The top ten innovations in practice

and theory that have made a

difference to policing in the last

three decades

Rick Sarre

Law School

University of South Australia

Let’s have a quick look at the policing landscape in Australia currently:

Where are we going in relation to the costs of crime, police numbers and expenditures?

Costs of crime are rising

Australian Institute of Criminology study (2013-2014):

$36 billion a year = 4.1% of GDP.

$21 billion are direct financial losses

• 40% is the result of fraud

• 10% associated with burglary

• 9% drug offending

• 8% arson

• 7% assault

And the other $15 billion?

Government expenditures on police are rising

Expenditures (2013-2014)*

Police (not including AFP) $10.18 billion

Criminal courts** $ 0.77 billion

Corrections $ 3.37 billion

TOTAL $ 15.0 billion p.a.

*Productivity Commission 2015

**Not including DPP

Numbers are rising too About 61,000 operational police 2012-2013. Plus about 7,000 non-operational staff

Total for Australia* 129 officers / 100,000 population 1918 221 officers / 100,000 population 1996 226 officers / 100,000 population 2006 268 officers / 100,000 population 2013

* Report on Government Services 2014

Are these trends sustainable?

No. Because the purse is tightening.

So police need to focus on the things that work and deliver the best outcomes.

Let me isolate what I consider to be the 10 key themes and innovations that have improved policing in this country (and elsewhere) in the last three decades.

Prerequisites and caveats

• My top 10 choices of programs and themes must have undergone rigorous evaluations or must have emerged from solid theoretical development.

• The programs / themes are not costed from a cost-benefit perspective.

• I present them in no particular order.

• I have engaged in no surveying of colleagues: these are simply my favourites and are mine alone, from 30 years of teaching in the field.

Let’s start with these questions

What has been successful

• In programming?

• In administration?

• In technologies?

• In strategic initiatives?

My preferred choices are a mixture of THEMES and INNOVATIONS.

Here are my 10 best picks ….

# 1 Strengthening the evaluative (experimental) base

With good experimental designs

e.g. Larry Sherman, Peter Grabosky, Heather Strang, Nick Tilley, Ray Pawson et al

We now know a lot more about the effectiveness of intelligence-led & problem-oriented policing, routine activity theory, and family violence prevention (etc) because of the developing world of crime science.

# 2 Working with, not against, police culture

We must work with police in framing our recruitment, training and management. It is possible to shape police culture towards these ends, that is, to make police culture a good thing to work with, rather than a bad thing to fight.

Janet Chan

# 3 Championing education The National Police Professionalism Implementation Advisory Committee (NPPIAC) recommended in 1990 that police pursue full professional status reflecting national education standards underpinned by university qualifications. The growth has been remarkable since then. E.g. SA’s Superintendents’ Qualification Program; the work of the AIPM.

# 4 Strengthening procedural fairness

People are more likely to obey the law (and thus less likely to commit crime) if they believe that the police are behaving in a procedurally fair manner and their practices are legitimate and not arbitrary. The idea here is that it doesn’t matter what police do, or their firepower, or their legislative mandate. If people don’t believe that police act legitimately, they are not going to be as effective.

Tom Tyler

# 5 Diverting offenders from the system

For example, juvenile justice conferencing Began as a police initiative in Wagga Wagga. Reintegrative Shaming Experiments were designed by John Braithwaite. Randomized trial (‘RISE’) in Canberra (1995-2000) showed reductions in violence for youths < 30. Since then, the evidence for conferencing has been a little mixed. However Kathy Daly • has found high levels of victim satisfaction • has found that restorative justice programs work

at least as well as formal justice responses at no more cost.

# 6 Celebrating the push to ‘pluralisation’

Police are a necessary but not sufficient component in the crime prevention / reduction task. The work of Clifford Shearing and Philip Stenning has been revolutionary in heralding the rise of privatised models of policing and how they can enhance and expand the total ‘policing’ landscape.

# 6 continued …

Lorraine Mazerolle and Janet Ransley (amongst others) have developed the concept of Third Party Policing, i.e forming partnerships with businesses, property owners, and inspectors working for government and non-government agencies, to engage in policing activities that are not directed by police.

# 7 Embracing crime prevention through public / private partnerships

Example 1: Strike Force Piccadilly

2005 ↑ ATM ram raids Greater Sydney Area Crisis meetings: NSW Police, ABA, Shopping Centre Council of Australia, CIT firms, ATM Industry Association all formed an alliance Created: 1. priority alarm response system 2. situational prevention (specialist bollards) 3. risk assessment 4. shared intelligence reports Impacts: all raids: ↓ 86% over 3 years successful raids: ↓ 98% over 3 years

Tim Prenzler

# 7 continued

Example 2: Comprehensive Auto-theft Research System (CARS)

http://www.carsafe.com.au/. 60% reduction in thefts since 2001 (still 54,000 per year!)

How? A focus on 15-20 year olds (50%) and the education/ welfare/ employment needs of the ‘at risk’ population, along with ‘target-hardening’ of cars.

Ray Carroll

# 8 Adopting crime mapping techniques

‘Hot spot’ policing: crime tends to cluster in geographical areas…police and resource deployment is now determined by time and place considerations for maximum efficiency.

Jerry Ratcliffe

David Weisburd

# 9 Encouraging women into police careers

Female police officers

1971: 1.8%

1994: 15.2%

2013: 25.0%

Gender diversity has been shown to be an important factor in reducing levels of corruption.

# 10 Enhancing policing of diverse communities

Example 1 LGBT: liaison officers have raised confidence in the LGBTIQ communities to report victimisation. 2014-2016 South Australian Strategy – for the Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer People SAPOL is presently liaising with the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion in an effort to implement the LGBTIQ Inclusion Strategy and use the guidelines and standards to improve inclusive service delivery. Who would have thought?

# 10 continued

Example 2

Indigenous liaison: training in cross-cultural sensitivities to overcome the high % of ATSI coming into police custody (currently 25% of Australian prisoners, yet only 2% of the population).

And a focus on young ATSI co-offenders by reference to the communities they relate to and where they congregate.

Andrew Goldsmith and Mark Halsey

To review the list # 1 Strengthening the evaluative (experimental) base

# 2 Working with, not against, police culture

# 3 Championing education

# 4 Strengthening procedural fairness

# 5 Diverting young offenders from the system

# 6 Celebrating the push to ‘pluralisation’

# 7 Embracing crime prevention through public private partnerships

# 8 Adopting crime mapping techniques

# 9 Encouraging women into police careers

# 10 Enhancing policing of diverse communities

Summary • Continuing simply to reply on increasing numbers

and expenditures in order to aid policing effectiveness is no longer an affordable option (if it ever was).

• We have done very well in thematic development and innovative practice over the last 30 years.

• But we need to continue to expand our theoretical understandings and evaluative databases.

• And we need to continue to focus on the many things that work well, study them, and strengthen them.

rick.sarre@unisa.edu.au