Policing Large Scale Disorder: Lessons from the disturbances of ...

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Home Affairs Committee: Evidence Ev w17 people on the streets and at home. Only a very small group of people were actually organised enough to capitalise on the “opportunity” this presented by, for example, getting transport to move any stolen goods. Not all participants were simply interested in material goods. According to one local journalist covering the riots some participants were from anarchist groups. These text messages ensured that a large group of people of all ethnicities and ages congregated in Birmingham City Centre. Most adults ignored these messages and even dismissed them as comical. They were therefore taken by surprise at the alarming rate at which events escalated. Eye witnesses reported complacent policing with officers standing by as people entered and exited vandalised shops helping themselves to whatever they could carry. People were heard phoning friends and urging them to join the action before everything went reassuring them that the police were not arresting people. Privately owned shops in the city centre arranged their own vigilante support groups to take on rioters, in some cases bringing in guard dogs. This could have given rise to further altercations and even injury to those protecting their shops. The following are some of the points raised by the representatives as contributing to the disturbances in the West Midlands: — Policing of the African and Caribbean/Asian communities. — Police in Tottenham falsely alleging that Mark Duggan had shot at officers. — Police being disgruntled with the government regarding reduction in the number of police officers (hence their complacent policing during the riots). — Poverty among young people, especially in one-parent households. — Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) allowances being removed from those families in financial need. — Inadequate youth provision for young teenagers and the closure of quality projects. — Negative media coverage of young black youths, especially during the riots. — Stop and search policy and increasing use of stop and account by officers who have no knowledge of the communities and their diverse make-up. — Racial profiling. — Local authority officers misleading members of the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities within Birmingham resulting in further isolation of African and Caribbean advocates who engage, in particular, with urban youths. — Poor auditing by Local Authority Officers and West Midlands Police to account for the large sums of money drawn down from Central Government on special programs that target youth and crime interventions. — The impact of redundancy on the income of one parent house-holds. — Poor education and poor parenting skills. — Increase in youth stress and mental health issues. — Government cutbacks. Proposed Solutions Our Understanding of Effective Community Engagement Good community engagement provides opportunities for people to shape the place in which they live, creating better and more sustainable communities. Engagement suggests a different sort of relationship. It suggests that there is a “governance” system and a “community” system. In order to build the collaborative relationships on which complex activities such as community empowerment and confidence building would depend, it is necessary for the governance system to fully understand the dynamics of the communities with which it seeks to work, and to be prepared to adapt and develop structures and processes to make them accessible and relevant to those communities. In this way, the term engagement warns us against making assumptions about communities: it asks for a dialogue. It also implies that the development of the relationship itself will be a key focus for attention: “police” will need to engage with communities as well as asking communities to engage with them. What do we want from the new engagement strategy? 1. Assurance that the African and Caribbean community is empowered to be involved and influence local policing delivery. 2. Increased awareness of the policing needs and issues of these communities with a view to building confidence and trust, and promoting a more cohesive approach to policing. 3. That West Midlands Police polices with the consent of the community by delivering local policing thereby discharging their duty to provide accountability to this community and vice versa using the IAG (Information, Advice, Guidance) model of engagement.
Ev w18 Home Affairs Committee: Evidence 4. Increased awareness of and confidence that West Midlands Police is an effective means for visible and transparent police accountability amongst these communities and other partners. 5. Improved West Midlands Police understanding of these communities and their complex structures so that we then ensure that we are empowered and able to influence the delivery of policing in our neighbourhoods. 6. A comprehensive tactical plan for communications and community engagement that sets out a forward work programme that is sustained and not reactive. This plan is to be reviewed on an annual basis for the life of this strategy with a measure of the West Midlands Police performance against objectives. 7. Independent inquiry into deaths in custody. Proposed Community Engagement Model Historically, African and Caribbean community engagement with the police has been reactive rather than proactive. This is a one-dimensional approach to conflict prevention. It is important that a new approach to community engagement and consultation starts from a position of “normality” so the police can engage meaningfully with the African and Caribbean communities before, during and after incidents like those that occurred in August. To achieve this we need a community-led review of policing. We also need to replace the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which has failed in its primary statutory purpose, ie to increase public confidence in the police complaints system in England and Wales, with a watch-dog body that is truly independent and community led. We propose a two-tier approach to community engagement as highlighted below: Two-Tier Approach to Effective Community Engagement Model 1. Down time (no incidents) engagement process: — Relationship building activities and events. — Exploring traditional and emerging communication channels. — Making the police accessible to the community. 2. Active time (incident) engagement process: Pre-police action in the community dialogue: — Crisis point mediation to ensure community cohesion. — Having a clear point of contact to serve as the thermometer and thermostat for informed and measured police action in the community. Police presence in the community—how we will work with the police in ensuring: — Effective targeting and not profiling. — Appropriate use of enforcement process—especially in raids. — Communication of police action in the community. Post-police action in the community: — Effective media reporting. — Soliciting of community support. — Exploring the moral and business case for police action. — Praising and rewarding community support and engagement with the police in solving the problem. — Support for Community Development Trusts (CDTs). Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 imposes a duty on the Council to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on citizens. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 also calls on local authorities to do all that they reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder in their area. The levels of unemployment and other disadvantages among members of the BME communities, including educational underachievement and disaffection among young people, would make this provision quite relevant in seeking “exceptional” assistance to facilitate the development and implementation of strategies to prevent crime and disorder within our communities. Conclusion The group on whose behalf this paper is presented is not claiming exclusive representation of the African and Caribbean communities, but seeking primarily to ensure that the widest possible interests and needs of the African and Caribbean communities are identified and protected through a process of meaningful cooperation and collaboration, at a strategic level, with the City Council and West Midlands Police.
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