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The UK police service has a major challenge to introduce innovative ways of improving efficiency and productivity, whilst at the same time improving public opinion as to their effectiveness in the “fight against crime”. The purpose of this paper is to outline an exploratory study of the ability to cluster police forces based on their sanction detection levels over a number of different offence groups and whether these clusters have different associated public opinions towards them.

Using secondary data and the fuzzy c‐means clustering technique to exposit clusters of police forces based on sanction detection levels, relating them in a statistical analysis with public opinion on the police.

The clustering analysis shows how police forces can be considered relative to each other, based on their sanction detection levels of certain offence groups, including; burglary, fraud and forgery and criminal damage. Using the established clusters of police forces, in respect of independent variables relating to public opinion, including confidence in police; there does appear to be statistically significant differences amongst the clusters of police force.

The results demonstrate the connection between the police's attempt to fight crime and public opinion. With the public opinion measures considered post the establishing of police forces’ clusters, the results show the public does notice the level of sanction detections achieved. The identified disconnect of the public with the criminal justice system is something that can be improved on in the future.

Demonstrates that there is a significant link in the relationship between the levels of sanction detection levels of police forces and public opinion about their ability to fight crime.

This paper employs fuzzy c‐means, a modern clustering technique nascent in this area of research.

The paper is set in the context of the impact of new public management (NPM) on the police service in the UK. Specifically, it aims to describe a modelling based approach to targeted police performance improvement within a specific area of measured operational policing namely sanction detection levels. It draws upon nationally available crime statistics, which have been utilised in a novel way in order to provide the police with an additional performance management technique.

The paper uses secondary data and the PROMETHEE ranking technique to exposit performance rank improvement of a police force amongst their most similar forces group.

The modelling approach is a proven tool that could be used in partnership with other police performance management techniques in their attempt to meet the public interest and Home Office demands for improvements in base sanction detection levels.

The paper presents a theoretical approach that seeks to address a complex and multifaceted operational issue affecting all police forces. The theoretical nature in itself presents a potentially idealistic scenario.

The paper demonstrates that innovative modelling has the potential to add value to techniques that are currently used in the area of police performance improvement, in this case sanction detection levels. At the fundamental level this could be viewed in terms of “Where to start first, and from there?” with respect to targeting certain types of crime.

This paper uses a modern ranking technique previously unused in this area.

This paper aims to examine the policing of youth anti‐social behaviour and crime.

The paper considers the Independent Commission report, Time for a Fresh Start and argues that its analysis would be enhanced by a fuller consideration of the role of the police as gatekeepers to the criminal justice system. As such this represents something of a missed opportunity.

The paper contends that, like many other reviews of youth justice, and proposals for reform, Time for a Fresh Start says relatively little about policing. As gatekeepers and agenda‐setters for much of the criminal justice system, the police occupy a key position. This paper suggests that reform programmes must focus on the role the police play in regulating the flow of young people into the justice system and, in particular, argues in favour of a constructive reappraisal of the value of “diversion”.

Without considering the role the police play in regulating the flow of young people into the justice system, any programme of reform is incomplete. We need to rehabilitate the idea of “diversion” and to rescue it from the one‐sided picture that became dominant from the mid‐1990s onward.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the rationale underpinning this new journal in addressing the apparent gap and fragmented nature of the emergency services research, to introduce the papers in this inaugural issue and encourage readers and potential contributors to support the International Journal of Emergency Services (IJES).

The paper introduces the new journal, and its intention to challenge the current “silo approach” which isolates the academic and practitioner community. It also outlines the editorial intentions for the journal, linking the theme and selected papers for the inaugural issue to the future editorial direction of the journal.

Emergency function resides with a host of agencies including the three “blue light” services (police, fire and ambulance). IJES is an opportunity to publish up‐to‐date and original research contributions for the benefit of scholars, policy makers and practitioners in these areas, including the interface of policy and practice at national, regional and global level.

Articulating the IJES vision in addressing the apparent gaps in emergency services research, including the theory‐practise divide, this paper provides useful knowledge to potential readers who are interested in emergency services research. It also highlights some potential areas for research.

This paper aims to review calls on the UK police service to respond to the dual challenge of increasing governmental/public demands for improvements in police efficiency and effectiveness in the likely context of decreasing real time increases in financial resources. Specifically it aims to highlight the reform of police organizational structures, a greater focus on performance management and people development initiatives as areas that have the potential to bring about significant benefits for future UK policing.

Using the results of Government‐sponsored research and other secondary data the approach is to explore the potential for implementation of new approaches to policing.

There would appear to be a consensus between the Government and the police service of the need for reform. The mechanics of successful implementation, however, face institutional, cultural and financial obstacles.

The complexity of policing and its interaction with government and the public requires significant analysis. The success of future initiatives can only be judged through analysis following implementation.

The paper identifies that there may be tangible areas of policing activity that could benefit from the implementation of new techniques such as the “lean” principles of management as a means of focusing on more cost effective ways of utilising future police resources.

This paper draws together and contextualises specific areas of police practice that could benefit from new ways of working and posits improvements in efficiency for the future.

The temporary enforced closure of businesses in response to the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in governments in Europe and beyond offering short-term financial support to the businesses and workers affected. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a group of workers unable to benefit from the short-term job retention schemes and support to the self-employed made available by governments, namely, those whose paid work is comprised wholly of undeclared work, and how this could be addressed.

To identify those whose paid work is entirely undeclared, a Eurobarometer survey of undeclared work in Europe is reported conducted in September 2019, just prior to the pandemic, and involving 27,565 face-to-face interviews in 28 European countries.

The finding is that the paid work of one in every 132 European citizens is comprised wholly of undeclared work, and these workers are concentrated in non-essential businesses and activities severely affected by the lockdown. These workers whose paid work is comprised wholly of undeclared work are significantly more likely to be widowed or divorced/separated, living in households with three or more adults, without children and most of the time have financial difficulties in making ends meet.

Given that businesses and workers in the undeclared economy are largely unable to work under lockdown, it is argued that providing access to short-term financial support, through a regularisation initiative based on voluntary disclosure, would not only provide the income support these workers need but also bring them out of the shadows and put them on the radar of the state authorities, thus transforming undeclared work into declared work.

This paper shows how in the current or repeat lockdowns, the short-term financial support made available by governments can be used to transform undeclared work into declared work.

Conventionally, participation in the informal economy has been explained by viewing citizens as rational economic actors participating when the pay-off is greater than the expected cost of being caught and punished, and thus tackled by raising the sanctions and risks of detection. Given that many citizens do not engage even when the benefits outweigh the costs, a new social actor approach has begun to emerge which explains the informal economy as arising when tax morality is low and seeks to foster commitment to compliance. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evidence-based evaluation of these competing policy approaches.

To do so, the results are reported of 1,306 face-to-face interviews undertaken during 2013 in the UK.

The finding is that raising the sanctions and risks of detection has no significant impact on the likelihood of participation in the informal sector. However, participation in the informal economy is significantly associated with tax morality. Indeed, the only time that increasing the sanctions and risks of detection reduces the level of participation in the informal economy is amongst citizens with very low tax morality.

Rather than continue with the current rational economic actor approach of increasing the penalties and risks of detection, this case study of the UK reveals that a new policy approach is required that seeks to improve tax morality by introducing measures to reduce the acceptability of participating in the informal economy. Whether this is more widely applicable now needs to be tested, given the dominance throughout the world of this punitive rational economic actor approach.

This paper provides evidence supporting a new social actor approach towards explaining and tackling participation in the informal economy.

France is a model of best practice in the European Union as regards policy to combat undeclared work. The purpose of this paper is to take the country as a case study to evaluate the competing explanations of why people engage in undeclared work which underpin such policy, namely, the dominant rational-economic-actor approach and the more recent social-actor approach.

To evaluate these approaches, the results of 1,027 interviews undertaken in 2013 with a representative sample of the French population are analysed.

The finding is that higher perceived penalties and risks of detection have no significant impact on the likelihood of conducting undeclared work in France. In contrast, the level of tax morale has a significant impact on engagement in the activity: the higher the tax morale, the lower is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy. Higher penalties and risks of detection only decrease the likelihood of participation in undeclared work amongst the small minority of the French population with very low tax morale.

Current policy in France to counter undeclared work is informed principally by the rational-economic-actor approach based on a highly developed infrastructure for detection and significant penalties alongside incentives to declare small-scale own-account work. The present analysis suggests that this approach needs to be supplemented with measures to improve citizens’ commitment to compliance by enhancing tax morale.

This case study of a country with a well-developed policy framework to combat undeclared work provides evidence to support the social-actor approach for informing policy change.