This study examines the development of police stop and search in Scotland from the post-war period onwards. The aim is to explain the remarkable scale of stop and search, the attendant lack of political or academic engagement prior to the formation of the single service in in April 2013, and to draw out the implications, both for policing and the public. The thesis takes a top-down perspective which seeks to explain the policing direction in terms of elite outlooks and decision-making over time. It is argued that search rates in contemporary Scotland can be explained in terms of an incremental shift in the way that the tactic has been conceptualized by political and policing elites. Specifically, it is argued that the post-war construct of stop and search as a reactive mechanism premised on investigation, detection and the disruption of crime, has been displaced by a proactive model, premised on intensive, risk-based stop and search activity. It is argued that this shift has partly attenuated the link between stop searches and suspicious behaviour by introducing non-detection as a measure of successful deterrence, alongside the traditional aim of detection. In short, it is argued that stop and search has been remodelled as a tactic that can be legitimated irrespective of the outcome. The thesis will show how this shift has progressively weighted the balance between crime control and individual freedom in favour of the state, and weakened the rights of the individual, with minimal regard for procedural protection and human rights. The thesis employs a wide range of data sources and methodologies to investigate the core argument, which is developed from three interrelated positions. First, taking a historical perspective, the thesis examines elite sensibilities and decision-making in relation to stop and search from the early 1950s, through to the early 2000s. Next, the thesis adopts an empirical position to investigate the use of stop and search between 2005 and 2010, and shows how search activity on the street reflected dominant outlooks higher up the ranks. Finally, the thesis adopts a normative perspective in order to assess the ethical implications of stop and search practice in Scotland, and to develop a series of informed recommendations for policy and practice.

In 2011 five days of rioting spread across many English towns and cities. David Cameron, then UK Prime Minister, described these events as ‘criminality, pure and simple’, inhibiting serious examination of what happened and justifying harsh punitive sentences for rioters. This thesis explains and counters the naïve individualism that underpins the discourse of ‘criminality’; but further argues that such discursive acts are representative of a broader problem within the social order that is causally implicated the violence in 2011. In contrast to the popular and sociological approach of analysing the singular ‘riot’, ‘riot actions’ are conceptualised as the foci of analysis, and in turn argued as acts of resistance generated by the organisation and practice of power within the social order. Thus riot actions are conceptualised and function as a symptom and entry point by which analysis can better get under the skin of the social order and understand its failing. Arguing for violent acts against the police as symptomatic of the social order’s failure, the thesis examines instances of these in the 2011 and 1980s riots. The thesis explores and compares the involvement of race, exclusion, social identity, and police during and across these periods. It further examines how neoliberal forms of exclusion have shaped the possibilities of riotous actions, before performing a situational analysis of video footage of the 2011 riots. To facilitate this approach the thesis develops a theory of action/resistance through an account of the production of agency. The theory connects Bourdieu’s theorisation of habitus and disposition, utilises an expressive understanding of shame and self-esteem, and Butler’s notion of performativity. Thus we seek to understand how structured experiences, in particular social and economic exclusion, become meaningful to those excluded, and how this shapes violent acts as meaningful performances. The thesis argues that resistance is generated through power relations, which amongst many rioters, are failing to reproduce the sense of self-worth required for identification with and engagement in, the social order. From this standpoint, then, riotous resistance cannot be explained as distinct from the social order, which shapes agency’s ‘necessary scene’, but as rational and emotional responses to it. The emergence of neoliberalism and individualism in the 1970s and 1980s created an epistemological and thus ontological shift, reshaping how disrespect and disempowerment is experienced and understood by excluded groups. These shifts or emergences have diminished the capacity of socially and economically excluded groups to generate Politicised identities and forms of resistance. Consequently, rather than ‘criminality’ - a moral condemnation - the 1980s and 2011, saw an increasing emergence of individualised - rather than Politicised - forms of resistance against the social and political order. Individualised resistance to power within the social order is ‘performed’ through short-term goals that momentarily re- arrange these power relations with regards to the self and police. In these behaviours, structurally produced shame and anger are expressed, social identities are formed and realised through a common complaint and goal, and the self achieves value through attacking or confounding the police.

The study asks what factors first captures police officers attention and what other factors are added to the decision to stop a specific vehicle in a self-initiated vehicle stop. The methods used to examine the questions are interviews and participant observations with twelve policeofficers on active patrol duty in the Stockholm area. During the study twelve interviews were conducted and a total of twenty-five vehicle stops were observed and the data was thematically analysed. The results show that a number of differents factors are taken into account when deciding to stop a specific vehicle. The conditions surrounding the stop was afactor taking other traffic and light conditions into account. Incongruences in the persons behavior and reactions to the police officers as well as displaying aggressive or irregular driving were factors. Additional factors that were taken into account during the profiling were the time and place and the condition of the vehicle. Furthermore, factors concerning the persons in the vehicle were added. They could be perceived as interesting based on gender, age and how they dressed. No theme describing ethnicity as a factor has been found. The fact that a vehicle was in an area deemed to be of special interest for the officers was also acommon theme. What first caught the attention of the officers in regards to a specific vehicle would vary based on the conditions in the specific situation. The most common theme when it came to the first factors was that something was perceived as being incongruent when it came to behavior or driving style or that the vehicle itself signaled that a stop could be interesting, usually a high-status car or an older car with defects. The fact that a vehicle was found in an area of interest was also a common first factor. Parallells drawn to previous research och theory show that the they are consistent with the result presented in the study. Special focus is given to social schema-theory and theories concerning social cognition and attention.

Esta tese avalia o impacto do treinamento no desempenho individual, durante a abordagem, analisando a capacidade de um grupo de policiais militares seguir procedimentos operacionais padrão (POP), após o treinamento. Em 2002, a Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo criou o SISUPA Sistema de Supervisão e Padronização uma política que padroniza procedimentos operacionais e sistematiza a supervisão e treinamento dos policiais de rua. Desempenhar as tarefas cotidianas de maneira coerente com os procedimentos padronizados pode diminuir tanto o grau de exposição ao risco do policial, como a possibilidade de prática abusiva. Em pesquisa realizada anteriormente constatamos a tendência do policial não seguir os POP de abordagem (PINC, 2007a). Entendemos que esse resultado estava relacionado a ausência de treinamento. Neste sentido, a hipótese central desta pesquisa sustenta que o treinamento aproxima o comportamento individual do policial, durante as abordagens, do padrão estabelecido pela polícia. Para testar esta hipótese realizamos um quase experimento com dois grupos não-equivalentes. Os grupos foram observados por meio da técnica da observação social sistemática (OSS), que registrou as imagens do desempenho dos policiais realizando abordagens sem que soubessem que estavam sendo observados. Como instrumento de avaliação do desempenho, usamos um questionário para buscar identificar a presença de quatorze procedimentos padronizados, em cada uma das 199 abordagens selecionadas na amostra. O treinamento de 60 horas foi aplicado a apenas um dos grupos, entre a primeira e a segunda etapa da OSS. A análise de regressão empregou o modelo estatístico do Difference-in-Difference. Os resultados indicam que o treinamento não atingiu o objetivo de mudar comportamento. Por fim, entendemos que esse resultado está relacionado, principalmente, à metodologia empregada no treinamento. / thesis evaluates the impact of the training on individual performance during the stop and search, analyzing the ability of a group of military police officer following standard procedures after training. In 2002, the Military Police of São Paulo State created a policy which standardized operational procedures (SOP) and a system of supervision and training. Performing daily tasks in a manner consistent with the standardized procedures can reduce both the degree of risk to the police officer and the possibility of abusive practice. Earlier research showed the tendency of the police officer not following the SOP (PINC, 2007a). I argue that the result was related to the absence of training. In this sense, the central hypothesis of this research establishes that training procedures might change police officers behavior by assuring the compliance with institutional standards. To test this hypothesis this study developed a quasi-experiment with two non-equivalent groups. The groups were observed by the systematic social observation (SSO) technique, which videotaped the performance of police officers during the stop and search without knowing they were being watched. The research used a questionnaire as instrument to identify the presence of fourteen standard procedures in each of the 199 stop and search selected in the sample. The 60 hours of training was applied to just one group, between the first and second stage of the SSO. Regression analysis used the statistical model of the Difference-in-Difference. The results indicate that training has not changed the police officers behavior. Finally, this result is mainly related to the methodology used in the training.

Esta tese avalia o impacto do treinamento no desempenho individual, durante a abordagem, analisando a capacidade de um grupo de policiais militares seguir procedimentos operacionais padrão (POP), após o treinamento. Em 2002, a Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo criou o SISUPA Sistema de Supervisão e Padronização uma política que padroniza procedimentos operacionais e sistematiza a supervisão e treinamento dos policiais de rua. Desempenhar as tarefas cotidianas de maneira coerente com os procedimentos padronizados pode diminuir tanto o grau de exposição ao risco do policial, como a possibilidade de prática abusiva. Em pesquisa realizada anteriormente constatamos a tendência do policial não seguir os POP de abordagem (PINC, 2007a). Entendemos que esse resultado estava relacionado a ausência de treinamento. Neste sentido, a hipótese central desta pesquisa sustenta que o treinamento aproxima o comportamento individual do policial, durante as abordagens, do padrão estabelecido pela polícia. Para testar esta hipótese realizamos um quase experimento com dois grupos não-equivalentes. Os grupos foram observados por meio da técnica da observação social sistemática (OSS), que registrou as imagens do desempenho dos policiais realizando abordagens sem que soubessem que estavam sendo observados. Como instrumento de avaliação do desempenho, usamos um questionário para buscar identificar a presença de quatorze procedimentos padronizados, em cada uma das 199 abordagens selecionadas na amostra. O treinamento de 60 horas foi aplicado a apenas um dos grupos, entre a primeira e a segunda etapa da OSS. A análise de regressão empregou o modelo estatístico do Difference-in-Difference. Os resultados indicam que o treinamento não atingiu o objetivo de mudar comportamento. Por fim, entendemos que esse resultado está relacionado, principalmente, à metodologia empregada no treinamento. / thesis evaluates the impact of the training on individual performance during the stop and search, analyzing the ability of a group of military police officer following standard procedures after training. In 2002, the Military Police of São Paulo State created a policy which standardized operational procedures (SOP) and a system of supervision and training. Performing daily tasks in a manner consistent with the standardized procedures can reduce both the degree of risk to the police officer and the possibility of abusive practice. Earlier research showed the tendency of the police officer not following the SOP (PINC, 2007a). I argue that the result was related to the absence of training. In this sense, the central hypothesis of this research establishes that training procedures might change police officers behavior by assuring the compliance with institutional standards. To test this hypothesis this study developed a quasi-experiment with two non-equivalent groups. The groups were observed by the systematic social observation (SSO) technique, which videotaped the performance of police officers during the stop and search without knowing they were being watched. The research used a questionnaire as instrument to identify the presence of fourteen standard procedures in each of the 199 stop and search selected in the sample. The 60 hours of training was applied to just one group, between the first and second stage of the SSO. Regression analysis used the statistical model of the Difference-in-Difference. The results indicate that training has not changed the police officers behavior. Finally, this result is mainly related to the methodology used in the training.

In the spring of 2024, a new regulation was introduced in Sweden that makes it possible to establish security zones, previously referred to as stop and search zones. This thesis examines the compatibility of security zones with key principles of the rule of law and human rights in light of the prevalence of racial/ethnic profiling. The study sheds light on both the legal and societal consequences that security zones and racial/ethnic profiling may entail. The paper applies a legal method, combined with two theories concerning structural racism and stigma. The interdisciplinary approach has proven crucial to enable a contextual analysis of security zones and racial/ethnic profiling, as well as to achieve a deeper understanding of the legal issues involved. The study identifies a gap in addressing racist actions in Sweden, resulting in weak protection against discrimination, particularly in the context of police law enforcement. Failure to acknowledge and take action against racial/ethnic profiling contravenes Sweden's international human rights obligations. Furthermore, a limited ability to address racism risks legitimizing serious restrictions on human rights and the rule of law, with the regulation of security zones serving as an example. The thesis suggests an increased interdisciplinary approach within the field of law, a well-balanced proportionality assessment, and a more comprehensive focus on the potential consequences of human rights restrictions. It also proposes an extension of the Swedish Discrimination Act to include protection against discriminatory actions by the police, and the establishment of an independent body to oversee the Police Authority.