The Police Authority (Community Engagement and Membership) Regulations 2010

Arrangements for obtaining the views of the community on policing

2.  In making or reviewing arrangements for obtaining the views of people in its police area about matters concerning the policing of the area, each police authority shall have particular regard—

(a) to the need to ensure that it obtains the views of a wide range of people, including—

(i) people who are aged under 21 or over 65;

(ii) people who belong to the business and voluntary sectors in the area (whether or not they live in the area);

(iii) people from diverse backgrounds and sectors of society, including those of disadvantaged socio-economic status and from groups which are perceived by the authority as hard to reach;

(b) to the need to ensure that it obtains a sufficient number and range of views to avoid it acting on the basis of an unduly limited or unrepresentative sample;

(c) to the need to ensure that it obtains the views of the people in its area sufficiently often that it is continually aware of such views, so far as this is reasonably practicable;

(d) to the need to ensure that the public are offered a range of different routes, including in appropriate cases meetings with the police authority and with senior officers of the police force, by which to communicate their views to the police authority;

(e) to the need to avoid unnecessary duplication with comparable arrangements made by police forces, local authorities, crime and disorder reduction partnerships, community safety partnerships and local criminal justice boards;

(f) to the need to ensure that the public are given the opportunity to comment on issues which, judging by the number and nature of complaints received by the police force or police authority, are matters of particular local concern.