How can the police service prepare to deal with these

concern about the mental wellbeing of officers, with significant PTSD and mental health issues now increasingly becoming recognised amongst the police workforce.12 There has also been an increase in complex crime more generally, including sexual offences, the number of which recorded by policing organisations across the country having tripled in recent years.13 These changes to the policing landscape that have occurred over the past decade or so have the potential to radically transform the relationship between the police and the public, for better or for worse.

These issues have been brought sharply into focus in recent public debates about the conduct of the police in relation to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement,14 the murder of Sarah Everard,15 the policing of the pandemic,16 and a number of other significant events in which they have played an integral role. Such incidents have brought into question the legitimacy and confidence previously afforded to the police, which threatens the foundation of ‘policing by consent’ on which policing currently sits.17 It is argued that, in order to retain legitimacy in the eyes of the public, the police need to rebuild public confidence. If they are not trusted by the public, they are consequently unable to perform their role and maintain policing by consent. Policing is legitimised only if it is seen as successful, and the way in which the police seek to achieve success matters greatly. Whilst effectiveness and efficiency are both core components of legitimacy, the police will only obtain the trust and confidence of the public if they can see the police doing their job well. Until recently, little attention has been expressly paid to how the legitimacy of the police can be enhanced and to how this could potentially be achieved by policing organisations. Research shows that the way officers act – and what these actions communicate to the community – is central to shaping the trust they consequently receive from the public, and this trust can encourage greater respect for the law and foster social responsibility.18 Importantly, trust in the police was found to be more highly correlated with perceptions of fairness when interacting with the public than with perception of effectiveness