Author: Norman Dennis, George Erdos, and David Robinson
ISBN No: 1-903 386-26-8
Review date: 12/06/2026
No of pages: 60
Publisher: Civitas, London SE1 7NQ
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
The Failure of Britiain's Police by Norman Dennis, George Erdos, and David Robinson (2003).
My interest was immediately aroused in this publication – by Civitas, the think-tank, an institute for the study of civil societ – as the introduction is by George Kelling a well-known American criminologist with a special interest in policing. He refers to the American perception of an England with an orderly society of law and justice and how that perception has changed dramatically in recent years. The authors allege that in Britain the forces of law and order have lost control and that lessons can be learnt from policing in New York. They refer to the recent trends in street crime and its control in London and New York and the present striking contrast. Comparisons for reported offences of robbery are made. In 2002 New York’s annual robbery rate was less than 540 per 100,000 of the population; London’s 620. The authors argue a point that supports my previous statements in Professional Security: that the fall in crime in the 1990s other than street crime was associated with the improvement and implementation of security measures, both in the home and to business premises. An issue I feel has not been given prominence by the police in support of the private security sector.The authors argue that Britain’s police are overwhelmed by crime and the recent statistics reveal that the ratio of crime to the number of police officers is up. However the authors point out there has been an opposite trend in New York with considerable reductions in crime. It is argued that this is due to the considerable increase in the police establishment, in particular, officers on the beat.
<br><br>
Another interesting argument put forward is that ‘patrolling’ was regarded with approval: ‘self-policing’ when practiced by a group or neighbourhood and as a ‘good citizen’ when practiced by an individual. The authors claim this is now condemned by the police as ‘vigilantism’. They refer to the police response to minor crimes making matters even worse; police neglecte crimes which they chose to define as ‘minor’, including drug taking and intimidation of people by drunken youths; but, as police in New York discovered, localities in which ‘minor’ offences abound quickly became a haven for the serious criminals. (This is nothing new and is well-known by practical police officers) This book stresses that ‘woe betide the police commander who did not deliver the one thing that is now counted; crime reduction.’ However this is New York. This most interesting readable publication concludes, in my opinion, most accurately: ‘Law-breakers begin by robbing the law-abiding citizen of his tranquillity, property and bodily safety. They end up by robbing him and his children of the benefits of the free society.’
