Making an impact
Mainstreaming into front-line activities
Community engagement has more often than not been seen as an "add-on" activity within an organisation, which only specialist practitioners can be involved in while other staff get on with their jobs. However, increasingly community engagement should be part of core police business. Policy prescribes this, and at local level forces' and authorities' aims and visions refer to putting the public's priorities and views at the heart of activity.
To make this real, it will be important for all staff in your organisation to be aware of how they are perceived by the public and how they can incorporate a community focus into their work.
How is the customer received?
Is the first point of contact for them welcoming and pleasant? How can services be redesigned to make things better? This might be things as straightforward as providing reading material in waiting rooms, providing more comfortable chairs, or front line staff looking up and making eye contact/greeting people when they arrive as a matter of course. Police on the beat might be encouraged to say hello to more people that they see on the street, especially in residential areas.
Are community views listened to and taken on board throughout the organisation?
It might be the case that formal "consultations" are the only time that community views are taken on board in planning and delivering services. However, staff will receive feedback from the community every day of their working lives. Can this information be shared more widely?
Think about ways of collating this and looking at service improvement as a result, perhaps through staff panels, workshops, (technology based) suggestions boxes or even through the appraisal system. Clearly mechanisms such as this will need to feed into service improvement systems and be acted on to have a positive effect. Staff will be demoralised if they do not see their views being acted on, just as communities are.
Does training include a community/customer focus element for all staff?
Develop and introduce training modules that encourage a customer focused approach. Role playing in particular encourages staff to see their jobs from the customer perspective, and alter behaviour accordingly. Within training and development systems (for example management and supervision systems), staff can be encouraged to think about how their individual roles can become more customer- and community-focused. They can then be supported and guided on how to make changes to their practice and role themselves.
What is the culture of "community" through the organisation?
Do structures exist to show that your organisation is serious about your communities? Consider the following
- customer/community engagement champions and networks throughout your organisation
- encouraging community links through volunteering schemes
- reaching out to the community through regular, scheduled visits to community groups, parish councils, community associations, Neighbourhood Watch, schools, old people's homes and so on.
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