which is available here.
The sourcing of potential sites for neighbourhood policing units concerns all forces, Victoria Downs of Cleveland Constabulary has produced a useful guide on the subject in addition Cleveland have produced a Property Inspection List, both of these are in the document library.
The Practitioner Events continue into the New Year with events in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire and the Fairfield's Conference Centre, Croydon.
As ever if you have work or ideas which you would like to share, please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
NOVEMBER 2006
We have released our second National Neighbourhood Policing newsletter with up to date news from the programme manager and field officers. The newsletter is available here.
November sees the launch of the first Neighbourhood Policing Programme Practitioner events, which will be running in Bylaugh Hall, Dereham, Norfolk for the forces of Norfolk, Essex, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire on Thursday 16 November, with a second event taking place on Thursday 30 November at the Torquay Riviera Conference Centre for Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset and Dorset. These events are targeted at neighbourhood staff from all disciplines and will include workshops from other neighbourhood staff about the work they are doing and the problems they tackle. We’ve chosen a range of interesting active practitioners to present so try to be there if you can.
For more information visit the events page of the website.
There are further practitioner events planned in the New Year.
Further opportunities for training with partners can be found in the resource centres which have been set up in each region to provide training for partners in a range of subjects including conflict management, engagement, crime reduction, problem solving and community cohesion. For further detail search for resource in the document library.
Further additions to the document library include guidance around PCSO in regard to vetting processes and the Age Discrimination Act.
Finally a knowledge centre like ours relies on many good people across the country to forward examples of good practise or point to out areas of knowledge worth further investigation. One such person is Kam Kayani from the West Midlands Police Service who has worked hard both in ensuring the roll out of neighbourhood policing in her area but has also been keen to forward examples of good work to us for further sharing across England and Wales. Kam is now moving on to other areas of work but it would be remiss of us if we did not say thank you for her contribution. So, thank you Kam.
In addition another regular supporter and contributor is Fay Howard Saunders who celebrates her 40th birthday this month, Happy Birthday Fay.
As ever if you have work or ideas which you would like to share, please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
OCTOBER 2006
We have just released the first version of National Neighbourhood Policing Newsletter, it includes updates from the Programme Director, Jerry Kirkby and all the regional field officers and news about the practitioner events we will be holding over the coming months. The newsletter is available here.
The Case studies for the winners of the Problem Oriented Partnerships Conference have been added to the Document Library. Further additions to the document library include Cambridgeshire Police who have completed a briefing paper on training development for staff working within Neighbourhood Policing Teams. There are a number of abstraction policies and finally a review of the training programme provided by Crime Concern to Community Support Officers in Avon and Somerset.
With November nearly here a timely addition to the case studies is work around safety on Bonfire Night by Avon and Somerset Police, building on successful work carried out in 2005.
There is a review of the Celebration of Culture and Equality Day run in Lincolnshire where the Police are working towards achieving greater community cohesion.
In addition there is excellent work with young people, the successful spongy football project in Blackburn and Operation Kiddie Cop by Gloucestershire Police, which shows how the community (in this case pupils from the local school) worked with the local police to address a speeding issue.
Finally look at www.saferstudents.co.uk which is a website supported by West Midlands Police providing safety advice to university students. While they are still developing the site it is worth visiting the innovative Bestmates campaign.
As ever if you have work or ideas which you would like to share, please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
SEPTEMBER 2006
The Association of Police Officers together with Price Waterhouse Coopers have undertaken a survey of chief officers teams and BCU Commanders on the issues facing police forces and BCUs in relation to the delivery and resourcing of neighbourhood policing. This can be accessed here.
Islam and Muslims in Britain has been written by Mehmood Naqshbandi an individual member of the Muslim community for police officers to assist them to achieve better relations with the community. This can be accessed on www.muslimsinbritain.org or through the web links.
As you will see by the August updates, the new 2006 Practice Advice on Professionalising the Business of Neighbourhood Policing has now been published and is available to down load from the website. In addition you can now access the Metropolitan Police Seven Stage Model for Neighbourhood Policing.
Following the announcements of the Tilley Awards on Tuesday 5th September we will be posting the case studies of winning entries on the website.
Other additions to to the document library include the ACPO guidance on PCSO's and a paper on collaborative working which has been published by the Hay Group.
Amongst the new case studies are a review of the work of the West Midlands Police in engegaging with members of the deaf community and an interesting example of the engagement between young people and PCSO's also from West Midlands.
Once again if you have work or ideas which you would like to share please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
August 2006
The 2006 Practice Advice on Professionalising the Business of Neighbourhood Policing is now available and can be accessed here
You can now access the Metropolitan Police Seven Stage Model for Neighbourhood Policing here
Wednesday 6th September 2006 is Neighbourhood Policing Day at the Problem Oriented Partnership Conference. Among the presentations will be an update on the national roll out of neighbourhood policing by the programme team, guidance on Community Engagement by the West Mercia team who produced the engagement guidance which is in the document library, a presentation on performance management by the West Midlans Neighbourhood Policing Team (see their latest work in the document library - including What does a good BCU look like?), and a presentation by Greater Manachester Police and partners on neighbourhood policing and partnership working. For more details on the conference go to the POP link on our web links page.
Greater Manchester use one of the most progressive partnership models in the United Kingdom, and Greater Manchester Against Crime (GMAC) have just announced a conference on 28th and 29th November 2006 titled - "NIM and Partnerships - Making it work". For more detail go to the GMAC link on our web links page.
Among our examples of good practise is work in Cumbria in engaging the public in talking about anti social behaviour (in our document library) and a new case study from Coventry showing a consistent approach to engaging with members of the deaf community.
Recent additions to the document library include: from last year, there is a copy of the Metropolitan Police Authority joint review of Policing and Mental Health and from this month, the Crown Prosecution Service Anti Social Behaviour Guidance.
Finally, if you have registered as a member of the neighbourhood policing website you will have received a questionnaire which will help us to continue to keep this site relevant and popular with all our visitors. Please respond with any suggestions you have.
Once again if you have work or ideas which you would like to share please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
July 2006
The Home Office have announced a funding round dealing with Guns, Knives and Gangs, this can be accessed from the Connected link on the weblinks page.
A number of new documents are now available in the documents library, including neighbourhood policing flyers and posters which are available to download and are free to use.
An extensive addition to the documents library is guidance produced by West Mercia Police on community enagement, in addition to a full guidance book there are seperate guides written on face to face surveys, environmental visual audits, public perception surveys, surgery's and meetings.
There is also the Neighbourhood Beat managers guide, a resource produced by Devon and Cornwall and the guidance on Community Safety Accreditation Schemes.
There are some excellent examples of community engagement in the case study section, including contacting Mulsims Women's Groups, work with people who are visually impaired and working with the traveller community.
Once again if you have work or ideas which you would like to share please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
June 2006
The Audit Commission have just published the Community Safety National Report - NEIGHBOURHOOD CRIME AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR. It reviews current work around anti-social behaviour, including case studies and includes a five point plan for effective action. It can be accessed through the Audit Commission link on the weblinks page.
Another useful new link is the Russell Commission link, a National Framework for Youth Action and Engagement - this in turn leads to the wearev website which has just announced a funding round for youth volunteers.
Also view the Greater Manchester against Crime link to look at good practice from Manchester around community mapping and partnership work.
Recent additions to the document library include communication and marketing strategies, a presentation on the roll out of SNEN (Single non-emergency number) a Special Constabulary deployment strategy and a literature review on community engagement.
There are new case studies in community engagement including engaging with traveller communities. We've also started an innovations section which includes a couple of case studes around using weblogs.
Once again if you have work or ideas which you would like to share please forward them to us through the Contact Us page.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
May 2006
We have started a case study page which is available for practitioners who log on as members, recent updates include examples of good practice in the work of PCSOs and examples of community engagement. We are keen to keep providing practitioners with examples of practice from other areas so if you have an example please forward to us through the Contact Us page. We're especially keen for examples of community engagement and supporting the work of volunteers and neighbourhood watch groups.
Recent additions in the document library include examples of communications strategies and force Programme Initiation Documents. Again if you can share your work in these areas it would be appreciated.
Finally we are working on the How To section with recent updates including 60 Second briefings on Community Intelligencve (Practitioners, supervisors and analysts), this work was completed with the NCPE National Intelligence Model Team and has been well received. In addition is a short user-friendly guide on how to carry out an Environmental Visual Audit which was drawn up by Leicestershire Constabulary.
There will be more updates over the coming weeks and months so please keep checking, contributing and if you think of an area which needs addressing please let us know.
Nick Keane/Vivienne Cooling
Knowledge Management/Communications
