INTERACT (Investigating New Types of Engagement, Response And Contact Technologies in Policing)

Over recent years, the ways in which members of the public can contact the police have undergone significant change. Whilst much contact is still face-to-face, many police organisations have introduced different types of communication technology, such as online reporting of crimes and answering of queries, body worn video cameras, mobile data terminals, and the use of social media accounts. As a result, the public is increasingly likely to encounter policing in ways that are 'technologically-mediated'.

In the UK, the National Police Chiefs' Council supports this shift, and has a portfolio of work focused on developing technologies for use by the public to contact the police because, they believe, the public now expects that policing will be 'online' just as other services are. However, while attention is being paid to what technology can do, and particularly what it can do for the police, the public side of this encounter has barely been considered. Online reporting (for example) may appeal to some people, or be particularly useful for some crime types, but we do not know enough about how people experience these types of interactions to be confident that they will benefit everyone, in all circumstances. Nor do we know if and how these developments might affect the way people feel about, and act in relation to, the police.

This project therefore focuses on understanding the implications of introducing technologies into conversations between the police and the public. Two main objectives are to explore how members of the public feel about these new developments, and to consider the ways in which the police can and should design their systems to better reflect people's needs and expectations. PoLITiC is designed to include a range of different groups and individuals, for example those who are more and less confident using digital technologies, and those with particular access needs (for example the deaf community). We aim to shape policy and practice, with a view to improving service provision. We will work closely with three police forces, with various communities, and with national policing organisations, so that our findings can directly and positively influence what the police do, and therefore what the public are able to do to access police services.

We know that when people interact with the police they come to conclusions about how much they support the police, how good the police are at their jobs, and how much they trust what the police do. But this knowledge is based on research which assumes that most or all police and public contact happens face-to-face, person-to-person, as it has done for decades. At most a telephone may be involved. Given that this situation is changing, it is important that we reconsider our theories of public trust and police legitimacy, and explore if they are fit for purpose in the current environment and future-proof against new developments.

PoLITiC therefore aims to explore police and public experiences and understandings of technologically-mediated contact by using methods such as interviews, focus groups, and extended observations to gain a deeper understanding of these new forms of contact in action. To help us understand how experiences may differ, we will carry out our research in a variety of different locations (for example urban and rural) and will work with various communities. We will also consider what it means for the police to be 'visible' and 'accessible' in a digital age and assess how the public feel about the different ways the police can be seen and contacted. A series of on-line experimental studies will complement the qualitative methods, and allow us to estimate the causal effects of, for example, different forms of mediation on trust. Using a variety of methods our research will develop understandings of police legitimacy in changing times, and allow us to recommend ways for the police to stay legitimate in the eyes of the public in the 21st century.