#FaithAndPoliceTogether has produced
'Faith Communities Guide to Working With Police' - download here
'Faith Communities Guide to Working With Police' - download here
Overall the vision of policing is to Prevent Crime and Protect the Public. A great deal of the delivery of this mission is at individual Force level where local needs are many and varied. Within the National Policing Vision and Mission, Faith communities can support the police with their non-statutory requirements.
Our vision is to see the Police service in England and Wales working in partnership with Faith groups to build safer communities and reduce demand.
#FaithAndPoliceTogether is aimed at building links between police services and their local Faith communities. Faith communities have an important role to play in bringing about community transformation and cohesion. When the police and Faith communities work together we will see lives and communities transformed.
Policing covers a vast range of issues within society, often it is the non-crime related issues that take up a considerable amount of Police time and resource. Faith communities can help support the police in numerous ways by engaging with and providing support to some of the most vulnerable within our communities. Together we can mitigate the threat, harm and risk faced in our communities whilst simultaneously in both reactive and proactive preventative initiatives thereby reducing demand faced by the police service.
At a time when budgets are being cut and services are being significantly reduced, Faith communities can step in to bridge that gap. Faith groups could assist in a number of ways, to name a few:
#FaithAndPoliceTogether is about local police engaging with their local Faith communities on a regular basis to see our Faith communities as a partner that can help support our work and not just as an organisation that is there should there be a disaster.
Deputy Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall Paul Netherton is the strategic lead for this project and says “#FaithAndPoliceTogether is a multi-faith initiative designed to galvanise the support of faith groups to support the police and to help address problems and challenges within our communities. Often faith groups have a high motivation to help within our society but sometimes don’t know how they can help or even how they talk to the police to find out what the problems are or how they can assist. My experience of working with groups and churches is that once you start the conversations you unlock massive social capital that can transform an area or make a real difference to a problem. This could be around Street Angels patrolling the night time economy, drop in centres for young people or cafes where the homeless or lonely can find support. The benefit for the police and all the public sector is significant in terms of reducing demand and finding long term solutions. This is a great initiative and is welcomed by the police and will lead to some transformational change to some of the most challenging social issues across the country.”
Our vision is to see the Police service in England and Wales working in partnership with Faith groups to build safer communities and reduce demand.
#FaithAndPoliceTogether is aimed at building links between police services and their local Faith communities. Faith communities have an important role to play in bringing about community transformation and cohesion. When the police and Faith communities work together we will see lives and communities transformed.
Policing covers a vast range of issues within society, often it is the non-crime related issues that take up a considerable amount of Police time and resource. Faith communities can help support the police in numerous ways by engaging with and providing support to some of the most vulnerable within our communities. Together we can mitigate the threat, harm and risk faced in our communities whilst simultaneously in both reactive and proactive preventative initiatives thereby reducing demand faced by the police service.
At a time when budgets are being cut and services are being significantly reduced, Faith communities can step in to bridge that gap. Faith groups could assist in a number of ways, to name a few:
- Early intervention in the form of mentoring
- Parenting courses
- Youth services
- Addiction recovery services
- Supported housing
- Street patrols - night time economy and schools patrols
#FaithAndPoliceTogether is about local police engaging with their local Faith communities on a regular basis to see our Faith communities as a partner that can help support our work and not just as an organisation that is there should there be a disaster.
Deputy Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall Paul Netherton is the strategic lead for this project and says “#FaithAndPoliceTogether is a multi-faith initiative designed to galvanise the support of faith groups to support the police and to help address problems and challenges within our communities. Often faith groups have a high motivation to help within our society but sometimes don’t know how they can help or even how they talk to the police to find out what the problems are or how they can assist. My experience of working with groups and churches is that once you start the conversations you unlock massive social capital that can transform an area or make a real difference to a problem. This could be around Street Angels patrolling the night time economy, drop in centres for young people or cafes where the homeless or lonely can find support. The benefit for the police and all the public sector is significant in terms of reducing demand and finding long term solutions. This is a great initiative and is welcomed by the police and will lead to some transformational change to some of the most challenging social issues across the country.”
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Our Story:
#FaithAndPoliceTogether was born out of a conversation between Lee Russell, Debra Green OBE and Paul Blakey MBE (pictured above left and outside Number 10 - left to right Lee, Debra and Paul). Each had seen the enormous impact that faith based organisations could make within communities and Paul was challenged that there needed to be a collaboration between the different faith communities and the police to help develop ideas, networking, partnerships, working models, etc. Four months after that August 2016 lunch conversation in a coffee shop on the outskirts of Manchester they had lunch again (this time a sandwich in Westminster tube station to avoid torrential rain) before a very positive meeting with the faith advisor for the Prime Minister in Number 10 Downing Street followed by another positive meeting in the Houses of Parliament with MP Holly Lynch. A launch reception was booked in the diary for the following year in the Houses of Parliament - sadly delayed due to a snap general election! Eventually a launch reception was held in April 2018 and was represented by six faith groups, various faith based organisations and police at all levels. This has led to a police officer secondment from September 2018 to help develop the #FaithAndPoliceTogether concept and vision. A conference for Police officers was held in June 2019 out of which resources to help local police forces will become available. Keep an eye on this website and our Twitter for more updates
