The story of British policing over the past 30 years has been one of constant reform and of repeated demands that more change is needed. Governments have sought to make the police more effective in dealing with crime and at the same time to increase efficiency, reduce bureaucracy and cut costs. The public have similarly wanted the police to be more effective in fighting crime, which they have often equated with having a more visible police presence on the streets. Concerns of a different kind have related to police methods in dealing with demonstrations or incidents of public disorder, the use or misuse of police powers, and the treatment of minorities. Dogmatic assertions about what is needed have been matched by scepticism about the extent to which traditional police methods, especially patrol and ‘bobbies on the beat’, can by themselves have an impact on the general level of crime.

What police are for

Since the earliest days of the public police service, there has been debate about whether the ‘job’ of the police is to prevent crime and reduce the harm it causes, or whether it is to fight crime, catch criminals and bring them to justice. Accounts of policing and proposals for reform regularly start with a reference to Rowan and Mayne, the first commissioners of the Metropolitan Police, who stated that it was both, but that prevention came first. But it has never been a straightforward choice. For many people, the best way to prevent crime is simply to catch and lock up criminals, and so it may be for some forms of serious or organised crime. Preventing other forms of crime and anti-social behaviour requires different techniques and relationships, and a different culture and mode of operating from those needed for the procedures of investigation, arrest and prosecution. Crime prevention has historically had a lower status and is not so obviously a police function. The practice and culture of policing need to embrace both.

It has been argued that the nature of policing has changed dramatically, both in response to the increasing demand for public safety and security (Bayley and Shearing, 1996; Johnston and Shearing, 2003), and under the influence of new public management.