The Slow Progress to Social Inclusion in Policing: Policing Trends and Social Inclusion Strategies

Police are expected to maintain public order and control crime while also protecting the communities they serve. This dual responsibility has been described as an ‘impossible mandate’. Vulnerable populations, including members of racial and ethnic minorities, typically experience the tensions between these competing expectations as police engage in their daily activities. Social exclusion is often the outcome. This chapter reviews trends and strategies employed by policing agencies in their attempts to reflect the communities they serve in ways that may lead to more ‘inclusive policing’ and that acknowledge and respect the human rights of all members of society. Police organizations have implemented a number of strategies aimed at increasing social inclusion, including diversity training, police liaison schemes, and recruitment of members of minority groups. These have encouraged more inclusive policing practices but progress has been slow. Emerging trends in policing extend the boundaries of community engagement beyond the police organization and these indicate positive steps towards ‘inclusive policing’; in particular, multi-sector collaborative programs that include community participation (for example, Justice Reinvestment) and a Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH) approach that addresses the social determinants of crime. The chapter presents two case studies that illustrate the contradictory ways in which police and criminal justice agencies engage with vulnerable, marginalised people. The benefits of police and health agencies adopting a LEPH approach and working more closely together are shown as one way to continue the slow but steady progress towards a practice of ‘inclusive policing’.