Police and Crime Commissioner Community Engagement: A Scoping Review

This report is the first output from the evaluation of the Safer Together Team (STT) in Lincolnshire, commissioned by the Lincolnshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). The aim of this report is to present the findings of a scoping review that explored community engagement initiatives been developed OPCCs or that they had reported being involved in. A scoping review following the framework suggested by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) was used to gather information on community engagement initiatives that have been developed by the OPCC, or ones they had been engaged in, across England and Wales. The review aimed to answer the following question “What initiatives have been developed by (Offices for) Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales to help develop and increase community engagement and empowerment?” All 44 OPC websites were searched using the term ‘community engagement’ as well as exploring each of the content tabs. Additionally, the academic literature was searched by entering the following search terms into 11 databases; police and crime commissioner, office for police and crime commissioner, PCC, OPCC, community, neighbourhood, engagement, safe, security, empower, involve, and partner. The searches included data from 2011 onwards (after the implementation of PCCs) and were conducted between 19th January and 16th February 2022. A total of 18 articles were retrieved from the academic literature. Information from each of these plus the 44 websites was recorded and then sorted thematically to produce the findings for this report. This consisted of 13 themes as outlined below. Thirteen themes were developed from the material: General communications, community engagement staffing, consultations, events, campaigns, use of social media, volunteering, lived experience, funding, specific safety initiatives, community learning initiatives, community engagement initiatives, and evaluation. The scoping review identified relevant literature that explores how OPCCs have engaged with their communities, identified areas of good practice to help achieve this in a positive and meaningful way, highlighted areas that could be improved, and provided useful recommendations based on experience. The report concludes with 55 suggestions based on the evidence reviewed that Lincolnshire OPCC may want to consider as they develop the STT initiative