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Topic
Why trust in the police matters, and how it is won or lost.
12 articles · All topics →
Commercial crime rankings repeatedly put Worthing at or near the top for shoplifting. The recorded figures were real, but reporting changes, denominator choices and old data materially changed what they could tell us.
Procedural justice is one of policing's strongest routes to legitimacy: give people voice, make neutral decisions, show respect and explain trustworthy motives. The evidence supports the approach, but leaders should be precise about what it has — and has not — been shown to change.
Compare Guardian police headlines with public confidence data, inspect the method and understand why the two trends cannot establish causation.
Alex Murray spent a career investigating murders and running counter-terrorism operations, then built the institution that asked British policing a harder question: does any of this actually work? A profile of the founder of the Society of Evidence-Based Policing.
What studies of England matches reveal about alcohol, timing and recorded domestic abuse, and how police and partners could test their response.
Martyn's Law is enacted but not yet in force. Here is what the 2025 Act requires, what changed in 2026, and what police and venues should do before commencement.
In 1981 Lawrence Sherman ran a domestic violence call as a scientific experiment, and policing was never quite the same. A profile of the American criminologist who argued that the police should be tested like medicine — and who taught the officers, Alex Murray among them, who carried the idea into British policing.
Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police in 1829, but the nine 'Peelian principles' were not written by him. What the history actually supports — and why policing by consent remains a useful test of legitimacy.
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee combines named local policing, visible presence and hot-spots patrol. These can support confidence and crime reduction, but the evidence points to different mechanisms and measures for each.
Police and courts routinely ask people whether they understand cautions, rights and conditions. A yes/no answer can hide confusion. PACE and judicial guidance require active support for understanding; teach-back is one practical way to check it.
PACE gives detainees in England and Wales a right to free independent legal advice and forbids police from dissuading them from using it. The harder question is whether the way custody presents that right helps people make an informed decision when they decline.
The evidence supports neighbourhood policing as a route to higher public confidence, but visibility alone is not enough. The strongest model combines targeted presence, community engagement and problem-solving — and requires forces to protect the capacity to deliver all three.
