In nearly a quarter of a century, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the finest police officers in this country who have worked on some of the most challenging investigations and cases and brought offenders to justice. In all, I have probably been responsible for prosecuting over a million cases in that time either directly or through my supervision. Both in London and in the north west of England and nationally through my experience of violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse, I have been impressed by the commitment of thousands of police officers to the safety of their communities. That said, there are several challenges that trouble me and many others in criminal justice.
There is a perception that the police are more detached from the communities than they have ever been and that they are seen as an instrument of the state rather than protectors of the public. This is particularly so in high crime areas and minority communities. I regularly hear members of the public telling me “they don’t look like me, they don’t care, they just drive by in fast cars”. One community leader told me that pizza gets to his home before the police. That perception needs to change.
Experience levels have fallen as corporate knowledge has left the police service through redundancies and retirements. Officers no longer get the chance to testify regularly in court because of the increased use of fixed penalties and out of court disposals. Incrementally, the police are being deskilled and their confidence shaken. I recall prosecuting a case in which the officer was giving evidence and only in the witness box did he notice that he did not have his pocket book from which he would have to give his evidence. I then had to launch into a lengthy legal argument to enable him to rely upon a photocopy. Halfway through giving his evidence he patted his shirt pocket, where he noticed that his pocket book was there.
“There are thousands of organised crime gangs up and down the country who are usually one step ahead of the police
Paperwork has been demonised and that means that it is not always done properly, if at all. Paperwork is not always bureaucracy; it is the evidence in the case. It is the taking of statements from witnesses without whom a case cannot even start. Too many officers do not understand the law and they see the charging of somebody as more important than his or her conviction. This means that they often tell victims what they want to hear and raise expectations that cannot be met. I believe that the legal system is prone to sending out mixed and confusing messages to them, some laws are impenetrable and incapable of being understood by lawyers and judges never mind police officers and the public. Where parliament legislates in piecemeal fashion it is extremely difficult to understand.
In relation to trials some officers do not understand the consequences of failing to disclose evidence that is not part of the prosecution case. This can often mean that cases are stopped because it would be unfair to have a trial and that means that defendants who may be guilty are allowed to go free. Often this is down to poor supervision by senior officers and the quality of investigations. Too many officers do not understand what reasonable lines of enquiry they should be following, including those that point away from the suspect. In that regard there seems to be a perception of a lack of interest in criminal justice; you rarely see a police officer above the rank of inspector at liaison and partnership events with other justice partners.
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Perception is very important. While crime is going down faith in the police appears to be going down. They should stop engaging with their “usual suspects” and identify community members who really speak for their communities. I have wasted so much of my time sitting down with community leaders who represent nobody but themselves.
The police need to move and follow crime, which is now in the shadows of the internet and inside homes. They need to do the more difficult stuff. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder and not just the visible evidence of police action. Regularly, they focus on raids and co-ordinated arrests rather than simply ensuring that crime doesn’t happen through targeting lifestyle criminals. I have seen lazy policing where they rely upon the seizing of cash from offenders instead of prosecuting them under the proceeds of crime-money laundering provisions. It is lazy because they know they are allowed to keep 50 per cent of the cash that they seize but if they prosecute they would get less than half of that.
The time has come to also look at the structure of policing in this country. There are at least 42 ways of doing things, which makes it impossible for national partners. Different police forces have their own distinct agendas, priorities and protocols as well as IT systems, which are often not fit for purpose. IT development is generally haphazard, poorly procured and doesn’t even talk to fellow police officers never mind other justice partners.
“The reduction in community support officers is reducing diversity
The scale of the task they face in organised crime is extraordinary. There are thousands of organised crime gangs up and down the country who are usually one step ahead of the police. Understanding the totality of a problem seems to mystify many police forces. Tackling some sex offenders, gangs and groups is essential but the scale of the task is underestimated. In that regard poor intelligence damages the development of these cases. Police become too process driven and lose the ability to see the bigger picture.
So what is the answer? I think we need to go back to the nine principles of policing that were outlined at the creation of the police forces in 1829, namely that “the police are the public and the public are the police”. One good example of that is the Lancashire police portal, which will allow the public to upload video evidence of what they perceive to be criminal or anti-social behaviour The police will then determine whether a crime has been committed. The police need to secure “the willing co-operation of the public in the observance of the laws”. That means that nobody is above the law whether they are an international bank, high-profile individuals or organised crime gangs.
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The challenge of engaging with the community requires a diverse workforce and with a recruitment freeze, this is taking longer to achieve. The reduction in community support officers is also reducing the diversity of the police forces. Why can they not appoint more special constables who have all the powers of police officers and can help them deal with some of the resourcing issues they currently face? There are not enough digital examiners and given that so much of our crime is now on-line, why not have a thousand special constables specially trained for people who actually understand the digital world. The cost would be minimal yet the benefits overwhelming.
The police are struggling to get good police practice consistently across the country and while Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary is doing its very best to ensure that this is properly disseminated it is a challenge for good practice to move within a force, never mind from local to national level. Regional Crime Squads could do a great deal more in sharing their expertise with local police areas but they hide behind a definition that it must be cross-border crime before they do so. The simplest thing would be to track the journey of the victim through the system and break down the barriers that currently ensure that there is a postcode lottery.
Yes the police have to become more efficient, but selling off the police estate is being done in such an ad hoc way that I am aware of at least one police station that has fallen into the hands of an organised crime group, which now uses it as a badge of honour. It has to be driven consistently by collaboration not just by finances.
Tackling violence against women and girls is such an important way of being able to not only protect the most vulnerable in society but also to disrupt serious criminals and organised crime gangs. Many times, while it would be difficult to build a case for their involvement in serious organised crime, we know that if we tackle their abuse of women and girls we can ensure that they are brought to justice and therefore disrupted from the other crimes that they commit. It is often said that the first victim of a terrorist is the woman in his own home. It is certainly true that organised crime gangs could be severely curtailed if we challenged them for the way that they behave towards women and girls.
Communication with the public is key here and listening to their concerns is essential. This needs strong leadership from senior officers and the greater use of professional judgement by police officers. A professional police force is on its way, but it has to be connected to the public it serves, it has to be transparent and only then will it have our confidence.
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Nazir Afzal was chief executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners 2016-17