Resurgent efforts to reconnect the police with local communities and encourage more positive engagement with the public gained momentum over the last decade in England and Wales in the recent move from community to neighbourhood policing. Drawing on data from two ethnographic studies conducted in two English forces, one with a community police team and the other across two neighbourhood policing teams, this paper considers whether neighbourhood policing, specifically the introduction of police community support officers (PCSOs), has achieved more meaningful engagement where its predecessors have struggled, or whether the obstacles and pitfalls that have hindered previous models remain. It demonstrates that PCSOs are achieving more inclusive engagement in local communities, but their efforts are mitigated by their structured position in the organisation, aspirations to become police officers and the organisational environment in which they work. In light of such constraints, we argue that the capacity of PCSOs to break down barriers between the police and disaffected members of local communities and facilitate more representative public participation in policing would be greatly enhanced if they are driven by crime prevention and capacity building rather than crime control imperatives.

Her research and teaching interest have adopted an applied approach to criminal justice practice and the experience of service users. Sarah has developed a number of key partnerships. These were Police focused and then most latterly with Newcastle Youth Offending Team which supports teaching, learning and research agendas. Sarah's current work with the SkillMill social enterprise company (a spin out company from Northumbria University and the Newcastle Youth offending team) is focusing on the role of employment in supporting desistance from crime. Educating the Recruited and Recruiting the Educated: Can the new Police Education Qualifications Framework in England and Wales succeed where others have faltered.

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In a climate of diminishing resources, securing a prolonged commitment to volunteer from special constables is an aspirational goal for police organisations. This paper moves beyond traditional egoistic and altruistic standpoints that draw people into this unpaid role, to consider ongoing decision-making processes that occur in post, which can shape a long-term career path as an unpaid volunteer special constable. Rich narratives, drawn from semi-structured interviews with volunteer special constables, capture a unique and original perspective largely absent from discussion around special constable motivation. Data and findings speak to important gaps in existing knowledge about how and why orientations to volunteering can change over the duration of a special constable's service, resulting from organisational rather than policing experiences. Findings serve as a timely reminder that while it is important to develop deeper understandings of motives to becoming a special, so too is the significance of furthering knowledge on ways in which the experience of being a special constable within the police organisation can work to sustain commitment, motivation and thus encourage retention.

Our research project was concerned primarily with using a feminist analysis to explore the lived reality of 23 women police officers in England and Wales. We undertook 23 qualitative interviews with our participants and our research straddles four decades of policing practice, which allowed us to explore changes that were seen to have taken place during this period. First, participants discussed their lived reality, which included banter, bullying and harassment for many. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, at certain times of unrest, riots or threats, some of our participants were provided with opportunities, for example, during the IRA threat, the riot in Toxteth and the miners’ strike. We suggest that examples from our data capture an early disruption of the ‘ideal’ heroic male police officer that Silvestri examines [Silvestri M (2018) Disrupting the ‘heroic’ male within policing: a case of direct entry. Feminist Criminology 13(3): 309–328] whose removal from their normal role during periods of socio-political disorder allowed women officers to leave the gendered division of labour and undertake the heroic police constable role while the men were busy being ‘heroic’ at the source of threat and unrest. We sought to explore changes such as the uniform as a site of protest for some of our officers who challenged an uncomfortable and unfit uniform in the early days, and explained that there were still problems with the kit and design at times. Our findings illustrated that, on the whole, although massive changes had been made, it was a case of the same old story in terms of sexual harassment and banter for female officers and more was required to address these issues, which fits with reviews and studies in both England and Wales and in Australia. Finally, we noted using participants’ words how much many of these women had enjoyed their role within policing in spite of these challenges.