Postcode Criminals Project Impact Report 2013 final version

POSTCODE CRIMINALS PROJECT

IMPACT EVALUATION REPORT

January 2013

This report is written on behalf of Joann

Kushner and Urban Media Revolt

Dr. Sandra Hiett

Liverpool John Moores University

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Postcode Criminals Project Impact Report January 2013

Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Postcode Criminals Project Outline ………………………………………………………………..4

Setting the Project in Context …………………………………………………………………………5

Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………………..12

Methods ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….14

Outcomes of the Project ……………………………………………………………………………….15

Findings and Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………….19

Summary Statement ……………………………………………………………………………………..32

Implications for Future Work and Research ………………………………………………….35

References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………37

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Introduction

The ‘Postcode Criminals Project’ *also known at ‘Postcode’ and ‘Angels with Dirty Faces:

Postcode Criminals’+ is part of an ongoing body of work concerned specifically with the

impact of the ‘zero tolerance policing’ strategy implemented in New York, USA and in

Liverpool, in the UK. The project uses an arts-based approach to investigate the issues

around the relationships between young people, their community and the police in urban

areas of these two cities. The project evaluated in this impact report represents the

second of a three phase initiative developed by Joann Kushner of Urban Media Revolt as a

response to issues emerging from her ongoing work with urban community groups on

Merseyside. The project evolved as an international collaboration with New York artist

Dread Scott at ManUp Inc and has generated a third phase which builds upon the

international dimension of early developments. It is expected that in turn the third phase

of the project will establish the agenda for further work. The project has received funding

from several organisations including Save the Children, Rush Galleries, The Bluecoat

Galleries and National Museums Liverpool. The project has three distinct phases which

includes;

Phase One: ‘Portrait of a Nation’ project commissioned for 2008 Liverpool Capital of Culture.

Issues emerging from this project directly influenced the development of phase two.

Phase Two: Community engagement to reveal young people’s perspectives about the issues

they face in relation to their relationship with their communities, the policy and their

representation in the media.

Phase Three: ‘Who is listening?’ – A mass participation project giving voice to a wider group

of young people in Liverpool and New York culminating in an international Poetry Rap Slam.

This impact evaluation report focuses specifically upon Phase Two and exclusively on the

Liverpool based programme. There were five regions of Merseyside provided locations for

phase two including Toxteth in the South of the city and Croxteth, Norris Green, Everton and

Knowsley in the North. The scope of the impact report is limited to three Merseyside

initiatives developed as part of Phase Two and includes the accounts and reflections of the

lead artist, eight young people, one youth worker and one member of the steering group all

directly involved in this part of the programme. In addition, the report considers the

evidence provided by a bespoke questionnaire distributed to a representative sample of 19

Merseyside secondary schools to provide comparative data about the perceptions the

young people from across the Merseyside region. This impact report does not evaluate the

New York partnership. The data gathered to inform this report makes explicit reference to

the influence of prior work and the organic evolution of each phase and considers

implications for future work. Phase Two of the Postcode Criminals project took place over

a six month period from June – December 2011.

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The data for this impact evaluation was gathered at two points. The questionnaire survey

took place in December 2011 and was distributed to non-participating groups. The

interview data was gathered between three and six months after the public exhibition of the

work generated by Phase Two of the Liverpool project at the Liverpool Museum in

December 2011. The main aims of this report were to evaluate;

the impact of this project on the effects of community policing on the development

of youth and communities

the impact of the work with young people and older generations about zero

tolerance policing strategies through film, photography and the visual arts

the impact of the project on emerging issues in relation to crime and policing policies

towards a more cohesive and community engaged policing plan for the areas in

which these communities live

Postcode Criminals Project Outline

In total 125 young people took part in the Postcode Criminals Project, 105 from Liverpool

and 20 from East Side, New York. The original intentions of the project are set out below:

Through outreach we will work with young people from Alt Valley, North Liverpool,

Toxteth and Kirkby to research and document through film and photography the

history of crime and policing policies in Liverpool.

We will use Museum and public archives to research the issues and we will set up

meetings with local community groups and community police officers to instigate

intergenerational dialogue and review today’s situation between young people, the

police and communities.

We will set up a social networking forum to put young people from around the city

and New York in touch with each other to discuss their findings, explore each other’s

cultures and look at how it all ties together.

We will then analyze our findings and conceptualize the outcome for exhibition in

photography, the visual arts and the moving image at Rush Galleries, The Bluecoat

Galleries and National Museums in 2012.

We will work in partnership with the Alt Valley Community Trust, The Bluecoat, Jean

Hannah and National Museums Liverpool, the local Police Force and the Media Trust

to archive and distribute the works and tell the story through the eyes of young

people in the area.

An edit for documentary will be distributed through the media trust channel and

possibly played at Libraries and public buildings in the city.

(Project Outline 2011)

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Whilst the aims of phase one were defined by the original brief given to the lead artist by

the commissioning body and as such were externally driven the aims for Phase Two of the

project were drawn directly from the key issues emerging from Phase One as identified by

the lead artist. The aims for the second phase were to:

To check out the comparisons and explore the social implications that the zero

tolerance strategy has had on the two cities and its communities. Engaging young

people to research, document and conceptualize through film and photography the

following themes:

What are the effects of positive policing or Zero Tolerance on our communities?

What affect has it had on the health and well being of our children - self esteem,

aspirations, and confidence?

What effect does young people being stopped and being pushed to the margins of

society have on their relationships with older generations and the development of

our communities?

How our young people are perceived in the press both nationally and globally and

how the stories measure up to the realities of life for our young people on the city

streets?

What is the way back to cohesive communities working together with the police to

tackle crime and protect the public in communities?

Setting the Project in Context

The impact of ‘Zero Tolerance Policing’, known more commonly in the UK as ‘Community

Policing Strategy’, and the representation of urban youth are core themes underpinning

Phase Two of the Postcode Criminals Project. Published research, news reports and policy

documents have influence the focus of the workshops and the art work produced by young

people in collaboration with the lead artist and provided the catalyst for the international

dimension of the wider project. This aspect of this report sets out the key themes

emerging through literature in the field and sets out the wider context of the specific

concerns that have influenced the development of phase 2 of this project to date.

In response to the British riots of the summer of 2011 Gavin Poole, Executive Director of the

Centre for Social Justice in the UK, commented that ‘the appalling scenes on the streets of

London, and elsewhere in the UK, should be condemned unreservedly’ claiming that many

of those responsible were ‘children and teenagers’ who were ‘endangering lives, attacking

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police officers, destroying buildings and looting goods’. Poole locates the roots of the riots

in the breakdown of British society suggesting that this was a symptom of a wider issue.

Yet we have to recognise that this mayhem also exposes a broken section of British

Society – utterly detached from the values and responsibilities we expect of our

fellow citizens. When the crisis is eventually controlled and the broader questions

are asked, we will find many of these young people roaming the streets causing

chaos are from a lost generation.

(www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk accessed 12.10.2011)

In a recent article in the Times Educational Supplement, Chloe Combi implies that much

remains unchanged for young people who find refuge on the streets of London. Writing

about the rise in the number of vulnerable teenagers spending their nights on buses rather

than at home because ‘they are mostly not allowed or too scared to go home’; Combi (2013)

makes a direct comparative between the UK and the United States. She states that young

people, particularly those in gangs, have been ‘riding the sub’ for decades and considers this

to be a growing trend in Britain. Speaking specifically about one young person who she

asked to be her ‘bussing guide’ Combi describes ‘Kieran’ as;

Representative of the teenagers the media portrays so negatively: no GCSEs, few job

prospects, somewhat alienated from society and arguably in danger of turning to

crime. He is one of the many young people for whom education is no longer even a

potential route out of the grinding poverty of our inner cities. As he sees it,

education is just not an option.

(Combi 2013:30)

That there are disaffected and vulnerable young people in the cities of the UK is not

contested by the Postcode Criminals Project, but the repeated portrayal of young people as

either criminal or victim is one of the key concerns of this initiative. The impact of media

representation on young people in urban communities is explored and challenged directly

with and by young people through this project although the media is not the only source

called to account for misrepresenting urban youth. In the US Astroth (1994) questioned the

pervasive ephebiphobic attitudes (fear of young people) in the West and criticised

researchers for representing young people as an ‘at risk’ group. He contends that;

Given the barrage of adolescent problems uncovered by so-called researchers, it

should come as a shocking surprise to learn that US teenagers are, by nearly every

important measure, healthier, better educated, and more responsible than teens of

the past. Moreover, the Iowa Youth Poll for 1991, published by the Iowa State

University Extension Service, revealed that most young people feel satisfied with

their lives and generally positive about themselves,

http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/

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Not only are today’s teens healthier than teens of the past, but they are typically

healthier than the adults who seem so ready to label them as “at risk”. Even in such

cities as Los Angeles, it is estimated that 90% to 95% of all young people are not

involved in gangs. Yet we are bombarded with alarms about rising gang activity in

our big cities.

(www.ebscohost.com accessed 10.11.2012)

In addition, the representation of young people in the mass media has emerged as a key

theme and is evident in many of the artefacts produced through the project and in the

testimonies of young people gathered through the series of interviews. Mike Johnson of

MediaWise (2009) was reported to say that;

…the tensions between journalists championing the freedom of the press, and child

rights activists concerned at the negative depictions of children in the media.

[Jempson] said: “At every stage, journalists are utterly, utterly defensive about press

freedom. The problem is that the media set the agenda – if they don’t like

something they won’t print it.” So it is incredibly important how you couch it.

(Johnson 2009, accessed 14.1.2013)

Unicef (2013) cites the 2004 MORI survey in claiming that ‘young people were increasingly

represented as problems’ stating that of all the stories in the UK national and local papers

during one week in 2004 ‘71% were negative, 14% positive and only 15% neutral’.

Furthermore, Unicef quotes the research by ‘Global Youth’ in supporting the claim that

representations of young people is problematic and biased.

Young people are usually seen as synonyms of problems, delinquency, violent

suburbs, drugs and rave-parties, especially if we are talking about young immigrants.

These images appear especially in some documentaries and magazines (both printed

and audio-visual) that portray urban culture.

(Unicef 2013, accessed 14.1.2013)

In the wake of the England riots in the summer of 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron

engaged William Bratton as consultant to help address the violence in English Cities (BBC

news 14th August 2011). Cameron’s specific intentions by employing Bratton were to

explore the potential for using the community policing techniques developed in North

American to address ‘gangs in Great Britain’ (Seabrook 2011). Prior to his appointment as

Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in October 2002 William J. Bratton had already

established his reputation for crime reduction in North American cities and within six years

of joining the LAPD he saw a reduction in crime by 33%, and a 41% reduction in homicides.

What came to be called ‘Zero Tolerance Policing’ pioneered by the New York Police

http://www.ebscohost.com/

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Department was by 1997 already being adopted by UK police as part of the Community

Policy Strategy in cities across the country, including Liverpool.

Cameron’s decision to look towards North American for solutions to issues in urban policing

and crime prevention in the UK was not surprising given that ‘New York City’s law

enforcement strategies have become models for other cities around the world,

(www.nyc.gov accessed 10.11.12).

In general terms, broad similarities in the politics of crime and punishment in the

United States and the United Kingdom are clearly visible. These include the

existence of ideological similarities between the ruling administrations (both

between Conservative and Republican administrations, and subsequently between

Labour and Democrat administrations). Both countries saw the emergence of more

punitive penal policies during the 1980s and 1990s. Both were two-party systems

that were experiencing similar developments in the politics of crime. Politicians in

both countries responded to growing public concern about crime by attempting to

‘out tough’ the other in terms of penal policy proposals. However, notwithstanding

these important similarities, there are significant differences between the United

States and the United Kingdom that were crucial in shaping differences in policy

outcomes.

(Jones and Newburn 2006:796)

Cameron’s decision to appoint Bratton in 2011 was predicated on prior commitment in the

UK to zero tolerance policing strategies where the influence of the US was already apparent.

Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon employed Zero Tolerance strategies in Hartlepool in

the UK where he saw a reduction in crime of 38% over 28 months and later in London where

81% of the residents of Kings Cross reported that they felt safer as a direct result of this

policing approach (www.news.bbc.co.uk accessed 10.11.12).

William Griffiths (1998), Chief Superintended of Southwark in the ‘90s, writes from a London

centric perspective when he advocated for Zero Tolerance Policing in the capital city at the

turn of the last century.

Many of the policing problems we have today arose from loss of grip, sometimes due

to community sensitivity. Such ground is hard to regain because crime and disorder

have become entrenched. We have to re-impose Richard Mayne’s [c1829] policing

model and in doing so get pretty close to zero-tolerance or at least minimum-

discretion, hard-nosed policing that, when required on behalf of the local community,

is always intelligence-led and in partnership with others.

(Griffiths 1998:135)

http://www.nyc.gov/

http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/

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Bratton’s success with Zero Tolerance Policing was built upon the practices already

established by the New York Mayor Rudolph W. Guiliani who was recognised for the

effective employment of pre-emptive policing strategies and was accredited with ‘cleaning

up Times Square and other spaces’ around New York City which heralded it as ‘the best

known example of the resurgence of urban America’ (www.nyc.gov accessed 10.11.12). Yet

there those who consider the statistical evidence on which claims for the success of Zero

Tolerance Policing are based to be at best superficial and potentially misleading.

David Brereton, of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission, Australia questions the

claims for the achievements of Zero Tolerance Policing in New York.

The fact that reported crime rates have declined across-the-board in the larger cities

strongly suggests that broader social and economic developments – such as booming

economy, the stabilisation of drug markets and particularly reductions in crack

cocaine use – have been primarily responsible for the drop in crime rates ..... The

reforms introduced by Bratton may well have had some beneficial crime reduction

effects in the context of New York City, but the data also suggests that similar effects

have been achieved by other jurisdictions operating under different policing models.

(Brereton 1999: 8)

Bill Dixon (2000) considers a more critical perspective on the strategy itself citing Charles

Pollard;

[Pollard] argues that the culture of aggressive policing, confrontational management,

opportunistic short-termism and undue emphasis on ‘the numbers game’, fostered

by Bill Bratton in the US and Ray Mallon in the UK poses an enormous threat to the

future.

(www.iss.co.za accessed 10.11.12)

Martin Innes (1999) raised similar issues over a decade earlier arguing that;

Zero Tolerance Policing (ZTP) is a contemporary policing strategy for which great

claims have been made and to which a significant amount of political and media

attention has been paid. But recently the ‘shine’ on ‘the policing strategy for the

1990s’ has been dulled by a series of allegations ranging from physical brutality to

corruption, against police officers where the zero tolerance policing philosophy has

been vociferously advocated. But should we be surprised that this has occurred?

After all previous academic research on the police suggests that these sorts of

problems are not totally unexpected.

(Innes 1999:397)

http://www.nyc.gov/

http://www.iss.co.za/

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Innes goes on to say that ‘whilst such tactics can reduce crime they are accompanied by a

considerable increase in public hostility to the police’ (1999:405). This hostility towards the

police force and its community policing strategies emerges as a particularly strong theme

within the interview data and the artefacts created through the Postcode Criminals Project

(considered in detail later in this report). Dixon (2000) offers statistical data that supports

the claim that there is a relationship between Bratton’s administration of Zero Tolerance

Policing and a rise in compensation claims by members of the public against the police.

Bratton’s approach to street policing led to a 41% increase in civilian complaints of

excessive force against the police, while compensation payment to victims of police

brutality in New York rose from US $13.5 million in 1992 to US $24 million four years

later.

(www.iss.co.za accessed 10.11.2012)

The Zero Tolerance Policing strategy is pre-emptive rather than reactive and is reported to

be based upon the ‘broken windows’ theory first developed by George Kelling and James

Wilson, two American academics in 1983 (www.bbc.co.uk accessed 10.11.2012). Nagy and

Podolny (2008) consider the impact of Bratton’s embracement of the ‘broken window’

theory that has underpinned his approach to Zero Tolerance Policing.

According to this theory, when a community ignores small offenses such as a broken

window on a parked car, larger offenses such as burglary, robbery, and assault

inevitably follow. Conversely, serious crime can be prevented if a community polices

the little things, the “quality-of-life” offenses such as vandalism, graffiti, panhandling,

public urination, prostitution, and noise. This theory had been discussed and

partially implemented in the city of New York since the 1980s, but it was Bratton

who fully executed it.

(Nagy & Podolny 2008:1)

Norman Dennis (1998) described Zero Tolerance Policing as a tripartite strategy that

embraces the ‘broken windows’ theory.

Zero-tolerance policing is based on three ideas. One is the simple principle,

‘nip things in the bud’. Prevent anti-social elements developing the feeling

that they are in charge. Prevent a broken-down and ugly environment of

neglect becoming a breeding ground for crime and disorder.

The second idea is that, in comparison with serious offenses, low-intensity,

humane, good-natured control – in those senses ‘tolerant’ control – of these

smaller challenges to the give-and-take of decent social intercourse is a tactic

open to the police officer.

http://www.iss.co.za/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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The third follows from the first two. At this low level of control, zero-

tolerance policing can make a distinct difference, directly by reducing petty

crime, vandalism, graffiti and low-level disorder, and indirectly by creating an

environment less hospitable to more serious criminals.

(Dennis 1998:3)

One of the aspects of the Community Policing Strategy that has had a negative impact on

the urban communities in Liverpool as evidenced through the work of artist Joann Kushner

and the Postcode Criminals Project has been the Section 30 dispersal order and Section 60

stop order. One of the most pressing themes emerging out ‘Portrait of a Nation’ project

(phase one) that provided the catalyst for the development of the Postcode Criminals

Project was the correlation between young people’s testimonies of their experiences of the

application of section 30 and section 60 orders in their local community and its influence on

their perceptions of the police force and their relationships with other residents within their

home environment. Rebekah Delsol (2013) sets out the conditions of both orders below;

A Section 30 dispersal order gives the police, within a specific area, the power to:

break up groups of two or more people, of any age, who are causing, or are believed

to be causing, antisocial behaviour; ask people to leave the area, or send under 16s

home; arrest people who do not follow their instructions.

Section 60 was originally introduced to tackle football hooliganism and the threat of

serious violence. It could only be authorised by officers at Superintendent level and

above. And originally they last around 24hrs.

(www.runnymedetrust.org)

In 1997 and again in 1998, section 60 powers were extended to cover situations where senior officers believe that persons are carrying “dangerous instruments or offensive weapons” and to allow officers to remove or seize items hiding a person’s identity, whether or not weapons are found (ibid). Stop and searches under section 60 have been highlighted as a particular area of concern because they do not require ‘reasonable suspicion’ that an individual is about to commit a crime or is carrying a weapon. In addition, an area covered by a section 60 authorisation is enough reason for police officers to conduct a stop and search without any further justification to do so during the standard 24 hour or 48 hour extend period.

Section 60 stop and searches have increased steadily between 1997 and the present day. Vikram Dodd (2009) cites statistics for London showing that ‘the number of youngsters aged between 10 and 17 searched by police rose by 49% to 185,489 from 123,819 in 2007-8’. A trend that is consistent with the first-hand accounts from the young people represented in this study (www.guardian.co.uk accessed 9.1.2013).

Griffiths (1998) claims that within his jurisdiction zero tolerance policing was always intelligence led and yet the seeming lack of clarity over the reliability of the intelligence

http://www.runnymedetrust.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

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used to justify the classification of Section 30 and Section 60 areas has been identified as a contributing factor to the breakdown in relationships between young people and the police force in urban cities (Delsol 2013; Innes 1999; Dixon 2000). There is little research into the quality of local intelligence that is used to justify section 60 authorisations and so this remains an area worthy of further investigation. Certainly, the evidence from this research considered later in this report demonstrates that this is a key issue for young people on Merseyside in urban locations giving rise to feelings of resentment and a serious break down in trust between teenagers, their community and the police.

Methodology

The artist lead workshops and community engagement were informed by ‘Participatory

Practice’ (Ledwith & Springett 2012). The lead artist’s intentions and approach were

influenced by a commitment to social justice and grass roots initiatives and draws directly

on Ledwith’s work.

Critical approaches to community development locate grassroots practice within that driving vision of a just and sustainable future. The well-defined ideological base that connects with our vision provides us with a framework through which to evaluate every stage of the community development process. It is what I loosely term an ideology of equality informed by such values as mutual respect, reciprocity, dignity, mutuality, trust and cooperation. This offers a system of checks and balances to examine the validity of our practice, testing that what we are doing is what we say we are doing, echoing a jarring dissonance if we have slipped off track. For example, if I say my practice is committed to social justice, what evidence is there that it is making a difference to the oppression that people experience in their lives? If I say that my practice is based on values of mutual respect, is there evidence that there is an increase in the health, confidence and autonomy of the people with whom I work? These questions needs to be set in collaboration with everyone involved in any aspect of the process, from policy to project, but most particularly the local people with whom we work together in partnership. In these ways, the practical projects that we develop with people in community provide the context for critical consciousness, the ‘teaching to question’ that is at the heart of Paulo Freire’s (1972) critical pedagogy and which makes the connections with structures of discrimination. In turn, critical consciousness becomes the basis for collective action, generating the confidence and the analysis to bring about change for social and environmental justice on a bigger scale than the community group. Personal issues become local projects, projects become causes, and causes become movements for change (Sivanandan cited in Cooke, 1996) as we network and form alliances that reach out beyond the perimeter of our communities.

(Ledwith 2007: 9)

There is significant evidence to suggest that arts-based interventions are a powerful means

to shift the perceptions of individuals and communities towards a social justice agenda.

From a Canadian perspective Catherine McGregor (2012:322) is an advocate for arts-

informed practices claiming that they ‘provide an incredibly rich opportunity to build such

identities, enhance civic and social agency’ and ‘broaden commitment to socially just values’.

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In the USA, educator Paul Duncum considers how child centred art education can support

young people’s agency within the institution that can have positive impact that extends to

the wider community. For Duncum (2011: 348) some ‘educators create an intersection

between the space of public educational institutions, despite their limitations, and public

spaces beyond school grounds’ making a persuasive case that art education can ‘take back

and hold public space with a progressive social agenda’. In the UK however there is more

evidence that points to dearth of critical and issue-based practices in school-based

education (Steers 2006; Hiett 2008) and limited opportunities provided within the art

curriculum for young people’s voices to be heard. In England gallery educators working

often with freelance artists have had much greater success in engaging young people and

‘hard to reach’ groups through the visual arts towards community cohesion and a social

justice agenda (Taylor 2008).

Marit Dewhurst considers the increase in educational programmes aimed at creating art for

social justice. She contends that;

If making a work of art is deeply influenced by the context in which it is made, then

an understanding of social location can also shift the fulcrum of social justice action

from macro to a micro level. An examination of social location allows us to consider

the multiple planes in which social change occurs, from the conscientization that can

occur on the individual level, to the larger structural shifts that take place on the

societal level.

(Dewhurst 2011:374)

Ledwith (1997) warns, however, that complacency has the power to undermine the

successes of participatory projects and articulates the need for a constant state of

awareness of the purpose and methods of community engagement.

All too often community work stagnates. It is part of doing rather than thinking

syndrome which results in all too few projects and ideas contributing to a body of

knowledge. The outcome is not only impoverishment of community work theory but

a reduction in the potential for transformative social change.

(Ledwith 1997: 102)

As far as Ledwith is concerned ‘the only way to achieve radical social transformation is to

develop multi-dimensional insights into the nature of injustice and oppression whilst at the

same time creating viable alternatives’ (1997:118). Kushner has been heavily influenced by

Ledwith in developing her working practices as an artist in the community and she builds

upon a wider tradition of art for social justice. The Postcode Criminals Project engaged

largely with visual media although poetry emerged as an additional form of expression

through the workshops with young people (this was even more prevalent in the New York

project but a key element for some of the Liverpool-based participants). Victoria Foster

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(2012) makes a strong case for the value of poetry as a catalyst for change within a social

justice agenda.

Poetry’s potential to offer a stimulating way of reflecting on our lives and the lives of

others is great. Used imaginatively, poetic texts can help us to identify oppression in

a way that text books cannot, imbuing an emotional intensity that can provide a

starting point for a different way of thinking.

(Foster 2012:753)

The impact report was designed to incorporate mixed methods within a qualitative

paradigm. There were two distinct phases of data collection. Firstly, a questionnaire

survey was prepared and distributed across a representative sample of nineteen secondary

schools (11-16 and 11-18) on Greater Merseyside with the intention of providing

comparative data of patterns of young people’s perceptions of their communities, the

relationships they have within those communities and their experiences of zero tolerance

policing. The second phase included semi-structured interviews with a representative

sample including eight young people from two of the three communities, one youth worker,

one member of the steering group and the lead artist. In addition, the artwork generated

by the project is significant data that has been analysed and is presented within this report.

Each set of data has been coded (Somekh 1995) and analysed in relation to the project aims

and emerging themes.

The original time-line was designed for two rounds of interviews. The first to take place at

the point of completion of the project and the second to take place eight months after the

last session of the project. In practice this proved unnecessary and impractical. Instead

one round of interviews took place between three and six months after the completion of

the project as set out below.

Methods

This impact evaluation report draws upon a range of evidence from semi-structured

interviews, questionnaires, and the artefacts produced as part of the project including

photographs, mixed media montage and digital film.

Interviews: The timing of the interviews was significant. They were arranged to take place

several months after the completion of phase two of the project giving time for participants

to reflect upon their experiences and to evidence of any lasting impact upon the young

people, strategic partners in key organisations, the lead artist and the communities in which

the work took place. The interviews were carried out over one month which was between

three and six months after the final session of the projects in the three districts of Liverpool.

15


The interviews were transcribed and coded against the aims of the projects and the findings

are presented and analysed later in this report.

Questionnaires: nineteen secondary schools in the Merseyside area where invited to

participate in a questionnaire survey representative of the wider area including the areas in

which the Postcode Criminals Project took place. The intention was to identity patterns of

perceptions between and across areas of the city of Liverpool and the outlying areas in

order to make a comparison with the qualitative findings from the interview data and

project artefacts. In the event only two schools agreed to take part of which one withdrew

stating that the school had become so interested in their pupils’ perceptions of their

relationship with their community and the police that they decided to undertake their own

survey with all their pupils. The findings of this survey remain confidential to the school and

have not been made available to outside parties. Of the school that agreed to take part

twelve students completed questionnaires from the tutor group of the contact teacher.

Despite limited returns the findings from those questionnaires submitted identified some

significant differences between individual pupil’s relationships within their communities

which offer interesting insights in the context of this report and can be found within the

‘findings’ section.

Outcomes of the Project

In terms of the physical production of arts based work there were several different media

and artefacts generated across the Merseyside based engagement. Some of the art forms

where specific to regions of Liverpool whilst others were produced as a holistic set of work

across the five regions. Here are representative examples from across the whole of the

Liverpool based project produced by the participating young people which includes;

photographic studio portraits, contextual documentary photographic portraits, graphic

montage and poetry. In addition, documentary film footage produced by the lead artist was

a key aspect of the data that informed this report and made a notable contribution to the

exhibition and archive project documentation.

The photographic studio portraits take a traditional format informed by the genre of

photographic portraiture and the seventeenth century artist Vermeer. Characteristic use of

studio lighting and dark back ground focuses the eye on the subject. The young person’s

gaze connects directly with the viewer and asserts a sense of power and confidence. The

portrayal indicates an assuredness within the individual with an underlying hint of

vulnerability and anticipation. The vibrancy of youth, health and arresting beauty is the last

impression created by this image. The other portraits of young people represent all of those

that participated within the Postcode project across all five regions. This image (fig. 1)

stands alone as strong, positive representation that is an intentionally powerful challenge to

perceptions of urban youth as violent, feral and anti-social. Collectively this body of work

unites young people across the five Merseyside regions both metaphorically and physically.

16


(figure 1. Photographic studio portrait)

In coming together to view their collective portraits the young people came to share their

stories and reported that they were shocked to find that young people in other parts of

their city were experience similar instances of misrepresentation, discrimination and

disempowerment. The comments of visitors to the exhibition generated discussions that

demonstrated a shift in attitudes to young people from the five regions.

The contextual documentary photographic portraits were informed by the work of

established documentary photographers such as Cartier Bresson and by the ‘Broken

Windows’ concept (Kelling and Wilson 1983) that influenced aspects of the zero tolerance

community policing strategy. Participating young people in Toxteth made particularly

effective use of this genre to create images that spoke of their experiences and a sense of

place. The choice to work in black and white is a metaphorical reference to the polarisation

of representations of young people and their communities while offering a seemingly bleak

picture it also offers a powerful image young people inhabiting their neighbourhood.

Deliberately ambiguous, this image (fig. 2) gives the viewer cause to pause; to take a chance

to wonder about the multiplicity of potential meaning. The figure in this image looks down

upon his audience but his position of power is, at the same time, precarious. The fabric of

the building on which he stands is in disrepair; the brickwork hints at Victorian terraces and

urban decay but his stance is at one and the same time as gentle guardian and as a

vulnerable isolated individual. It is the plurality of this image which places it successfully as

a catalyst for discussion and debate.

17


( Figure 2. Contextual documentary photographic portrait)

Graphic montages were developed with a number of groups but particularly by those from

Croxteth and Everton. These images drew upon research from a variety of difference

sources including the mass media, local environments and first-hand experience. The

young people used a number of graphic devices to create multilayered images with rich

textural messages. The play of image and text was characteristic within these images

expressing a number of related social justice themes. Figure 3 is just one of a number of

powerful graphic montages created through the project. Whilst they cover several themes

the dominant message was one central to the title of this project and explores the

relationship between attitudes towards young people and the postcode area in which they

live. In this image a very young child looks up with an innocent expression. He is dressed in

a painting overall reminiscent of children actively engaged in creative play in nursery and

infant schools across the country. He holds up his hands to show us he has been painting

with them which might signal a positive experience and indicate experiential learning yet

the work skilfully juxtaposes this photograph with other signifiers of anti-social activity and

hints at a future to come with the words ‘accused’. The red paint, while representing life

and energy in the classroom carries a darker message here of blood on his hands. We see a

dual image representing both a healthy new life and a prediction of a violent future.

Designed to draw attention to the attitudes which influence the perceptions of young

people in and beyond their communities this image is both personal and political.

18


(Figure 3. Graphic montage)

The poetry written as part of the project was an unexpected element that emerged

organically through participation between the artist and the young people. The success of

this additional dimension has given rise to the next phase of the project ‘whose listening’

which intends to extend the initiative to a wider group of young people and a greater

international cross-collaboration between the UK and USA culminating in a Poetry Rap Slam.

The documentary film footage was both a key part of the exhibitions but also represented

the visual research aspect of the project by the lead artist. Video interviews with all the

young people on the project revealed a pattern of frequent and sustained experiences

among the group of being stopped and search by the police in their community. There

were obvious gender differences in that all the young men reported that they had been

stopped and search by the police. Whereas the young women experienced verbal abuse

(for example ‘you slag’ and ‘you slapper’) from other members of the community but

tended not to be stopped by the community police officers in the area. Within the

selection of the videos of the young men for the exhibition there was a concentration on the

testimonies of young black males’ stories. Whether this was representative of a racial as

well as gendered bias in the ‘Stop and Search’ activity of the police on Merseyside or a

largely curatorial choice by the artist is not clear and this is an area that merits further

19


investigation. Documentary footage of councillors, and leaders in the community provided

additional perspectives on the issues that the Community Policing Strategy was having on

Liverpool communities and set the Postcode project in a wider context.

(Figure 4. A still form the documentary film footage of an interview with Phillip Knibb)

The intergeneration family portrait event held in Norris Green was an event that the youth

worker, steering group member and all the young people involved cited as having a

significant impact on developing positive relationships between the older generation and

young people in the community. None of the family photographs were available for this

evaluation as they had been distributed to the families of which they were taken but the

interview data supports the level of interest this dimension of the project generated and

how it led to new kinds of relationships.

Findings and Analysis

The analysis is presented in three sections and reflects the three key aims of this impact

report. This section of the report draws upon all the data gathered from interviews,

questionnaires, film, photography and other artefacts during the project.

1. The impact of the project on the effects of community policing on the development of

youth and communities.

One of the most striking aspects of this project is the way it has made visible the discourses

around the relationships between young people, their communities and the police force.

20


The overwhelming evidence highlights the negative impact Zero Tolerance Community

Policing has had on specific communities, regardless of its impact on crime statistics, and

that it continues to have on the relationships between young people, their neighbours and

the police. The perceptions of young people, Arts organisations, project team and youth

workers all revealed stories of how community policing is contributing to the disillusionment

and disempowerment of young people who live in the urban communities around which

this project was developed.

There is no evidence to suggest that the project has directly influenced community policing

in the areas of Croxteth, Norris Green and Toxteth or that policing strategies have changed

significantly during the time the project took place. The evidence does suggest, however,

that the project has facilitated discussions between Arts organisations, Youth Workers,

Artists and young people and that these have been instrumental in shifting the perceptions

of those directly involved in the project and provided a means to share their insights with

the wider community and on an international stage. There is further evidence to suggest

that the attitudes of local residence to young people in their communities has been

improved and paves the way towards greater community cohesion. The opportunities

created through the project have been cathartic for some and illuminating for others but a

particularly powerful aspect of this project has been the engagement of successful, high

achieving young people that offers an insight into the experiences of a specific group that

are often overlooked in funded projects and research when resources are aimed solely at

those already seen to be vulnerable or convicted of anti-social and criminal behaviour.

The artefacts produced through the project alongside the interviews with young people

demonstrated a significant correlation between their experiences and the potential negative

impact of Zero Tolerance Policing experienced in New York and other large cities (Dixon

2000; Innes 1999) and has failed to achieve ‘the willingness of the police to work with other

organisations and community groups’ (www.economist.com) that is crucial to the successful

long-term impact of this community policing strategy.

The commitment of arts organisations to community projects and young people in districts

where Zero Tolerance Community Policing is common place is clearly demonstrated through

this project. Empowering young people, giving them a voice and actively challenging

negative stereotypes was a core part of the organisations’ aims for those supporting the

Post Code Criminals project. A representative from one of the arts organisations involved

states in very clear terms her insights into the issues faced by young people on Merseyside.

I think it is something that has been going on for a very long time in this city. I think it

has a history of young people feeling targeted by the police but with the whole anti-

social behaviour order situation it has escalated. I think it is just [about]

understanding how young people feel – not just about the police but how the

http://www.economist.com/

21


community feels about them. They understand that people are afraid of them and

how that makes some of them feel because a lot of young people because often

there is nothing to be afraid of and they feel very uncomfortable when shown in that

light. The media and the police together have caused this situation.

(Extract from interview 2012)

The lead artist of the project describes the difficulties faced by the police force employing a

Zero Tolerance Community Policing strategy as providing them with ‘the broadest brush to

wash with’. In her view, ‘the weight hangs on the police to sort out crime happening in the

communities, they look like the oppressor’. The experience of ‘oppression’ is certainly one

that is associated with police attitude towards young people in the accounts of youth

workers and gallery educators recall members of the police force voicing negative

perceptions of young people through comments like ‘speak when you are spat at’ and ‘what

are you bothering doing this for? Why are you working with those rats’ which as isolated

incidents have illustrated some the prejudice that the project intended to address.

Not all young people reported difficult relationship between themselves and their

communities however. The questionnaire results revealed a wide range of different

perspectives from young people from one response from L8 (Toxteth) that ‘all people are

treated equally and people are polite to young people and old’ (14 year old) to the other

extreme from a young person living in L19 (Garston) where she writes that ‘they *adults in

the community+ all hate us’.

One particularly strong theme that emerged from this project was the real desire of young

people to make a distinction between the negative perceptions of young people and their

reality .

In some films [young people] are portrayed as violent and a trouble for their community and

on the news there are some teenagers who are involved with knife crime but not in all cases

are young people portrayed badly, e.g. after the riots [summer 2011] a lot of young people

helped in clearing up the mess in the street and this was all over the media

(Extract from questionnaire responded A)

In the media we are portrayed like we are all bad and go around smashing windows

and doing bad things but we are not like that.

(Extract from questionnaire responded B)

This was also a strong theme in the interviews with the steering group, lead artist and youth

worker which is captured in one comment;

It’s not something that is just about young people who might be involved in anti-

social behaviour or what is deemed to be anti-social behaviour. It affects every

22


young person. There seems to be no distinction between the way young people are

treated - they are all treated badly – and that’s just wrong isn’t it? It’s just a really

poor way for our society to be behaving towards a whole generation of people who

are going to be in charge soon! It’s their country.


Speaking specifically about the group of young people who participated in the Postcode

Criminals project, a member of the steering group shared the following insight.

They are young people some of whom are incredibly high achievers. Some of them

are really dedicated pupils. They have got great results. They are going places and

doing things and some of them are very talented – and they still get stopped by the

police and asked what they are doing and where they are going all the time.


A frustration shared by a number of the adults involved directly in the project was the

limited opportunities for young people to challenge their treatment by the police in their

communities. One adult wanted to encourage young people to make a complaint, where it

was warranted, and to empower them to tackle social injustice for themselves but she

acknowledged the unwillingness of young people citing their lack of faith in the complaints

procedure to bring about positive change and their concern about perceived repercussions

of taking a stand. Another adult argued that ‘there is no one to challenge the police’; this

statement was made before the appointment of police commissioners in the Autumn of

2012 providing a new, albeit untested, avenue for support and advocacy through these new

posts.

There was universal support for the aims of the Post Code Criminal project across all the

material gathered both during the project and for the impact report. Community

organisations, arts organisations, councillors and young people were unanimous in their

support for the project and in their understanding that the issues it addresses are critical to

social justice in these communities on Merseyside. The lead artist’s video interview with

Mike Storey, former Leader of Liverpool City Council (1998-2005) was particularly clear in its

message that there is a significant gap between the perceptions of young people’s

involvement with criminal activity and the actual crime figures; ‘in 2009 only 3% of reported

anti-social behaviour activity was related to young people in Liverpool’ (Extract of from

interview 2012). This resonates with claims that the media presents an overly negative

view of urban youth (Dodd 2009; Combi 2013).

23


2. The impact of the work with young people and older generations about zero tolerance

policing strategies through film, photography and the visual arts.

The role of the lead artist has been crucial to the collaborative nature and sustained

development of this project. Not only was the lead artist the architect of the project she

was also the catalyst for bring together different individuals and organisations through a

shared agenda around social justice and community cohesion within the specific

communities in Merseyside and New York. It is interesting to note that while these

organisations coexist in relatively close geographical location they require the intervention

of an outside broker, in this case in the form of a community artist, to bring them together.

Whilst this has been one of the successful qualities of the project it does give rise to

questions of the lack of effective communication and collaboration between key institutions

all working on behalf of the same communities.

Reflecting on the project the lead artist recognised that she had built up relationships with

people from across the five regions of Liverpool and key institutions with powerful results

yet she began to ask some key questions, ‘‘What is my job? What am I here to do? Am I here

to highlight the issue or fix the issue?’ As the project came to a close she was concerned

about issues of sustainability.

A member of the steering group commented that for the ‘local sergeant’ there was a certain

excitement attached to patrolling a ‘gold spot’ area stating that he ‘seemed to enjoy telling

us’ about it. On the other hand, she also reported how regular contact with the young

people’s parents revealed how strongly they felt ‘about how their young people are seen’.

Tensions in Norris Green were reported by the youth worker, lead artist and young people

to go further that those between the young people and the police, extending to

shopkeepers and what was generally called the ‘older generation’. There was no evidence

to suggest that the attitudes and perceptions of the shopkeepers were influenced on any

level by the Postcode Criminals Project, in fact it was recorded that ‘they have made it very

difficult to have a positive relationship with the young people’. It should be noted at this

point however that neither shopkeepers nor police officers were interviewed as part of this

impact evaluation and their voices are absent in this report. This is particularly important in

light of the comment below from a member of the steering group.

So even the police who are much more positive are never going to be able to build a

relationship with the young people while those others exist in that community who

were giving them a hard time for no reason, being petty about things, it’s injustice.

Young people hate injustice – I remember that feeling myself at that age and you

hate it. You feel really powerless and I think that they are switched on to that and as

soon as anyone treats them like that it is the whole of the police who are tarred with

the same brush. It just becomes an impossible situation.


24


The intergenerational project, however, was highly successful in building positive

relationships between young people and the local community in Norris Green. As the youth

worker stated:

A lot of the time you will find that the conversations between two generations – as

in the inter generational project one person had said that ‘we used to jump so-and-

so’s privets *privet hedges+ and we’d get into trouble for that and the police had to

come round and give you a clip round the ear or take you home to your parents and

we didn’t want that’ whereas now there is ASBO *Anti Social Behaviour Order+ and

the potential consequences are lifelong. So it gives the older generation an

understanding of how things have changed and how difficult it has become and how

damaging the perception of young people can be.


For the young people and the youth worker in Norris Green developing new skills in

photography, video and communication were the most important in facilitating the ability

to engage effectively with the older generations within their community. It is interesting

that such an academically orientated group of high achieving young people found that they

developed these photography skills through the community project rather than their formal

education. All of the young people interviewed talked about how valuable and enjoyable

learning and using the new skills were for them and was a key factor in sustaining their

motivation through the project.

Young people’s dress code was cited as one of the factors in determining how they were

perceived by other members of the community. Given the media attention to ‘Hoodie’

culture and political engagement with the ‘Hug a Hoodie’ campaign in recent years this is

not surprising. Yet it is not only the hooded jacket that has come to signify the dark side of

urban youth. During the UK Summer riots of 2011 there was media coverage that claimed

that similar status was ascribed to North Face jackets, particularly on Merseyside. This was

one of the elements the youth worker interviewed wanted to challenge. As she said of one

of the young people who attended the project as she introduced him to the

intergenerational group;

He’s got a Black North Face jacket. He wears that because it’s cold and wet and the

jacket is waterproof and warm. That’s why he wears it. He has just got 17 GCSE’s

and he’s coming in to show what he has learned on a photography project and he is

going to interview you with the communication skills he has learned.

In Toxteth the challenges that young people reported were focused particularly around the

impact of the stop and search aspect of the Community Policing Strategy that dominated

their experience of going outside their home and into the community. Unlike the Norris

Green group, the Toxteth group was an all male project and one of the most consistent

elements that emerged through the interviews was how the project had revealed a

25


significant difference in their experience of being out and about in Toxteth compared to an

older generation of men within their families.

The young people are used to having a bad name. They are used to seeing their

areas in the news or newspapers and its all negative press about their areas so it

wasn’t a surprise to them. They are used to speaking to people who ask where they

are from and then say ‘It’s a bit dodgy round there’. I’m used to that myself so it’s

no surprise to the younger generation.

(Extract from interview with a young person from Toxteth 2012)

The young men I spoke to described how they had come to accept being regularly stopped

and search by the police as normal. One young man told me that he had no idea that he

assumed it had been the same for his father and uncles and was surprised to find that this

was not the case. He spoke about how his grandfather was shocked to find out about the

frequency with which he was stopped and searched. There was a strong message from the

Toxteth group that they wanted to help bring about change in their community as a result of

their engagement with the Postcode Criminals Project and had been genuinely empowered

by the experience. As one young man stated:

The reason why [I got involved with the project] was because when I saw what it

was about; the experiences of everything I’ve seen growing up in the L8 area and it

tugs at my heartstrings and is a subject dear to me. I’ve got a little son and so it was

a chance to express my feelings on the subject with art [and it] seemed to me like a

really good way to go.


Whilst another young person commented;

[T]he older generation, they were shocked at how their children and grandchildren

were being treated and they were also shocked at how the areas that they live in

were perceived by people outside those areas. The people who have lived in those

areas all their lives – they don’t see it like that – and then someone who has just

seen on the news what is happening or just reading from a newspaper is saying that

it is like this or this or this when the people who have lived there all their lives don’t

see it like that. That really stood out for me.

(Young Person from Toxteth 2012)

Across the project as a whole, most of the participants recognised that something positive

had changed between young people and how they thought about themselves and how they

26


were perceived by their community but for some there was a concern that the reach of the

project would not be great enough and that negative stereotypes would persist. The lead

artist reinforced this point when she spoke about working in the different locations around

the city.

My experience of working in places like Norris Green or North Liverpool or Everton

[is that] they are very, very safe places to be. There is a criminal element in all of

these places but that criminal element is a very small minority [the rest are] a law

abiding clean living very lovely lot of people. That is the background of the project

and where we were coming from and we wanted to show that if you live in a

particular area of Liverpool then your chances of having the same opportunities as

young people from other areas – for example kids in Norris Green having the same

opportunities as kids in Allerton [a relatively affluent area of South Liverpool] – it’s

highly unlikely that they are going to get these chances – and it’s not entirely about

poverty – there is a bigger picture and for me I feel that the police actually play a big

role in holding young people back or in putting obstacles in their way for them to get

on in the same way that kids in Allerton will get on.


The portraits exhibited in the new Liverpool Museum were particularly successful in

challenging negative stereotypes of young people from the three areas of Merseyside.

Having observed visitors to the museum looking at the photographs on four separate

occasions revealed a high frequency of positive comments as to how ‘strong’ and ‘beautiful’

the portraits were. For many of the young people the chance to exhibit the photographs in

such a high profile and prestigious venue was a very rewarding experience, while for others

it was the trigger for a new level of self belief. One young person shared that ‘I never had

much confidence in myself before I joined *the project+; now I can do anything’.

3. The impact of the project on emerging issues in relation to crime and policing policies

towards a more cohesive and community engaged policing plan for the areas in which

these communities live.

Building relationships was a theme that emerged from every aspect of the project. The

lead artist was recognised as the driving force behind bringing groups of people and

organisations together but for many the opportunity to sustain these relationships was less

certain. From the young people’s perspective they noted the immediate impact of new

relationships developed through the project.

I think it was the unity of the people involved. We’ve all met up regularly we have all had great discussions. We all had our own experiences but we all had similar views, even though some of us came from different backgrounds, different age

27


groups we had similar experiences and similar views so I think that gives the unity. I think we were all pushing towards the same goal and bouncing off each other. Ideas were popping up and I think that is what drove us to finish it. (Young person from Toxteth 2012)

It’s opened my eyes to a lot of different people from different areas and their

experiences and their views. People from different walks of life, different age

groups. I didn’t have as wide a knowledge as I do now about different people’s views.

(Young person from Toxteth 2012)

Once you meet older generations, they say that now we know you, you aren’t all bad

and they say although they feel intimidated, once you get close and speak to them,

all the younger people, even ones that do cause trouble, they still show respect to

the older generation.

(Young person from Norris Green 2012)

When we were taking pictures of the people - that was good because you just see

people that you never saw before and they were all happy about getting their

pictures taken.


Although all of the young people interviewed presented positive accounts of their

experience of the project several shared concerns about the long term impact it might have

on their communities.

They *people from outside the area+ still all hate us. Cos we’re from Norris Green,

aren’t we. Yes. It might change but not for long. It won’t change it for good.

Maybe even get worse. *It’s+ just the area, isn’t it..... Just have to arrest all the really

bad people or let them kill each other.


I don’t think the project will have a lasting effect. But the photography skills – I will

always keep them with me.


The youth worker, artist and steering group member spoke more about developing longer

term relationships. From the youth worker’s perspective the project had supported the

development of relationships between young people and their community.

28


It is about mingling and not being separated. I think the whole thing now is about

keeping young people as a separate entity from older people whereas if they mix, it

is fantastic. Relationships do blossom.

(Youth Worker 2012)

She spoke also about the benefits of coming together with other parties to make a bigger

impact.

I think people expect this from youth workers and we’re advocates anyway on

behalf of young people so they are always going to expect you to defend young

people or try and make people see them in a different light. But I think sometimes

you are just a lonely voice.

(Youth Worker 2012)

The lead artist talked about how the project had brought together different groups with a

shared agenda but also how each was inclined to focus on the needs and benefits of their

specific group which spoke more of temporary relationships than firmly established

partnerships.

In all honesty, everybody who sat on that steering group had the same passion and

commitment to the project – but for their young people. Not city wide. They didn’t

look at it as big.

(Lead Artist 2012)

Empowering young people to be advocates for their own interests was more embedded for

specific individuals, however, and this was one area where longer term impact was

beginning to be evident. Making a statement about Norris Green in particular the Lead

Artist stated;

There you have young people who are able to walk into the MP’s surgery and say

‘listen’. These young people have the MP’s mobile phone number in their phone – so

that is that connection. It is enough for me to think that something good has

happened there if he can phone the MP. I can’t phone George Howarth up! I

haven’t got any MP’s numbers in my phone. I have to go to their PA *Personal

Assistant] to get to them. [Young person A] doesn’t. And he doesn’t because of this

project and other things that he is involved with.

The role of the lead artist in bringing people together was a reoccurring theme from several

perspectives and the need for robust relationships were considered to be important to the

long term impact of the project by all those who commented. The lead artist makes a clear

statement that it is ‘through building relationships, councillors with young people, MP’s with

young people, [and] organisations that this project will provide its legacy and ultimately to

29


sustain itself independently’ commenting that it is the success of these strategic

relationships that will provide her ‘exit strategy’.

Relationships between the police, other organisations, young people and the community

was a key theme of the project from its inception and there has been clear evidence of the

negative impact of the Community Policing Strategy on young people within the five regions

of Liverpool at the focus of this project. The need for building relationships with the police

is another reoccurring theme and highlights this as a major determining factor in the

purpose and design of this project. However, within the phase two project design there

were limited opportunities for the police to participate and the evaluation of the project

suggests that this would be a valuable consideration in future work.

Given the emphasis on developing meaningful relationships between the police force and

the long term success of Community Policing Strategies (Dennis 1998; Griffiths 1998; The

Runnymede Trust 2012) this is a significant opportunity for development. Add to this the

absence of a police voice in this evaluation report (the police were not identified

participants within the project and therefore were not invited to take part in the interviews

that inform this report) and that would address an obvious absence within this research.

The police did feature, however, as an important group within the accounts of the

participants interviewed. As a member of the steering group commented;

It ... has become more and more an issue in terms of our relationship with the police

and how we handle ourselves as an organisation – how we have a relationship with

the police, and how difficult it is to have a relationship with the police when you are

doing a project like ours. When their expectation was that, ‘it was all going to be

solved’. Just like that. That is the most unrealistic thing we can possibly do.

(Extract from interview with a representative from the steering group 2012)

The leading artist, youth worker and steering group member all identified a need to engage

with those within the police force able to influence policy and practice within the

community. One comment captured this particularly clearly when she said, ‘we are looking

at going much higher in the chain to try and get a more strategic relationship’.

A sense of urgency was evident in the youth worker’s concerns for the economic

development of Norris Green as evident in the following statement.

We have some new houses being built. Who is going to want to invest in a house

here when they read that? The damage will be long-lasting. You know if you have

bought your own house it affects the house price, schooling, job opportunities.

30


Whilst one of the young people in Toxteth was equally concerned with his perception that change happens too slowly. Talking in particular about the impact of policing strategy on young people and their communities he argued that;

It’s an ongoing problem in society. People still get treated in the same way. Things haven’t changed since the riots. Things haven’t changed much since the riots in the eighties I would say. So things like this – any way that people’s voices can be heard – it always seems worth doing so it’s something people need to do and voices that need to be heard so, definitely, it will always have an impact on me, especially using art as well as a lever to get a positive message across - and allow other people’s voices to be heard.

One of the points that stand out in this statement is the perception by a young man in his

20’s that little has changed in Toxteth since the 1980’s riots. Certainly his account cannot

be informed by first-hand experience and therefore has been influenced by other sources

that have made a powerful impression although it is not explicit what these influences may

have been. Making a long term commitment was identified as a key issue for a member of

the steering group too.

We really feel that we want to be there to stay. We want to be there to spend the

long term. We don’t want to cut and run. I’m hoping that we have got funding in

place that is going to help us to do that for at least the next eighteen months and

hopefully longer.

Yet through the interviews lies a running theme of the impact of funding to either facilitate

the desired partnerships that are clearly bring about positive change and emerging trends in

funding strategies that are undermining these developments in requiring organisations to

bid against each other. The lead artist was particular aware of the acuteness of this factor in

the sustainability of this project within the community stating that ‘although theoretically it

looks great ... where you have groups of people who are trying to work together all the time

but keeping one eye on their particular pot; where are they going to raise the money for

workers to do that particular job?’

The visibility of the project in high status venues, such as Liverpool Museum and the

Bluecoat Gallery, were very important to the participants. There was a shared belief that

showing the work in public venues was more likely to change the perceptions of the wider

community. The steering group member and the youth worker both were very clear about

the need to shift public opinon commenting;

[T]he main thing is that you need to influence the public – because you need public

opinion to be on your side in order to change and if we can swing more public

opinion by thousands and thousands of visitors here seeing the exhibition – if we can

capture of what it makes them feel and whether it changes opinion, then that can be

a powerful tool.

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The youth worked expressed a similar view stating that;

[W]e are really proud of the young people and what they have achieved and proud that they

have got something in the museum as well – that is fantastic and is going to be long lasting.

However, she went on to say that not all young people needed the public acknowledgement

in order to make a difference on an individual level.

For some young people, a conversation on the street is enough – and that’s fine

because it is a voluntary relationship. If they want to come and do something, they

can do, if they don’t, they don’t have to. It’s that simple. But we will still try and

sustain them and maintain the relationships that we do have with them like stopping

and chatting with them about different issues.

The lead artist saw evidence that the project has impacted upon the community saying that,

‘I think that it has had an influence on the way that communities think’ she exemplifies this

with the positive response she has received from local councillors Wendy Simon and Mary

Rasmussen, and the cabinet minister for culture and tourism, Claire Wilner. It was the

seriousness of the response from community leaders and politicians that were most

assuring for the lead artist in promising a lasting legacy for the work that had been started

with this project.

Yet, one of the questions asked by different members of the project was ‘Is there going to

be a change in the way Norris Green and other communities like this are policed?’ The

answer to this question is not yet clear. The commitment to advocating for change was

evident in the testimonies of the steering group, youth worker and lead artist but with an

understanding that to make lasting change required influencing politicians and policy

makers as well as local residents. While for some the message was being taken up and for

others the impact was more fragile as revealed in the statement, ‘you constantly advocate

on behalf of the young people in the area and there are the effects of that but I still think a

lone voice just isn’t loud enough’.

The majority of the young people interviewed were less concerned about longer term aims

and were more consistently interested in the more immediate benefits they considered

they had gained through their involvement in the project. In particular the enhanced

photography and film making skills were regularly cited as valued experiences and at least

four young people spoke about how these new skills had influenced their achievement in

mainstream education, and two young people had enrolled for undergraduate degrees as a

direct consequence of the self believe they had achieved through developing the work and

receiving public recognition (through exhibition). Others had begun to develop vocational

career aspirations in photography as a direct influence of the artist led skills workshops and

the intergeneration portrait event (specific to Norris Green).

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Offering an opportunity for the young people to bring their own ideas and skills to the

project resulted in some notable successes and in particular the development of a poetry

element which was not necessarily envisaged at the outset began to emerge (most notably

in the Toxteth group). Not only did this provide an additional dimension to the collective

experience and visual museum display but has influenced the lead artists thinking about

future projects. The most proactive poet in the group talked about his approach to writing

the poem that features prominently in the Liverpool Museum display.

I didn’t want to sound like an angry person; from the ghetto. I think that has been done so many times and I think your approach means a lot on how you judge things and if you approach it as this is what happened to me, you can’t come out with different stories – you can get too wrapped up in it and what we are trying to say can fall on deaf ears … I didn’t want to close myself off or close the art in the poem. I wanted people to be able to look at it from all walks of life.

There were several statements from the young people from across the project who spoke

more generally about the benefit to them and their aspirations. One notable comment

from one of the young women in the group was;

I think *the project+ will help people realise that kids in Liverpool aren’t actually bad

and we can do something good like put our photos up in the museum and do good

projects. And we are going to be able to do good stuff in the future. Now that I

know I can do something as good as that, I know I can do anything really.

The steering group and the youth work all spoke of positively of the role of the lead artist as

a catalyst for generating new connections, building successfully on existing networks and

establishing new opportunities. To the young people she was a key figure in their

experience of the project and although there were many adults supporting the project the

lead artist was mentioned consistently as a positive role model as evident in this comment

by one young person;

If there was no-one like Joanne then we would all still be portrayed as being horrible. She has brought some light to it and us, putting our work up in the museum and making people be able to see what we really are like.

Summary statement

One of the most striking aspects of this project is way it has made visible the discourses

around the relationships between young people, their communities and the police force.

The overwhelming evidence highlights the negative impact Zero Tolerance Community

Policing and in particular ‘Stop and Search’ has had on specific communities, regardless of

its impact on crime statistics, and that it continues to have on the relationships between

young people, other residents in their communities and the police force.

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The Post Code project has been successful in shifting perceptions of young people among

members of their immediate urban communities and across the city of Liverpool. In

particular intergenerational events, public exhibitions in prestigious venues and media

coverage have been instrumental in supporting this aspect of the project towards social

change. The international dimension was also evident as an influential factor in the status

of the project in the minds of participants and the wider community but as this impact

report focuses specifically upon the Merseyside based aspect it is not possible to consider

this in detail within this report.

The selection of academically high achieving groups of young people from the regions of

Toxteth, Croxteth, Norris Green, Everton and Knowsley has been significant in the impact of

the project in challenging negative stereotypes of young people in these urban locations.

This is significant in that it reveals the negative impact of Stop and Search practice on the

lives, aspirations and feelings of self worth among those young people who represent those

in the strongest positions to gain employment, have access to higher education and

successful career pathways within their age groups. More often where funding is made

available it is to work with young people who have already been identified as ‘at risk’ as

‘vulnerable adults’ have criminal convictions or are otherwise known to the authorities for

actively participating in anti-social behaviour. Engaging in the Postcode project has

demonstrated how direct engagement with those issues that misrepresent young people

and their community can help them to overcome the barriers they face (both in terms of

self perception and external representation) through an arts-based approach. For many of

the participating young people it has been an empowering and life changing experience.

As a direct result of the Postcode project three young people have gained the confidence to

apply for, and been accepted, on college programmes; one in further education and two at

undergraduate level programmes. Having been encouraged in his poetry, one young man

has been introduced to high profile poetry groups and taken an active role in developing his

career in creative and collaborative writing with significant early success. All but one of the

young people interviewed talked specifically about how the project allowed them, for the

first time, to have an experience where they could change the ways other people perceived

them for the better. Furthermore, there was consistent interview evidence that an arts-

based approach was important to the young people’s engagement, inclusion and in finding a

voice (‘I never knew that art could change the way people saw things before’).

The opportunity for young people to develop professional and vocational skills in

photography, video editing and to decode different genres of media has been an important

part of the social change process for many of the young people who participated in this

project. Developing more generic skills such as communicating with other adults in their

community, councillors, museum and gallery staff, and artists has been pivotal to the sense

of progression most the young people felt they had gained from the project and in particular

in realising the power they had in making their voices heard. Working with an artist who

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could share her own work and instruct young people to create their own images with a high

level of professional finish and conceptual integrity was fundamental to the sustained

engagement, sense of achievement and pride among the participants.

The relationship between young people and the police force was the area of the Postcode

project offering the least evidence of change. Yet while there was little evidence to suggest

that a direct impact upon the relationships between the police force and the young people

took place there is clear evidence of a need for a greater dialogue between these groups.

A two year project was perhaps an unrealistic time frame to expect this level of impact but a

platform has been firmly established to support further work to this end.

Providing a legacy for this project was a key issue raised by all parties involved in the project

with a strong desire to build on what has been achieved and concerns around the

vulnerability of the infrastructure and funding on which the success of the project was built.

From the institutional perspective short term funding for key community engagement and

youth worker posts mitigates against the potential to make long term commitments to

projects even when they prove to be successful. From the lead artist’s perspective the need

to develop an exit strategy whereby the project becomes self sustaining and embedded

within key organisations and the community is vital to the long term impact of the project.

From the young people’s perspective there was a general scepticism about the potential for

long term change despite a desire for it to be so.

Continued and established commitment by arts organisations, youth workers and young

people to challenging negative stereotypes and to help change the way young people are

seen was evident in the interviews however which supported a more positive long term

presence of the project that young people feared. In particular the commitment to

supporting social cohesion and advocacy for young people is firmly embedded within the

mission statements of the participating organisations and the individuals who represented

those institutions.

Producing a collective body of work for the archive collection and permanent display at

Liverpool Museum was important to the young people’s sense of experience and the

participating organisations as a lasting legacy of their commitment to the project aims. The

visibility the project gained through the gallery and museum contributions was especially

influential in increasing the reach of the project and in accessing a diverse audience for the

work produced. Furthermore status afforded the project and the art work by these high

profile institutions helped the communities to celebrate their young people’s achievements

and gave gravitas to their endeavours. There is existing long term practice across all the

institutions involved towards arts based engagement and a social justice agenda but

working in collaboration to challenge injustices within the community has been specific to

this project.

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Having the opportunity to exhibit the young people’s art work was valuable to them in

witnessing the reaction their audience had to their work but equally important was the way

that these events facilitated new discourses. The art work, poetry and video documentaries

made the invisible visible, opened up discussion and brought together different members of

the community who might not normally have the chance to share experiences together

including young people from across the different regions of the city, their families and

friends, local councillors, members of the police force and other interested members of the

general public. Several of those attending the exhibitions reported that it offered up new

ways of seeing and thinking about young people in socially deprived areas of Liverpool.

The significance of the lead artist as the catalyst; her dedication, commitment,

understanding and powerful advocacy for young people and their communities was, and

continues to be a powerful factor in the success of the project and the people it served.

Although the artist was very particular about pointing out unresolved issues of sustainability

and shared community responsibility to build upon what has begun. She remained

concerned about continued issues around networking across districts in general and most

significantly the impact of competitive funding strategies more likely to undermine

collaboration than to encourage it.

The research for this report reveals a unanimous claim for the success of the project in

exposing the real and lasting impact that Zero Tolerance Community Policing, and ‘Stop and

Search’ in particular on the lives of young people and in its ability to challenge negative

stereotypes of young people in urban communities on Merseyside. In addition, there is

clear and consistent evidence that the project has had a reach significantly beyond the

communities that participated but what is less sure is how this will remain in the collective

consciousness or provide self-sustaining partnerships. Since the summer 2011 riots in

England the popular fashion among urban youth to wear North Face jackets has become

synonymous with unruly and violent behaviour. As one of the youth workers on the project

declared with passion about the experiences of one young man involved in the project;

He’s got a Black North Face Jacket. He wears that because it’s cold and wet and the jacket is

waterproof and warm. That’s why he wears it. He has just got 17 GCSEs and he’s coming to

show what he has learnt on a photography project and he is going to interview you with the

communication skills he has learnt.

Implications for future work and research

Evidence evaluated in for this report demonstrates the considerable impact that the Postcode

project had in meeting its aims in the short and medium term. Whilst the achievements of the

project have been significant for individuals, organisations and the wider community there was a

strong belief that without a continued presence the longer term impacts were less likely to be fully

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realised generating overall commitment to an intension to sustain key aspects of the project given

the funding to do so.

This research identifies two groups that have a direct impact upon young people’s experience of

living in their communities that have been shown to contribute to negative perceptions of young

people and these were firstly, members of the police force and secondly, local shop keepers.

The findings of this report show that the absence of the voice of the police force limited the

opportunity for attitudes towards young people to change and in particular young people’s belief

that they could have a meaningful dialogue and a positive relationship with their community police

officers in particular. This offers a clear opportunity for future work with the potential to increase

the impact of Postcode towards positive social change.

Local shop keepers were reported by participants in the project as key protagonists in perpetuating

negative perceptions of young people in their area (this was particularly prevalent in Norris Green)

and findings indicated that these views were neither challenged nor changed within the scope of the

Postcode project. This offers a further opportunity for project development that is likely to add a

new and valuable dimension to work already undertaken.

The international dimension of the Postcode project was significant to its reach, and to the regard in

which it was held both by the participants but also the wider community and the collaborating

institutions. Despite the limitations of this impact report in focusing specifically on the UK part of

the project the importance of the international engagement still emerged. How this aspect of the

project influenced attitudes, provided an agenda for change and raised the status of the project is

less clear and it is recommended that an international evaluation of future work could reveal

valuable additional insights.

An arts-based approach has proved to be a particularly successful vehicle to engage young people

and to engage a wider audience with issues of discrimination and misrepresentation towards a social

justice agenda. Its effectiveness has been evident in the richness of the media to convey complex

messages in accessible forms that speak on a number of different levels. In addition, an arts-based

approach has provided a permanent documentation that can be revisited by a wide range of people

for different purposed over an indefinite period of time. The opportunity to locate records of all the

work in the Liverpool Museum archive is instrumental in facilitating this valuable resource.

Employing a participatory project methodology (Ledwith 2007) has been ideal and supported an

organic project design that reflects the views of participants, collaborating institutions and the

communities they serve. Its particular strength has been its success in giving a voice to otherwise

marginalised groups which in this case are the urban youth of the Toxteth, Croxteth, Norris Green,

Everton and Knowsley regions of Merseyside. On the other hand, one of the limitations of this

model is the unresolved issues around the artist’s need for an appropriate exit strategy to avoid

leaving those communities vulnerable in terms of maximising the long term impact of the project.

This project highlights the importance of collaboration between the public sector, grass roots

organisations and members of the community in providing the infrastructure for collaborative

programmes and an arena where social change can be fostered.

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Cut backs in public funding to support community engagement have been made since May 2010 and

many of the resources (physical, human and virtual) upon which this project relied are under threat

of reduction or removal. Current patterns of funding favour competitive bids, rather than

collaborative submissions which mitigates the extension or expanse of projects like Postcode in the

future. This is problematic in light of the findings of this report for the benefits to the community,

the city and its representation on a national and international level.

Since the completion of the project there has been a change in policing strategy on a national level

and ‘stop and search’ has been significantly reduced over the past year. This report cannot

comment on the impact of this change nor can it comment on the New York based partnership

project but further evaluation would be likely to identify new insights that might inform future

projects and policy design.

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Postcode Criminals Project Impact Report 2013 final version

Documents

Transcript of Postcode Criminals Project Impact Report 2013 final version