“If there was one thing you'd change about how policing is done in New Zealand, what would that be, and why?”
By Jehan Casinader, Year 13, Hutt International Boys’ School, Upper Hutt
Batons, blood, bureaucracy and the blue line. We knew it was disgraceful, and we knew we were divided. We didn’t realise, however, that the events of the infamous Springbok rugby tour marked the beginning of the end of public confidence in the force. The moment the riot masks and shields came down, obscuring the faces of the police, we could no longer recognise them or read their expressions. Therefore, we could not place our trust in them. Now, over two decades later, survey data presents the monumental challenge of restoring that confidence. Genuine efforts appear fruitless, though, because a key element is missing: the human face of the police. If there is to be any single change, it is that we must humanise the force by giving it a face, a persona and a demeanour.
The public no longer knows the face of the police, nor its expressions of stability and protection. Rather, the public only knows an institution, an authority, an establishment. Police are now considered robots, programmed to enforce the law. This perception has created the unfortunate and unreasonable expectation that our police will be perfect and flawless; an impossibility given that, as in any organisation, there are those who will compromise the integrity of their vocation. The advent of more accessible media, and blogs dedicated to holding the police to account, mean that police are perhaps under the spotlight more often than they once were, because of our loss of trust. The problem, however, is rectifiable. Three key steps will help to restore the human face of the police.
Firstly, police officers must be able to speak freely to the media. Shoddy reporting is commonly blamed for the public relations problems the police are currently facing, but the blame game will not solve it. The solution is not to shield ordinary officers from the microphones and cameras. Rather, they must be encouraged to front more often. For many people, the only contact they have with the police is through the evening news. They want to hear local police discussing their experiences and their explanations for local issues. This cannot be achieved by simply channelling comment through spokespeople who spend their days behind desks, not in the field. Promoting the voices of ordinary police will naturally help strengthen the credibility of the force and its work on a daily basis. It will also show that police management trust their staff with their organisation’s viewpoints, and will not remove their staff from those they serve in the name of ‘separation of duties’. Professor Richard Weinblatt observes, "The steely-faced, terse 'no comment' in police media relations is dead". It is clear that the public’s self-declared 'right to know' can be satisfied by ordinary officers, without jeopardising the integrity of police business.
The second step in restoring the human face of the police is promoting police involvement in the community. As our population grows and spreads, it is easy to resort to nationwide initiatives which are often more efficient and simple than regionally- or locally-based initiatives. This efficiency, however, compromises the police’s local community links which are fundamental to retaining a ‘personal’ presence. Youth are introduced to the police at an early age through programmes like DARE and the School Traffic Safety Teams, but this tends to diminish quickly. Events like the Bluelight Discos appear to be things of the past. The relationship between youth and the police is strained by issues like boy racing. If police are to be seen as more than ‘party poopers’ to young people, they need to work at innovative ways to promote strong relationships with tomorrow’s leaders. On an employment level, attempts to modernise young people’s views of the force are unnecessary. Instead, ironically, the police must promote its roots. Youth are more likely to join the police because of ‘old-fashioned’ ideals like bravery and a sense of community, rather than because it will give them ‘better work stories’, which is trivial and self-serving.
Finally, encouraging police to show emotion is critical to humanising the force. Some of the most striking images from police history are from moments officers were so vulnerable they could not preserve their rugged exterior, such as the New York and London bombings. It should not take a crisis to engender that unguarded humanity in our officers, because it shows strength, not weakness. In their normality we find security. Officers must also be able to make public apologies when appropriate, rather than attempting to divert attention. Because the police are in a unique stewardship role, corporate strategies for public relations do not necessarily work. Rather than attempting to ‘minimise publicity damage and fallout’, police must front up and acknowledge errors. The public view of the police will be better, not worse, for it. Similarly, officers must be encouraged to take credit when credit is due; successes must be celebrated. Programmes like Youth Aid are effective but not widely acknowledged.
By overanalysing, we will complicate the situation. Quite simply, the relationship between the police and the public is built on trust. The need to restore a human face to the police is not about taxpayer-funded research, structural mechanisms, resourcing or efficiency. It is about giving ordinary police a public voice, fostering a community presence, and allowing police to show emotion. Those ideals are not new, and they do not require organisational changes. Rather, they require attitudinal changes that can be achieved if modelled from the top. Our police force is not in crisis, especially in comparison to other countries which face more serious issues of corruption, credibility, custodial violence and abuse. But it is time to restore the human face of the police; a face that has been hidden behind a mask of officialdom for years, but has certainly not been lost behind that mask.
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