Showing papers in "Policing & Society in 2012"
TL;DR: The politics of the police, 4th ed., by Robert Reiner, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, 336 pp., £25.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-928339-2 Even prior to the outbreak of serious rioting acros...
Abstract: The politics of the police, 4th ed., by Robert Reiner, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010, 336 pp., £25.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-928339-2 Even prior to the outbreak of serious rioting acros...
670 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that negative pre-existing opinions of the police are predictive of negatively received contact, while positive views do not predict well-received contact, and single contacts, both negative and positive, were predictive of subsequent confidence in the police.
Abstract: Public opinions of the police have been a fixture at the top of the policy agenda in England and Wales in recent years, with successive governments stating they wish to see improvements in ‘trust and confidence’. But significant doubts remain as to how this might be done, and even if it is possible for police to enhance public confidence in any straightforward way. Indeed, it often seems that it is much easier for police to damage public opinion than to improve it. This paper reports findings from two surveys on contact between the public and the police conducted in England and Wales. First, panel data are used to examine the issue of ‘asymmetry’ in the relationship between satisfaction with police contacts and wider public confidence in the police. Negative pre-existing opinions of the police are found to be predictive of negatively received contact, while positive views do not predict well-received contact. Yet, single contacts, both negative and positive, are predictive of subsequent confidence in the ...
109 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine policing and surveillance projects developed in preparation for three mega-events that recently took place in Canada -the 2010 Winter Olympics, the G8/G20 meetings and a scheduled (but cancelled) North American Leaders Summit.
Abstract: Drawing on analysis of government records obtained using Access to Information Act (ATIA) requests, we examine policing and surveillance projects developed in preparation for three mega-events that recently took place in Canada – the 2010 Winter Olympics, the G8/G20 meetings and a scheduled (but cancelled) North American Leaders Summit. Based on an investigation of ‘Threat Assessment’ reports produced between 2005 and 2010 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), we discuss transformations within Canada's anti-terror intelligence networks including the establishment of Integrated Security Units (ISUs) and the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC) which resemble intelligence ‘fusion centers’ in the United States. These organisations became the knowledge-producing hubs for the classification and categorisation of national security threats. Examining shifts in ISU and ITAC Threat Assessments, we demonstrate how knowledge construction practices in...
63 citations
TL;DR: This article examined police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers, finding that the quality of police communication with children and young people was key.
Abstract: The police represent the front line in the service response to children experiencing domestic violence. This paper examines police intervention in domestic violence incidents involving children, drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from police records and interviews with young people and police officers. The quality of police communication with children and young people emerged as key, and police officers evinced reluctance to engage with children at domestic violence incidents. Providing the police with training and information designed to improve their skills and confidence might promote communication with children in this context. Policy that conceptualised children as victims of domestic violence in policy could focus police attention on the needs of children and young people at such incidents.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the immediate and more distant origins of a programme of comparative research that is examining cross-national variations in public trust in justice and in the police.
Abstract: This paper describes the immediate and more distant origins of a programme of comparative research that is examining cross-national variations in public trust in justice and in the police. The programme is built around a module of the fifth European Social Survey, and evolved from a study funded by the European Commission. The paper describes the conceptual framework within which we are operating – developed in large measure from theories of procedural justice. It reviews some of the methodological issues raised by the use of sample surveys to research issues of public trust in the police, public perceptions of institutional legitimacy and compliance with the law. Finally it gives a flavour of some of the early findings emerging from the programme.
41 citations
TL;DR: Since the 1990s, every proclamation for police reform in Latin America leads to the launching of a community policing programme designed to improve police-community relations as mentioned in this paper, each of these programmes has a different name and format; some have lasted a long time, while others have been ephemeral.
Abstract: Since the 1990s, every proclamation for police reform in Latin America leads to the launching of a community policing programme designed to improve police-community relations. Each of these programmes has a different name and format; some have lasted a long time, while others have been ephemeral. Community police as a proposal, strategy or philosophy for police activities is without a doubt quite popular. At various moments, police forces that are otherwise divergent in nature have all launched programmes to improve their community relations. Those agencies include The Guatemalan National Civil Police, the Panamanian National Police, the Nicaraguan Police, preventative police in various Mexican Municipalities, the Carabineros in Chile, various Argentine provincial police, the Colombian National Police, the Dominican Republic National Police, the Police of Buenos Aires Province, among many others. The fact that both politicians and police leadership constantly invoke the need to improve relations between p...
40 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on innovations in public order policing during the protests surrounding the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh, November 2009, and draw on empirical data to offer an analysis of these developments and gauge the extent to which they meet the stated intentions of the police to facilitate lawful protest.
Abstract: This paper reports on innovations in public order policing during the protests surrounding the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh, November 2009. When masked anarchist protesters determined to ‘smash NATO’ gathered on the streets on the first morning of the Assembly, they were initially confronted by three plainclothes police negotiators rather than a line of riot police. In this paper, we draw on empirical data to offer an analysis of these developments and gauge the extent to which they meet the stated intentions of the police to ‘facilitate lawful protest’. Whilst welcoming the shift in attitudes and approach towards political protest, we argue that the accent on facilitation in this operation ultimately appeared neither innovative nor effective in practice and frequently reverted to styles of policing designed to contain protest.
39 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study aimed to identify the skills and abilities required by an analyst to be recognized as effective, and three clusters of variables were identified that indicate an effective analyst; they would have skills, abilities that could contribute to the development and dissemination of an analytical product, and an attitude that included being productive, seeking out work, having a high-level commitment and pride and having a can do attitude.
Abstract: The current study aimed to identify the skills and abilities required by an analyst to be recognised as effective. Thirty subject matter experts (SMEs) were engaged using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) to explore the specific skills and abilities of crime and intelligence analysts that result in them being deemed effective. Semi-structured interviews and the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) were conducted to strengthen these findings. Three clusters of variables were identified that indicate an effective analyst; they would have skills and abilities that could contribute to the development and dissemination of an analytical product, they would have an attitude that included being productive, seeking out work, having a high-level commitment and pride and having a ‘can do’ attitude. Some physical and personal attributes, like gender and age, were included that characterise effectiveness. The findings are discussed in relation to earlier descriptions of the skills needed to be an analyst. The findings i...
39 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a perspective integrating the historical, emotional and symbolic aspects of police legitimacy and the extant mandate is presented, which is argued that the Garda are sacred and viewed as legitimate as a result of their connections to the origin of the state.
Abstract: Fieldwork and interviews gathered over more than two years with members of the Garda, the Garda Inspectorate, and scholars of policing in Ireland, are used to assess the nature of accountability of the An Garda Siochana. Beginning with an overview of police accountability, the paper advances a perspective integrating the historical, emotional and symbolic aspects of police legitimacy and the extant mandate. While the Garda are well respected by the public, they demonstrate the power of politics, sentiments, emotions and memory in shaping this level of police trust and accountability. This is suggested by an analysis of the origins of the An Garda Siochana, their current status, their on-going dilemmas and their current resilience. It is argued that the Garda are sacred and viewed as legitimate as a result of their connections to the origin of the state. This fact insulates them from swings in public opinion even in the face of scandal. Their obligations to central government and a tight connection to nati...
36 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between the rise of police performance management and the wider politicisation of "law and order" in both countries and compare the performance regimes in terms of the themes of centralisation and localism.
Abstract: Performance management in some form is now a global feature of policing in both developed and developing countries. Under the steer of ‘new public management’, cultures of performance and the instruments of performance management are increasingly a part of the landscape of twenty-first century policing. However, there has been little by way of comparative analysis of the different regimes of police performance management, despite the wider expansion of scholarship on comparative policing. This article seeks to address this gap by comparing police performance management in Britain and France. It examines the relationship between the rise of police performance management and the wider politicisation of ‘law and order’ in both contexts. It then discusses police performance management in the two states in terms of comparisons of performance regimes around the themes of ‘centralisation’ and ‘localism’, the dimensions of policing which form measurements of police performance, the role of ‘transparency’ and expo...
35 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the impact of relationships with the police and wider social influences such as peer groups, particularly Elders, families and music, on young people's decision to cooperate with police.
Abstract: The death of Adam Regis in March 2007 and subsequent murder investigation highlighted the difficulties of encouraging young people to cooperate with the police by providing information that could lead to a successful conviction. ‘Snitching’, as it is known, is currently an under-explored area of research in the UK with most extant research having been conducted in the US. Therefore this paper attempts partially to fill this gap in the research. Drawing on a recent multi-method qualitative study, involving 24 interviews with young people in one London borough and two focus groups with teachers, police officers and youth workers, this paper seeks to explore the puzzling issue of why young people do not ‘snitch’. In particular, we explore the impact of relationships with the police and the impact of wider social influences – such as young people's concerns about their safety, peer groups, particularly ‘elders’, families and music – on their decision to ‘actively cooperate’ with the police. We argue that peer...
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical framework with which to examine and understand noble cause corruption is proposed, integrating role theory and role conflict with previous research into policing behaviour and misconduct. But this framework does not address the social psychological work of Katz and Kahn.
Abstract: This article proposes a theoretical framework with which to examine and understand noble cause corruption. Specifically, it draws on the social psychological work of Katz and Kahn, integrating role theory and role conflict with previous research into policing behaviour and misconduct. After proposing the theoretical framework, research directions are presented along with related methodological challenges. This article accomplishes the following: it provides a stepping off point for research into an under examined and thus far atheoretically understood phenomenon, it increases the academic understanding of noble cause corruption, and it assists practitioners in creating policies aimed at combating corruption generally.
TL;DR: This article found that encounters that people themselves rated positively did not seem to increase satisfaction with police, and for many actually made things worse, and concluded that such encounters actually made people feel worse.
Abstract: This article describes the evolution of a project examining the impact of encounters on public confidence in the police. It reviews the background of the research, the central puzzle that drove the project, and the events that led to its discovery. I was surprised by my initial inability to confirm the expected relationship between encounters and confidence. Rather than encouraging confidence, encounters that people themselves rated positively did not seem to increase satisfaction with police, and for many actually made things worse. Here I discuss how I confronted this puzzle, what I concluded, and what other researchers have since done with the findings. I conclude with some notes on the research agenda implied by all of this research, and how the entire process accords with the ways in which scientific research proceeds.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how four authors came together to create a specific approach to public "trust and confidence" inside a police service, and how they moulded the discourse about public confidence inside the largest police service in the UK.
Abstract: This article discusses how four authors came together to create – inside a police service – a specific approach to public ‘trust and confidence’ We have had many theoretical debates – about the nature of public understanding of policing, police culture, procedural justice and public trust in public institutions in a democracy Also, while we continue to debate, we wade through mounds of data gathered routinely through the Metropolitan Police's own Public Attitude Survey Reporting internally on a quarterly basis, the survey challenges police colleagues to think about how the police must demonstrate to citizens their trustworthiness to act fairly, effectively and with the best interests of communities at heart Our experience of moulding the discourse about public confidence inside the largest police service in the UK suggests that police culture itself has been challenged by the accountability that lies at the heart of trust and trustworthiness We have been asked by the editors of this issue to share wi
TL;DR: In every part of Latin America, unprecedented levels of violence have even led to questions about the underlying quality of democratic rule as discussed by the authors. In response to this crisis, governments have enacted an...
Abstract: In every part of Latin America, unprecedented levels of violence have even led to questions about the underlying quality of democratic rule. In response to this crisis, governments have enacted an ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of a community engagement methodology encouraging citizens to articulate their local security needs to Neighbourhood Policing teams (NPTs) by acting on this community intelligence police are able to "tune" their interventions towards those problems generating most social harm.
Abstract: Informed by empirical data collected in the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) in four sweeps between 2007 and 2010, this article examines the impact of a community engagement methodology encouraging citizens to articulate their local security needs to Neighbourhood Policing teams (NPTs). By acting on this community intelligence police are able to ‘tune’ their interventions towards those problems generating most social harm. In so doing, the data suggest police are able to improve public confidence and increase overall community well-being. This case study of Sutton is used to illuminate some broader patterns and trends in how policing in England and Wales is being reconfigured in response to a set of economic and ideological pressures. It is suggested that the combination of forces are liable to induce a revised version of the principles and practices associated with the initial model of Neighbourhood Policing (NP).
TL;DR: In this article, a bottom-up study of the potential impact of three types of reforms: recruitment of Arab citizens to the police, cultural training of police officers and institutionalizing police-community relations is presented.
Abstract: Tense relations between the Israeli police and the Arab citizens of Israel have been a major concern in recent years. Policing provides a challenge in democracies with diverse societies where cultures, religions and competing national identities challenge the existing order, and where the police in many cases have yet to develop the capabilities to engage with diversity and overcome its own biases and prejudices in order to better serve minorities. While police officers and policy-makers may be aware of the need to initiate reform in order to succeed, they need to identify the actual needs of minorities. In this study of police reforms in Israel vis-a-vis the Arab minority we propose a bottom-up study of the potential impact of three types of reforms: recruitment of Arab citizens to the police, cultural training of police officers and institutionalising police-community relations. Our findings are based on two complementary stages of research, four focus groups and a comprehensive research survey of a rep...
TL;DR: The authors conducted interviews with Canadian police investigators for a study of mass media representations of police work to better understand their unique perspectives on the nature of police-media relations, and found that investigators interviewed felt that they had lost control over representations of their work in media stories.
Abstract: In this article, we draw on interviews conducted with Canadian police investigators for a study of mass media representations of police work to better understand their unique perspectives on the nature of police-media relations. In contrast to the orthodox position of the policing literature that holds that police are the dominant partner in the police-media relationship, investigators interviewed felt that they had lost control over representations of their work in media stories. This loss of control is attributed, in large part, to the pressure placed on reporters to feed an insatiable public appetite for crime-related stories. Particularly, worrying for investigators is the belief that they are no longer able to maintain secrecy over their investigative activities and techniques – a shift that they see as having a significant negative impact on their work. What is required, officers believe, is better collaborative means of working with news media outlets.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extracted the three-year offending histories of 798 graffitists from the Western Australian Police Information Management System database and determined whether age-differentiated patterns of offending exist among three age-cohorts of offenders (i.e. preteens, adolescents and adults).
Abstract: Graffiti is often viewed as a nuisance ‘kids’ crime, an act of youthful resistance and, as such, it is sometimes given a lower policing prioritisation level than more ‘serious’ crimes. In this study, the three-year offending histories of 798 graffitists were extracted from the Western Australian Police Information Management System database. To address the study's aim of determining whether age-differentiated patterns of offending exist among three age-cohorts of offenders (i.e. preteens, adolescents and adults), the number of offences, the number of contacts with police, the type of offences and the rank category of each offence for each of the three age-cohort were calculated. The findings reveal that while 96 graffiti offenders had only one recorded graffiti offence, the majority of graffitists (n=702) were recidivist offenders involved in multiple crimes. The most prevalent crime among the recidivist preteen and early adolescent cohort of graffiti offenders was burglary; however, the recidivist late-a...
TL;DR: In this paper, Bittner's seminal insight is that a precondition of democratic policing is a demand for it among the general population, and he explores this question in the context of post-apartheid Johannesburg, where compliance with police authority is patchy.
Abstract: Egon Bittner's seminal insight is that a precondition of democratic policing is a demand for it among the general population. What happens when that demand is absent? What happens, in other words, when the general population withdraws its consent to being policed? I explore this question in the context of post-apartheid Johannesburg, where compliance with police authority is patchy. I argue that there is a strong relationship between non-compliance and the density of public space, that patrols are animated by the avoidance of human density, and that when police cannot avoid density, the nature of police–civilian engagement is shaped by a sophisticated filigree of rules established by civilians. I ask why civilian compliance in contemporary Johannesburg is so patchy and find answers both in aspects of the city's apartheid history and in several policy errors made by South Africa's former liberation movement when it came to power in 1994. Looking beyond South Africa, I argue that in any urban context charac...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined a case study of Tasmania Police to explore strategies for complaint reduction and found that repeat complaints against individual officers were reduced, as were numbers of assault and excessive force allegations.
Abstract: This article examines a case study of Tasmania Police to explore strategies for complaint reduction. The study uses quantitative complaints data and qualitative interviews to examine a 15-year period from 1994/1995 to 2008/2009. During this time, complaints against Tasmania Police reduced substantially. Most significantly, public ‘complaints against police’ dropped by nearly 77% from a peak of 162 in 1996/1997 to 38 in 2008/2009. Data show that repeat complaints against individual officers were reduced, as were numbers of assault and excessive force allegations. Initiatives that were implemented during the period that appear to impact on complaint numbers include complaint profiling and training, and improved complaint handling. These and other initiatives are considered in light of the data patterns and lessons for other jurisdictions are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the efficacy of the Fica Vivo homicide control program in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and found that it encountered significant success in reducing homicides, as a result of its innovative two-tiered structure in which community-oriented policing units operated in conjunction with state-administered social programmes led by civil servants at each of the programme sites.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the efficacy of the Fica Vivo homicide control programme in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Our data shows that the programme encountered significant success in reducing homicides, as a result of its innovative two-tiered structure in which community-oriented policing units operated in conjunction with state-administered social programmes led by civil servants at each of the programme sites. These efforts helped to build local capacity to respond to violence and work with state officials, helped the police engage with residents in efforts to control violence, and enabled residents to hold police to account for local crime control efforts.
TL;DR: Shoot to Kill: police accountability, firearms and fatal force, by Maurice Punch, Bristol, Policy Press, 2011, 264 pp., £19.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781847424723
Abstract: Shoot to kill: police accountability, firearms and fatal force, by Maurice Punch, Bristol, Policy Press, 2011, 264 pp., £19.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781847424723 Shooting to kill? Policing, firearms a...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the issues of public trust and confidence in the police and highlight the importance of these issues in research and policy-making on the police, in a number of guises.
Abstract: Issues of public trust and confidence are fundamental, but frequently overlooked dimensions of research and policy-making on the police. However, during the past five years, in a number of guises a...
TL;DR: The limitations of the community policing model can be found in its attempt to retain a certain level of independence in the face of other institutional actors and the communit... as mentioned in this paper argues that the limitations of community policing can be attributed to the fact that higher-ups within the institution have not given it sufficient importance beyond lip service.
Abstract: Bogota's community policing programme is often cited as a successful or at least illustrative example of the modernisation of police forces in Latin America. However, we lack a rigorous evaluation of its scope and outcomes. Although the Bogota community police project was one of the first programmes implemented on the continent and employs one of the largest number of officers, it never seems to have been completely integrated into the inner workings of the police department, and this has reduced its chances of success. Although there are community police platoons in the vast majority of Colombia's Departments/Provinces some of its founding purposes have been sidetracked due to the armed conflict in the country and the higher-ups within the institution have not given it sufficient importance beyond lip service. This analysis maintains that the limitations of this community model can be found in its attempt to retain a certain level of independence in the face of other institutional actors and the communit...
TL;DR: The lack of public safety is not only due to crime, but also due to the ongoing "war" between the government and drug-traffickers as discussed by the authors, which has become an ideological tool generating both supporters and critics of an issue that has been politicized and used to promote consent or dissent.
Abstract: Although attempted on a daily basis, it is difficult to truly analyse the problems faced by police today, both as an institution and as a part of society, due to the complex current situation in Mexico. The lack of public safety is not only due to crime, but also to the ongoing “war” between the government and drug-traffickers. ‘Police problems, beyond their objective foundation, have become an ideological tool generating both supporters and critics of an issue that has been politicized and used to promote consent or dissent’. It has become the story of the hour, and everybody has their opinion on the topic, but lacking is a deeper understanding of the sociopolitical process that has led up to the current situation in Mexico. ‘Faced with threats and lack of security, the government and public opinion turned to the first familiar and available option they had: the police. They expected that a more efficient and effective police force would be able to solve the security problem.’ There is continuous discuss...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at pre-crime policing policies in the context of counter-terrorism and suggest that the academic literature is based on exiting paradigms that fail to recognise the significance of the exceptional threat the police and security services now face.
Abstract: This article looks at pre-crime policing policies in the context of counter-terrorism. It challenges the criminological and legal literature that seeks to claim pre-crime practices link coercive state action to discriminatory suspicion and a threat to liberal ideals. It does so by suggesting that the academic literature is based on exiting paradigms that fail to recognise the significance of the exceptional threat the police and security services now face. The notion of the exceptional reveals the reality of their duty of responsibility, a concept that some criminologists and liberal lawyers choose to ignore.
TL;DR: Among the regions of Latin America, the northern triangle of Central America comprising the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras is at once the most promising and inhospitable places for community policing.
Abstract: Among the regions of Latin America, the northern triangle of Central America – comprising the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – is at once the most promising and inhospitable places for community policing. The complete overhauls of these three countries’ security system with the peace accords in the 1990s opened up an unprecedented opportunity to re-structure and re-think the idea of citizen security. Each country had a revamped and civilianised police force supported by international training and a set of accountability agencies. Guatemala, for example, formed a National Human Rights Office, a police Human Rights Office, a Professional Responsibility Office to investigate charges of abuse, and a Disciplinary Regime Section. These countries also underwent thorough judicial reforms, such as by expanding courts and preventive measures geared toward youth at risk. Combined with strong local identities, particularly among indigenous communities in Guatemala, such conditions appeared to give c...
TL;DR: In the Dominican Republic, the Plan for Democratic Security (Plan de Seguridad Democratica) as discussed by the authors was proposed to address the escalation of violence and complex criminality through the Plan of Democratic Security.
Abstract: Democratic security policies have become a major innovation in the last decades in Latin America and the Caribbean. This article analyses the Dominican Republic's recent attempt to address the escalation of violence and complex criminality through the Plan for Democratic Security (Plan de Seguridad Democratica), launched in 2005. The Plan emerged from a complex process that involved multiple and overlapping reforms, innovative social and political strategies and the concertation of public and private actors with contradictory interests. To implement the Plan over the past five years, the government confronted an unfavourable environment of crisis, disenchantment, mutual distrust and precarious institutionalisation. Not surprisingly, the Plan has had mixed results, yet for that reason offers many lessons to be learned. Three major lessons are: (1) basing security policies on a clear understanding of the social, political and cultural contexts that foment crime and violence; (2) obtaining firm support from ...