Comparing policing in the UK and USA

Sgt. Richard Heslop

Sgt. Laura Heslop

West Yorkshire Police, England

Themes

• UK policing (structure / principles / practices)• West Yorkshire Police• Current developments in UK policing• Similarities and differences (UK and USA)• Information sharing (during and post visit)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain England and Wales and Northern Ireland (43 police forces)

Single police force NI and Scotland

Structure of UK Policing

• Single police force in both Northern Ireland and Scotland

• 43 Territorial police forces in England and Wales

• Small number of specialist and national policing agencies

• 20% reduction in budgets

UK Policing

• Police officers 134,100 26% women• Constable 106,780 29%• Sergeant 22,359 18%• Inspector 6,833 17%• Chief Inspector 1,949 15%• Superintendant 997 15%• Chief Supt 445 11%• ACPO 223 17%• Chief Constable 43 14%

Key principles and practices

• Neighbourhood ( or community) policing

• Partnership working (Crime and Disorder Act 1998)

• Extended policing family

• Intelligence led policing (NIM)

• Problem solving

West Yorkshire Police

Bradford riots 2001 and (Operation Wheel)

West Yorkshire Police

• 4th largest police force• 5700 sworn officers • 4300 civilian staff• 8 territorial policing divisions (districts):• Response (patrol) and Neighbourhood

Policing and CID• Calls for service

WYP Specialist Departments

• HMET (homicide and major enquiries)

• Centralised Operational Support (includes training and communications)

• Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

• Counter Terrorism Unit

Equipment

Developments in England and Wales

• Elected Police and Crime Commissioners • Police Reform• Direct entry• Pre-employment training / education• Professionalization• Privatization• The call to routinely arm the police

Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, unarmed police officers killed in Manchester England (17 Sept

2012)

Firearms

• 5% authorised firearms officers

• Approx 7000 firearms offences

• 349 serious injury

• 39 fatal (648 total homicides)

• Trend is downwards - 13% lower than previous 12 months

• 3 incidents

Firearms: continued

• Since 1945 – 256 police officers shot and killed and 21 stabbed to death.

• None of these happened in Wales.

• 4 shot and 2 stabbed in Scotland.

• 51 shot and 19 stabbed in England.

• 201 shot in Northern Ireland.

Questions / discussion

Email: r.heslop@tiscali.co.uk

Gun ownership and violence in U.S.A

• In 2004 36.5% of Americans reported having a gun in their home

• Majority of gun-related deaths suicides: (17,352 in 2007)

• In 2009 15,241 homicides in US

• 9,146 deaths were by firearms

• Homicides per capita are 48 times greater than in the UK