Policing by consent - assignment PDF

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Chloe Marshall 952447

What Does It Look Like?

History In 1829, when the Metropolitan Police was established by Sir Robert Peel it was done so on the principle of policing by consent. Regardless of the amount it has evolved since its 19th Century origins, the concept of policing by consent remains fundamental to how our forces are justified to the present day. For policing to be consensual, however, the communities that are policed must recognise that their forces are at their service. Communities must understand that the old mantra that the ‘police are the general public and therefore the public are the police’ rings true for them. [3]

Importantly, trust within the police was found to be more strongly related to perception of the police being fair when interacting with the general public than with perception of the police being effective in addressing crime. The research also showed that trust enhances police legitimacy which, in turn, encourages people to assist the police and not break the law. Most of the previous studies examining people’s motivation to cooperate with the police and obey with the law haven't been conducted within the UK. To fill this gap, RAI conducted a full test of the procedural justice model in England and Wales with a nationally representative survey of 937 members of the general public. Analysis of the survey data suggested the key relationships within the theory were evident and statistically significant. [4]

What Does It Mean? Policing by consent means that the police’s power comes from the consent of the general public, instead of the state. It doesn’t involve the consent of one individual, this is due to the fact that no individual has the selection to withdraw their consent from the police, or a law. [1]

Issues Strategies Due to the results of the tradition of policing by consent, the UK uses a different approach to policing public-order crime as compared to other western countries. However, public order policing shows limitations to the process of policing by consent.

Requests for the arming of officers with firearms in the UK have been resisted a number of times. With a lengthy history of unarmed policing, police use of firearms within the UK is far more limited than in many other countries. The rise in the use of tasers throughout the UK was viewed as a fundamental shift in policing and criticised as damaging policing by consent. [5]

Benefits • A rise in perceptions of safety by the public. •

A decrease in disorder and antisocial behaviour

• A rise in confidence, trust, and in community perceptions of the police • An improvement in police officers’

The Justification For, and Features of, Policing by Consent

Opposition from the working classes deepened when an additional Metropolitan Police Act was introduced by parliament in 1839. There was little opposition from 'respectable' elements of society, this was because the act concerned regulating street behaviour. It would be misleading to assume that the entire working classes were against the police. Nevertheless, it's difficult to assess how far they accepted the legitimacy of police power, or just accepted because of the knowledge it had. Most crime were of a trivial and petty nature, with property crime involving the theft of low value goods being the biggest problem. It's likely that those who suffered such crimes were of the working classes, and therefore the proven fact that they reported their crimes to the police suggests a degree of legitimacy and a recognition that the police were there to assist them too. [6]

Limitations • A loss of public confidence within the police • A loss of legitimacy within the eyes of the general public • Strategic policing has had a negative impact because the police are unable to foresee changes in the community. • Increased vulnerabilities around threat, risk and harm • Withdrawal of the general public from participation and problem solving • Unrealistic public expectations regarding policing services • Lack of awareness of changes within the community and tensions not

References: 1. GOV.UK. 2012. Definition of policing by consent. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021]. 2. App.college.police.uk. 2013. Engagement & Communication. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021].

3. Hopkinson, F., 2016. 'Policing by consent' in contemporary Britain - Cherwell. [online] Cherwell. Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021]. 4. Myhill, A. and Quinton, P., 2011. It’s a fair cop? Police legitimacy, public cooperation, and crime reduction. [online] Whatworks.college.police.uk. Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021]. 5. En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Peelian principles - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021]. 6. Open.ac.uk. n.d. Police-Public Relations: Policing by Consent. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2021]....