Introduction to Public Protection

This chapter explores the complexities of ‘public protection’, which is undoubtedly a specialist area of policing. It explores the ‘crisis’ occasioned by the decentralisation of public protection units within police forces, due to government budget cuts to services in England and Wales. Several chapters focus on harms against marginalised communities, notably honour-based abuse, forced marriage and FGM; and advise around sensitive policing whilst ensuring ‘race anxiety’ does not occasion under policing. The chapters on domestic abuse, rape and modern slavery, although specific to adults also impact child victims. The varied dimensions of child abuse and child protection are explored, notably child neglect, child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and the sudden unexplained deaths of children. The crime of forced marriage along with crimes against older people (cybercrime and doorstep crime) also include vulnerable adult abuse due to extant health conditions and/or disabilities. This chapter outlines the overarching contributions made within this edited collection. The concluding chapter identifies iterative themes across all author contributions. These expose problematic policing as well as elements of good practice. These facets are important to recognise in order to improve victim treatment and ensure public protection offences are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.