No Place to Go? Policing Service Provision for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Groups and Culturally-Informed Spatial Mobility

Abstract

This thesis examines policing service provision for Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) groups in the UK, with particular reference to Scotland and the ‘liaison’ function adopted by many forces. GRT groups experience some of the worst outcomes of any ethnicities in the UK, outcomes which are in part affected by their cultural affinity with nomadism. This mobility is simultaneously the lens through which policing service provision for Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers is designed and a behaviour which is seen as deviating from sedentary norms, having been legislated against for hundreds of years.

In the first phase of data collection, questionnaires were sent to police forces across the UK to gather cross-sectional data on engagement with GRT groups. In the second phase, a series of semi-structured interviews were carried out with members of GRT communities with experience of policing in Scotland.

Analysis showed that the strategic purpose of liaison with GRT groups across the UK was confused, in many cases seeking to balance a focus upon wellbeing with procedures to remove Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers from unauthorised encampments, thereby preventing them from accessing services. Whilst it did allow the fostering of personal relationships between police and service users, specific liaison roles tended to silo service provision away from functions such as community or neighbourhood policing and framed spatial mobility as deviant and disorderly behaviour. Training that focused upon the needs of GRT communities was lacking, whilst mechanisms that facilitated GRT input into service design were largely contingent upon personal relationships, in many cases the liaison function by which service users experienced policing.

Although generalisability of the research was affected by limited GRT participation and a focus upon my own policing area of Scotland, I conclude that policing organisations should acknowledge and move away from practice which frames spatial mobility as deviant behaviour. They should frame liaison not as a ringfenced function but rather alongside broader community engagement such as would be carried out within community or neighbourhood policing. Any ringfenced liaison role should provide a link between local arrangements and wider strategies rather than carrying out engagement to the exclusion of others. Officers and staff should engage with GRT communities on a trauma-informed basis and performance frameworks should prioritise successful engagement behaviours such as active listening, empathy, and problem solving. Training should address GRT histories and cultures, along with bias. Mechanisms for gathering feedback on service provision should take account of historical and current circumstances of GRT groups.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Megan O'Neill (Supervisor) & Nicholas Fyfe (Supervisor)