“Public Health Approaches to Policing in the United Kingdom” Call for submission of case studies
Objective
The European Regional Office of the World Health Organization is developing a collaborative publication with intersectoral national counterparts from the four nations of the United Kingdom on “Public Health Approaches to Policing”.
This publication will reflect the history and leadership behind the introduction and mainstreaming of public health approaches in policing strategies and operations. For the purposes of this publication, public health is referred to in its discipline and practices, rather than to a jurisdiction. With its focus and intended audience, this will be a policing publication.
The objective of this publication is to document and disseminate good practices and experiences in policing to a wider regional (and global) audience, in anticipation of opportunistically influencing policing practices and strategies where appropriate.
Defining public health approaches to policing
Traditional response models of policing focus on enforcement, and often operate at an individual level. Public health approaches differ from this in that they promote proactive prevention, working with partner organisations to problem solve, create cohesive communities, improve data-sharing, and promote evidence-based practice. Public health approaches support the Policing Vision 2025, which highlights a need for prevention and whole system approaches.
The College of Policing and Public Health England have highlighted five key elements that make up public health approaches to policing.
These are:
- Starting with populations (rather than individuals)
- Seeking to understand and address the causes of the causes
- Championing Prevention
- Intelligent use of data and evidence base
- Organisations working in partnership with each other and communities
Case studies should align with these principles. More information can be found here:
Whilst the public health approach is pertinent to all aspects of proactive policing, for this first publication, only case studies addressing policing experiences in road safety and prevention of interpersonal violence are being sought.
Case Study Format
Any policing agency in the four nations can submit a case study based on their operational experiences. Case studies can be based on unilateral experience or can reflect a collaboration between policing agencies.
The initial submission will be a 250 word summary of the proposed case study, due by 31 July 2021. From the summaries, a shortlist of case studies will be prepared and developed against the following structure.
- Set the scene and provide the rationale for the case;
- Describe the case itself;
- Discuss lessons learnt and the difficulties experienced;
- Link findings to the future and discuss the potential implications for policy and practice.
References should refer to evidence that may come from peer-reviewed research, reports produced by civil society, governments, UN agencies, or similar.
Figures and tables may be included. If any tables, figures or photographs, or substantial quotations, have been borrowed from other publications, you must include a letter of permission from the publisher.
Case studies should not be longer than 1,500 words.
Case study submissions should be examples from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Some existing case studies can be found here
Further information
Please contact
Jonathon Passmore
Program Manager – Violence and Injury Prevention
WHO Regional Office for Europe
passmorej@who.int
+4561147979