Peelian Principles/ policing by consent

If you dont know who Sir Robert Peel is he is the man who stared the first UK police force in 1829 and eventually went on to become PM.

Now Peel came up with nine principles of ethical policing.


1 )To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.


2) To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

3)To recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.


4)To recognise always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.

5) To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.

6)To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.

7)To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

8)To recognise always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.

9)To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

These are still core principles at the heart of the Police in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Maybe certain country's with less "civilized" police forces should take consideration of the Peelian Principles? How do you think they would work in your country?

a reply to: crazyewok

These principles are all very well and good, but as proven by the behaviour of the Police regarding the matter of student protests a few years back, what with the kettling, the charges on horseback, the pulling of a paraplegic from his wheelchair, and the battering insensible of a bright young lad with no criminal record, to the point of his being in a coma, not to mention the killing of a by stander who was pushed over by an officer during civil unrest, the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes who was unarmed, by several shots to the head whilst he was pinned to the ground....those principles do not count for very much these days.

How about the NCA?

No one gave anyone consent for these things, and yet despite the Peelian principle, they happened anyway.

a reply to: TrueBrit

True there has been incidents of abuse mainly from the London met.

But lets be real here. Our police force is a hell of a lot better than some other counts out there included a certain North American country

Some constabulary may have lost there way a bit but on the whole I find UK police a hell of a lot more professional to deal with. I have no complaints about my local police who I have seen deal with some terrible things.

Brutality events are rare and far between here. The fact you can list the majority of them that have happened in the span of a decade in one quote speaks a lot. Many country's including a certain north American country would need whole pages just to list the incidents they have in a year!


Our Police may not be perfect.......but we are better off than most the world.

a reply to: crazyewok

It stopped being that way once DC was Nazified, post WWII. After that we get stuff like The Cold War and The War On Drugs that allows the policing of the populace with much less concern towards our humanity. Thus, little girls get their faces blown off by grenades, and men get strangled on the sidewalk for possibly selling cigarettes (that were already taxed, so there was no claim on those taxes by the state, as they cannot tax twice).

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: crazyewok

It stopped being that way once DC was Nazified, post WWII. After that we get stuff like The Cold War and The War On Drugs that allows the policing of the populace with much less concern towards our humanity. Thus, little girls get their faces blown off by grenades, and men get strangled on the sidewalk for possibly selling cigarettes (that were already taxed, so there was no claim on those taxes by the state, as they cannot tax twice).

To be fair I haven't heard much on the history of US policing and how it came about.

All I know is your current police starting taking there form under President Johnson.

I wonder if the switch to militarized police come from the influence of the large quantities of ex military from WW2, Korea and Vietnam?

a reply to: crazyewok

Honestly, i'd attribute it more to the Civil Rights movement than anything. THe majority of our non-violent crimes are established as one form of prejudice/discrimination or other.

a reply to: crazyewok

You might look into how President Johnson became POTUS. The agenda becomes clearer.

Of course the Peelian principles would be valuable and they would probably be effective if the citizens were actually allowed to implement them. That's not the point though.

The point is freedom to operate for corporations, not societal health or morality or sustainability.

Police and the Fascist majority of Murica are being programmed for some big changes. It seems critical citizens are starting to catch on and raise the alarm. One of Wesley Clark's drinking buddies is going to end up as director of DHS or worse. Like I said, big changes. Corporations want captive employees and customers. Politicians are selling your flesh to the highest bidder.

a reply to: crazyewok

I am one man. What do you think the chances are, that I would have sat in a jury dealing with related matters therefore?

Because, you see, I have sat on such a jury. The case involved a bipolar man, who was dragged to the ground, and had his face ground into the floor of the custody suite at a police station. He was accused of assault because in his descent to the ground, this man had fallen against one officers leg, disrupting the anterior cruciate ligament in the officers knee. Another officer, who was the one mashing the defendants face into the ground, received a bite to his thumb, because for a full one minute and forty five seconds of the video, he had ignored strained pleas of "Get off my face! Get off my face, I can't breathe! Get off my face!".

Of course, this will not have been reported as a case of police brutality, because the officers bought charges against the man over what amounts to their self inflicted injuries. However, brutality it certainly was. They totally ignored the PACE guidelines on dealing with mentally ill offenders, and worse, they had the custody sergeant lie about it, they had a WPC who happened to walk in on the scene, lie about it, through her teeth I might add...

Frankly, I do not think that our police service have a leg to stand on. By comparison to what happens in the rest of the world, well, that is one thing... But you see, there is only one measure against which the suitability of our police service should be scrutinised, and that is the measure of the expectations of British citizens. Whether our boys in blue shoot, beat, molest, and kill less people that constabularies of other nations does not matter a damn to me as a citizen of these isles. The only measure of the success of the police forces of this country, is how happy the population are with the service they receive, and while even a single innocent dies, while even a single person suffering mental disorders is abused in custody, while even a single incident of child molestation goes without investigation, I will not be satisfied, the nation will not be satisfied.

We are the measure. The police fall short.

a reply to: crazyewok

Gloucestershire's PCC said..

In 1829 Sir Robert Peel said “The public are the police, the police are the public.”
That will be my guiding principle.

We must work together to make Gloucestershire a better place for all of us.

policecommissioner.net...


It's working. It's good. 7:00 AM on voting day I was straight in through the door to vote for Martin. Haven't regretted it for a moment. If anyone in the UK has a problem with their local constabulary they should get involved in the PCC issue and get the right one in. Or get in yourself.

Become a PCC
The next PCC elections will be in 2016. You’ll be able to register as a candidate closer to the election.

www.gov.uk...


"...and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective."

If possible.