London Borough of Sutton

The Universities' Police Science Institute have worked alongside the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) over a period of ten years (from 2007 – 2017) to deliver an annual community engagement exercise using the ‘intelligence-orientated Neighbourhood Security Interview’ (i-NSI) methodology.

Designed as an applied policing methodology, rather than a ‘pure’ research tool, the interview instrument is based upon the Signal Crimes Perspective, eliciting information from interviewees about the local problems that generate personal and collective insecurity.

It is less concerned with collecting general attitudinal data than knowledge about and perceptions of what incidents are occurring locally and what community impacts they are having.

Individual ward level community intelligence reports are produced for tactical use by each SNT, together with a more strategic Borough report to aid wider strategic assessment and resource allocation.

At an operational level, all SNT sergeants are tasked with reviewing their community intelligence report prior to developing a ward ‘i-NSI Action Plan’ covering key problems and locations in that area. These plans are ‘owned’ by Neighbourhood Inspectors and SNT Sergeants are measured against them as part of their performance and development reviews each year.

Team resource allocation is driven by issues identified in their plan, with PCSOs tasked to i-NSI ‘hotspots’ when they have no other ward priorities to attend to. At a borough level, issues identified in the annual report are included in a ‘Control Strategy Appendix’ to the National Intelligence Model compliant Strategic Assessment. Additionally, an ‘i-NSI Action Day’ is attended by all partner agencies to explore ways of tackling the issues raised that year.