The problematic of any analysis of public policing is that it is primarily based on the premise that policing is a state centred activity. As public policing has always been associated with the political institutions of the state, and with the advent of modernity, it has reinforced the notion that policing is power exercised through control by the (Weberian) resort to the legitimate use of force. However, developments in the theories of Globalisation and postmodernisation suggest that policing cannot continue to be analysed, explained, theorised, or compared merely on this basis. This thesis examines the current contributions by Reiner (1992 & 2000), Johnston (2000), and Wright (2002) that assess the impact of either Globalisation or postmodernisation, or both. It also examines policy discourses, and discursive practices, that indicate the tensions within the public police and policing of England & Wales and the US that may be said to be associated with the processes of Globalisation and postmodernisation. The postmodern notions of power/knowledge, and the role of agency, are utilised, as well as the multidisciplinary approach of the new Political Sociology. A comparative historical approach to the concept of public policing is undertaken and case studies, including the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on 11th September 2001, are utilised in order to contextualise the conceptual developments as they unfold. In essence, this thesis argues for a greater appreciation of, and emphasis on, the processes of Globalisation and postmodernisation when policing is analysed. It concludes that policing should be reconceptualised as power through control of information and knowledge, rather than through the legitimate use of force. In consequence, there would be a move towards a more strategic appreciation of policing as a major factor in the political economy of the state at the local, national and global level.

A thematic inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2002 concluded that dramatic changes needed to be made to the training of police recruits to reflect the policing needs of the twenty-first century. The training, it reported, had not changed since the end of the Second World War. This thesis charts the developments of Initial Police Training from 1945 until 2009. Each chapter represents a decade of continuity and change in the training programme. Whilst there is much emphasis on the programme of the time there is reference to the social and political issues impacting on the development of police training. Policing cannot be conducted without the support of the community and the links between the service and the public they serve are evident throughout the research. Initial police training has not been a major field of academic endeavour and the little that has been written is often focussed on the significant change to probationer training made in the 1980’s as a result of work conducted by the University of East Anglia. This thesis presents the continuity and change in the training since the Second World War to the present day. It concludes with a summary of the issues still facing those with responsibility for the development and management of training for future police officers. The research was conducted predominantly with the use of documentary evidence from a range of sources from the report of the committee tasked with reconstructing the police service following the Second World War through to newsletters from the latest training modernisation group. The documentary research is supplemented by interviews with key players in the most recent developments in initial police training.

The thesis focuses on the themes of openness to change and organizational effectiveness. A three dimensional model relating openness to change, amount of change and change effectiveness is developed and hypotheses regarding change in organizations are proposed. These hypotheses are tested using data collected from a sample of police forces in England and Wales and from senior police officers and others knowledgeable about police organizations and functioning regarding the amount and desirability of a series of specified change events. By comparison with a number of objective indicators of openness to change the data are related back to the hypotheses. The findings that openness and effectiveness are connected but only weakly associated to amount of change are discussed and some conclusions are drawn relating existing theory and possible avenues for new research.

Recent high profile media coverage of a number of police corruption cases has understandably caused an increase in public concern at the possibility of widespread malpractice within forces. These concerns have been further heightened by the instigation of a number of public and judicial reviews of police relationships with the media, as well as the resignation of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and other senior figures. The causes and motivations of police corruption have been the subject of a small number of academic studies, generally focussing on types and typologies of the act itself and offenders. In this contribution the author has examined a number of factors which impact on the likelihood of police officers undertaking deviant practice in the small but focussed area of computer misuse. In conducting the research four sample groups were identified; two from the organisational side of policing; National leads in the corruption arena and local heads of Counter Corruption Units, and two from the employee side; The Police Federation and officers who themselves had misused police computer systems. The author conducted a total of thirty one interviews split between these four groups, examining factors such as 'knowledge of wrongdoing', 'perception and fear of being caught', 'awareness of sanctions', 'ease' and 'stigma'.

The development of community policing in the UK initiated the formation of ‘policing partnerships’. These early attempts, emerging in the 1980s, by police forces to establish partner relations with public and private sector organisations as well as communities followed a largely informal and ad hoc approach. In contrast, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and more recently the Neighbourhood Policing agenda are examples of attempts to formalise such methods of working through legislation and policy. This study, utilising data collected from extensive ethnographic research in three socio-economically deprived communities of Northern England, addresses a so far under developed area of the extant research on ‘policing partnerships’; namely, the relationships and outcomes that can be observed when state institutions come into contact with marginalised communities. This study has adopted the standpoint of critical criminology in order to foster an analysis of the subject matter. It is contended that despite local and national policy rhetoric to the contrary, ‘policing partnerships’ primarily serve a largely enforcement based agenda that offers little discernible benefit to residents. Residents in marginalised communities occupy a relatively powerless position in relation to other actors and have little capacity to influence local agenda setting in respect of local policing matters. The police remain the dominant player within ‘policing partnerships’ and continuously seek to reinforce the goals of the policing ‘mission’; which, in its modern day iteration, is a primary interest in intelligence, surveillance and enforcement. For residents within marginalised communities to seek redress for matters of local concern, largely related to their socio-economic position and environment, a radical departure is required. One form that this may take is the pursuance of local partnerships without a police presence, prioritising a welfare agenda over the current status quo.

Cyprus suffered lanomiel on a grand scale more than twenty years ago, on account of the Turkish invasion of 1974. The effects on the social structure of Cypriot society were devastating. Most of the collective conscience which was responsible for the social order was disrupted. Inevitably, the traditional means of social control which depended primarily on informal social networks and the creation of a collective order were replaced by formal policing. This thesis attempts to offer an empirical account of the above social changes and the resultant changes in the modes of policing; and how Cypriot-society has replaced the lost collective conscience with alternative but complementary means of social control. High police density, strong social associations and the strength of kinship have contributed to the acceptance of the police and policing methods. Simultaneously, the public, through the social development of new social norms and moral codes, have determined the form and role of the police in Cypriot society. The partial destruction of the existing social contract and the inevitable development of anomie have introduced new parameters in deviancy and the process of social control in Cyprus. The new cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of Cyprus reflect the patterns and distribution of criminality. By and large, Cypriots do not report crimes and victimization to the authorities because they view cases as not just 'trivial' but also as something which could implicate them socially and personally. That is to say, despite the upheaval and social change which followed the 1974 invasion, there is still a very strong norm (which binds people together) about respect and self-esteem. By reporting, they fear that they will be stigmatized for life. They will 'cover-up, crimes rather than expose themselves as victims. In essence, triviality' acts as a defence mechanism which neutralizes police involvement in affairs relating to the issue of social order. Police rejection is mostly observed when victimization refers to crimes against the person. Society tolerates certain forms of criminality for the sake of conformity to certain social norms and moral codes. As a consequence, the dark figure of crime is much higher for offences against the person. Because society sanctions tolerance towards certain forms of crime, victims are prevented from reporting because they consider the police as part of the control apparatus which contributes to the perpetuation of stigmatization. The Cypriot's perception of the amount and patterns of criminality is distorted on account of the influence of the media and rumour. Fear of crime evolves from the wrong perception of criminality rather than experience. Because fear is unjustifiable, the public feels insecure and redefines the structure of the social contract. In effect, this threatens further the collective conscience and the traditional methods of social control.

This thesis is an in-depth case study of the role of memory in the Irish republican debate on policing. Located within the wider theoretical fields of memory studies and transitional justice, this thesis draws out how the past impacts on transitional justice processes when those traditionally opposed to state policing structures opt to buy into them as part of a wider transitional process. While establishing that there remains considerable inter-communal contestation over the legacy of policing in the North of Ireland, this thesis departs from the established academic understanding of memory contestation by critically examining how memory is contested at an intra-communal level within rather than between ethno-nationalist collectives emerging from sustained political violence. It draws out the intrinsic importance that collective memory and master narratives hold for competing political elites who are vying for hegemony within an increasingly fractured constituency that is grappling with a process of transition out of political violence. Critically evaluating how memory impacts on individuals in terms of ideological positions, interpretation of political processes of transition, understandings of truth recovery, post-conflict 'moving on' processes with former enemies and the interpretation of on the ground lived reality in a post-conflict and post-reform environment, this thesis highlights how competing notions of continuity and rupture frame the extended Irish republican debate on policing. In doing so this thesis highlights how and why memory has successfully enabled Irish republicans to subscribe to 'critical engagement' with policing in the North of Ireland and how and why it has similarly precluded others from doing the same.

Integrated offender management (lOM) is a term used within criminal justice to describe a multi agency form of policing designed to (variously) deter, incapacitate or rehabilitate offenders defined as prolific. This thesis is a study of integrated offender management in England and Wales and is both empirical and theoretical in its focus. It draws on existing and original research to examine critically the practices and processes that occur during the day-to-day 'management' of recidivist offenders within a unique criminal justice setting. The study explores both the experiences of those working within IOM but also those subject to the scheme's dictates: prolific offenders. Accordingly, it considers the perspectives of these offenders, the police and other workers who form part of the lOM unit, including probation staff, prison officers and criminal justice intervention workers. A further aim of the study is to inform and refine theoretical debates about multi-agency working within a criminal justice setting and broader ideas about desistance. To do this I have situated what I found within theories about police decision-making and legitimacy. Based on these theories and empirical evidence, this study seeks to understand what kind of policing is taking place under the umbrella of IOM and with what implications for offender desistance, procedural justice and the proportionality of interventions in offenders' lives?

An exploration of the relationship between situated rank-and-file responses to reports of 'missing people', organisational policy and structure, and wider social, political, and economic conditions

No description available.