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Social Sciences School of Law

Research Publications

RESEARCH REPORT

Policing, Culture and Community: West Midlands Police as City of Culture PartnersLink opens in a new window (2023, University of Warwick) Hodgson, J. and Lewis, R.

This sets out the nature of the WMP-City of Culture Partnership and how this enabled the police to develop arts-based initiatives working with seldom heard communities such as young people and those with lived experience of homelessness. Through detailing our findings from over 100 interviews and focus groups, we examine the humanising effect of these forms of collaboration and the potential for police to develop a more empathetic understanding of those most often the focus of their attention. But there are also limitations to this approach. As well as resources and senior level support, trusting relationships are imperative to this form of community engagement - trust between all parties involved. Young people are understandably sceptical of police presence in arts spaces and wary of intelligence gathering. Community groups and arts practitioners do not want to place hard-won and sometimes fragile relationships at risk. Building on these lessons, there is great potential in taking forward the learning from this work to help police build relationships with those policed, and those at risk of becoming victims of crime and exploitation.

FURTHER PUBLICATIONS

We have also sought to bring our findings to practitioner audiences and those interested in the wider value of arts and culture, through the publications below:

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