Can arts and culture play a role in addressing the current crisis in police legitimacy? Drawing on over 100 interviews and focus groups, this project evaluates the innovative partnership between West Midlands Police and Coventry UK City of Culture Trust to ask: Can police engagement through creative partnerships help to rebuild public trust and confidence?

It considers how the police can use arts and culture to build positive relationships with vulnerable, at-risk and seldom heard communities through collaborative working with arts practitioners and 3rd sector organisations. It also notes the suspicion still felt by some members of the public and community organisations, highlighting the ongoing need for a shift in police culture, long-term relationship-building with existing community organisations, and transparency of police objectives.

Please view the full paper on 'Building Trust in Policing through Arts Collaboration'.

Authors

Professor Jacqueline Hodgson is Professor of Law and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Warwick. Her work focuses on how the criminal justice process operates in practice in the UK and Europe.

Dr Rachel Lewis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Law at Warwick University. She works at the intersections between Law, Sociology, and Applied Linguistics, and is currently researching policing and the arts.