Ian Loader and Aogán Mulcahy
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198299066
- eISBN:
- 9780191685583
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299066.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This book seeks to address the pathologies and possibilities that attend the cultural connection between police, state, and nation. The goal is to assess the cultural and political significance of ...
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This book seeks to address the pathologies and possibilities that attend the cultural connection between police, state, and nation. The goal is to assess the cultural and political significance of English policing, and its place within contemporary English social relations and public life. Drawing upon a two-year study of a range of police documentary materials, and biographical and oral history interviews with various strata of the populace, senior and rank-and-file police officers, and politicians and civil servants, it constructs a cultural sociology of the meanings attached to the idea of policing within English memory and sensibility — one oriented to the ways in which policing has intersected with forms of social and political change in English society since 1945. The book is organized into four parts. Part I offers an exposition and critique and what has become an influential sociological account of citizens' apparent loss of faith in the English police since 1945, referred to as the ‘desacralization thesis’. Part II is concerned principally with the narratives that constitute lay dispositions towards English policing. Part III focuses on official (i.e., police and governmental) narratives. Part IV draws the threads of the enquiry together and offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture.Less
This book seeks to address the pathologies and possibilities that attend the cultural connection between police, state, and nation. The goal is to assess the cultural and political significance of English policing, and its place within contemporary English social relations and public life. Drawing upon a two-year study of a range of police documentary materials, and biographical and oral history interviews with various strata of the populace, senior and rank-and-file police officers, and politicians and civil servants, it constructs a cultural sociology of the meanings attached to the idea of policing within English memory and sensibility — one oriented to the ways in which policing has intersected with forms of social and political change in English society since 1945. The book is organized into four parts. Part I offers an exposition and critique and what has become an influential sociological account of citizens' apparent loss of faith in the English police since 1945, referred to as the ‘desacralization thesis’. Part II is concerned principally with the narratives that constitute lay dispositions towards English policing. Part III focuses on official (i.e., police and governmental) narratives. Part IV draws the threads of the enquiry together and offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture.
Bethan Loftus
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199560905
- eISBN:
- 9780191701818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560905.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter offers an account of the principal theoretical perspectives on police culture. It starts by elucidating why it is important to assess police culture, before reviewing a number of the ...
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This chapter offers an account of the principal theoretical perspectives on police culture. It starts by elucidating why it is important to assess police culture, before reviewing a number of the classic ethnographies that continue to exert considerable influence over this area of study. Then, it describes the works which have subsequently followed and prepares a thematic discussion of the central characteristics of police culture. Towards the end of the chapter, it examines the recent challenges to its conceptualization, before going on to discuss the issues associated with police change. Furthermore, it supplies a platform on which to consider the relevance of the renowned features of orthodox accounts of police culture for the altered context of policing. Data show that critiques imply that police culture may be losing its expediency as a concept.Less
This chapter offers an account of the principal theoretical perspectives on police culture. It starts by elucidating why it is important to assess police culture, before reviewing a number of the classic ethnographies that continue to exert considerable influence over this area of study. Then, it describes the works which have subsequently followed and prepares a thematic discussion of the central characteristics of police culture. Towards the end of the chapter, it examines the recent challenges to its conceptualization, before going on to discuss the issues associated with police change. Furthermore, it supplies a platform on which to consider the relevance of the renowned features of orthodox accounts of police culture for the altered context of policing. Data show that critiques imply that police culture may be losing its expediency as a concept.
Bethan Loftus
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199560905
- eISBN:
- 9780191701818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560905.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter provides an evaluation of the current condition of police culture. It reviews the key findings that have been presented throughout this book and describes the implications of the ...
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This chapter provides an evaluation of the current condition of police culture. It reviews the key findings that have been presented throughout this book and describes the implications of the research. The argument postulates a tension between the transformations that have clearly occurred in the policing landscape, and the persistence of police cultural characteristics as observed by earlier scholars. It starts with a discussion by calling into question the dominance of current thinking on police culture. It also returns to three central themes which cut across preceding chapters. The first is the apparent survival of police ways of viewing and carrying out their role as found in the classic accounts. The second addresses how reconfigurations around questions of diversity have crystallized in the dispositions and practices of police officers. The final theme considers further the enduring, but often neglected, dimension of class. There is no doubt that there have been momentous changes in the policing landscape and organization—and these offer some possibilities for reform.Less
This chapter provides an evaluation of the current condition of police culture. It reviews the key findings that have been presented throughout this book and describes the implications of the research. The argument postulates a tension between the transformations that have clearly occurred in the policing landscape, and the persistence of police cultural characteristics as observed by earlier scholars. It starts with a discussion by calling into question the dominance of current thinking on police culture. It also returns to three central themes which cut across preceding chapters. The first is the apparent survival of police ways of viewing and carrying out their role as found in the classic accounts. The second addresses how reconfigurations around questions of diversity have crystallized in the dispositions and practices of police officers. The final theme considers further the enduring, but often neglected, dimension of class. There is no doubt that there have been momentous changes in the policing landscape and organization—and these offer some possibilities for reform.
Ian Loader and Aogán Mulcahy
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198299066
- eISBN:
- 9780191685583
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299066.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, ...
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This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, and the emergent — sketched towards the end of Chapter 2 and which has quietly guided subsequent efforts at interpretation. In recapitulating the principal themes that featured in Parts II and III of this book, the chapter aims to further a sociological and political analysis of the mix of lay, professional, and governmental sensibilities that struggle with one another to constitute (and re-constitute) English policing culture.Less
This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, and the emergent — sketched towards the end of Chapter 2 and which has quietly guided subsequent efforts at interpretation. In recapitulating the principal themes that featured in Parts II and III of this book, the chapter aims to further a sociological and political analysis of the mix of lay, professional, and governmental sensibilities that struggle with one another to constitute (and re-constitute) English policing culture.
Bethan Loftus
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199560905
- eISBN:
- 9780191701818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560905.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on fieldwork across a range of ranks and units in the UK police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct ...
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This title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on fieldwork across a range of ranks and units in the UK police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic, and political change have had on police culture. The book offers understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police force. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and equitable service to all groups in society. Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic, and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a comprehensive analysis of present-day policing culture.Less
This title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on fieldwork across a range of ranks and units in the UK police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic, and political change have had on police culture. The book offers understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police force. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and equitable service to all groups in society. Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic, and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a comprehensive analysis of present-day policing culture.
Bethan Loftus
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199560905
- eISBN:
- 9780191701818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560905.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter considers how many of the classic themes have survived the period of transition. In particular, it leaves aside seminal questions of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and examines the ...
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This chapter considers how many of the classic themes have survived the period of transition. In particular, it leaves aside seminal questions of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and examines the contemporary relevance of other classic themes of police culture for the altered context of policing. The interactions and cultural characteristics analysed in this chapter occur within distinct geographical and social contexts. Then the stage of these two policing environments is set. The dominance of a masculine ethos within the occupational culture is illustrated. The discourses and interactions described and analysed reveal the powerful endurance of cultural characteristics noted by earlier works.Less
This chapter considers how many of the classic themes have survived the period of transition. In particular, it leaves aside seminal questions of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality and examines the contemporary relevance of other classic themes of police culture for the altered context of policing. The interactions and cultural characteristics analysed in this chapter occur within distinct geographical and social contexts. Then the stage of these two policing environments is set. The dominance of a masculine ethos within the occupational culture is illustrated. The discourses and interactions described and analysed reveal the powerful endurance of cultural characteristics noted by earlier works.
David Faulkner and Ros Burnett
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847428929
- eISBN:
- 9781447305569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847428929.003.0007
- Subject:
- Social Work, Crime and Justice
This chapter considers policing — how its nature and the demands on police have changed and are changing; the significance of the reforms that have already taken place and those which are now ...
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This chapter considers policing — how its nature and the demands on police have changed and are changing; the significance of the reforms that have already taken place and those which are now proposed; and the implications of elected commissioners for police and crime. It examines the mechanisms by which police are accountable to the public and the importance of their accountability also to the law. The chapter goes on to discuss the government's and the public's expectations of what police should and should not do, and the need to manage those expectations, especially at a time of shortage and austerity. It reflects on the connections between police bureaucracy and culture, and concludes by identifying some of the considerations that will have a critical influence on the future of policing in England and Wales.Less
This chapter considers policing — how its nature and the demands on police have changed and are changing; the significance of the reforms that have already taken place and those which are now proposed; and the implications of elected commissioners for police and crime. It examines the mechanisms by which police are accountable to the public and the importance of their accountability also to the law. The chapter goes on to discuss the government's and the public's expectations of what police should and should not do, and the need to manage those expectations, especially at a time of shortage and austerity. It reflects on the connections between police bureaucracy and culture, and concludes by identifying some of the considerations that will have a critical influence on the future of policing in England and Wales.
Megan O'Neill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198803676
- eISBN:
- 9780191842078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198803676.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
Chapter 1 examines exiting research on policing pluralization, community policing, and police culture. Early studies of police occupational culture found that community policing and other types of ...
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Chapter 1 examines exiting research on policing pluralization, community policing, and police culture. Early studies of police occupational culture found that community policing and other types of ‘soft’ policing methods (such as partnership work) were not highly valued within the organization. However, this method was to revolutionize policing in the twenty-first century. In addition, ever more aspects of ‘police’ work are now undertaken by other actors in both the public and the private sectors. Consequently, what was once an insular and guarded organization is now more open to collaboration with outsiders, and it seems to appreciate better the ‘soft’ side of policing. However, as Police Community Support Officers are employees of police forces with a police-like mandate, these staff have been seen to present a greater danger to job security and the ‘purity’ of the police officer’s role.Less
Chapter 1 examines exiting research on policing pluralization, community policing, and police culture. Early studies of police occupational culture found that community policing and other types of ‘soft’ policing methods (such as partnership work) were not highly valued within the organization. However, this method was to revolutionize policing in the twenty-first century. In addition, ever more aspects of ‘police’ work are now undertaken by other actors in both the public and the private sectors. Consequently, what was once an insular and guarded organization is now more open to collaboration with outsiders, and it seems to appreciate better the ‘soft’ side of policing. However, as Police Community Support Officers are employees of police forces with a police-like mandate, these staff have been seen to present a greater danger to job security and the ‘purity’ of the police officer’s role.
Bethan Loftus
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199560905
- eISBN:
- 9780191701818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199560905.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter exposes a contradiction which emerged between the police organizational emphasis on diversity and axes of class. It specifically questions the current dominance of diversity within ...
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This chapter exposes a contradiction which emerged between the police organizational emphasis on diversity and axes of class. It specifically questions the current dominance of diversity within policing agendas by illustrating that issues of class remain crucial in understanding policing discourses and practices. It begins by appealing for a rethinking of police culture which recognizes how class continues to permeate cultural knowledge and everyday practices. It focuses on the importance of class in a ‘low’ policing context; that is, class as it was policed in the routine and mundane dimensions of police work. It is noted that notions of diversity promote a better public image of police organizations, but they can obscure the enduring realities of routine policing.Less
This chapter exposes a contradiction which emerged between the police organizational emphasis on diversity and axes of class. It specifically questions the current dominance of diversity within policing agendas by illustrating that issues of class remain crucial in understanding policing discourses and practices. It begins by appealing for a rethinking of police culture which recognizes how class continues to permeate cultural knowledge and everyday practices. It focuses on the importance of class in a ‘low’ policing context; that is, class as it was policed in the routine and mundane dimensions of police work. It is noted that notions of diversity promote a better public image of police organizations, but they can obscure the enduring realities of routine policing.
Janet Ainsworth
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199945351
- eISBN:
- 9780190279219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945351.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
Not infrequently, police officers will swear in an abusive manner during street encounters with individuals. This chapter suggests that the use of such language reflects attributes of the ...
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Not infrequently, police officers will swear in an abusive manner during street encounters with individuals. This chapter suggests that the use of such language reflects attributes of the occupational culture of law enforcement, and that it is intended by the officer as a means of exerting control over the interaction. Swearing—particularly by those in positions of authority—is a powerful signal of role transgression. As such, it additionally signals the possibility of further role transgression, including the potential police use of physical force against the subject. The individual sworn at in this context experiences the interaction as hostile and threatening, and the coercion inherent in such an interaction taints the entire episode, including police requests that the subject acquiesce in a search. Lawyers and judges need to be sensitive to the ways in which such police language can undermine the voluntariness of a later “consent” to search.Less
Not infrequently, police officers will swear in an abusive manner during street encounters with individuals. This chapter suggests that the use of such language reflects attributes of the occupational culture of law enforcement, and that it is intended by the officer as a means of exerting control over the interaction. Swearing—particularly by those in positions of authority—is a powerful signal of role transgression. As such, it additionally signals the possibility of further role transgression, including the potential police use of physical force against the subject. The individual sworn at in this context experiences the interaction as hostile and threatening, and the coercion inherent in such an interaction taints the entire episode, including police requests that the subject acquiesce in a search. Lawyers and judges need to be sensitive to the ways in which such police language can undermine the voluntariness of a later “consent” to search.
Jennifer C. Hunt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226360904
- eISBN:
- 9780226360911
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226360911.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
The events and the consequences of a case study from July 1997 are presented in this chapter. These events left had ramifications for many years. This book gives an account of the lives of five ...
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The events and the consequences of a case study from July 1997 are presented in this chapter. These events left had ramifications for many years. This book gives an account of the lives of five officers from the Emergency Service and the Bomb Squad who participated in the raid of 1997. It looks at their lives from that point until the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, which forced them to revisit their past experience with terrorism. The analysis of the raid and its aftermath confirm the dynamic and varied nature of police culture and also the persistence of certain views. The book also gives a brief account of Joan Barker's Danger, Duty, and Disillusion, on a qualitative account of the occupational socialization of patrol officers in the Los Angeles Police Department, highlighting a five-phase process that marks the transition in attitude about the job from the time of being a police graduate from the academy to their retirement.Less
The events and the consequences of a case study from July 1997 are presented in this chapter. These events left had ramifications for many years. This book gives an account of the lives of five officers from the Emergency Service and the Bomb Squad who participated in the raid of 1997. It looks at their lives from that point until the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, which forced them to revisit their past experience with terrorism. The analysis of the raid and its aftermath confirm the dynamic and varied nature of police culture and also the persistence of certain views. The book also gives a brief account of Joan Barker's Danger, Duty, and Disillusion, on a qualitative account of the occupational socialization of patrol officers in the Los Angeles Police Department, highlighting a five-phase process that marks the transition in attitude about the job from the time of being a police graduate from the academy to their retirement.
Nigel G. Fielding
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198817475
- eISBN:
- 9780191859434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198817475.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
The chapter uses contemporary policing problems and challenges to evaluate how well training prepares recruits, auxiliaries, detectives, and managers for the police role. It reviews patterns of ...
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The chapter uses contemporary policing problems and challenges to evaluate how well training prepares recruits, auxiliaries, detectives, and managers for the police role. It reviews patterns of police corruption, misconduct and complaints against officers and considers whether, and how well, training helps police forces counter such problems. It also notes instances of positive responses to failures of service delivery. The discussion moves on to examine the challenge that diversity poses for the police, both at a cultural level and in respect of the specific experience of female officers, ethnic minority officers, and officers with alternative sexual orientations. The lessons of sickness, stress and injury on duty are considered in relation to how effectively training and supervision helps counter these. A discussion of public confidence and trust is used to address the concept of police legitimacy and to place it in relation to the acquisition of professional competence.Less
The chapter uses contemporary policing problems and challenges to evaluate how well training prepares recruits, auxiliaries, detectives, and managers for the police role. It reviews patterns of police corruption, misconduct and complaints against officers and considers whether, and how well, training helps police forces counter such problems. It also notes instances of positive responses to failures of service delivery. The discussion moves on to examine the challenge that diversity poses for the police, both at a cultural level and in respect of the specific experience of female officers, ethnic minority officers, and officers with alternative sexual orientations. The lessons of sickness, stress and injury on duty are considered in relation to how effectively training and supervision helps counter these. A discussion of public confidence and trust is used to address the concept of police legitimacy and to place it in relation to the acquisition of professional competence.
Jarrett Blaustein
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198723295
- eISBN:
- 9780191789809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723295.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Public International Law
This chapter accounts for the capacity of local police officers to act as policy mediators who help to determine the nature of policy outputs generated by police development assistance projects in ...
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This chapter accounts for the capacity of local police officers to act as policy mediators who help to determine the nature of policy outputs generated by police development assistance projects in BiH. A multi-site, single case study is used to contrast the progress of two community policing units working to implement a Swiss-inspired community policing model from the ‘bottom-up’ in Sarajevo Canto in 2011. The chapter argues that some local police officers, when motivated and relatively unconstrained by institutional and environmental factors, can use their agency to translate relevant elements of ‘off-the-shelf’ community policing models into culturally and contextually appropriate policing practices. Equally, it establishes that this agency can also represent a source of resistance to change and even contribute to potentially harmful and exclusionary policy translations.Less
This chapter accounts for the capacity of local police officers to act as policy mediators who help to determine the nature of policy outputs generated by police development assistance projects in BiH. A multi-site, single case study is used to contrast the progress of two community policing units working to implement a Swiss-inspired community policing model from the ‘bottom-up’ in Sarajevo Canto in 2011. The chapter argues that some local police officers, when motivated and relatively unconstrained by institutional and environmental factors, can use their agency to translate relevant elements of ‘off-the-shelf’ community policing models into culturally and contextually appropriate policing practices. Equally, it establishes that this agency can also represent a source of resistance to change and even contribute to potentially harmful and exclusionary policy translations.
Michael McKenzie
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198815754
- eISBN:
- 9780191853432
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198815754.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter looks at how bureaucrats shape the criminal justice relationship between Australia and Indonesia in the context of cooperation between their national police forces. Adapting Mathieu ...
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This chapter looks at how bureaucrats shape the criminal justice relationship between Australia and Indonesia in the context of cooperation between their national police forces. Adapting Mathieu Deflem’s theory of bureaucratic autonomy, it argues that the close cooperation between the Australian and Indonesian police since the late 1990s is due to their relative independence from national politics and the professional subculture that they share. At the core of this police culture is a common policy interest in combating transnational crime. The chapter also suggests that other bureaucrats from the two countries may share professional subcultures that facilitate cooperation between them.Less
This chapter looks at how bureaucrats shape the criminal justice relationship between Australia and Indonesia in the context of cooperation between their national police forces. Adapting Mathieu Deflem’s theory of bureaucratic autonomy, it argues that the close cooperation between the Australian and Indonesian police since the late 1990s is due to their relative independence from national politics and the professional subculture that they share. At the core of this police culture is a common policy interest in combating transnational crime. The chapter also suggests that other bureaucrats from the two countries may share professional subcultures that facilitate cooperation between them.
Megan O'Neill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198803676
- eISBN:
- 9780191842078
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198803676.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
Police Community Support Officers: Cultures and Identities within Pluralized Policing presents the first in-depth ethnographic study of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) since the creation of ...
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Police Community Support Officers: Cultures and Identities within Pluralized Policing presents the first in-depth ethnographic study of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) since the creation of the role in 2002. Situated within the tradition of police ethnographies, this text examines the working worlds of uniformed patrol support staff in two English police forces. Based on over 350 hours of direct observation and thirty-three interviews with PCSOs and police constables in both urban and rural contexts, the book offers a detailed analysis of the operational and cultural realities of pluralized policing from within. Using a dramaturgic framework, the author finds that PCSOs have been undermined by their own organizations from the beginning, which has left a lasting legacy in terms of their relationships and interactions with police officer colleagues. The implications of this for police cultures, community policing approaches, and the success of pluralization are examined. The author argues that while PCSOs can have similar occupational experiences to those of constables, their particular circumstances have led to a unique occupational culture, one which has implications for existing police culture theories. The book considers these findings in light of budget reductions and police reforms occurring across the sector, processes in which PCSOs are particularly vulnerable.Less
Police Community Support Officers: Cultures and Identities within Pluralized Policing presents the first in-depth ethnographic study of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) since the creation of the role in 2002. Situated within the tradition of police ethnographies, this text examines the working worlds of uniformed patrol support staff in two English police forces. Based on over 350 hours of direct observation and thirty-three interviews with PCSOs and police constables in both urban and rural contexts, the book offers a detailed analysis of the operational and cultural realities of pluralized policing from within. Using a dramaturgic framework, the author finds that PCSOs have been undermined by their own organizations from the beginning, which has left a lasting legacy in terms of their relationships and interactions with police officer colleagues. The implications of this for police cultures, community policing approaches, and the success of pluralization are examined. The author argues that while PCSOs can have similar occupational experiences to those of constables, their particular circumstances have led to a unique occupational culture, one which has implications for existing police culture theories. The book considers these findings in light of budget reductions and police reforms occurring across the sector, processes in which PCSOs are particularly vulnerable.
David Churchill
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198797845
- eISBN:
- 9780191839160
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198797845.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Social History
This chapter assesses the impact of policing on urban order. It argues that the nineteenth-century police forces were especially attentive to local perceptions of nuisance and improvement in their ...
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This chapter assesses the impact of policing on urban order. It argues that the nineteenth-century police forces were especially attentive to local perceptions of nuisance and improvement in their efforts to tame urban popular culture and to sanitize urban public space. Police efforts to impose public order were modified by structural constraints, exercise of discretion in law enforcement, and resistance on the part of the public. And yet, the psychological repercussions of street order policing were profound, as large sections of the urban population came under an unprecedented level of official scrutiny. Hence, this chapter argues that—faced with a highly officious and, at times, repressive form of police authority—the urban public became ‘police-conscious’ in the nineteenth century.Less
This chapter assesses the impact of policing on urban order. It argues that the nineteenth-century police forces were especially attentive to local perceptions of nuisance and improvement in their efforts to tame urban popular culture and to sanitize urban public space. Police efforts to impose public order were modified by structural constraints, exercise of discretion in law enforcement, and resistance on the part of the public. And yet, the psychological repercussions of street order policing were profound, as large sections of the urban population came under an unprecedented level of official scrutiny. Hence, this chapter argues that—faced with a highly officious and, at times, repressive form of police authority—the urban public became ‘police-conscious’ in the nineteenth century.
Megan O'Neill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198803676
- eISBN:
- 9780191842078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198803676.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This penultimate chapter of the book brings together the research described so far and analyses its significance for an understanding of the occupational culture of Police Community Support Officers ...
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This penultimate chapter of the book brings together the research described so far and analyses its significance for an understanding of the occupational culture of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) within the pluralized field of public policing. The two phenomena of institutional undermining and complementary/competitive teams discussed previously in the book are combined through a theoretical framework developed by Chan (1997) to analyse police officer and PCSO culture. This highlights the processes of developing and enacting an occupational culture through storytelling, and it highlights its artefacts (two distinct aspects of occupational culture which are often conflated). Both PCSOs and police officers experience these processes and generate cultural artefacts. The chapter explores how these processes and artefacts for the two groups, while at times appearing similar, have significant differences, which reveals a unique PCSO occupational culture.Less
This penultimate chapter of the book brings together the research described so far and analyses its significance for an understanding of the occupational culture of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) within the pluralized field of public policing. The two phenomena of institutional undermining and complementary/competitive teams discussed previously in the book are combined through a theoretical framework developed by Chan (1997) to analyse police officer and PCSO culture. This highlights the processes of developing and enacting an occupational culture through storytelling, and it highlights its artefacts (two distinct aspects of occupational culture which are often conflated). Both PCSOs and police officers experience these processes and generate cultural artefacts. The chapter explores how these processes and artefacts for the two groups, while at times appearing similar, have significant differences, which reveals a unique PCSO occupational culture.
Anne Nassauer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190922061
- eISBN:
- 9780190922092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190922061.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
Chapter 4 discusses the first of three paths to protest violence discussed in the book. Each of these paths involves interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics that emerge between the ...
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Chapter 4 discusses the first of three paths to protest violence discussed in the book. Each of these paths involves interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics that emerge between the start of the protest and violence erupting. In this first path, police mismanagement and spatial incursions merge into a loss-of-control path. In this path, the organization of police forces is either flawed or breaks down during the protest situation. When the resulting uncertainty and disorientation of officers is combined with territorial invasions by protesters, officers perceive a loss of control over the situation. This loss of control leads officers to assume that usually reliable situational routines have broken down, which increases tensions and fear and favors physical clashes. The chapter uses detailed case vignettes to illustrate how a loss-of-control path unfolds. It examines the role of territory in protests and provides insights into police objectives and training.Less
Chapter 4 discusses the first of three paths to protest violence discussed in the book. Each of these paths involves interactions, interpretations, and emotional dynamics that emerge between the start of the protest and violence erupting. In this first path, police mismanagement and spatial incursions merge into a loss-of-control path. In this path, the organization of police forces is either flawed or breaks down during the protest situation. When the resulting uncertainty and disorientation of officers is combined with territorial invasions by protesters, officers perceive a loss of control over the situation. This loss of control leads officers to assume that usually reliable situational routines have broken down, which increases tensions and fear and favors physical clashes. The chapter uses detailed case vignettes to illustrate how a loss-of-control path unfolds. It examines the role of territory in protests and provides insights into police objectives and training.
Dick Hobbs, Philip Hadfield, Stuart Lister, and Simon Winlow
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199288007
- eISBN:
- 9780191700484
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288007.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
The chapter takes account of the experiences of different bouncers to explain the harshness of their daily work. How they dealt with violence and their role of maintaining order in the nightclubs. ...
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The chapter takes account of the experiences of different bouncers to explain the harshness of their daily work. How they dealt with violence and their role of maintaining order in the nightclubs. Door work entails the job of controlling the customers who would be entering the nightclub. Different types of those who are barred were classified. Women are categorised in the chapter as one of the problems that bouncers have to deal with during their door work. The concept of public police culture was employed in the chapter to come up with an analysis of the problems that bouncers may encounter and the truth behind door work.Less
The chapter takes account of the experiences of different bouncers to explain the harshness of their daily work. How they dealt with violence and their role of maintaining order in the nightclubs. Door work entails the job of controlling the customers who would be entering the nightclub. Different types of those who are barred were classified. Women are categorised in the chapter as one of the problems that bouncers have to deal with during their door work. The concept of public police culture was employed in the chapter to come up with an analysis of the problems that bouncers may encounter and the truth behind door work.
Megan O'Neill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198803676
- eISBN:
- 9780191842078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198803676.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
Chapter 7 examines changes in neighbourhood and community policing since the research was conducted, the impact of this on Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and how the findings of this ...
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Chapter 7 examines changes in neighbourhood and community policing since the research was conducted, the impact of this on Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and how the findings of this research have implications beyond England and Wales. Community policing specifically and pluralized policing more broadly are topics that have expression in a number of countries and contexts. It is important to recognize that while they are indeed separate arenas of research and practice, community policing is itself a pluralized method of policing in relation to its variability internationally and because it involves multiple actors. There is thus an unavoidable degree of overlap between the two concepts. This final chapter will therefore consider what this study of PCSOs can offer for current scholarship and discourse on both community and pluralized policing beyond the UK, and the necessity of considering occupational culture within these, using the framework developed in the previous chapters.Less
Chapter 7 examines changes in neighbourhood and community policing since the research was conducted, the impact of this on Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and how the findings of this research have implications beyond England and Wales. Community policing specifically and pluralized policing more broadly are topics that have expression in a number of countries and contexts. It is important to recognize that while they are indeed separate arenas of research and practice, community policing is itself a pluralized method of policing in relation to its variability internationally and because it involves multiple actors. There is thus an unavoidable degree of overlap between the two concepts. This final chapter will therefore consider what this study of PCSOs can offer for current scholarship and discourse on both community and pluralized policing beyond the UK, and the necessity of considering occupational culture within these, using the framework developed in the previous chapters.
