Exploring Dark Corners

Entering the flat itself was the most immediate challenge. It meant turning sideways and edging past stacks of moulding newspapers and dated magazines. The living room was sizeable but reduced to cramped and squalid conditions by the accumulation of hoarded detritus. An all-encompassing odour of cat urine and dust filled the senses, and mingled with years of stale smoke, the musty smell of damp, all alongside the powerful rank pervasiveness of skunk. It smelled like somebody had died in there and that skunk and damp were invoked to camouflage the smell.

My visit felt intrusive. I was there to interview the occupants about being cuckoo’d by London drug gangs. The term relates to having one’s flat taken over by external drug-dealing gangs seeking to push you out, whilst they deal drugs from the flat. Why someone would choose to deal drugs from such a place seemed almost unimaginable. I made a clearing on the couch and took a seat ready to begin the interview, knowing instinctively this was not going to be easy.

Such are the issues facing those of us who choose to do criminological research, or at least those of us who are prepared to take research to the street. I have always sought out the most difficult and most challenging areas of research: the dark corners under the stairs where the dangers, and the greatest rewards, will lurk. These are the inaccessible lives, hidden in shadow, and out of view. To research such groups and such areas of social life is not for all: it is traversing the unknown social and urban landscapes and the people that inhabit them.

I was never satisfied with the low-hanging fruit of research; of the easy win or the bland obvious run-of-the-mill interview. My research has sought to cover some of the most challenging areas of sociological and criminological imagination – illegal underground dog-fighting, homophobic hate crime, crack misuse and the supply of heroin, sexual exploitation into gangs, gang violence and knife crime, acid attacks, moped theft, anti-social behaviour and rioting. To understand such issues, to learn how and why they occur, their motivations and outcomes, we must first find access to those involved and enter their environment. We must set aside prejudices, stereotypes and personal morals and beliefs, and be open to engaging – to listening.

It takes a range of skills and experience, acquired over time, to be truly able to do this effectively. This experience comes from many mistakes and failures, halffinished

My experience of this was memorably tested whilst undertaking research for my book, Unleashed: the phenomenon of status dogs and weapon dogs. This presented the challenge of locating and interviewing young men who chose to own dangerous dogs to gain status amongst their peer group: people who often use illegal or banned breeds, brutalise them, abuse them and may use them to fight other dogs in bloody pit fights. They do not want to be identified, let alone interviewed. But they like to talk about their dog – this gives me a way in. I would begin with a general conversation about their dog before gently broaching the topics of research and asking if they would be interested in speaking to me on the record.

On one occasion whilst interviewing a man about a dog, his pitbull, which had been rampaging around the park, returned to the owner upon his whistle. The dog bounded up with such enthusiasm it sent me flying. The apologetic owner then felt obliged to conduct an interview. Through such means I was able to conduct over 130 interviews and publish the first-ever monograph looking at the phenomenon of status dogs.

Researching in the dark corners also requires patience, no more so than when interviewing, or waiting to interview, young men affiliated to street gangs. A set time of 3pm will often mean 6pm, or even 9pm. If the boys turn up at all their phones will be constantly ringing; their girlfriend, or latest link, will be hanging around in the car; their ‘Bro’s’ will be circling and eyeing you up suspiciously. If they don’t turn up at all they are often still in bed, were too stoned to attend, or had been nicked by the police.

At this juncture I take the view that the voiceless person has elected to speak and to give away some precious insight – and they have chosen me as their mouthpiece. Thus begins the contract between the researcher and the participant. So begins the chance for them to speak – and for me to listen. I've been involved in research for over thirty-five years but I still find this to be the most rewarding gift. ■

Dr Simon Harding has a wide range of practitioner and professional experience in crime reduction and community safety including working for the Home Office as Regional Crime Advisor (London).

He was a principal trainer in hate crime and diversity at the Crime Academy, Metropolitan Police Service Training College, and remains an Independent Advisor on hate crime and diversity to the MPS Commissioners.

Simon’s recent work has focussed on urban street gangs in the UK. From 2005-8 he organised the Lambeth Gangs Commission and managed London’s largest anti-gangs project (The Phoenix Project). He was also involved in the London Five Borough Alliance Gangs project. He is currently working on a book: Trapped: County Lines, exploitation and drug dealing amongst urban street gangs, to be published in 2019.

Dr Simon Harding, Associate Professor, Research Centre for Cybercrime and Security, UWL