Multi-Agency Partnerships

Question 1

what does Chief Constable Sara Thornton (2015) say about partner organisations?

Answer 1

“we need to think about working with partner organisations… to focus on prevention and early intervention.”

Question 2

What is Berry et al’s (2011) definition of a multi-agency partnership?

Answer 2

It is “a cooperative relationship between 2 or more organisations to achieve a common goal.”

Question 3

What is Rittel and Webster’s (1973) wicked problem?

Answer 3

social and cultural issues that are difficult, even impossible to solve.

Question 4

What issues could make wicked problems impossible to solve?

Answer 4

This can be due to not understanding the phenomenon enough to be able to intervene effectively, individual causes, family causes, local community causes, and causes at the macro-level (people in power and policies have a huge impact in shaping our lives of society, and these unintended/intended impacts can have implications for crime and disorder).
These causes can evolve with the changes in society, such as technology.

Question 5

What does Rittel and Webster (1973) mean by ‘fragmentation under the contemporary division of professional labour’?

Answer 5

individuals and organisations from different sectors have varying responsibilities when dealing with crime and disorder.

Question 6

What three things can be considered as wicked problems?

Answer 6

crime, policing, and criminal justice.

Question 7

Why does Nash (2010) believe agencies should work in a partnership?

Answer 7

multi-agencies can bring different skills, knowledge, and expertise to the partnership/collaboration.

Question 8

What are Rosenbaum’s (2002) 4 benefits of effective partnerships?

Answer 8

Partnerships are better than individual agencies at identifying problems earlier = proactive, upstream, early intervention.
Schools, for example, will learn about issues with young people before the police will. Therefore, partnership working is important.

Partnerships bring more resources and new ideas to problem solving.

Reduced duplication and fragmentation of services.

Increased accountability of organisations.

Question 9

what is the definition of Garland’s (1996) responsibilisation strategy?

Answer 9

rather than being reliant on the state and the criminal justice system (such as police, courts, prisons), this strategy has started to recognise that crime is a problem for all within society (members of society, the public, and a host of different non-state agencies and organisations).

Question 10

What did Garland’s (1996) responsibilisation strategy put a greater emphasis on, and why is prevention better than cure?

Answer 10

Responsbilisation also sought to put a greater emphasis on prevention.
Prevention is recognised to be better than cure. It can be more cost effective too, so it is also good for public resources.

Question 11

Since when has there been a push for neighbourhood policing in England and Wales, and what does it require?

Answer 11

There has been a push for this since 2008 in England and Wales. This requires the police to work with a range of different partners, including the community, in a problem solving way about crime and disorder at a local level.

Question 12

What did the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 implement?

Answer 12

It gave local authorities a ‘statutory responsibility’ to work closely with the police to prevent crime and share information.

Question 13

What partnership arrangements did the Audit Commission (1998) implement?

Answer 13

Separate organisation = partnerships with a separate legal entity.

‘Virtual’ organisation = individuals going from one agency and spending some time working in another.

Co-located staff from partner organisation = setting up a team by bringing other organisations together and putting them into the same office.

Steering groups without dedicated staff resources = decisions implemented through individual partners’ own agencies.

Question 14

What does Crawford and L’Hoiry (2017) say is done through exposure and socialisation?

Answer 14

Build relationships, understand the work of different agencies, and understand each agencies’ strengths and weaknesses

Question 15

What does Crawford and L’Hoiry (2017) say is done through tough and complex decisions?

Answer 15

individuals must be willing to argue their principles.

Question 16

What does Crawford and L’Hoiry (2017) say is done through austerity?

Answer 16

agencies came together to make effective use of resources so that they can deliver a good service.

Question 17

What does Crawford and L’Hoiry (2017) say that boundary crossing is?

Answer 17

Boundary crossing is a limitation of multi-agency partnerships.
It refers to the fact that agencies will lose their identity due to long-term partnership.

Question 18

What is the HM Government’s (2018) serious violence strategy?

Answer 18

“Partnerships need support from communities to decide what they can do themselves to prevent violent crime and how they can support measures to get young people involved in positive activities.”

Question 19

Universal intervention is a form of early intervention and prevention, what is it?

Answer 19

it is used to prevent youth violence through providing education, training and employment.

Question 20

Targeted (selective) interventions is a form of early intervention and prevention, what is it?

Answer 20

A strategy aimed at targeting one or more subgroups of the population who are deemed to be at risk. For example, supporting excluded children.

Question 21

Targeted (indicated) interventions is a form of early intervention and prevention, what is it?

Answer 21

Introducing interventions at teachable moments, such as in hospitals.
A pathway is put in place to replace a current lifestyle. For example, in police custody through the DIVERT programme. Another example is getting help get employment – organisation as links to employers who will employee with a criminal record
If young people are helped to achieve their goals, they are less likely to become involved in crime.

Question 22

A barrier with multi-agency partnerships is that some agencies may be reluctant to participate, what does this lead to and who is this usually the case with?

Answer 22

leading to an unwillingness to share information
it is usually the case with health data, due to data protection and confidentiality

Question 23

A barrier with multi-agency partnerships is that there are tensions between care occupations and control occupations, what are these?

Answer 23

(1) care = address underlying issues and want to shift the behaviour of individuals. Want individuals to trust and engage with them,
(2) control = focused on controlling the outcomes of an individual’s behaviour.

Question 24

A barrier with multi-agency partnerships is that values of the public heath profession are in tension with the police, why is this?

Answer 24

This is because the public health profession must remain confidential in order to maintain the trust of individuals that they work with.

Question 25

One challenge which affects multi-agency partnerships is the desire to protect what?

Answer 25

budgets

Question 26

One challenge with affects multi-agency partnerships is that, in some partnerships, an agency can dominate the agenda and this creates risk. Who can dominate the agenda, and what are the risks?

Answer 26

It is known, in some partnerships, that the police can dominate the agenda and create the risk of criminalising social policy = the risk that if the police are the dominant force within the partnerships that it becomes a policing, crime control agenda.

Question 26

One challenge with affects multi-agency partnerships is that, in some partnerships, an agency can dominate the agenda and this creates risk. Who can dominate the agenda, and what are the risks?

Answer 26

It is known, in some partnerships, that the police can dominate the agenda and create the risk of criminalising social policy = the risk that if the police are the dominant force within the partnerships that it becomes a policing, crime control agenda.

Question 27

In relation to the impact of austerity, budgets used for multi-agency partnerships can be cut. What can this cause?

Answer 27

it may cause organisations to retreat and believe that partnerships are not a core part of their function. Therefore, they won’t use their resources on partnerships.

Question 28

In relation to the impact of austerity, some agencies may look to make short term cost savings. What could these be?

Answer 28

such as staff cuts or investments in initiatives that aren’t core.

Question 29

what does Higgins et al (2016) say about the impact of austerity?

Answer 29

Higgins et al. (2016) = if partnerships can effectively be worked to deliver upstream, preventative solutions, then it is going to be beneficial for crime reduction and public sector expenditure.

Question 30

One limitation of partnership working is the conflict of interest, what does this mean and what is an example?

Answer 30

different organisations have different priorities.
For example, an objective could be to tackle ADIS/HIV. Public health sector = provide sterile equipment for drug use. Police = prevent the use of drugs. This example shows that there are tensions between organisations.

Question 31

a limitation of partnership working is that the phenomenon isn’t always understood properly, what does this mean?

Answer 31

that organisations are not able to intervene effectively.

Question 32

One limitation of partnership working is that there isn’t always one common goal that needs to be achieved. Why is this?

Answer 32

People have different views on matters, potentially from their values and reading of the available evidence. There isn’t a right answer, there multiple possible ways, and this makes it hard to work in a partnership.

Question 33

one limitation of partnership working is that no one agency can be, what?

Answer 33

responsible for trying to address issues around serious youth violence.

Question 34

What is the risk of long term partnership involvement?

Answer 34

that individuals within agencies may lose their identity.

Question 35

Why may the police be reluctant to get involved in partnership working?

Answer 35

Many public health problems, such as poor mental health, can lead to a lot of police call outs. Violence can be seen as a public health issue, in relation to addiction, or in relation to committing violence or being a victim of violence, for example. Domestic violence.
Police are reluctant to engage in public health organisations and public health programmes due to them believing that it is not their function/narrative.

Question 36

One benefit of partnership working is that there is no duplication of services, what does this mean?

Answer 36

when working together to decide who would be best to deliver what goal, organisations are not overlapping and contradicting each other.

Question 37

one benefits of partnership working means that there are more resources…

Answer 37

available

Question 38

One benefit of partnership working is targeted intervention, what does this allow for?

Answer 38

it allows for a focus on what problems are occurring in specific areas.

Question 39

What can multi-agency partnerships bring?

Answer 39

Multi-agencies can bring different skills, knowledge, and expertise to the partnership/collaboration.

Question 40

What can multiple-agency partnerships better at?

Answer 40

Multiple agencies can be better at identifying problems earlier, through proactive, upstream, early intervention.

Question 41

One benefit of partnership working is that it increases the awareness of what?

Answer 41

Increase awareness of crime and disorder issues and their involvement in initiatives.

Question 42

One benefit of partnership working is that multiple interventions are generally more effective than, what?

Answer 42

Multiple interventions are generally more effective than single agency interventions with potentially higher levels of the intervention being delivered.

Question 43

One benefit of partnership working is that they bring what?

Answer 43

Partnerships bring more resources and new ideas to the problem solving arena.

Question 44

Is partnership working suitable for all types of crime?

Answer 44

Murder = murder tends to be a one off crime, apart from murder associated with domestic violence or gang crime.

Question 45

Why does partnership working sometimes not work in relation to offenders?

Answer 45

Offenders are required to put in the work, but sometimes they don’t, such as for rehabilitation programmes and counselling.

Question 46

What four things did the Police Foundation (2022) find from assessing the multi-agency panel’s effectiveness?

Answer 46

Panel had no impact on recurrent violent crime.

In some cases, there wasn’t a straightforward problem that needed identifying.

No one took charge or accountability in relation to delegating tasks = no one took a leadership role, leading to conflict.

Subjects involved in violence crimes did not engage with services provided to them.

Question 47

What is Merton’s Strain Theory of Deviance (1968) and what can it lead to?

Answer 47

Theory = looking around and seeing others having status symbols, and you want them status symbols for yourself.
This can lead to = high unemployment levels is likely to drive crime and financial instability.

Question 48

Berry et al (2011) suggested 5 ways to better partnership working. What are these, and what are their examples/meanings?

Answer 48

(1) Leadership = such as, shared vision, values and norms of partners involved to establish collaborative advantage.

(2) Data sharing and problem focus = such as, regular exchange of relevant information.

(3) Communication and co-location = such as, regular face-to-face contact and communication between partners.

(4) Structures = such as, involvement of most appropriate agencies.

(5) Experience = prior experience in working together in partnerships (i.e., established relationships).