Generating and using community intelligence : the case of neighbourhood policing

This paper examines the role that community generated information plays in ‘neighbourhood policing’ — a key component of the UK police reform agenda. The neighbourhood policing agenda is concerned with the delivery of a consistent presence of dedicated neighbourhood teams which should be visible and accessible to the community. However, it also calls for the generation of community intelligence which should be used for local problem-solving and should be incorporated into National Intelligence Model (NIM) tasking. At the time of writing the principle of incorporating information generated from the public into policing intelligence and priority setting thus has strong resonance, at least at the level of rhetoric of policy and practice. It is contended that difficult questions are posed in thinking through what it means to consult with the ‘public’, the nature of community generated information and how it is translated into operational decisions and resource deployment. This paper explores the conceptual foundations of neighbourhood policing — which are found in reassurance policing, problem-oriented policing and the National Intelligence Model. It then examines the current mechanisms for generating community information, prioritising problems, and delivering responses as they are applied in neighbourhood policing. It finishes with a critical discussion of the concept and practice of generating and using community information for setting local policing priorities. INTRODUCTION The principle of incorporating information generated from members of the public into police intelligence processes and priority setting has strong resonance at the time of writing. This is especially evident in ‘neighbourhood policing’ which has constituted a significant element of the UK government’s police reform agenda. The neighbourhood policing agenda is concerned with the delivery of visible and accessible teams of police officers who are dedicated to particular geographical neighbourhoods. There has been a great deal of local emphasis on the provision of these teams and considerable resources expended (HMIC, 2008; Policing Green Paper, 2008). The neighbourhood policing agenda has wider concerns however — at least in principle — and is additionally concerned with (1) intelligence-led identification of community concerns about crime; and (2) joint action and problem-solving with the community and other partners to tackle them. With its focus on generating information from the community and using it in local problem-solving — along with a wider call to incorporate it into National Intelligence Model (NIM) tasking — the remit of neighbourhood policing should be about much more than the provision of dedicated neighbourhood teams. This paper examines the concept and application of ‘community intelligence’ as it applies in the neighbourhood policing agenda. ‘Intelligence’ in the policing context has been defined as the ‘systematic and purposeful acquisition, sorting,