Should young people sit on the boards that oversee their local police?
In July 2022 a small Polis conversation in London asked how to involve more young people in scrutiny of local policing. 26 people voted, so it shows the views of one small room.
From a public Polis conversation in London, July 2022: “What is the best way to engage more young people in local scrutiny of policing?”. People wrote statements and voted agree, disagree or pass on each other’s. These rows are the statements most voters agreed with, the ones that split voters most evenly, and the ones the fewest agreed with, out of 12 that at least 15 people voted on. Statements about the voters themselves, insults and unchecked factual claims are left out. Passes are not counted.
Most agreed
First - ensure that young people feel safe/comfortable to scrutinise policing
Written for the hearth so this question has a whole card on each side to argue with. No visitor wrote them, so the two parts only a person can fill are empty: what happened to you, and who on the other side called the case against fair.
Yes
Where this card stands
Yes, with votes, not advisory seats. The people stopped most often should be among the people who check how stops are done.
How sure, before and after the case against
The strongest case against it
A seat on a board doesn’t make anyone safer, and young members get used to sign off on decisions they had no power to change.
What would change this card’s mind
If boards that added young members made no difference to complaints or stop rates after two years.
Not as board members. Young people should scrutinise from outside, with access to records and to officers’ explanations, so the board can’t absorb them.
How sure, before and after the case against
The strongest case against it
Scrutiny from outside is easy to ignore. Only people inside the room can make a recommendation stick.
What would change this card’s mind
If outside youth panels’ recommendations were adopted less often than those of members inside.
“Argue with this card” opens the card on the front page with this card’s position as the case against you. You write where you stand and what would change your mind.