Researching the police: Personal insights and reflections

This research examines the change in police resource deployment through the introduction of a Demand Management and Tasking Unit (DMTU). It analyses the work carried out by the DMTU in its attempt to rationalise the delivery of policing services to the public. With increasing pressure being placed on already finite policing resources, it has become increasingly difficult for the police to attend each call by deploying a physical resource such as police officers or community support officers (CSOs). In the light of this need to change, some police services have developed DMTUs to investigate a specific and limited number of crimes by telephone, in the anticipation that they can reduce pressure on ‘front line’ police staff. The study assesses the impact of this change on policing services, police officers and the public.