Search Results

On the nature of experience and exclusivity: the police ‘closed shop’

Bryn Caless

in Policing at the Top: The Roles, Values and Attitudes of Chief Police Officers

There is debate as to whether outsiders could undertake the role of chief officer successfully and whether or not a National Police Force is feasible. This chapter presents the balance of chief ... More

There is debate as to whether outsiders could undertake the role of chief officer successfully and whether or not a National Police Force is feasible. This chapter presents the balance of chief officer views in a challenging exploration of ‘late modern’ interpretations of the nature of policing.Less

Transitional states in search of support: Private military companies and security sector reform

Elke Krahmann

in From Mercenaries to Market: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies

This chapter looks at the role of PMCs in security sector reform (SSR) and problems arising from their involvement for transitional states and donor governments, respectively. While the work of PMCs ... More

This chapter looks at the role of PMCs in security sector reform (SSR) and problems arising from their involvement for transitional states and donor governments, respectively. While the work of PMCs in this sector has often been professional and efficient, the comparative disadvantages of PMCs in relation to a state's own armed or police forces lies in their private nature: the latter are in a position to establish military relations and have the authority and legitimacy to implement reform. As a consequence, for a holistic approach to SSR, donor countries should reconsider what role their own uniformed personnel might play.Less

‘The Job’ and ‘The Force’

Ian Loader and Aogán Mulcahy

in Policing and the Condition of England: Memory, Politics and Culture

This chapter examines the meanings and values explicit and implicit in officers' memories of three salient aspects of the job and the police organization: the social status of ‘the police officer’ ... More

This chapter examines the meanings and values explicit and implicit in officers' memories of three salient aspects of the job and the police organization: the social status of ‘the police officer’ and its intersection with what since 1945 has been the periodically quarrelsome question of police pay; the matters considered germane to learning and performing a role that assumes a venerated place at the core of this particular disposition towards English policing-namely, ‘bobbying’; and the-hierarchical, quasi-militaristic-internal authority relations that are recalled as characterizing the English police during the initial decades of the post-war period. The latter part of the chapter considers the ways in which this once seemingly settled assemblage of police practices, beliefs, and sentiments has been disrupted by processes of informalization and diversification. It explores the range of discordant voices that are struggling to determine the composition, internal cultures, and organizational ethos of the English police.Less

Policing Bodies in Wandsworth

Trevor Jones and Tim Newburn

in Private Security and Public Policing

This chapter analyses the actual operation of so-called hybrid policing and private policing ‘on the ground’ and examines their relationship with Home Department police forces. Clearly, this requires ... More

This chapter analyses the actual operation of so-called hybrid policing and private policing ‘on the ground’ and examines their relationship with Home Department police forces. Clearly, this requires applying a considerably more circumscribed geographical focus — the London borough of Wandsworth — to the subject matter of private security and public policing. The chapter looks at the nature of the policing organisations on the ground — their functions, powers, and geographical remit. Prior to considering the policing of Wandsworth, however, this chapter first explores some of the background features of the borough itself — a borough which has undergone significant changes over the last twenty years or so. As one of the Thatcherite ‘flagship’ boroughs, the local authority was at the forefront of innovation in terms of privatisation and liberalisation during the 1980s. Wandsworth's major policing bodies are divided into two broad groups: private (in the sectoral sense) policing bodies and private security organisations. Public bodies are subdivided into three categories: the Metropolitan Police, other bodies of constables, and other public policing bodies.Less

Without Fear or Favor

Elton Skendaj

in Creating Kosovo: International Oversight and the Making of Ethical Institutions

This chapter compares the two effective bureaucracies in Kosovo: the customs service and the police force. International organizations insulated these bureaucracies from political patronage by ... More

This chapter compares the two effective bureaucracies in Kosovo: the customs service and the police force. International organizations insulated these bureaucracies from political patronage by hiring, training, and promoting competent employees. Because they owed loyalty to the bureaucracy and not to political leaders or parties, the employees in these organizations valued performance. This enabled the professionalization of the bureaucracies. The socialization of officials into the professional norms of bureaucracy started through strategic calculation, and it continued with role-playing and normative suasion as employees learned appropriate behavior in the organization. With time, employees internalized such rules and acted on them habitually.Less

The Detective as Wage-Earner and Official Crime Fighter

Haia Shpayer-Makov

in The Ascent of the Detective: Police Sleuths in Victorian and Edwardian England

This chapter outlines the employment conditions common to uniformed policemen and detectives. It details the special set of compensations that detectives received, other material rewards, job ... More

This chapter outlines the employment conditions common to uniformed policemen and detectives. It details the special set of compensations that detectives received, other material rewards, job satisfaction, and the attractions as well as pressures of detective work that elevated their status as ‘a class apart in the police’. The chapter also discusses the interaction between this particular kind of policeman and the public.Less

The Caribbean Police Commissioner

Ben Bowling

in Policing the Caribbean: Transnational Security Cooperation in Practice

This chapter discusses the establishment and hierarchy amongst the police forces in the Caribbean region. This chapter also explains how police commissions in the region are regarded as legacies from ... More

This chapter discusses the establishment and hierarchy amongst the police forces in the Caribbean region. This chapter also explains how police commissions in the region are regarded as legacies from the colonial era. Also in this chapter, the context of police power is defined. The chapter states that living in a region colonized by Europeans, the police authorities have garnered a wide range of influence and power — and to some extent they have imposed a ‘regal’status in the region. In the succeeding parts of the chapter, select interviews with police commissioners are given; and various view-points regarding the region's state of security are expressed. Moreover, this chapter also reviews various factors that affect the region's security. This chapter also goes through a series of discussions on the different policies that the authorities have made in the past few years up to the present regarding the sudden surge of threats from things such as illegal drugs and firearms. The building tension between certain states in the region as well as the authorities' ways on preventing inter-state conflicts is also scrutinized.Less

Internal Security Challenges and Role of the Central Armed Police Forces

Bibhu Prasad Routray

in India's Military Modernization: Challenges and Prospects

This chapter focuses on the role of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in three conflict theatres ? the Left-Wing Extremism-affected states, the Northeast, and Jammu and Kashmir. While analysing ... More

This chapter focuses on the role of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in three conflict theatres ? the Left-Wing Extremism-affected states, the Northeast, and Jammu and Kashmir. While analysing their role in terms of contribution to conflict resolution and conflict management, it also explores their relationship with the politico-strategic environment they operate in, and the latter’s impact on their performance. While it refers to the history of the CAPFs’ engagement in the three conflict theatres, it limits itself largely to analysing contemporary trends. The chapter briefly discusses the origin and growth of different CAPFs and makes recommendations for effecting improvements in their counter-insurgency capability. It argues that in spite of their prolonged history and vast experience at responding to the country’s security needs in various conflict zones, the CAPFs have failed to break the threshold of mediocrity to emerge as effective security providers.Less

Government Measures and Their Effect on Society

Patricia Lim

in Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery

This chapter discusses the governors of Hong Kong during the late nineteenth century and their effect on society. After years of experiencing difficulties and the perceived quarrelsome nature of the ... More

This chapter discusses the governors of Hong Kong during the late nineteenth century and their effect on society. After years of experiencing difficulties and the perceived quarrelsome nature of the Hong Kong civil servants, it was decided that the country needed a strong governor who had wide powers and the backing of the colonial office. These governors affected several facets of society, such as the education of Chinese girls, the police force, and Roman Catholic schools.Less

The Security Forces

Burnett Bolloten

in The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution

This chapter discusses the steps undertaken by the Republic to restore the police forces. With only the bare remnants of the Republican police corps at its disposal, the liberal government formed by ... More

This chapter discusses the steps undertaken by the Republic to restore the police forces. With only the bare remnants of the Republican police corps at its disposal, the liberal government formed by José Giral in July 1936 was impotent in the face of the revolution exercised by the working-class organizations, whose police squads and patrols carried out searches, arrests, and summary executions. Furthermore, the lack of a concrete security force undermined the government's authority in the eyes of the Western world. Thus the first significant attempt at reconstruction began that same year under the auspices of the Giral administration. And parallel with the reconstruction of the government security services, important changes were also taking place in the field of justice.Less

Putting on the Uniform

in Invisible Men: The Secret Lives of Police Constables in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, 1900-1939

In England, working-class families encouraged their sons to apply to the police force to earn regular wages and a chance for promotion. Believing that policing paid a steady wage for little effort, a ... More

In England, working-class families encouraged their sons to apply to the police force to earn regular wages and a chance for promotion. Believing that policing paid a steady wage for little effort, a constant stream of unqualified applicants lined up hoping to be hired. Most of the applicants failed to meet basic police physical and education requirements. This chapter focuses on how men could become police constables in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool during the early twentieth century, from application to training and probation to actual policing.Less

Detecting Disorder

Lila Caimari

in While the City Sleeps: A History of Pistoleros, Policemen, and the Crime Beat in Buenos Aires before Perón

Keeping order in the city is the oldest of police duties. In the 1820s, the Policía de Buenos Aires adopted the image of a watchful eye as their emblem, placing the symbol on their medallions, ... More

Keeping order in the city is the oldest of police duties. In the 1820s, the Policía de Buenos Aires adopted the image of a watchful eye as their emblem, placing the symbol on their medallions, badges, and letterhead. This institution “never slept.” Watching the city by day, watching it by night, the police attempted to give the appearance of being the ubiquitous eyes of authority. This chapter focuses on the crisis and subsequent resurrection of this ideal during the first decades of the twentieth century. It traces this history into the 1930s, when the police began using the new technologies—radios and patrol cars—that fundamentally altered methods of perceiving and collecting information on urban life.Less

While the City Sleeps: Police and the Social Imagination

Lila Caimari

in While the City Sleeps: A History of Pistoleros, Policemen, and the Crime Beat in Buenos Aires before Perón

This chapter explores the public opinion strategies adopted by Buenos Aires police in the context of a deep crisis of consensus in the 1920s and 1930s regarding their right to use force. In so doing, ... More

This chapter explores the public opinion strategies adopted by Buenos Aires police in the context of a deep crisis of consensus in the 1920s and 1930s regarding their right to use force. In so doing, it tackles a question transcending this case: how can police forces act as the guardians of a social order they themselves might perceive as unjust, and still earn the respect of those who suffer from its injustice? The answer lies within the process of the symbolic construction of an idealized police officer, one able to remain connected with those he claims to protect. In this case, the connection between the police and the people was woven using fiction, mass media, and other key elements of popular culture.Less

The Community Expectations Standard

Seth W. Stoughton, Jeffrey J. Noble, and Geoffrey P. Alpert

in Evaluating Police Uses of Force

The use of force by police, when perceived negatively by community members, can undermine public trust over time, even serving as a flashpoint that ignites long-simmering hostility. The acute and ... More

The use of force by police, when perceived negatively by community members, can undermine public trust over time, even serving as a flashpoint that ignites long-simmering hostility. The acute and chronic effects of community distrust make it essential to appreciate how community members evaluate use-of-force incidents. Distinguishing between substantive and procedural justice, this chapter identifies the aspects of police violence that community members most care about. It also explores the range of public perspectives on police uses of force, using real-world examples to illustrate the way public statements condemning and supporting officers’ use-of-force decisions often fall into identifiable categories. Understanding these categories allows for a greater appreciation of what community members look for and what they criticize when officers use force. That understanding can also inform efforts to better educate the public about police uses of force.Less

Policemen and Prisons

Adam Malka

in Men of Mobtown: Policing Baltimore in the Age of Slavery and Emancipation

This chapter chronicles the development of police reform in Baltimore during the middle decades of the nineteenth century – the development, that is, of both a professional municipal police force and ... More

This chapter chronicles the development of police reform in Baltimore during the middle decades of the nineteenth century – the development, that is, of both a professional municipal police force and a reformative state-run penal system. Police reform grew state power in the name of liberal freedom. Reformers established the police force to protect the rights of individuals, particularly their property rights, and built prisons to remake inmates into individuals capable of possessing such rights in the first place. But this liberalism had far-reaching implications for a wide range of free Baltimoreans, particularly the white workingmen who made up the rank and file of the city’s political order. As “property holders” of wages and dependents, white workingmen deployed real power under the new system.Less

Heeding the Call

Kathleen Battles

in Calling All Cars: Radio Dragnets and the Technology of Policing

This introductory chapter discusses how the police made use of radio technology in response to the increasing crime numbers as a result of automobile exploitation. Literary sources from the 1930s ... More

This introductory chapter discusses how the police made use of radio technology in response to the increasing crime numbers as a result of automobile exploitation. Literary sources from the 1930s suggest that police radio represents speed, efficiency, excitement, geographical command, two-way communication, modernity, and more importantly, the assurance of unavoidable capture. The buzz of radio served an important role in police reorganization and improving of its dull public image. The phrase “calling all cars,” for the police force, indicates the attempt to build a technologically improved, organized, and efficient department; while for the radio industry, it means the excitement essential in catering both their corporate sponsors and the public. These two parties then work together in revering the achievement of modern police forces.Less