Mission-Oriented Innovation:

Reimagining public safety through a health-first lens

?The concept of "mission" in public policy represents a profound shift from traditional government approaches. Drawing from Professor Mariana Mazzucato's groundbreaking work, missions are ambitious, cross-sector initiatives that align public and private actors towards concrete societal goals. Unlike conventional policy frameworks that often address symptoms, mission-oriented approaches tackle root causes through coordinated, multi-stakeholder action.

?Consider the evolution of public safety policy in the United Kingdom. The traditional model centred on crime statistics and enforcement metrics creates what Mazzucato would term a "narrow" frame. By contrast, a mission-oriented approach to community safety begins with a broader question: "How might we create genuinely safe, healthy communities where all residents can thrive?"

?This reframing transforms the challenge from a purely policing matter into a public health mission. Through this lens, community safety becomes intertwined with mental health support, youth services, housing stability, and economic opportunity. The mission might target a measurable goal—for example, reducing violent incidents by 50% within a decade—but achieves this through coordinated intervention across multiple systems.

?The UK Home Office has taken a collaborative Violence Reduction focus since 2019, and this offers an instructive example of mission-oriented thinking in practice. By treating violence as a public health issue, the initiative brings together traditional law enforcement with healthcare providers, educators, social services, and community organisations. This approach acknowledges that sustainable safety emerges from healthy systems rather than merely reactive policing.

?Mazzucato's framework emphasises that successful missions must be both ambitious and achievable, with clear routes to measurement. In the public safety context, this means developing metrics that capture not only traditional crime statistics but also indicators of community wellbeing: youth engagement in positive activities, access to mental health support, and strength of social connections.

?Critical to the mission-oriented approach is what Mazzucato terms "dynamic capabilities" within public institutions. Rather than merely correcting market failures, government bodies actively shape and create markets that serve the mission. Applied to public safety, this might mean investing in social enterprise initiatives that create meaningful employment in underserved areas or funding innovative mental health interventions that reduce crisis incidents.

?Building Blocks for Mission Success

?The implementation of mission-oriented approaches demands robust foundational elements. At its core lies systems thinking—the recognition that community safety emerges from complex interactions between social, economic, and institutional factors. This systems perspective helps practitioners move beyond linear cause-and-effect thinking to understand how different elements of community life interconnect and influence each other.

?Data collaboration across organisational boundaries represents another crucial building block. Traditional public sector data arrangements often mirror institutional silos, with police, health services, and local authorities maintaining separate systems. A mission-oriented approach requires breaking down these barriers through data-sharing agreements, unified analytical frameworks, and shared outcome metrics. The Cardiff Model for violence prevention exemplified the start of this approach, with emergency departments sharing anonymised assault data with police to enable targeted prevention efforts.

?Successful missions also require new governance structures that facilitate genuine partnership working. This means moving beyond conventional steering groups to create dynamic, adaptive arrangements that can respond to emerging evidence and changing circumstances. The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit pioneered this approach, establishing mechanisms for real-time collaboration between statutory services, academic institutions, and community organisations.

?Workforce development forms another critical foundation. A mission-oriented approach to public safety requires practitioners who can work effectively across professional boundaries, understand complex systems, and engage meaningfully with communities. This necessitates investment in training programmes that develop these capabilities, along with recruitment approaches that value diverse perspectives and experiences.

?Digital infrastructure plays an increasingly important role in enabling mission success. Beyond basic data sharing, modern missions require platforms that support collaborative analysis, resource coordination, and real-time decision making. However, this technical infrastructure must be developed with careful attention to privacy, ethics, and community trust—particularly in sensitive areas like public safety.

?Financial mechanisms represent another essential building block. Traditional public sector funding models, with their emphasis on annual cycles and departmental boundaries, can impede mission-oriented approaches. Success requires innovative funding arrangements that support long-term, cross-sector collaboration. This might include pooled budgets, outcomes-based commissioning, and blended funding models that combine public, philanthropic, and social investment.

?Community engagement infrastructure forms a vital foundation. Effective missions require mechanisms for meaningful dialogue with residents, particularly those most affected by safety concerns. This means investing in community research capabilities, developing authentic co-production approaches, and creating feedback loops that allow community insight to shape strategy and implementation.

?Evidence generation and learning systems constitute another crucial element. Missions require robust approaches to measuring impact, understanding what works, and adapting strategies based on emerging evidence. This demands investment in evaluation capabilities, learning partnerships with academic institutions, and mechanisms for sharing insights across participating organisations.

?Policy alignment represents a final critical building block. Mission success requires supportive policy frameworks at local, regional, and national levels. This might include regulatory changes that facilitate data sharing, procurement rules that enable innovative commissioning, and performance frameworks that incentivise collaboration rather than competition.

?These building blocks underscore that successful missions require more than just good intentions or strategic plans. They demand careful attention to infrastructure, capabilities, and enabling conditions. By investing in these foundations, we create the conditions for missions to move from inspiring visions to practical reality, delivering meaningful improvements in community safety and wellbeing.

?The shift towards mission-oriented thinking therefore requires fundamental changes in how we structure and fund public services. Rather than siloed budgets and competing departmental priorities, resources flow towards integrated solutions. This might mean, for instance, pooling police, health, and social services funding into joint commissioning arrangements that prioritise prevention and early intervention.

?Success in mission-oriented policy demands patient, long-term investment—another key principle from Mazzucato's work. Quick fixes and annual funding cycles give way to sustained, evidence-based programmes that can demonstrate impact over time. This approach acknowledges that creating genuinely safer communities requires persistent effort across electoral cycles.

?As we confront increasingly complex societal challenges, the mission-oriented framework offers a powerful tool for reimagining public policy. By applying these principles to community safety, we move beyond the false choice between enforcement and support, creating integrated approaches that foster genuine security through health and wellbeing.

?The mission approach reminds us that our greatest public policy challenges demand more than incremental improvement—they require bold, coordinated action across sectors. In the realm of public safety, this means moving from a narrow focus on crime control to a broader mission of creating healthy, resilient communities where safety emerges naturally from strong social foundations.

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