In practice, neighbourhood policing adopts a view of information set out by Wilmer (1970), where community intelligence is a product that is produced by the police, owned by the police, for consumption by the police, in a ‘battle for information’ that seeks criminal ‘signals’ from ‘noise’. This thesis proposes that this industrial age police centric view of intelligence is redundant in the information age and that the growth of social media provides opportunities for the police and citizens to use information from events in new ways to co-produce community safety. The work draws on the work of Granovetter (1973) who theorised that new information rests with weak ties, Shirky (2009) who argued that collaborative technologies lower the transaction cost of citizen participation to enable the flow of latent information, and Ericson & Haggerty (1997) who envisaged a role for the police as communicators of risk. Utilising a new framework of information, developed for the thesis, to describe an information market, its mixed-methodology approach incorporated qualitative methods such as focus groups and survey, quantitative methods such as secondary analysis of Twitter data. A randomised controlled trial was also used to field test the hypothesis that information about crime proactively published by the police on social media would generate more information flowing from citizens to the police than reactive policing methods. Taken together the research found that citizens were either active or passive consumers of information who expected the police to provide an information bridge with and between citizens. In doing so they expected the police to filter signals about risk from noise for citizens, and amplify that signal so that it is heard by citizens above other background noise. The results did not support the hypothesis that social media would obtain more new pieces of information than traditional approaches. Rather it was found that PCSO inquiries received more information than email requests for information or alerts posted on social media. The research also acted as a catalyst for operational change and resulted in greater use of social media by the police force and a move towards a style of tweeting that was more likely to generate engagement in neighbourhood policing.

This research critically analyses the use of community intelligence in the delivery of local neighbourhood policing in South Wales and the police service in general. It examines in detail the development of policing and intelligence, particularly neighbourhood policing and community intelligence from its early beginnings and evaluates the contemporary definitions and police officer and staff perceptions of neighbourhood policing and community intelligence. This research also proposes a new definition of community intelligence and analyses how community intelligence is gathered, recorded and processed, and its relationship to the Intelligence Cycle and the National Intelligence Model. It further examines the operational application of community intelligence, including in counter terrorism and tackling organised crime, and the competing priorities, tensions and contradictions between performance management, neighbourhood policing, problem-oriented policing and intelligence-led policing. This research also evaluates the decision making process and how that may be affected by organisational issues such as, organisational culture, behaviour, management, leadership, information and knowledge. It examines the importance of community engagement in developing community intelligence and providing cohesive policing services to the public. Furthermore, this research considers the future directions of community intelligence and research on policing. The findings from this research indicate that some community intelligence is used to direct policing patrols and operations. However, there is some confusion by police officers and staff as to what constitutes community information and intelligence and thus it is not always recorded correctly limiting its use in the delivery of local neighbourhood policing and resulting in the loss of intelligence. This serves to highlight some of the areas for improvement in the policies, procedures, systems and management of intelligence. The findings also indicate the potential use of community intelligence in counter terrorism and in the provision of improved policing services to the public.

The aim of this research was to establish whether sector policing had been integrated in the SAPS in the Limpopo Province, and to supply information to the SAPS and community members that may improve their ability to implement sector policing. The research question ”How members in the Limpopo Province perceive sector policing” is investigated in this research. A literature study on sector policing was completed and thereafter a questionnaire was developed. An empirical study was done by questionnaire on the status of sector policing in the SAPS in the Limpopo Province during March, April, May and June 2008. The sample involved 333 police and community members were used in the analysis. / Police Practice / M.A. (Police Science)

The aim of this research was to establish whether sector policing had been integrated in the SAPS in the Limpopo Province, and to supply information to the SAPS and community members that may improve their ability to implement sector policing. The research question ”How members in the Limpopo Province perceive sector policing” is investigated in this research. A literature study on sector policing was completed and thereafter a questionnaire was developed. An empirical study was done by questionnaire on the status of sector policing in the SAPS in the Limpopo Province during March, April, May and June 2008. The sample involved 333 police and community members were used in the analysis. / Police Practice / M.A. (Police Science)