‘ Fair ’ enforcement
There are better and worse ways of enforcing the law . Some methods will make offenders more likely to resent us and see us as illegitimate . Others can actually make people more likely to comply with our instructions in future because they increase the idea that we are legitimate and should be obeyed . Much of this can be explained through the concept of procedural justice , which is explained in more detail elsewhere ( p62 )¹.
The roads policing context is the most likely source of an encounter between the police and the public where the member of the public is on the receivingend of police attention ² ( rather than as witness or victim perhaps ) and so is a particularly important opportunity for engaging the public in ways that will make them into allies and not enemies .
We should always think about both the short and long term consequences of enforcement . What if that encounter between us and dozens of drivers secures us a high number of prosecutions , but seriously upsets those drivers to the extent that they are less likely to obey the law ( any law !) in future ? We are certainly not saying that we shouldn ’ t enforce the law for fear of upsetting motorists , but we do think it is worth considering the ways we go about interacting with drivers to see if we can help make them contribute to future safe driving whilst we are enforcing the law .
Effective enforcement has to remain part of our battle against mobile phone use by drivers . But there are different ways of enforcing the law and we need to make sure that what we do sends out a strong message without alienating motorists . This isn ’ t about being ‘ soft ’ on offenders , or scared of challenging them – it ’ s about encouraging their compliance by treating them in ways that they will consider to be fair .
See page 62 for a detailed explanation of procedural justice
¹ Tyler , T . R . ( 1988 ). What is procedural justice-criteria used by citizens to assess the fairness of legal procedures . Law & Society Review , 22 , pp . 103-136 . ² Corbett , C ., 2007 . Roads policing : current context and imminent dangers . Policing : A Journal of Policy and Practice , 2 ( 1 ), pp . 131-142 .
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