Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

HANDBOOK ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMMES

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Within the framework of community policing, police officers can also uti-
lize a variety of restorative practices outside a programmatic framework.
For example, a police officer can mediate conflicts between youths in
school by bringing together the offending parties and their parents for an
informal conference. The potential for the use of restorative practices in
policing on the street is limited only by the imagination and skill sets of the
officers who must be given the discretion by their supervisions to decide
how to proceed with such matters. Normally, the police officer still retains
the right to take further action should the efforts to resolve the conflict
through restorative means prove unsuccessful.
In some jurisdictions, e.g. Thames Valley Police, officers are trained to
conduct restorative conferences that may involve the offender and the victim,
their family and support persons and, potentially, community residents. 
In some situations, police corruption or the lack of public confidence in
the police may seriously compromise the ability of the police to participate
in restorative justice programmes. Yet, restorative justice can be also used
in cases of alleged police misconduct.