Calls for a return to community policing

22 March 2023

Tiff Lynch, deputy chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

Federation national deputy chair Tiff Lynch has made a passionate plea for an urgent return to community policing.

“Police officers are not out there doing what they are employed to do and what they want to do in terms of helping society,” says Tiff.

“What we have not got is officers out there on the street, mixing with the community and talking to the community. We need them listening to the community and finding out the root problems that are happening. This would enable them to be better equipped to both solve and deter crime.

“We need to bring back neighbourhood policing. It’s the bedrock of policing and the root of all policing because we are there in the communities we serve.

“From there, it will help us support all other areas of crime.”

Tiff’s comments were backed by Police Federation Welsh affairs lead Nicky Ryan.

Nicky said: “Neighbourhood policing has been among the biggest casualties of the cuts in funding over the past 13 years with forces opting to make savings by moving to more centralised models.

“As a result, many people felt the police had withdrawn from their communities and this has led to a breakdown in trust and confidence which we must now work hard to win back.

“Getting officers back into the heart of their communities would be a good first step in that process because a visible police presence is not only reassuring but it also acts as a very effective deterrent.

“The police service faces many challenges in the coming months and years but a return to community policing should be a top priority for Wales’ four forces.”

The role of the police in the community has been heavily featured in the media agenda of late and was again highlighted when shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour would recruit 13,000 more neighbourhood police, with a named officer for each community, if the party wins the next election.

The plans would be supported by new legislation which would guarantee more community patrols to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime. 

Ms Cooper told the BBC: “Too often neighbourhood policing has been seen as a Cinderella service in many forces - always the one that gets squeezed or cut back if there are budget cuts or if there are pressures elsewhere.”

Tiff says that a dereliction of community policing over the past few years has led to a distrust of the service, in certain areas, that needs to be built up again as soon as possible.

“It’s fair to say that policing is through the floor in terms of public trust in the whole service. That doesn’t, however, mean that every single police officer should not be trusted,” added Tiff.

“With ever-increasing levels of cyber-crime and other specialist crime departments needed, our chief constables need to move people around. Every single department will say they are more important than the next, but one thing that doesn’t change is our neighbourhoods, because that is where people live and congregate and that’s where people talk.

“We need to know who the criminals are and we need to know the people that are having the crimes committed against them. We can only do that by being active in the communities in which they live.”

Watch Tiff’s interview.