Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

The dynamics of restorative justice interventions

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5.1.3 Police 
The police role in the restorative process will differ significantly depending
on the type of restorative model considered. In some of them, the police
have virtually no role to play, in others they can participate fully in the
intervention. In some instances, police officers can act as a facilitators or
convenors of the process and may even help participants reach decisions
and resolutions consistent with community views. Care should be taken
to ensure that the role of the police is balanced and that the statutory
requirements of their position do not compromise the restorative process.
As well, it is important to point out that the police enjoy greater discre-
tionary powers in some jurisdictions than in others. 
Viable options for police involvement in restorative programmes include: 
앫 Serving as a referral source to restorative programmes;
앫 Explaining the restorative justice process to victims, offenders and
other participants;
앫 Participating among many others in a community-based process;
앫 Facilitating restorative justice processes;
앫 Conducting restorative justice sessions and conferences;
앫 Using restorative approaches for resolving disputes and conflict at
street level;
앫 Playing a role in monitoring the execution of restorative agreement
and reporting breaches.
Legislation can provide the framework within which the police can
become more extensively involved in restorative policing practices,
although the specific nature of this involvement has yet to emerge. In
Canada, for example, the Youth Criminal Justice Act has specifically
increased the involvement of the police as front-end referral agents to
restorative programmes, and in police-sponsored restorative practices,
marks a return to the original role of the police as peacekeepers. 
The use of restorative practices by police officers can represent a logical
step in community policing and police reform generally. It can, under the
right circumstances, contribute to the improvement of police-community
relations. This may be particularly important when the police, through
their participation in restorative justice programmes, are entering into
new relations with minority groups with whom they must interact and
whom they must serve and protect. New participatory programmes can
encourage a form of direct accountability of the police to the community
they purport to serve. Police forces can apply the principles of restorative
justice to develop sustainable collaborative partnerships with the commu-
nity and thereby increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their efforts to
prevent and respond to crime and social disorder.