From engagement to estrangement

: the demise of the physically accessible police officer : a study of police commitment to proactive proximal engagement with local communities

Abstract

Differing from reactive interactions between the police and public, and valued by citizens for its emphasis on visibility, accessibility, and relationship-building, proactive proximal engagement, within the community policing context, refers to routine, voluntary, police-initiated interactions with people in local neighbourhoods. Adding new policing knowledge, this study specifically explores police commitment to proactive proximal engagement, how forces prioritise and value it, and the challenges faced in delivering it.
Drawing on qualitative data from four UK police forces, the study uncovers a ‘Pathway to Estrangement’, which highlights how an instrumental, risk-based institutional logic drives the prioritisation and resourcing of policing activities. As failing to adequately resource proactive proximal engagement is not considered to present significant or immediate organisational risk, forces deem it to be a low priority. Prolonged deprioritisation has created an entrenched cultural organisational marginalisation, leaving proactive proximal engagement struggling to maintain legitimacy inside and outside policing. Consequently, while the cultural, social, and symbolic capital of officers in higher-priority roles flourishes, that of officers delivering proactive proximal engagement diminishes, as do their perceptions of organisational justice and self-legitimacy. The failure of forces to align resourcing with public expectation generates value conflict and legitimacy challenges; tensions which are managed through rhetorical affirmations of commitment and by reframing conceptualisations of proactive proximal engagement to legitimise reduced responses to groups considered undeservingly high-consumers.
Overall, despite a rhetorical veneer claiming alignment with public expectation, UK police forces: are not meaningfully committed to proactive proximal engagement; consistently marginalise it organisationally; and are effectively delegitimating it as a policing tool.

Date of Award	3 Nov 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Abertay University
Supervisor	William Graham (Supervisor), Jason Annetts (Supervisor) & Denise Martin (Supervisor)