Restorative community policing in the UK: Dorset, Cheshire and Norfolk constables point the way
May 17, 2009
From the article by Joshua Wachtel: Police in roughly 50 percent of counties in England and Wales employ some form of restorative justice (RJ). Constables in districts including Dorset (southwest), Cheshire and Lancashire (northwest), Hull (northeast) and Norfolk (east) are actively making restorative practices (RP) their first line of defense — at officers’ discretion — for dealing with neighborhood disputes, first-time and low-level youth offenders, youth crime in schools, and some adult cases.
However, a recent policy change by the Home Office, the national government department that oversees policing, has established criteria for reviewing police performance based on public confidence and trust rather than on performance targets and sanction detection. Constabularies that had previously piloted restorative justice programs without a national legal mandate to do so believe this change in performance assessment authorizes them to use RJ in more cases.
