Managing smarter, not harder

There is a “global crisis of legitimacy” in policing, says Dr Peter Neyroud CBE CMgr CCMI. This has profound consequences for policing itself, for the wider set of public services, and indeed for society. 

Peter has had a distinguished 31-year career in policing and is now an associate professor at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, director of the Institute’s Senior Leader's Master's Degree Apprenticeship in Applied Criminology and Police Management, and co-chair of the Campbell Collaboration research network. He also works closely with the UN Office for Drugs and Crime.

He hosted a recent CMI Companions discussion, in which he discussed the growing gap between public expectation and the police’s capacity to deliver, how the police force itself can work in a “sharper and faster way”, as well as how the police are increasingly using data to set priorities – and how this could apply to other organisations.

Get your priorities straight

There are multiple parallels between the issues facing police leadership and those facing other managers: reduced budgets, building trusting relationships, upskilling – and working out where to focus limited resources.

Budget cuts are pushing many public services – including mental health and domestic violence support – to breaking point, says Peter. The result is that “the police has become the social service of last resort. This leaves the police facing the challenge of making the choices that need to be made.”