Policing and Public Trust

Since its inception in the late nineteenth century, the prevailing ethos of the police institution in Britain, has been said to rest on Sir Robert Peel’s mantra of 1829 that ‘the police are the public and the public are the police’. This refrain, of policing by consent, has constantly been challenged and no more so than in recent years. Whilst public views of policing in Britain maintain a constant level of trust, according to opinion polls, little attention is given as to why 40% of the population remain mistrustful of policing services. Though much of this book is confined to police operations in the United Kingdom, especially with regard to the narratives of those whose interviews were transcribed as case studies, the extent to which the modern police service sets itself apart from the public (and is therefore non-consensual) is shown in policing practices across the globe, from the United States to Australia. With stories from people on the front line, who have been targeted by police, Dr. Eccy de Jonge examines how police agencies’ self-referential attitude – their “inner uniform” – may lead to bias in policing investigations, a breakdown in social order, and a lack of public trust. This is exacerbated by police officers using their power of discretion to subdue a right to criticism. Victims and complainants are routinely discredited by policing agencies around the globe and the inner workings of this public institution are failing those who rely upon it the most.