Vulnerability, Policing and the Limits of a Public Health Approach

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

Vulnerability has become a central focus in contemporary policing, shaping both frontline practices and multi-agency collaborations, in ways that aligns with the growing adoption of public health approaches to crime and harm reduction. However, these shifts raise important ethical, conceptual, and practical questions about the appropriate role of the police and partner agencies, the boundaries of responsibility, and the tensions inherent in multi-agency working. This session will draw together research that explores the views of service providers and users on vulnerability in policing; public understandings of the police role in responses to vulnerability and when to invoke a police response; the role of the police in responding to people with mental health related vulnerabilities beyond crisis situations; and the compatibility of public health approaches to crime. Drawing on different methodological approaches, the presentations will critically explore the ethical dilemmas, operational realities, and systemic constraints of adopting a vulnerability-focused and public health approach to policing. Together, they will consider issues of public trust and confidence, tensions and opportunities in joined-up approaches to harm reduction and the normative and ethical limits of policing and criminal justice, offering fresh insights into the role of the police in contemporary society.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Policing and Law enforcement (Policing WG)

Chair

• Adam Crawford, University of Leeds

Individual Presentations

• Vulnerability and Policing: The Views of Service Providers and Users - Adam Crawford, University of Leeds; Oznur Yardimci, University of York; Kate Brown, University of York; Chris Devany, University of York; Tobias Kammersgaard, Aarhus University

• “Should I call the police?” Exploring public views on when to call the police in incidents involving people with vulnerabilities - David Rowlands, University of Leeds; Ben Bradford, University College London; Adam Crawford, University of York; Christine A Weirich, University of Leeds

• Policing Mental Health Beyond Crisis: Insights from Ethnographic Research - Oznur Yardimci, University of York; Martin Webber, University of York; Elizabeth Hughes, Glasgow Caledonian University; Andrew Papworth, University of York; Tobias Kammersgaard, Aarhus University

• Public health approaches to crime: challenges and opportunities in bringing communities in as partners - Samantha Weston, University of Birmingham; Francesca Menichelli, University of Surrey