The Metropolitan Police Service - Essay Example

SWOT analysis on The Metropolitan Police Service and its links to multi agency working practices Table of contents Introduction The MPSrefers to the police force that ensures law enforcement in London with the exception of the London City which falls under the jurisdiction of a different force. It is also known as the Scotland Yard due to its initial headquarters that was later transferred to Westminster in the 1960s. It is the largest police service in the UK and is headed by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, commonly referred to as Commissioner. The service has other 140 police stations in addition to the headquarters, ranging from small stations that are only open to the public during official working hours to very large and sophisticated ones that operate twenty-four hours a day. The Metropolitan Police stated its operations in September 1829 albeit some resistance from certain quarters of the community who were of the view that it would threaten their 'civil liberties.' This force started operating within an eleven kilometre radius of Charing Cross to help in preventing crime and pursue criminals in the area. The Metropolitan Police Service has several departments including Information, Standards and Intelligence, Human Resources, Strategy and Modernisation and Performance departments. Others departments are Public Affairs and resources departments. The MPS is shifting its focus towards working in partnership with other agencies to help it achieve its objectives offer better services to the public. This paper carries out a SWOT analysis on the Metropolitan Police Service and its links to multi agency working practices. It examines the multi agency to working in a political, social and policy context. Moreover, it investigates the key drivers of change in the public services towards multi agency working, while trying to understand and analyse the various barriers to multi agency partnerships and the role of their organisation within a multi agency context. Finally, the paper analyses the importance of partnerships in a multi agency approach to achieving the police sector goals. Partnerships between MPS and other agencies The Metropolitan Police Services is working in partnership with many other agencies for the benefit of both partners- attaining their individual aims and objectives. This has proved to work very well for both partners and therefore this trend should be supported. Some of the partners include the Criminal Justice Unit, schools, the general public, the Greater London Authority, the City of London Police, and Royal Parks. This has proved to be effective and efficient in delivering services to the public and so many more partnerships should be encouraged (Kennedy et al, 1990). Drivers of change towards multi agency working When public service organisations work together, they end up delivering value and achieving an outcome that would not be possible individually since it generates synergy by combining resources, ideas and expertise from different authorities and agencies. This can help in delivering service benefits and efficiency savings to many agencies through saving resources and adding capacity. Partnerships are great drivers for collaborative change since they lead and champion shared services and collaboration (Kennedy et al, 1990). Barriers and challenges Even though these partnerships have recorded considerable success, they face some challenges as well, which if not well taken care of could threaten their very survival. Combining different organisations with different cultures, processes, performances and behaviours is not an easy task. Some organisations may have traditional behaviours like building and protecting empires, which could impede any efforts for collaborations. Historical rivalries can also inhibit any successful collaborative efforts since the partners have to work on building their rapport and appraisal of their past successes and failures. Strengths The partnerships have enhanced the provision of services and improved security in these organisations. For instance, the partnership between the schools and the MPS, known as the Safer School Partnership has yielded numerous benefits, with the police undertaking more of a teaching role. The partnership has helped in reducing criminal activities, victimisation and antisocial behaviour in schools and its environs. Moreover, it has reduced truancy and exclusions. When agencies like the MPS engage in partnership with other agencies, it offers a non-threatening and friendly environment for them to communicate with the public. This will help in changing the common trend whereby the only time people interact with the police is when a crime has been committed and one is either a victim or the offender, leaving no one involved with any good memories. The MPS partnership with other agencies can help in sharing crucial information between them, thus averting any imminent criminal activities (Kennedy et al 1990). Moreover, police have been able to work with the youth who are at risk of falling victims or becoming offenders, thus ensuring full time education of young offenders. MPS has helped the school staff to deal with anti-social behaviour, criminal incidents and victimisation and at the same time supported vulnerable youth through periods of transition. The partnership has enabled the participating schools to maintain a peaceful learning environment free from disruption. Generally, partnership with other agencies puts MPS in a better position to achieving its objectives while also helping the partner achieve its own. The partnership raises the likelihood of reducing crime rates and victimisation among young people, thus providing a secure and safe school community, hence enhancing the learning atmosphere. Moreover, it will go a long way in ensuring that the youth remain in education in order to realise their full potential. MPS partnership will bring the citizens and the police together, hence preventing crime and solving neighbourhood problems. This is because these partnerships emphasize on prevention of crime as opposed responding to it after it occurs, thus giving the society more control over the quality of their lives. Moreover, the partnerships enable the police to become part of the society, hence helping them in getting a better sense of the public's needs. This will greatly help the public in developing a greater trust in the police. Essentially, these partnerships mean that the partners join the police in achieving a common goal of a safer and better place to live. This principle acknowledges that the whole society has a responsibility for their safety, and not just the police. It is based on the belief that the police must come into partnership with other agencies to address their priorities about social disorder, crime and fear of crime. This initiative helps the police get to know people and learn about their concerns, hence building trust between citizens and police. They seek ways of preventing crime and improving the quality of life as opposed to just responding to it when it occurs. This partnership will also help in putting people in touch with other agencies that can help with problems like child abuse, domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. MPS partnership with other agencies will help the police to have greater independence, be more creative and prevent crime alongside many other benefits (Paterson et al 1998). Weaknesses The police administrators are constantly under pressure to deliver quantifiable results in order to demonstrate good government service delivery. Demands like these require the auditing potential of quantifiable activities and not the intangible tasks and the unquantifiable aspects of police services. Many of the challenges the police officers face in their daily work practices come as a result of the difficulties in combining a command and control structure with contract-related obligations and client-focused approach of community policing. Police partnerships are a departure from the traditional policing since it adopts a long term strategic approach and not just a quick fix to an immediate problem. The partnership has numerous incompatible aspects ranging from their rational, legal and bureaucratic models. There are many contradictions between a bureaucratic mentality and collegial decision making across various ranks (Fielding, 2005). Opportunities Partnership between MPS and other agencies will offer many opportunities for both of them and help in carrying out their mandates. It can help in discouraging illegal activities and increase pride among the partners. A good example is when the police and various other agencies such as the Fire Department and community members partner to clean a particular neighbourhood. The partnership can also help attract many other like minded organisations to make this initiative a success. Such organisations include the media, schools, religious organisations and churches, service clubs and organisations, and boards and commissions. Moreover, it can also attract the public such as business people, who may feel strongly motivated help in making their community a better place. Threats The partnerships are not likely to work if there is any competition for resources since it could create conflicts between the partners, making it very difficult to create a network. Moreover, there are policy and legislative constraints such as sharing of high profiled information and privacy of the individual agencies (Fielding, 2005). More problems may also arise when the closed nature of the network makes accountability of making decisions very obscure, where processes and procedures undermine flexibility and where the network is not a budgetary priority. Conclusion Collaboration s and partnership working can be used to deliver greater benefits than when working in isolation, although some challenges have to be overcome. Change is not an easy task since resources grow tighter and some adjustments in spending have to be made. Although partnerships can be formed instantly, true collaborations take time as the relationship has to grow and trust built among the partners. By the Metropolitan Police Service partnering with other agencies, there are immense benefits for all the partners compared to working individually. This should therefore be fully supported by all the concerned parties and more organisations should also consider partnering with the MPS. They should work together to overcome all the barriers that they show up to threaten the partnerships in order to realise its full benefits. Care must however be taken to ensure that these partnerships help both organisations in meeting their goals and objectives, and that none of the agencies benefits at the expense of the other. This will enable the police to offer better services to the community in terms of security, crime prevention and maintaining law and order. This will also go a long way in improving the helping achieve the justice sector goals, References Fielding, N (2005) The Police and Social Conflict, Routledge Cavendish Kennedy, D et al (1990) Beyond 911: A New Era for Policing, Basic Books Paterson, F et al (1998) Social Work and Criminal Justice: The Impact of Policy, SOCRU Read More