Policing guidance | College of Policing

Information and support for frontline policing to provide consistency and a better service for the public. Based on a wide range of evidence from police forces and experts.

Authorised professional practice (APP)

Operational guidance on how to deal with different types of crime or incident – from first response through to investigation, legal issues and public protection

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Read operational guidelines

Conflict management

Information and practical support on officer and staff safety, diffusing situations and non-physical ways to deal with conflict, aggression and violence

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Obtaining initial accounts

How to get good quality information from witnesses and victims at the early, first-response stage which takes place before the formal interview stage

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Neighbourhood policing

Information, guidance and advice, based on evidence, on how to understand communities and build trust. And how to work with these communities, supported by private, public and voluntary sector partners

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Vulnerability-related risk

Information on how to recognise and respond to risks when working with vulnerable people

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Effective supervision

Guidelines to support the wellbeing, learning and performance of everyone in the police service through effective supervision

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Violence against women and girls toolkit

A toolkit to support police officers and staff to protect women and girls

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Evidence briefings and guides

Knife crime

Evidence briefing which sets out the broad approaches that are effective in tackling knife crime

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Neighbourhood crime

Evidence briefing about situational crime prevention interventions to reduce neighbourhood crime

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Restorative justice

Evidence briefing about the process of repairing harm caused by criminal behaviour, including its effectiveness and how restorative justice can be used by police

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Knife crime – a problem-solving guide

A guide for tackling local knife crime, building on our knife crime evidence briefing. This sets out strengths and limitations of each type of action, how they work and where they work best

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Leadership expectations

Defining what good leadership looks like in policing, all at levels

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