Reflections on the Impact of Stakeholder involvement in policing efforts: Perspectives from police officers in the Hearts and Minds Programme

• In Event: Policy Panel: Plural Policing in the Global South: Navigating hybridity and security partnerships

Abstract

Since its inception key tenets of state police organizations include the maintenance of law and order, reduction in crime and responding to crime and social disorder. However, as societies become more complex and dynamic, law enforcement bodies have become more mindful that crime control and violence reduction cannot singularly be addressed by state police agents. Such understandings give rise to the incorporation of diverse actors in the policing process. In the context of Trinidad and Tobago policing is delivered by individuals and networks who often work alongside the formal police service in efforts to reduce violence and address crime. This paper examines the experiences and views of fifteen Hearts and Minds officers on the impact and effectiveness of stakeholder collaboration to decrease violence in high-crime areas near the nation’s capital, Port of Spain.

Author

• Casandra Harry, University of Trinidad and Tobago