Talking about public health approaches in policing
A quick communications guide for frontline and strategic policing
Index
Learn about framing a public health approach in policing in your daily and strategic communications
Around the UK, people are being needlessly drawn into crime, meaning some of us miss out on a life of safety and opportunities to thrive. Policing is our critical emergency response in times of trouble. It is also a key part of our collective prevention efforts. But communicating prevention is not always given the same emphasis as enforcement. This means the causes of crime are lower down the agenda and problems continue. This short guide will help you talk about public health approaches in policing so that we can share a common understanding and highlight the importance of prevention work with our partners.
For frontline
Strategic comms
Background
Further info
How to communicate public health approaches on the frontline
Talking about public health approaches in policing can be done in a few steps
Opening up conversation
Focusing on change
Illustrating
Explaining
Quick reference summary
Stating the challenge
Suggested framing
Opening up the conversation about a public health approach often starts with stating the challenge. What are we trying to address? It focuses on how some people and places are being affected by crime and that this can have a lasting effect. We need to emphasise that people and places need to be safe to thrive and that enforcing the law on its own will not solve the problem. Prevention is key.
Frontline officers see every day how people and places are needlessly drawn into crime - seeing the lasting consequences on lives, families and communities. Harm can be deep and enduring and can affect the lives of many generations, denying people the opportunity to live safe and fulfilling lives. We often hear we can't arrest our way out of these problems; that prevention has to come first.
Alternative
TIP: Avoid using crisis language - this may encourage people to think prevention is unachievable
Explaining the challenge
Suggested framing
Once the challenge or issue has been introduced, you can explain it in more detail. Linking the challenge of policing to broader society underlines how prevention is a joint endeavour. Explanations connect to policing's everyday experiences and ask us to look beneath the surface of our everyday interactions.
Putting prevention first is a challenge. Frontline work involves reacting in real time to an incident, crime or problem; working with the person standing in front of us at that moment. This means we are often dealing with what's on the surface. Yet we know that the roots of crime run deep into the foundations of society. A fair and safe society includes the building blocks of secure housing, good work and safe public spaces. When these are not in place, people and communities are more vulnerable to harm, exploitation and criminal involvement.
Alternatives
TIP: Balance the operational reality with the aspiration to do more on prevention.
Illustration
Suggested framing
If you want to go further, you can illustrate both the challenge and point to solutions using vivid metaphors with chains of cause and consequence. You can also take a 'deep dive' into a problem to illustrate it. Illustrations point us towards solutions that prevent problems from becoming deep and entrenched.
Prevention-focused policing will stop people and neighbourhoods from getting trapped in a negative cycle. Stopping crime before it happens or early will prevent many harms, and will break the cycle. It's about doing something now for better outcomes in the future. We can do this by focusing on, for example, engaging families under stress, and working with places experiencing repeated low-level harm before they escalate. We can also build partnerships with others tackling root causes like schools and councils.
Alternative
TIP: Consistently make the connection between prevention and how safety enables people to live fulfilling lives
Showing change is possible
Suggested wording
Demonstrating how a public health approach can be applied is the final stage of its communication. It is important to show change can be achieved. Examples of success are useful and can be persuasive (see the next page for a library of examples). This part of the communication is about investing in early help and working in partnership to achieve our shared goals.
Policing was never meant to do this prevention work on its own - but it is an important part in making it happen. Policing is at the heart of our communities and there are many ways we can make our interventions early and collaborative using our knowledge of neighbourhoods and data. We know that by investing in early help and by collaborating with others we can help support the building blocks that are the foundations of safe and fulfilling lives and places.
Examples will help you show that change is possible
TIP: Use your own local knowledge and data to illustrate your local challenges and any evidence of progress. Use data sparingly
Examples of change
Suggested examples
Examples of where public health approaches have been applied in policing can help show that change is possible. They can be selected to suit your needs. You might want a neighbourhood policing example or something which shows impact on a large scale. Have some different examples at your fingertips for different audiences.
Local examples
National / large scale examples
Practice examples
TIP: Build your own examples and share them
Background
Public health approaches in policing have a long history but are not always easily communicated. In 2024, the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (part of the Department of Health and Social Care) commissioned work on how to frame the approach in a way that would be meaningful for policing. The National Police Chief's Council directed the team towards communications for frontline policing. The team included Dr Liz Such (University of Nottingham and Ruth-Louise Bailey (Devon & Cornwall Police), supported by an Advisory Group and the Police and Public Health Consensus Collaborative.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to the following:
- Professor Stan Gilmour KPM, Thames Valley Police (retired) & Keele University
- Helen Christmas, Hull City Council
- Linda Hindle, Office of Health Improvement and Disparities
- Kylie Murrell, Office of Health Improvement and Disparities
- Sacha Hatchett, Chief Constable Lancashire Constabulary & NPCC
- Superintendent Justin Srivastava, Lancashire Constabulary (retired) & GLEPHA
- Professor Dame Sara Thornton, former UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner & University of Nottingham
- Robin Brierley, West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network
- Frank Pike, College of Policing
- Maria Castellina, FrameWorks Institute UK
- Mary Ross, Devon & Cornwall Police
- Rob Curtis, Devon & Cornwall Police
Thanks go to the Collaborative and to the many policing, public health and community based colleagues who have contributed.
A full report on the project with supporting materials for use in the field is available here
Approach
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Review
Consult
List
Vote
Refine
60+ documents reviewed inc. 24 Police and Crime Commissioner Plans
9 public health and policing experts; Police and Public Health Collaborative
Long list and short list of dominant & alternative framings
74 policing, public health and allied professionals
10 frontline & staff interviews; refine w/GenAI
For a full outline of the approach and methods used, consult the full report.
Strategic communications
Communicating public health approaches in strategic settings can be challenging. This section provides some communications ideas that make a compelling case. Overall, communications framing can be remembered by using the rubric UPSTREAM.
upstream
As policing, we can’t fix poverty, trauma, or inequality on our own — but we are often the first to see the cracks in the system. By focusing on prevention, building strong partnerships, and using our influence to shift systems, policing can play a powerful role in changing the conditions that lead to crime.
Central message
'In a nutshell' Communicating public health approaches in policing
Remember some simple rules: State the problem Explain the problem Illustrate the solution Show change is possible
Too many people are being needlessly drawn into crimeBecause the fundamentals - the building blocks - of a safe and healthy society are not in place. Prevention. And policing has an important role in preventing problems becoming deep. The river. National, local, practice.
For further enquiries Liz Such elizabeth.such@nottingham.ac.uk
Contact and further information
Additional resources Christmas, H. & Srivastava (2019) Public Health Approaches in Policing. A discussion paper.
Policing, Health and Social Care consensus: working together to protect and prevent harm to vulnerable people (2018)
College of Policing (2021) Policing and health collaboration. Landscape review.
For further enquiries Liz Such elizabeth.such@nottingham.ac.uk
EXAMPLE 1 Glasgow saw a significant drop in homicides by addressing the root causes of violence through early intervention programmes and community engagement activities. Overall, the city prevented over 3,000 hospital admissions for violent injury. EXAMPLE 2 The Big Local programme, showed that crime was lowered in places where there were strong local relationships, when neighbours felt solidarity with each other and when there were local opportunities for work and education in place. Policing is an important part in creating these neighbourhood conditions.
EXAMPLE 1 Police in Camborne, Cornwall wanted to stop repeated problems with low level anti-social behaviour among young people. They wanted to prevent it escalating and causing long-term harm to local people, young lives and the neighbourhood. They began by talking to young people and identifying what they wanted to see in their area. Young people in Camborne began to organise their own youth street dance group with the support of the police. This saw an enduring reduction in anti-social behaviour, ASB warnings and school truancy. The programme has sustained for over 20 years.
Alternative framing
Policing is about preventing people from being drawn into crime. Prevention benefits everyone. It means we are free from fear and to live our lives in safety, reaching our full potential. Some people and places are affected by crime more than others. It makes some places difficult and stressful to live in.
Alternative framing
Instead of pulling people out of the river, more preventative policing is about going upstream to stop new generations from falling in. We can build barriers around the river or bridges over the river and stop new generations from being drawn into crime and the suffering it creates.
U-P Understand the Problem “Too many people and places are being drawn into crime.”
- Harm is clustering where social systems are weakest.
- Crime often reflects unmet needs; the building blocks of life are missing or under stress.
S–T Story Telling “Crime flows from places where the building blocks of a strong society are missing"
- Poverty, trauma, exclusion, and instability shape risk.
- Use data, human stories, and metaphors (“falling into the river”).
- Help people see crime as a systemic outcome, not a personal failing.
R–E Respond & Embed prevention
“Policing must be part of reshaping the conditions that cause harm.”
- Prevention is smart, strategic, and sustainable.
- Build early, place-based, trauma-informed interventions into everyday policing.
A–M Act & Measure “No one agency can fix this — and success means more than enforcement.”
- Work with communities and partners - health, housing, education, voluntary.
- Track progress through safety, trust, wellbeing, and long-term resilience — not just crime stats.
Alternative framing 1
Alternative framing 2
If you've been on the frontline a while, you begin to see patterns in your work. You see the same issues, maybe you'll see a lot of the same people. Sometimes you'll be in contact with different generations of the same family. It can feel like going round in circles with the same people with the same problems. These experiences repeat because many of the foundations for a good life are not in place. These are are basic things like secure housing, good work and a safe neighbourhood. When these are not in place it is easier to be drawn into crime.
Often in policing we only see a snap shot of what is happening in our communities. Preventative policing means looking at the bigger picture. We then explore it, noticing the things that don't look right and looking for the strong aspects of our communities and neighbourhoods that we can support. We are asking ourselves, 'how can the picture be improved?' and 'what does a safe, secure and thriving neighbourhood look like'?
EXAMPLE LIBRARY Using trauma-informed practice Using persistent and predictable communication methods flexibly with children who have been exploited has been a trauma -informed practice that can help build trust, improving the chances of young people exiting their situation. 'Nudging' to improve outcomes Using behavioural science techniques such as nudging towards recovery has been used with arrestees who've tested positive for drugs in custody. Text message reminders about scheduled drug treatment appointments increased their attendance. Clear, Hold, Build ... is being used to reduce Serious and Organised Crime by disrupting criminal activity and building community resilience. This is a coordinated response with the community. Preventing harm by working with children The Healing Together programme in Torquay is a police initiative, Operation Encompass, and leads a trauma informed programme in schools, day care settings and pre-schools for children affected by domestic abuse.
Talking about public health approaches in policing
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Transcript
Talking about public health approaches in policing
A quick communications guide for frontline and strategic policing
Index
Learn about framing a public health approach in policing in your daily and strategic communications
Around the UK, people are being needlessly drawn into crime, meaning some of us miss out on a life of safety and opportunities to thrive. Policing is our critical emergency response in times of trouble. It is also a key part of our collective prevention efforts. But communicating prevention is not always given the same emphasis as enforcement. This means the causes of crime are lower down the agenda and problems continue. This short guide will help you talk about public health approaches in policing so that we can share a common understanding and highlight the importance of prevention work with our partners.
For frontline
Strategic comms
Background
Further info
How to communicate public health approaches on the frontline
Talking about public health approaches in policing can be done in a few steps
Opening up conversation
Focusing on change
Illustrating
Explaining
Quick reference summary
Stating the challenge
Suggested framing
Opening up the conversation about a public health approach often starts with stating the challenge. What are we trying to address? It focuses on how some people and places are being affected by crime and that this can have a lasting effect. We need to emphasise that people and places need to be safe to thrive and that enforcing the law on its own will not solve the problem. Prevention is key.
Frontline officers see every day how people and places are needlessly drawn into crime - seeing the lasting consequences on lives, families and communities. Harm can be deep and enduring and can affect the lives of many generations, denying people the opportunity to live safe and fulfilling lives. We often hear we can't arrest our way out of these problems; that prevention has to come first.
Alternative
TIP: Avoid using crisis language - this may encourage people to think prevention is unachievable
Explaining the challenge
Suggested framing
Once the challenge or issue has been introduced, you can explain it in more detail. Linking the challenge of policing to broader society underlines how prevention is a joint endeavour. Explanations connect to policing's everyday experiences and ask us to look beneath the surface of our everyday interactions.
Putting prevention first is a challenge. Frontline work involves reacting in real time to an incident, crime or problem; working with the person standing in front of us at that moment. This means we are often dealing with what's on the surface. Yet we know that the roots of crime run deep into the foundations of society. A fair and safe society includes the building blocks of secure housing, good work and safe public spaces. When these are not in place, people and communities are more vulnerable to harm, exploitation and criminal involvement.
Alternatives
TIP: Balance the operational reality with the aspiration to do more on prevention.
Illustration
Suggested framing
If you want to go further, you can illustrate both the challenge and point to solutions using vivid metaphors with chains of cause and consequence. You can also take a 'deep dive' into a problem to illustrate it. Illustrations point us towards solutions that prevent problems from becoming deep and entrenched.
Prevention-focused policing will stop people and neighbourhoods from getting trapped in a negative cycle. Stopping crime before it happens or early will prevent many harms, and will break the cycle. It's about doing something now for better outcomes in the future. We can do this by focusing on, for example, engaging families under stress, and working with places experiencing repeated low-level harm before they escalate. We can also build partnerships with others tackling root causes like schools and councils.
Alternative
TIP: Consistently make the connection between prevention and how safety enables people to live fulfilling lives
Showing change is possible
Suggested wording
Demonstrating how a public health approach can be applied is the final stage of its communication. It is important to show change can be achieved. Examples of success are useful and can be persuasive (see the next page for a library of examples). This part of the communication is about investing in early help and working in partnership to achieve our shared goals.
Policing was never meant to do this prevention work on its own - but it is an important part in making it happen. Policing is at the heart of our communities and there are many ways we can make our interventions early and collaborative using our knowledge of neighbourhoods and data. We know that by investing in early help and by collaborating with others we can help support the building blocks that are the foundations of safe and fulfilling lives and places.
Examples will help you show that change is possible
TIP: Use your own local knowledge and data to illustrate your local challenges and any evidence of progress. Use data sparingly
Examples of change
Suggested examples
Examples of where public health approaches have been applied in policing can help show that change is possible. They can be selected to suit your needs. You might want a neighbourhood policing example or something which shows impact on a large scale. Have some different examples at your fingertips for different audiences.
Local examples
National / large scale examples
Practice examples
TIP: Build your own examples and share them
Background
Public health approaches in policing have a long history but are not always easily communicated. In 2024, the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (part of the Department of Health and Social Care) commissioned work on how to frame the approach in a way that would be meaningful for policing. The National Police Chief's Council directed the team towards communications for frontline policing. The team included Dr Liz Such (University of Nottingham and Ruth-Louise Bailey (Devon & Cornwall Police), supported by an Advisory Group and the Police and Public Health Consensus Collaborative.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to the following:
- Maria Castellina, FrameWorks Institute UK
- Mary Ross, Devon & Cornwall Police
- Rob Curtis, Devon & Cornwall Police
Thanks go to the Collaborative and to the many policing, public health and community based colleagues who have contributed.A full report on the project with supporting materials for use in the field is available here
Approach
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Review
Consult
List
Vote
Refine
60+ documents reviewed inc. 24 Police and Crime Commissioner Plans
9 public health and policing experts; Police and Public Health Collaborative
Long list and short list of dominant & alternative framings
74 policing, public health and allied professionals
10 frontline & staff interviews; refine w/GenAI
For a full outline of the approach and methods used, consult the full report.
Strategic communications
Communicating public health approaches in strategic settings can be challenging. This section provides some communications ideas that make a compelling case. Overall, communications framing can be remembered by using the rubric UPSTREAM.
upstream
As policing, we can’t fix poverty, trauma, or inequality on our own — but we are often the first to see the cracks in the system. By focusing on prevention, building strong partnerships, and using our influence to shift systems, policing can play a powerful role in changing the conditions that lead to crime.
Central message
'In a nutshell' Communicating public health approaches in policing
Remember some simple rules: State the problem Explain the problem Illustrate the solution Show change is possible
Too many people are being needlessly drawn into crimeBecause the fundamentals - the building blocks - of a safe and healthy society are not in place. Prevention. And policing has an important role in preventing problems becoming deep. The river. National, local, practice.
For further enquiries Liz Such elizabeth.such@nottingham.ac.uk
Contact and further information
Additional resources Christmas, H. & Srivastava (2019) Public Health Approaches in Policing. A discussion paper.
Policing, Health and Social Care consensus: working together to protect and prevent harm to vulnerable people (2018)
College of Policing (2021) Policing and health collaboration. Landscape review.
For further enquiries Liz Such elizabeth.such@nottingham.ac.uk
EXAMPLE 1 Glasgow saw a significant drop in homicides by addressing the root causes of violence through early intervention programmes and community engagement activities. Overall, the city prevented over 3,000 hospital admissions for violent injury. EXAMPLE 2 The Big Local programme, showed that crime was lowered in places where there were strong local relationships, when neighbours felt solidarity with each other and when there were local opportunities for work and education in place. Policing is an important part in creating these neighbourhood conditions.
EXAMPLE 1 Police in Camborne, Cornwall wanted to stop repeated problems with low level anti-social behaviour among young people. They wanted to prevent it escalating and causing long-term harm to local people, young lives and the neighbourhood. They began by talking to young people and identifying what they wanted to see in their area. Young people in Camborne began to organise their own youth street dance group with the support of the police. This saw an enduring reduction in anti-social behaviour, ASB warnings and school truancy. The programme has sustained for over 20 years.
Alternative framing
Policing is about preventing people from being drawn into crime. Prevention benefits everyone. It means we are free from fear and to live our lives in safety, reaching our full potential. Some people and places are affected by crime more than others. It makes some places difficult and stressful to live in.
Alternative framing
Instead of pulling people out of the river, more preventative policing is about going upstream to stop new generations from falling in. We can build barriers around the river or bridges over the river and stop new generations from being drawn into crime and the suffering it creates.
U-P Understand the Problem “Too many people and places are being drawn into crime.”
S–T Story Telling “Crime flows from places where the building blocks of a strong society are missing"
R–E Respond & Embed prevention “Policing must be part of reshaping the conditions that cause harm.”
A–M Act & Measure “No one agency can fix this — and success means more than enforcement.”
Alternative framing 1
Alternative framing 2
If you've been on the frontline a while, you begin to see patterns in your work. You see the same issues, maybe you'll see a lot of the same people. Sometimes you'll be in contact with different generations of the same family. It can feel like going round in circles with the same people with the same problems. These experiences repeat because many of the foundations for a good life are not in place. These are are basic things like secure housing, good work and a safe neighbourhood. When these are not in place it is easier to be drawn into crime.
Often in policing we only see a snap shot of what is happening in our communities. Preventative policing means looking at the bigger picture. We then explore it, noticing the things that don't look right and looking for the strong aspects of our communities and neighbourhoods that we can support. We are asking ourselves, 'how can the picture be improved?' and 'what does a safe, secure and thriving neighbourhood look like'?
EXAMPLE LIBRARY Using trauma-informed practice Using persistent and predictable communication methods flexibly with children who have been exploited has been a trauma -informed practice that can help build trust, improving the chances of young people exiting their situation. 'Nudging' to improve outcomes Using behavioural science techniques such as nudging towards recovery has been used with arrestees who've tested positive for drugs in custody. Text message reminders about scheduled drug treatment appointments increased their attendance. Clear, Hold, Build ... is being used to reduce Serious and Organised Crime by disrupting criminal activity and building community resilience. This is a coordinated response with the community. Preventing harm by working with children The Healing Together programme in Torquay is a police initiative, Operation Encompass, and leads a trauma informed programme in schools, day care settings and pre-schools for children affected by domestic abuse.