Why we need proactive policing

This article was first published in The Critic.

n the last thirty years, Britain has experienced a crime drop, where the most serious crimes, such as murder, have seen a downward trend for a prolonged period. The latest Office for National Statistics Crime Survey highlighted that homicides have fallen to their lowest levels in almost 50 years. This should rightly be celebrated.

However, this fall in serious crime has not been reflected in the lower level, yet still highly disruptive crimes that particularly matter to the public on a daily basis. Quite the opposite.

Retail theft and shoplifting, for example, have surged to multi-year highs. England and Wales saw over 515,000 shoplifting offences reported in the year ending December 2024, a 20 per cent increase on 2023.

Phone thieves, predominantly occurring in tourist and commercial hotspots in London but also in other major cities up and down the country, are using tactics which include snatch thefts, table surfing and distraction pickpocketing, to rob British citizens and tourists alike. In 2024, 192 mobile phones in London were stolen each day, or one every seven and a half minutes. 

It’s not only petty thefts that are an ongoing issue. Antisocial behaviour — encompassing persistent nuisance, street disorder, drug use in public spaces and loitering — remains a visible and distressing feature of many neighbourhoods. In the 2024 Crime Survey, the police recorded one million ASB incidents, with results suggesting that 36 per cent of adults have either experienced anti-social behaviours in their local areas or witnessed them. Antisocial behaviour is by far the most feared and commonly experienced crime according to national community surveys, ranking ahead of both burglary and cybercrime. Half of the population believe that crime in their neighbourhoods had increased over the past year.

Long-term trends of serious crime have prompted certain commentators to argue that the “Broken Britain” narrative is exaggerated, suggesting that the public mood is somewhat detached from reality. But this temptation to treat the very real crime drop as a comprehensive measure of the health of society risks confusing a partial success with the important issue of whether Britain’s everyday public order has been improving or deteriorating.

With scarce resources, British police have naturally been prioritising more serious forms of criminal behaviour. This, however, has led to the routine maintenance of the public realm to be deprioritised. Historically, what would have triggered a quick response by an officer on foot patrol, is now often dealt with via slower processes and civil routes, rather than direct action from the police.

So, how to solve the proliferation of low-level disorder and ASB seen on the streets of Britain? Currently, police forces subscribe to a reactive model of policing — a crime occurs, a crime is reported, and then action is taken. Britain must see a return to a more proactive model. 

In a new report for the Prosperity Institute, I propose that we must learn from the proven success of “Broken Windows” theory, which successfully cleaned up New York in the 1980s and 90s by prioritising the policing of low-level disorder and the maintenance of public spaces. If even broken windows are taken seriously, the proliferation of crime can be reversed.

In England and Wales, there has been a gradual shift away from everyday policing, which involves the duties which most people still associate with officers on the beat: patrol duties, minor conflict resolution and community engagement. 

One of the major critiques of policing today is the lack of a visible police presence. Between 2010-11 and 2024-25, the proportion of people reporting to have seen a police officer on a foot patrol in their neighbourhood at least once a week dropped from 39 to 11 per cent. Having dedicated regular foot patrols would not only restore confidence in residents, but act as a visual deterrent to those thinking about committing low-level crimes. 

Hotspots have had a beneficial impact when used. West Midlands Police have been advocates of targeted patrols, seeing reductions in street crimes when implementing patrols of between just five and 15 minutes in Birmingham. 

Existing police powers also allow officers to conduct proactive policing practices. Stop and search is an effective power for officers to recover weapons such as knives, directly from the streets they protect. Civil Injunctions, Community Notice, and Public Space Protection Orders are all available under the Antisocial, Crime and Policing Act 2014. These existing powers are just not used frequently enough.

Adopting a more proactive model of policing would undoubtedly go some way toward improving the everyday experiences of British citizens. Britain must decide whether it can afford not to police low-level disorder. In the short term, public confidence and community cohesion, and in the long term, overall crime prevention, all depend on the consistent maintenance of order on the streets of Britain.