Policing and

public
confidence: Dr Stephen Brookes QPM BA(Hons) MCMI
A question of trust Manchester Business School

+44161 275 0552 stephen.brookes@mbs.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

Against a background of continual

public sector reform this paper
critically assesses current police
performance regimes and the impact on
trust and confidence. Based on detailed
empirical work in a large metropolitan
police force this paper looks specifically
at the concept of trust, examining its
construct through its wider
determinants or antecedents and the
outcomes of ‘trusting behaviour’. It
suggests that trust has different
dimensions and offers a trust cycle
British Society of Criminology based on four dimensions comprising
intrinsic, individual, institutional and
Cardiff June 2009
instrumental trust to support the
identification and measurement of trust.
The paper suggests and establishes a
practical and usable matrix outlining the
constructs of trust for use in assessing
the impact of policing in future research
and practice.
  Policing and public confidence:

Trust is a complex concept that that has been

Understanding trust and behaviour
variously defined and described. For example, it is
seen to be based on reciprocity (Putnam 2000) or
taking a ‘risk’ by placing responsibility in the hands of
‘Policing’ is a public and a social good which has value.
others. Levi (1998:78) suggests that ‘trust’ is a
The extent to which it is valued will differ from
holding word for a variety of phenomena that enable
person to person depending on a range of factors
individuals to take risks in dealing with others, solve
(including their own predispostion to trust) and the
collective action problems, or act in ways that seem
individual experiences of trusting behaviours. The
contrary to standard definitions of self-interest. She
confidence that groups of people have is likely to be
argues that trust is not one thing and it does not have
influenced in the longer term by an accumultation of
one source; it has a variety of forms and causes.
short term encounters with the police and ultimately,
the legitimacy of policing will depend on the extent to
Manifestations of Trust
which such confidence is universally accepted or
otherwise Trust therefore has different levels and The central argument of this paper is that trust has
dimensions. different dimensions. Trust represents an intrinsic
value. It includes encapsulated interests (Hardin
1998) and exists in circumstances where trust is built
on the belief that others will act beneficially rather
Social and public value orientations - of which trust
than maliciously towards us (Gambetta, 1988).
and confidence are critical elements (Moore 1995) -
Warren (1999) suggests that trust involves shared
are based on the assumption that individuals pursue
interests and a lack of malice, is manifest in the
different goals when making decisions for which the
individual behaviours that are adopted and
outcomes affect others.
institutionalised within organisations. Trust can also
be instrumental to the purpose of the organisation.
Social and political trust is generally embedded in a
Social psychologists generally distinguish between five larger complex of social, economic, and political
types of social value orientations that determine the features of society (Delhey & Newton, 2003).
way in which people act. The main difference Newton argues that it is now conventional to
between each category is the extent to which one distinguish between trust in people and confidence in
cares about his or her own payoffs and that of the institutions. He states
other in social (or public) dilemma situations (Messick
and McClintock 1968) which include desires that can Citizens may trust in friends, neighbours, colleagues, and
be altruistic, cooperative, individualistic, competitive countrymen, about whom they have personal knowledge,
or aggressive with concomitant behaviours that seek but have confidence in institutions such as parliament, the
to maximise or minimise the welfare of others. If state bureaucracy, and the courts, based upon their sense
these categories apply to individuals then one could of how these institutions work. Institutions are based on
equally argue that it applies to organisations and systems, rules, and formal procedures that operate
institutions. Messick and McClintock (ibid) tell us independently of the face-to-face relations of personal
that most individuals are either cooperative or trust. Following this distinction, most survey questions ask
individualistic. A question framed similarly could be about trust in people and confidence in institutions
asked of institutions. (Newton 2007:344).

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As Evans (1996) argues institutional confidence The Dimensions of Trust

comes close to the concept of legitimation, Some
have described this as ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ trust where
Trust is a critical element in building confidence in
the first is based on personal, first-hand knowledge of
policing. The paper asks; what does this mean within
individuals (trust in a friend) whereas the second is
the context of policing and how can trust and
more about social groups and situations (See
confidence be measured? The paper will examine
Newton 2007). The different dimensions of trust
trust as one critical factor in understanding, creating
therefore have implications for it’s measurement
and demonstrating public value in policing and will
where it is contingent upon people and
seek to explore some of it’s vital ingredients. Based
circumstances ranging from the micro (individual) to
on empirical research in a large metropolitan police
macro (cross national) levels and informed by
force it seeks to test a framework that recognises the
theories of trust ranging from rational choice (tit-for-
different dimensions of trust described earlier and
tat), social-psychological (learned trust) and societal
describes a trust cycle that helps to elucidate these
theories (collective trust). The latter is not so much
dimensions.
a property of the individual but more a collective
feature of society or institutions and is manifest in
The paper outlines a typology in which ‘trust,’ as a
trustworthy behaviour.
manifestation of public value in policing, can be
considered through four constructs; Something that
has ‘value’ is either intrinsic (of value in itself),
As a collective concept trust within networks enables individualistic (of value to the individual), institutional
participants to act together more effectively to (of value to the institution) and instrumental (of
pursue shared objectives (Halpern 2005) and is thus critical value to the accomplishment of a purpose, in
an important element of social capital (Putnam 2000). this case the purpose of policing).
Sonnenberg (1994) describes trust as the fabric that
binds us together. Based on the research, the paper will show how
‘trust’ is critical in building confidence and improving
public perception and will draw on the views of
senior officers, those who deliver policing “on the
It is important also to understand where the public
ground” and those who receive it – namely the
get their trusted sources of information from.
public. The paper will conclude with describing how
O’Neill (2002) argues that the vast amount of
the trust cycle can help in both identifying and
information that is now available masks reality and
measuring the different levels of trust.
can defeat trust with the result that public trust will
be informed by external sources. In relation to
policing, Ipsos Mori (2008) show for example that the
public receive information about how crime is being
dealt with from the TV news and local press far more
so than from the police themselves and indeed trust
these sources more than the information from the
police.

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The trust cycle

Trust as an innate value

The first stage in the cycle suggests that ‘trust’ is in

Defining Trust within the cycle
that it is valued for itself. It is about individuals,
people and relationships. Trust is something that we
It is important to first distinguish between ‘trust’ and can feel, sense, or discern.
‘trustworthiness’ which, this paper argues, is a pre-
requisite for both confidence and legitimacy. It is From time immemorial trust has been viewed as a
what the paper describes as the ‘trust’ cycle. This is critical factor underpinning human relationships. Five
illustrated in figure 1. hundred years before Christ, Confucius told his
disciple Tzu-kung that three things are needed for
Figure 1: The trust cycle
government: weapons, food and trust. He continued
by saying that if a ruler cannot hold on to all three, he
should give up weapons first and food the next.

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referred to the scientific results of a particular

breeding experiment. He asked a well respected
Trust should be guarded to the end: without trust we professor “whether the author was a trustworthy
cannot stand (Tao 2008:83). Aristotle (384-322 BC) man. I soon heard in answer that the Society had
writing in the Rhetoric spoke of ‘ethos’ the trust of a been greatly shocked by discovering that the whole
speaker by the listener. What a person says will be account was a fraud. The writer had been publicly
interpreted by people and trust will either be given or challenged in the Journal to say where he had resided
withheld. Aristole identified three characteristics of and kept his large stock of rabbits while carrying on
trust; intelligence of the speaker (correctness of his experiments, which must have consumed several
opinions, or competence), the character of the years, and no answer could be extracted from him
speaker (reliability and honesty) and the goodwill of (Darwin, F 1887:5-54). Darwin thus valued ‘trust’ as
the speaker (favorable intentions towards the an innate quality based on his own values of scientific
listener) (Tway 1993:17). validity. The ‘author’ of the bogus research was
judged ‘untrustworthy’. Darwin thus refused to place
Trustworthiness as an individual value his (innate) trust in the ‘other’ who was not to be
Confucious also spoke of ‘trustworthiness’ (identified trusted (a judgement of the individual).
as the second dimension of the trust cycle) when he
advised government to: Confidence as an institutional value

approach your duties with reverence and to be

The existence of trust is an essential component of all
trustworthy in what you say (Tao ibid:84)
enduring social relationships and any “long-range
attempt at constructing a social order and continuity
If we consider ethos to represent the characteristic of social frameworks of interaction must be
spirit or tone of a people or community (OED) then predicated on the development of stable relations of
what Aristole argues is highly appropriate and mutual trust between social actors”. (Seligman, A
suggests that there are different levels and different 1997:13) Seligman continues, “different forms of
forms of trust. For example, Hardin (1998:10) tells organizing society (on the macro sociological level)
us that “a claim that one trusts governments is not will bring in their wake different forms of establishing
closely analogous to a claim that one trusts another trust in society” It is in this sense that the paper
person”. This paper argues that ‘trustworthiness’ is a describes ‘confidence’ as an institutional value and is
higher level plane and is something that others feel susceptible in the longer term to the vulnerability of
about ‘us’ either as ‘us’ as ‘another’ or even an trust and the fact that trustworthiness can disappear
institution as a collection of ‘others’. It can thus be almost immediately (consider the impact of trust in
viewed as the reflection of trust. The Oxford English politicians and confidence in the political system).
Dictionary (OED) refers back to Gretton’s ‘Confidence’ is about what a person or, more
description from 1889 in which he stated (of an importantly, what a group of people do and is often
acquaintance) “Because he trusted them, they proved based on collective transactions.
themselves trustworthy” (GRETTON Memory's
Harkb. 313, quoted in OED (2009)). Charles Darwin
(who also referred to Gretton), commented on the
need for ‘trust’ in research preceding the publication
of his now famous work ‘The origin of species’. In his
autobiography Darwin recalls questioning the validity
of an article published in a scholarly journal that

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Legitimacy as an instrumental value significant degree of mistrust which has resulted in

defensive medicine, defensive teaching, and defensive
Trust, leading to trustworthiness and confidence has policing and so forth (Brookes 2010 forthcoming).
been a feature of societal change and is one of the This raises some important questions which the
defining factors of modernity. The emphasis in research has sought to test. Why has the delivery of
modern societies on consensus, the ideology of services become defensive and how does this impact
pragmatism, problem-solving, and technocratic trust? In terms of intrinsic trust we have seen a
expertise are all founded on an image of society tendency to devise measures for ‘measures’ sake or
based on interconnected networks of trust – among (to quote Einstein) to count what can be counted
citizens, families, voluntary organisations and the like. rather than what counts. We can thus properly ask
Seligman argues that the very ‘legitimation’ of modern “to what extent has government reform helped or
societies is founded on the ‘trust of authority and of hindered the building of trust as a value in itself”?
governments as generalizations of trust on the The answer is overwhelmingly in the negative
primary, interpersonal level. (Seligman ibid:14). We although the Home Office is to be congratulated for
can view trust at the macro level as that of legitimacy replacing the plethora of meaningless targets with one
in the purpose of the institution, such as policing and overarching target to assess policing confidence
which supports its very existence. (Home Office 2008). In individual terms there is a
strong tendency now to deal with policing as a
‘business’ rather than a service and one question is
that of determining to what extent are police officers
perceived to be trustworthy in their dealings with the
the trust cycle and policing public? At the institutional level, reform has been
about setting an agenda but we can ask “whose
Is there a crisis of trust in public agenda?” Research conducted in the North West of
services? England with a range of public institutions that
Murphy argues that trust “is like a fragile plant and support local area agreements (LAAs) strongly
that in the wrong conditions, it will wither” (Murphy suggested that it was a central government agenda
:2001:132). O’Neill used a similar analogy in assessing rather than a local agenda (Brookes 2010
the impact of current performance regimes when she forthcoming).
argued that “Plants don’t flourish when we pull them
up too often to check how their roots are growing”
(O’Neill 2002:19). She compares this to the detailed The combination of intrinsic, individual and
performance targets for public bodies, alongside the institutional mistrust is the result of perverse targets
complacency about the perverse incentives they that have emerged and which is now threatening the
create. In attempts to micro-manage complex very legitimacy of policing at the instrumental level.
institutions from the centre, over complex and Instrumental mistrust is, perhaps, the most significant.
inadequate rather than good and effective governance The performance regimes that have been introduced
arrangements have evolved. This suggests a stronger across government have had a significant impact on
focus on outputs rather than outcomes. the balance of purpose – which comes back to the
issue of “whose agenda?” It has failed to address real
systemic issues, has distorted professional practice
What we have seen through the relentless focus on and negatively impacted interaction between public
the government’s ‘modernisation’ agenda is a institutions and the public. It is also clear that it has

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adversely affected the level of pride and integrity the system’ but may mistrust the trustworthiness of
which has so long been the hallmark of public service. individuals.

A vicious or virtuous cycle? The practical application of the trust

cycle to policing
The cycle suggests that some people are more prone
to trust than others and indeed some nations are Let us now consider a typical police force. If the
considered to be more trusting than others (see, for policing ‘system’ is working well through a set of
example Kaariainen 2008 in relation to the trust of predetermined procedures and relationships on
the police in Scandinavian countries and Newton which we can rely then no part of the system has real
2007 for trust more generally). In this sense we are agency. In other words there are standard operating
viewing trust intrinsically, that is ‘trust’ as a value in procedures that the public can expect if you choose
itself. Trustworthiness is more of an individual to ring the police and there are a set of
construct and will depend on the way in which the predetermined responses dependent upon the scale
trustor perceives the trustee. ‘Confidence’ is more of the problem. However, if an individual police
of an institutional construct (the accumulation of officer decides not to take a particular course of
trust based on those who operate within it) and action (such as ignoring a response to a call) then the
‘Legitimacy’ within this context is an instrumental individuals personal relationship with the ‘police’
concept, where levels of trust, trustworthiness and takes on more significance in view of the officers
confidence will combine to define the extent to which decision not to respond or to respond in an
the delivery of services (in this case, policing) is unacceptable way and may have an impact on that
perceived as legitimate. The different dimensions of persons perception of the police officers
trust are inextricably linked and trust can work in trustworthiness or the individual’s confidence in the
spirals. O’Neill (2002) argues that loss of trust on police.
one side is quickly reciprocated on the other side and
that downward trends can have particularly vicious It is at this point that we need to trust the individual
consequences and thus become a vicious as opposed officers to do what is expected and required of them.
to a virtuous cycle. This capacity for individual officers to make choices
and to be unpredictable is the sine qua non of trust,
Individuals, whether by nature or nurture (which itself and where we place trust in the agency of those on
is beyond the scope of this paper) have personal whom we rely not to act opportunistically. It has
levels of trust that are innate through either learned long been known that those who have contact are
or experienced behaviour. Each individual will have a often those who have the least confidence in the
different pre-disposition to ‘trust until one has reason police. This was evident in the most recent
to mistrust’ or, conversely, ‘to mistrust until one has publication of the British Crime Survey which sought
reason to trust’. We place trust in the agency of an to assess the level of confidence in the police and
individual to do his or her job (rather than the local councils to deal with anti social behaviour. The
system) and will therefore be considered by some latest results show that respondents who had been a
(depending on their pre-disposition) to be victim of crime in the last 12 months were less likely
trustworthy in much the same way as Darwin to agree that the police and local councils are dealing
questioned the trustworthiness of the errant with anti social behaviour and crime in the local area
‘scientist’. However this is a human rather than a than those who had not been a victim (40% and 48%
systemic perception. You may have ‘confidence in respectively) (Home Office 2009:3). Similar patterns
were evident in terms of the overall perceptions of

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anti-social behaviour in which, of those who ‘did not

have a high level of perceived anti-social behaviour,
48% agreed that the police and local councils were REDISCOVERING THE LOST VALUES OF
dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour issues Policing
that matter in the area. (Home Office 2009:5).
Interestingly the survey also found that different
demographic groups had variable perceptions of Detailed research was undertaken in a large
confidence which again suggests that individuals at the metropolitan police force. Methods included a
beginning of the trust cycle have different discourse analysis of its local policing plan (and
propensities to trust which will affect perceptions of comparison with those of most similar forces),
trustworthiness. If enough individuals appear to research questions included in the force’s own bi
operate in this unacceptable way then the legitimacy monthly customer survey (for the purposes of this
of the police to deliver policing in the way in which research) and a range of interviews and focus groups
the public expect can be called into question. It is with police and civilian support staff from the chief
thus instrumental in that it questions the whole officer team through to operational officers in two
purpose of the institution and its ability to deliver. territorial basic command units. Focus groups were
also held with representative community members of
This paper is timely given the current debate on a both command units. The overall purpose was to
lack of ‘trust’ or ‘confidence’ in the economic and identify the commitment of police force ‘A’ to the
political system both of which strike at the very heart creation and demonstration of public value policing
of society. Although this is also beyond the scope of through a focus on trust, confidence and legitimacy1.
this paper it does raise an interesting point to debate
about the increasing clarion calls to restore Policing Plan Analysis
confidence in these systems. Problems can arise
when we try and shift trust from the individual to the This analysis included a comparison with five other
institutional or systemic context. Restoring forces which are assessed as ‘most similar forces’.
confidence relies on the accumulation of trusting The purpose was to identify the stated overall
individuals who perceive those who work within the ambition of the policing plans and the identification of
system (policing) to be trustworthy. key terms to provide some indication as to the six
forces relative priorities. These are identified as
For the purposes of this discussion the paper deploys force ‘A’ (the subject of the research) compared with
the three-fold levels of micro, meso and macro levels. forces ‘B’ to ‘F’ (with forces ‘B’ and ‘C’ having similar
At the micro level we would argue that the intrinsic policing challenges). This analysis was undertaken
construct of trust operates primarily at the level of through the use of NVivo 8 software.
the individual (or the agent) and thus addresses
Policing plans provide the operational focus for police
personal dimensions of trust. If we move into the
forces for typically a period of three years but are
meso level we begin to consider issues of
also used as annual plans. There is no preset format
trustworthiness at the individual level and confidence
at the institutional level. In this sense we are
beginning to analyse trust at the level of ‘community’.
1
At the macro level the focus of attention is at the A more detailed analysis of the wider public value
instrumental (legitimacy) level. framework has also been undertaken but is outside of
the scope of this paper.

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for policing plans and, as one would expect, plans standard deviations. In relation to ‘confidence’ all
differ from force to force. forces (with one exception) referred to improved
confidence as a priority and, in three cases, this fell
A discourse analysis of all six policing plans for the within the upper +3 standard deviation. Force ‘A’ –
forces within the MSF grouping involved counting and with seven instances – had the least occurrences.
analysing the actual text used with the purpose of However one of its aims included
identifying the underlying meanings:
“To Increase public confidence and satisfaction in the
• Each policing plan was converted to a rich police service through the delivery of a customer focused,
text format document high quality service”.
• This was then imported into NVivo8 for the
purpose of analysing text strings. Neighbourhood policing was described by police
• Common words (such as ‘the’, ‘and’, ‘a’ etc) force ‘A’ as a means of increasing visibility and
were discarded. improving responsiveness of local officers. This in
• An analysis of word frequency was then turn, increases confidence in the police and partners
undertaken and these were then compared to improve quality of life and deal with local concerns.
using the selection process described below.
An analysis was also undertaken in relation to the
From an average of 6,000 words per policing plan, focus on the more serious crimes and incidents.
less than 70 words per plan were relevant for the Force ‘A’ was the most prominent in relation to anti
purposes of the analysis (representing more than +/- terrorism and gun crime and life threatening crime
2 standard deviations from the average (words and a much greater prominence was given to these
generally occurring on 12 or more occasions). areas of challenge than other forces with one
exception. Force ‘B’ and ‘C’ had a similar but lesser
A number of common themes emerged from within focus on anti terrorism and serious and organised
the policing plans in terms of prevalence within the crime and all forces ‘A’ to ‘C’ were high in relation to
documents: gun crime although force ‘C’ had the greatest
emphasis. It was interesting to note that this
• Crime was the highest word frequency in all corresponded to the actual incidence of such crimes.
six plans For example, all three forces were significantly higher
• Working with communities featured strongly than the remaining three forces, force ‘A’ had the
and was within the higher ranges highest incidence of homicide and force ‘C’ the
• A focus on effective performance was highest level of gun crime.
equally prevalent
• Intelligent led approaches were a priority in
all six forces
One could argue that the policing plans were thus
• Local delivery was given priority in all six
reflective of the incidents occurring and were
forces but was particularly strong in police
reflecting known national priorities. Although beyond
force ‘A’
the scope of this paper, the analysis indicated that the
What was of particular interest was an examination cost of dealing with the number of homicide
of the emphasis given to ‘trust’ and ‘confidence’. In investigations was understandably significantly higher
two of the forces ‘trust’ was not mentioned at all in than other forces (with an estimated cost of £1
the policing plan (including police force ‘A’) and in no million per homicide investigation) and yet – through
instance did ‘trust’ represent more than +/- 2 current performance regimes – such incidences were

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only counted as ‘1’ alongside a reported crime of interesting to note the differing focus provided during
burglary (with an average cost of £3k). This is clearly interviews bearing in mind that the same questions
a public value issue and one that could act to the were posed to all groups (within the overall purview
detriment of trust and confidence if services are of creating and demonstrating public value).
perceived to be misaligned with community priorities.
These issues were further explored during the
interviews and focus groups.
public value themes identified during the
field research

field research
The purpose of this paper is not to analyse the full
data set although a brief description will be helpful in
setting the context of the more detailed analysis of
Focus groups and interviews were held with:
trust and confidence which – it is argued – lies at the
• The chief officer team (including the chief heart of public value.
constable, assistant chief constables and
civilian directors
• Two Basic Command Units in two Figure 2 illustrates the coded themes that emerged
geographically different areas: during the research.
o Command Team (Chief Superintendent,
Superintendents, Chief Inspectors and
Inspectors together with civilian
support staff) The focus on ‘performance’ was the most significant
o Operational group (including Sergeants, representing fifteen percent of all coded comments,
Constables and Police and Community closely followed by ‘citizen focus’ (incorporating
Support Officers and civilian support engagement with the public and the community, and a
managers) ‘service’ focus) and ‘territorial policing’.
o Community Focus groups.
It is interesting to note that the chief officer focus
The aim of the field research was to identify the group and those representing the BCU Command
impact that performance regimes were having on the teams were more focused on ‘performance’ than
delivery of policing and to what extent respondents were the BCU Operational Groups or community
believed that a wider public value focus (including group. Conversely, the two BCU Operational
trust and confidence) was either being delivered or Groups and the Community groups were more
was capable of being delivered. focused on ‘trust’ than the two BCU Command
Teams. The chief officer focus group were also more
focused on ‘trust’ with the exception of the BCU2
operational group. When examining the focus given
Based on the transcripts and coding of the various to ‘confidence’, the chief officer group and the BCU
interviews and focus groups a number of key themes
emerged when analysing the data for ‘trust’ and
‘confidence’. These were themed for the purpose of
this research. In analysing the full data set it is

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Figure 2: Themes identified during field research

Analysing the ‘trust cycle’

Command Teams were similarly focused on
‘confidence’ to a greater degree than the operational
groups. However, the community group did not The analysis considered the four elements of the
refer to the issue of ‘confidence’. This raises some trust cycle identified earlier:
interesting propositions in relation to the relationship
1. Intrinsic trust (‘trust’ as a value in itself)
between performance, trust, confidence and
legitimacy and is further explored with reference to 2. Individual trust (‘perceptions of
the trust cycle referred to earlier ‘trustworthiness’)
3. Institutional trust (as assessed through
perceptions of ‘confidence’)
4. Instrumental trust (‘trust’ as perceived
through legitimacy).

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real challenges that force ‘A’ face in relation

to more serious and organised crime and
counter terrorism their perception is more
likely to be shaped through the agency of
The broad analysis described above suggests that the
individual officers in terms of interest shown,
senior members of police force ‘A’ are more focused
feedback provided, accessibility and visibility
on institutional levels of trust rather than the intrinsic
and the ability to address local issues
or individual level and (particularly in the case of the
without constraint.
chief officers) with an eye to instrumental trust as a
key determinant of legitimising police activity whereas
Intrinsic and Individual Trust
operational officers and community members were
more focused on trust as an intrinsic value and Perceived loss of discretion was evident in a number
trustworthiness at the individual and institutional of responses and community representatives were
levels. not unaware of, or unaffected by this. There was a
strong consensus throughout the operational and
A more detailed analysis was undertaken of the data community based focus groups that ‘trust has gone’
with a view to identifying the determinants of trust. (and thus is in crisis). A good example was provided
Some of the key themes included: by an operational constable who highlights some of
the key concerns in relation to the crisis in trust. It is
• A perceived loss of discretion at both the
worth quoting in full.
intrinsic and individual levels as a direct
result of the institutional and instrumental It would appear we are no longer trusted, you can't go to
foci on PSA targets and micro management a job and just say lets deal with it. I could get a notebook
by performance regimes. from 12 years ago and it would have 'I'm going to Joe
• A greater need for trust in empowering and Bloggs house who said that Freddie two doors down has
enabling others to deliver local policing in punched him on the nose. I go to Joe Bloggs and Joe
accord with local expectations rather than a Bloggs' nose is spread around his face. 'Right Joe what's
single-minded focus on what can be counted. happening?' 'He snotted me right, but I don't want
• There is a greater degree of trust at intrinsic anything doing, don't lock him up, and just word him up'
and individual levels between operational fine, 'Do you want to make a complaint?' 'No just word
officers and the community as opposed to him up’.. 'Right OK, is this going to happen again?' 'No it’s
the institutional and instrumental levels sorted' 'Right' no book entry, I don't want to make a
between operational officers and community complaint, don't want a statement; don't want a crime
representatives and more senior officers. recording from me. I go to Joe Bloggs house 'Right once
This mistrust was also evident in chief more and you are in, I have seen his nose, sorted’. ‘Sorry
officers when considering their own ability about that officer, you are quite right.' 'Sign my notebook
to deliver policing in accordance with a local here that I have spoken to you' note book signed; off you
mandate or strategy when faced with the go, done the job. Two people are happy.
centrally determined performance regimes.
• Trust enhancing behaviours are seen to be The officer then went on to explain that the
associated with openness, transparency, complainant was happy because he got the level of
visibility and responsiveness in the local service he wanted. He described it as a “10/15
delivery of local policing. For example, while minutes of a job that would now take you hours and
community representatives understand the hours because that incident would have opened up a
crime code. He continued:

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You can't close it unless you can write one big massive local based issues. If you go back in time to when we
spiel of gumph at the end of it as to why there is no used to go to community meetings on a regular basis you
longer a crime and you are probably easier off creating a would hear the same things coming out time after time –
crime, telling the bloke 'I am going to have to create a things like dog fouling, bushes being overgrown on the
crime.' I will have to go and get the other bloke in sides of paths, fences being down that kind of thing but
[meaning investigated] whether by interview, by arrest or that isn't going to float anyone's boat in terms of the
by appointment and I will interview him and then go to media. But you get a particularly nasty robbery and
the CPS and the CPS will then say 'Well he doesn't really something makes national news that brings in its own
want to do anything about it, all right he might cough to it wake
but he hasn't coughed [admitted the offence] to it so he
can't be cautioned so we will bin it.' So we have now The earlier section of the paper described the
talked about 4, 5, 6 hours of the officer's time never mind difference between ‘trust’ (as an innate quality) based
other person's time around it to make a decision that on individual encounters with the police and
could have been made 8 weeks ago. Two minute job, ‘trustworthiness’ as an accumulation of individual
binned, sorted. The people are happy with that but now encounters leading to improved confidence (at the
we have dragged two people through the whole [criminal institutional level). This requires that trust is built
justice] system that we know when we start is pointless and reinforced. A further example of this need to
because some superintendent somewhere has got a figure build trust was provided by a Police and Community
he wants to achieve.. Support Officer (PCSO). In response to the issue of
‘visibility’ as a trust factor, she said:
This frustration was common place among officers.
Community members also reflected similar When we are seen in public it is commented on how nice
frustrations. One referred to the impact that is felt it is. It’s a simple thing and something that the public
when decisions have to be referred ‘down the line’: might not be able to ring the police about and they will
give you information. A lot of trust is the fact that they
We have been trying to find somewhere for kids to go, call can communicate with the police. We have quite a lot of
them kids they are teenagers and youths. The police say problems on our ward in particular, a lot of people putting
'We will try and do this’.. They are starting actually with trust in to give us statements anonymously. So obviously
us but they have to organise things so they are not the trust that we have in the local officers for the
actually working on the beat. They have got to ask their neighbourhood will not necessarily be put into the trust of
sergeant who involves the rest of the police and they never an officer that just turns up on the door one day to sort
seem to be able to make a decision. Like you said the out that one particular problem.
people who dictate the policies, the chief supers, they
seem to be the ones that have the last say whether In this sense the officer was describing different levels
anything is done or not of trust dependent on the role or ‘agency’ of the
individual and that such trust cannot just be ‘assumed’
Community representatives were clearly aware of the - it is earned or built. She went on to describe the
impact that “number chasing” has on local capacity to positive impact that this ‘trustworthiness’ (at the
deal with local issues. In terms of the wider impact individual neighbourhood level) has had on
on ‘trustworthiness’ a sergeant highlighted the role operational successes:
that the media play in crafting public perception and
feeding tensions that detract from local issues: That has led us to have quite a number of evictions off
our estate which has brought the crime rate down and
I think there is always going to be the major tension that obviously the trust then in the public on that particular
the papers are never going to get that het up about really ward is immense because it has got rid of a problem and I

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think part of that is the communication factor of us be ‘trustworthy’ and thus express confidence in the
walking past the house and them being to nip out and tell longer term. As one community representative
us something. They might not want police turning up on pointed out:
their door but obviously they have got contact numbers for
us and as [another officer] police officers are just too busy As a child growing up I always felt a great respect and a
to deal with it. fear of the police and to some degree still do. But over
the last 3 to 4 years my opinions are changing due to
Similar accounts were provided in both operational incidents that have occurred and my own personal
groups and the community groups. Innate trust can involvement with the police. I witnessed a man breaking
be converted to trustworthiness and so the cycle will into and stealing a satellite navigation system. They didn’t
continue. A sergeant referred to the importance of attend the scene of the crime although I had a good
the visibility of operational activity as both a description in my mind of him but it took the police nearly
determinant of building trust in a community (what eight weeks to contact me by which time all the
this paper refers to as trustworthiness) and how it information had gone ……..”
can also erode trust. In respect of the latter point he
said:

The issue that you focus on in this [building community Institutional and Instrumental Trust
confidence] is trust and the public can see and they know
There is always a tendency to generate an “us and
that we are arresting people, sometimes children for these
offences and they must know that it is target driven and them” debate when balancing public value priorities
because of that I think that reduces the trust. and needs; operational police officers will blame the
superintending ranks, the superintending ranks will
Supervisors were particularly frustrated with some blame the chief officers and the chief officers will
arguing that “we no longer manage people” and blame the national (and sometimes local) politicians.
[another] in describing the use of discretion in the The public are also likely to blame those beyond the
decision of one of his constables not to arrest a neighbourhood or local policing team level.
person that “I will be kicked up the arse by the DCI
[Detective Chief Inspector]” and qualified this by
referring to the principle of discretion that it “is a
With the full support of police force ‘A’, a number of
constable who is supposed to be in charge, not the
public value related questions were included in one of
DCI, not me, the constable – it says it there [in the
the bi monthly surveys as part of this research
constables oath]. He is an officer; he’s an intelligent
project. The public were strongly of the view that
person who is there to make a decision at that time”.
police officers and PCSOs would treat the public with
respect if you had to contact them for any reason and
the majority considered that the police would treat
There is no doubt that police force ‘A’ faces everyone fairly. ‘Visibility’ was clearly important but
significant operational challenges. The community fewer respondents expressed positive views that the
representatives were conscious of this but felt that police would be there when they were needed.
the police only concentrate on ‘serious’ crime and Further questions were asked in relation to the
that local resources are scant. In bridging the gap reputation of the police and levels of confidence at
between perception and reality it will always be the different levels. The public considered that the
accumulation of encounters that will determine force had a strong reputation in dealing with more
whether ‘trusting individuals’ consider the police to serious issues and honesty but that a stronger

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 Policing and public confidence:

reputation was needed in relation to involving and that trust) requires institutional support if it is to be
informing the public and taking action on publically converted to confidence. The chief constable saw
expressed needs. The public had more confidence in some of the benefits of performance regimes but also
the individual officers in the local area more generally highlighted the potential difficulties which – this paper
but were least confident in policing nationally or at argues – would support the need for institutional
the force level. support in building confidence. He said:

Chief Officers were not necessarily immune to these I think the biggest thing for me is providing clarity on what
issues. we are trying to achieve…. there is a real strength in what
gets measured is what gets done, the caveat to that is you
As the Deputy Chief Constable in this force opined had better make sure it is the right things that are getting
when talking about performance measured because of the impact it does have. But in
terms of where local government was, where the police
….. Everything has become too national and not enough
service was and lots of other areas I think the drive
local issues …… it is actually distorting reality but
towards a performance culture and the understanding of
whether that is right or wrong, that has now created the
that is a real positive. I think the downside of it or the
environment we are working within and it is quite
negative aspects of it is the urban myths and legends that
unhealthy …
grow around what performance is all about and the
impact that this has on both the public but also internally
on more junior staff.
The institutional response therefore appears to be
one of acceptance but also resignation. It is
opportune to compare this chief officer response
The research has suggested that it is more than an
with further responses provided during the
urban myth. In institutional terms the key focus must
operational focus groups which is a lack of
be on providing crystal clear guidance on what is
consistency, often driven by the focus on targets. A
important, why it is measured and how consistency in
sergeant pointed to the difference in approaches that
approaches can be achieved. This will be important
could be described as systemic failures. He said
in building legitimacy in order that both the public and
“There is another thing that really reduces trust in
those who deliver policing can ensure that their
the police” and went on to say that this was “the
trusting behaviour and trustworthy responses are
insistence to be separate from relief to relief
being respected and supported. In the absence of
[different shifts of officers] ..... you come up with a
this, legitimacy may suffer.
good idea, brilliant idea and one sergeant on a relief
will do something completely differently than another If we thus consider the fourth and final element of
sergeant”. He provided a good example. “If I went what this paper describes as the trust cycle – that of
into a bank and said to a teller ‘can you cash this instrumental trust – one can then start to think about
cheque’ and they said ‘well I can’t cash that you will the importance of legitimacy. As the chief officers
have to go to another branch ....that would be point out it is so important to measure what matters
wrong”. but to whose yardstick? A senior member of the
force’s performance department provided a stark
illustration of this difficult challenge:
This highlights the importance of ensuring that
The shared objective is we all want to improve
intrinsic and individual trust (the propensity of the
performance, of course we do, but they all come at that
trustor towards the trustee and the accumulation of

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  Policing and public confidence:

from somewhat different perspectives. So from

Government Office it is primarily through delivery of PSA
targets, for HMIC it is a kind of a baseline framework, Building confidence and legitimacy
BCU type drive. Police Standards Unit is a combination of through trust and trustworthiness
some of the BCS comparative crimes within PSA1 and it is
also some of the big volume stuff as well. There is a
whole clutch of contradictions in that .. The central theme of this paper has been to suggest
that a trust cycle beginning with trust and
trustworthiness and resulting in the building of
So, how important is trust and confidence from the confidence and legitimacy will assist in the
institutional or instrumental perspective? We have development of overall trust and confidence
seen that intrinsic and individual assessments of trust measures in policing.
and trustworthiness respectively, rely on both the
Based on the literature both preceding and
individual agency and accumulation of activity from a
supporting the research in police force ‘A’ and the
range of individuals and that – by and large – the
qualitative findings of the research, a range of trust
community will build their confidence from these
and confidence enhancing determinants are illustrated
levels. But at the institutional level, a bigger picture
in figure 3 using the three levels of micro, meso and
and greater challenges emerge. As the chief
macro determinants.
constable has indicated, the development of a
performance culture has its benefits but this is at a
cost unless there is an equal focus on balancing
performance. The overall view at the BCU level (at
both command and operational level) suggests that
‘rewards’ and ‘sanctions’ are quantitative and
inconsistent with priorities represented by ‘ticked
boxes’ rather than ‘satisfied victims’ and ‘trusting
communities’.

The final section of this paper highlights what are

considered to be trust and reputational measures that
can be considered within the trust cycle and further
suggests that trust and legitimacy are so critical to the
building of confidence – now the single national
measure – that such measures should lie at the heart
of a balanced public value scorecard and be given due
weight and consistency2.

2
A balanced public value scorecard was suggested as
an outcome of this research but is beyond the scope
of this paper

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 Policing and public confidence:

Figure 3: The Determinants of Trust and reputation are illustrated in each quadrant
As the earlier section described, the micro level is including a focus on both thick (closed) trust such as
concerned with personal predispositions to trust and that existing between family members and close
the reflection of their needs by those in a position to friends (or local neighbourhoods) and thin (open)
either positively or negatively reciprocate that trust. trust such as that between relative but cooperating
The accumulation of individual behaviours also strangers (Newton 2007).
impacts the meso (community) level. In turn, the
institutional level will be affected by the intrinsic and Good leadership will be critical in the creation and
individual determinants of trust but focuses on the demonstration of public value and is represented by
longer term impact on confidence. Finally, the the coordinating arrows running both horizontally
institutional response will have an inextricable link and vertically to express both shared leadership
with the instrumental determinants at the macro level (across public institutions i.e. the police in
and either support or inhibit legitimacy. Based on cooperation with partner organisations) and
this research some suggested determinants of trust distributed leadership (in cascading public value aims

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  Policing and public confidence:

and goals through the police organisation)3. The As Newton argues (2007:359) “Trust may well be a
importance of both social and organizational top-down phenomenon that is influenced by the
networks will be critical to this. nature and operation of social and political
institutions, as much as a bottom up phenomenon
Figure 4 illustrates some potential outcomes of trust built upon patterns of childhood socialization and the
enhancing behaviour. life experiences of individual citizens”.

Figure 4: The Outcomes of Trust

3
For more information on public leadership go to
http://www.publicleadership.org

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 Policing and public confidence:

A final word is offered by a Sergeant with thirteen Delhey, J., & Newton, K. (2003). Who trusts? The
years service that introduces some pragmatism back origins of social trust in seven countries. European
into the discretion debate: Societies , 5: 93-137.

Evans, P. (1996). Government action, social capital

From my point of view if you ignore the politics of
and development: reviewing the evidence on synergy.
everything that is around you, you can get on with your job World Development , 1119-32.
and you get left alone to do it. I find from my point of
view it stops you getting bitter and twisted and embroiled Gambetta, D. (1988). Mafia: The price of distrust. In
with everything else because you can't fight the system D. Gambetta, Trust: Making adn Breaking Cooperative
and that might be wrong and might seem a bit negative.. Relations (pp. 158-175). Oxford: Blackwell.
you should have your point of view and you should put it Halpern, D. (2005). Social Capital. Cambridge: Polity
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Home Office (2009) Public confidence in the police and
We need to be a little less risk averse, a little bit more their local partners: results from the British Crime Survey
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Ipsos Mori (2008) Building confidence in the Fight

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