Impact case study database
Policing Crowds and Mass Emergencies
1. Summary of the impact
Our research has been included within the College of Policing police public order command training. Our work has helped police and governmental organisations internationally to improve their capacity to reduce conflict and enhance human rights by engaging with crowds and communities proportionately. Our research has also informed UK Government, police forces and other organisations to better manage mass emergencies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. These impacts have increased public safety, reduced tensions, protected fundamental rights, lowered demand on public expenditure and improved the legitimacy of the rule of law.
2. Underpinning research
In April 2016 Stott was awarded ESRC funding (ES/N01068X/1) to develop research on the August 2011 English riots. This work has advanced theoretical understanding of the social and psychological dynamics how urban riots develop and how they spread from one location to another. Analysis of the early stages of rioting in the London Borough of Hackney confirmed and extended the Elaborated Social Identity Model of crowd behaviour (ESIM) as an explanation of the social psychology through which riots are initiated and spread . Analysis of subsequent riots provided support for the theoretical argument that while structural factors such as inequality are necessary, they are not sufficient to explain the evident patterns of where the riots did and did not spread.
While sociological factors such as economic deprivations and historical patterns of policing were identified as key determining factors in the 2011 riots, the Unit’s research also identified how participants’ capacities were shaped and reshaped by social psychological group level interactions that took place during the crowd event themselves [1]. This research also identified a process of ‘collective psychological empowerment’ that operated in a form of ‘positive feedback loop’ among those who shared anti-police sentiments. Through this social psychological process, rioting against the police in one location positively enabled different forms of rioting elsewhere. The research has, in combination, allowed for the development and testing of a novel theoretical model of the social psychological dynamics that can account for both the patterns and the sequence of urban riot diffusion [2, 3].
In 2018 Stott was awarded further ESRC (ES/R011397/1) and UKRI (ES/V005383/1) funding to lead programmes of inter-related research on the social psychological dynamics of police citizen encounters a) among communities where levels of marginalisation, conflict and offending are relatively high b) during the civil contingency response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This involved a series of observational studies of policing, including of football and protest crowds in the UK and internationally. The research within the Unit has identified how current policing approaches to crowd management are often ineffective and, at times not Human Rights compliant [4]. The research has also highlighted the value of focusing strategically on facilitating the positive human rights of communities (including football supporters) and empowering conflict reduction and resilience through a focus by the authorities on the principals of negotiation and neighbourhood policing. On the basis of this and other research within the Unit a series of recommendations have been advanced on how and why police forces should approach both crowd management [5] and the rapidly changing contexts introduced by Covid-19 [6].
3. References to the research
Research work leading to conceptual innovation in theoretical understanding the relationships between policing, social identity, intergroup dynamics and riots.
1. Ball, R., Stott, C., Drury, J., Neville, F., Reicher, S. & Choudhury, S. (2019) Who controls the city? A micro-historical case study of the spread of rioting across North London in August 2011. City. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2019.1685283
2. Drury, J., Stott, C., Ball, R., Reicher, S., Neville, F., Bell, L., Biddlestone, M., Choudhury, S., Lovell, M. & Ryan, C. (2020) A social identity model of riot diffusion: From injustice to empowerment in the 2011 London riots. European Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2650
3. Stott, C., Ho, L., Radburn, M., Chan, Y., Kyprianides, A., and Saavedra Morales, P. (in press) Patterns of ‘disorder’ during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong: policing, social identity, intergroup dynamics and radicalisation. Policing: An international journal of policy and practice
Research work providing conceptual innovation, policy advice and evidence of the effectiveness of research informed policing intervention.
4. Stott, C., Pearson, G. & West, O. (2019) Enabling an evidence-based approach to policing football. Policing: A journal of policy and practice. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay102
5. Reicher, S. & Stott, C. (2020) Policing the Coronavirus Outbreak: Processes and Prospects for Collective Disorder. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. doi.org/10.1093/police/paaa014
6. Stott, C., West, O. & Harrison, M. (2020) A Turning Point, Securitization, and Policing in the Context of Covid-19: Building a New Social Contract Between State and Nation? Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. doi.org/10.1093/police/paaa021
4. Details of the impact
Our research has increased the knowledge and skills of Government, police and other organisations. This impact has helped reduce ‘public disorder’ and community tensions as well as lowering demand on police resources, whilst also increasing public safety and police legitimacy. This has been achieved primarily by helping several external organisations, including the UK Home Office and several police forces, enhance their understanding of the dynamics of police citizen encounters, particularly in the context of crowds and mass emergencies. Our research has influenced:
The curriculum and training delivered by the U.K.’s College of Policing National Police Public Order Command Training as well as that of the European Union Advisory Mission to Ukraine with regard to the policing of crowds.
The strategy and tactics of several UK police forces and stadium safety officials toward the management of conflict during football crowd events, including the architectural design of the ‘bet365 stadium’, home of Stoke City F.C.
The inquiry of the Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council into the policing of protests in the Special Administrative Region.
UK Government policies as well as police force strategies and tactics toward the policing of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Impact of Police Knowledge and Training.
The Unit’s research has had significant impacts upon police training at a national and international level. Through our pathways to impact [5.1] our research has been disseminated to representatives of the UK’s College of Policing who subsequently changed the national curriculum for the training of police public order commanders. The redesigned course was mandatory for all police public order commanders and advisors in the U.K., who number in excess of two and half thousand across all forces and delivered between October 2019 and April 2020 [5.2]. Additionally, the Unit’s research was utilised by the Swedish Police International Affairs Division for their ‘Support to Police Reform in Ukraine’ project (SPRU). The SPRU subsequently evolved into the European Union’s Advisory Mission to Ukraine (EUAM). Since early 2016, EUAM has provided operational guidance and training activities to assist the implementation of democratic police reforms in Ukraine. The Unit’s research was used to inform and support guidance and training for public order police [5.3]. Finally, the Unit’s research-based expertise influenced the production of a report into the policing of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. Although this advice was never properly realised due to political factors, based on our involvement, the Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council recognised a need to improve its capacity to produce an impartial, balanced and evidence-based report [5.4].
Impact on Policing Policy and Practice.
As a result of engagement with the Unit’s research, England’s third (West Midlands Police, WMP) and fourth (West Yorkshire Police, WYP) largest police forces recognised their ways of policing football were problematic. There were limitations identified in their a) strategic approach in terms of facilitating positive human rights (e.g. peaceful assembly and expression); b) understanding of the role of intergroup interactions and dynamics in assessing the threats and risks that can develop during crowd events; and c) low level of police engagement with fans through communication and dialogue. Piloting of innovations based upon the Unit’s research took place across several fixtures and were systematically evaluated [5.5, 5.6]. These novel policing approaches, and their underlying research rationale, were disseminated via specifically designed training events for police commanders, supported at Chief Officer level. The new approaches were subsequently implemented at several high-profile football events. This had the acknowledged effect of facilitating rights, improving the experience of policing among fans, de-escalating conflict, enhancing public safety and achieving significant costs savings for the taxpayer [5.7, 5.8]. In addition, Stoke City Football Club used Keele research findings during the redevelopment of their stadium. Consequently, the club has been better positioned to manage the intergroup interactions and dynamics between supporter groups within the stadium and is now more responsive to incidents requiring intervention before conflict develops and escalates within the crowd.
Impact on the Governance and Policing of Mass Emergencies.
Finally, during the Covid-19 pandemic Stott was invited on the basis of his research expertise to advise the Behavioural Science sub-group (SPI-B) of the Scientific Advisory Group in Emergencies (SAGE). In this role he co-created and Chairs the SPI-B Policing and Security sub-Group. Several papers developed on the basis of the Unit’s research have subsequently been used to advise Government, police and other stakeholders on policing the pandemic in ways that alleviate social tensions, address disproportionality and avoid inadvertently creating the conditions for riots to emerge and spread [5.9, 5.10].
5. Sources to corroborate the impact
5.1 YouTube video of KPAC’s knowledge-coproduction and knowledge transfer workshops: Evidence Based Practice in the Policing of Crowds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olk07Gd93Fg ( download also held within Keele’s repository)
5.2 Testimonial Olan Jenkins, Public Order Command, Licensing and Accreditation Manager, Uniformed Policing Faculty, College of Policing
5.3 Testimonial Kęstutis Lančinskas, Head of Mission, SPRU & EUAM Ukraine
5.4 Testimonial Anthony Francis Neoh QC, Chairman, Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council
5.5 University Research report for West Midlands Police: Hoggett, J (2017) Evaluation of West Midlands Police use of Police Liaison Officers at West Bromwich Albion fixtures.
5.6 Journal publication: Hoggett, J & West, O. (2018) Police liaison officers at football: challenging orthodoxy through communication and engagement. Policing: a journal of policy and practice. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay032
5.7 Internal communication video: West Yorkshire Police on the uptake and delivery of Keele Research ( held within Keele’s repository)
5.8 Testimonial Chris Johnson, QPM, Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) West Midlands Police
5.9 Testimonial from Professor John Aston, Chief Scientific Adviser and Director General Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy Home Office
5.10 Testimonial from Dr Tony Sewell CBE, Chair of the Cabinet Office Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities
Additional contextual information
Grant funding
Grant number | Value of grant |
---|---|
ES/N01068X/1 | £923,134 |
ES/R011397/1 | £991,793 |
ES/V005383/1 | £715,738 |