Making and Breaking Barriers: Assessing the Value of Mounted Police Units in the UK

在这个项目中，我们建议通过一种独特的观察方法，以及与警察和被警察公民的焦点小组一起，调查英国骑警工作的方式。这项研究将建立在牛津大学目前代表英国警察部队进行的工作的基础上，以建立一个证据基础，以此为基础制定未来关于骑警的战略和优先事项。该项目得到了英国各地骑警单位的支持，并从警察合作伙伴那里获得了大量的财政和实物捐助。骑警--警马和骑手--在世界各地被用作公共警务的工具。它们主要用于治安警察工作，被认为在安抚大量人群方面特别有用。它们已经成为足球比赛中几乎无处不在的景象，它们也被用于更具创造性的部署，包括搜救行动、防盗行动和城市巡逻。它们代表着身体力量的象征，也是与过去警察时代的联系。它们也是现代公共警察工作中最鲜为人知的工具之一。骑马的警察被认为可以安抚人群，避免严重的骚乱。坊间证据表明，在某些情况下，一匹马和一名骑手可能相当于六名或更多的军官步行。然而，在目前的紧缩条件下，它们在英国各地都面临着被取消的威胁，这些政策决定是在没有证据的情况下做出的。英国各地的警察部队正在考虑解散他们的骑兵部队，或者通过将这些部队与多个其他部队合并来减少他们对骑兵工作的贡献。这些决策的相对成本和节省目前只有模糊的理解，因为几乎从来没有对装甲部队的有效性进行过重点研究。它们不能轻易地与其他形式的警察工作相提并论，也没有经验基础来声称它们的效用。该项目的研究小组目前参与了与英国警方的初步工作，包括文献审查和制定衡量骑兵部队表现的量化标准。然而，所有项目合作伙伴都认识到，标准的警察绩效衡量标准，如逮捕统计数据，将不足以理解这些单位在英国警察与社会关系中的整体价值。因此，在这里提出的研究中，我们试图了解骑警工作的质的方面，特别是了解受骑警影响的公民如何看待他们。本项目的核心研究问题是：公众和警察体验骑警工作是如何进行的？以及，与类似的非骑警相比，是否存在骑警具有特殊价值的情况？在12个月的时间里，我们将通过与警察和经历过骑警的市民进行系统观察和重点小组工作来解决这些问题。我们将在系统方法的同时进行人种学观察，并将寻求国际警察部队--如加拿大皇家骑警--的意见，以帮助将我们的研究置于更广泛的警务图景中。研究将通过一份报告、多个研讨会和针对警察合作伙伴的全国活动产生用户影响。该项目也受到了全国媒体的关注，突显了警察和马在英国社会中的重要性。这也将是对警察工作这一方面的第一次实质性调查，并将引起国际学术界的兴趣。我们打算发表2-3篇文章，发表在《警察》和《社会》等高质量期刊上，并将在2014年英国犯罪学学会会议上公布我们的发现。

In this project, we propose to investigate the ways in which mounted police work is experienced in the UK through a unique observational methodology alongside focus groups with police officers and policed citizens. This research will build on current work being undertaken through the University of Oxford on behalf of UK police forces, to build an evidence base on which future strategies and priorities regarding mounted policing can be set. This project is being supported by mounted police units across the UK, and has secured significant financial and in-kind contributions from police partners. Mounted police - police horses and riders - are used as a tool of public policing around the world. They are used primarily in public-order police work, and are thought to be particularly useful in the pacification of large crowds. They have become a nearly ubiquitous sight at football matches, and they have also been used in more creative deployments including search-and-rescue operations, burglary prevention initiatives, and urban patrols. They represent a symbol of physical force as well as a connection to past eras of policing. They are also among the most poorly-understood tools in modern public police work.Police on horseback are thought to calm crowds and avert serious instances of disorder. Anecdotal evidence suggests that one horse and rider may be equivalent to six or more officers on foot in some situations. However, in current conditions of austerity, they are under threat of elimination across the UK and these policy decisions are being undertaken without recourse to evidence. Police forces across the UK are considering disbanding their mounted capacities or reducing their contributions to mounted work through amalgamating these units with multiple other forces. The relative costs and savings of these decisions are only vaguely understood at present, since virtually no focused research has ever been conducted on the effectiveness of mounted units. They cannot be easily compared to other forms of police work and there is no empirical basis on which to make claims regarding their utility.The project's research team is currently involved in initial work with UK police, including literature review and the development of quantitative criteria for measuring the performance of mounted units. However, it is recognized by all project partners that standard measures of police performance, such as arrest statistics, will be inadequate to understand these units' overall value in the relationship of UK police to society. In the research proposed here we are therefore seeking to understand the qualitative aspects of mounted police work, in particular to understand how they are seen by citizens subject to mounted policing.The core research questions of this project are: How do publics and police experience mounted police work? And, are there situations in which mounted police have special value when compared to similar non-mounted police? Over 12 months, we will address these questions by engaging in systematic observation and focus-group work with police and citizens who have experienced mounted policing. We will engage in ethnographic observations alongside the systematic approach, and will seek input from police forces internationally - such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - to help situate our research within a broader policing picture.The research will generate user impact through a report, multiple workshops and a national event for police partners. The project has also received attention in the national media, highlighting the importance of police and horses in UK society. It will also be the first substantive investigation into this aspect of police work, and will be of interest to academic audiences internationally. We intend to produce 2-3 articles for publication in high-quality journals such as Policing and Society and will present our findings at the 2014 British Society of Criminology conference.