Introduction Flashcards
Networks of Informal, Private and State Provision
- Communal self-policing
Hue and Cry
- Private policing
Prosecution societies
‘Thief Takers’
- State involvement
Riots and public order: military and militia
The birth of the ‘new police’: What happened and when?
- Social context
Late 18th C – industrialization, urbanization, mobility and social dislocation
Concerns about rising crime and mob disorder - Legal precursors in Ireland and Scotland
1786 Dublin Police Act
1800 Glasgow Police Act
3. Establishment of the New Police in England & Wales 1829 Metropolitan Police Act 1839 County Police Act 1856 County and Borough Police Act Sources of opposition
‘Orthodox’ v . ‘Radical’ explanations
- Orthodox histories (e.g. Reith 1948)
Rational response to growing problems of crime and disorder associated with industrialisation, old system of policing inefficient and corrupt
Opposition due to narrow self-interest, stupidity and/or criminality
New policing reduced crime/disorder benefiting all but particularly the poor - Radical (‘Revisionist’) histories (e.g. Spitzer and Scull 1977)
Response to the control needs of industrial capitalism (political threats of ‘dangerous’ classes, need to discipline workers outside of the factory)
Entrenched opposition from the poor and working class (vocal opposition in parliament from MPs representing working class areas, anti-police riots)
Main beneficiaries were the capitalist class
Ideological role of ‘New Police’ – symbolism/imagery vital to their acceptance
‘Policing by consent’: The principles of the New Policing (Rowan and Mayne – first Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police)
- Bureaucratic organization
- Rule of Law
- Minimal Force
- Non-partisanship
- Accountability
- Service Role
- Prevention
- Effectiveness
The Dixon Years: The Golden Age of British policing?
- 1950s – height of the imagery of ‘policing by consent’
- Full employment, extension of franchise, unions and rise of Labour Party
- Welfare state and growing equality
- Policing as a ‘sacred’ institution
Challenges to police legitimacy: Late 1960s-1990s
- Increasing crime rates and insecurity
- Growing middle class conflict with police
- Miscarriages of justice
- Police corruption scandals
- ‘Paramilitary’ public order policing
- Politicization of policing
- Wider societal changes – breakdown of post-war consensus, growing inequality and social divisions, more individualistic and less deferential society
August 2011: The English Riots
- Most serious civil disorder since 1980s
- London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford
- 5 deaths, 100s injured, £millions damage
- Toxic relations between policing and young people in inner city areas (see Newburn 2015)
Conclusions: Back to the Future?
• Significant continuities today with ‘pre-police policing’
- Private security, diversification of patrol provision, growing ‘self-help’ provision
- Austerity and police cuts
• But also major differences from past eras
- Mass media and globalization
- Continued symbolic dominance of the public police
- “The police are a Teflon service: they have survived all manner of scandal and controversy to remain a powerful political and cultural force” (Reiner, 2010)
Definition of Police Discretion
“The unwritten rule that police officers have the right to be selective in how they do their jobs as long as they stay within widely prescribed departmental guidelines.”
Key Elements:
• Deciding which rules to apply to a given situation
• Deciding whether to apply them
Lord Scarman (1981)
“The exercise of discretion lies at the heart of the policing function. It is undeniable that there is only one law for all; and it is right that this should be so. But it is equally well recognized that successful policing depends on the exercise of discretion on how the law is enforced. Discretion is the art of suiting action to particular circumstances.”
Police Discretion
- Is THE defining feature of police work
- Is concentrated in the lower ranks of the police organisation
- ‘Street-level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 1980)
Sources of Discretion
• Nature of criminal law
- Vague definitions, conflicting expectations
- Law used for social and medical problems
• Police work environment
- Limited supervision of officers
- Private encounters
• Limited police resources
- Myth of full enforcement
Police discretionary decisions
- Recording crime
- Stops and searches
- Collecting evidence
- Making arrests
- Proactive investigations
- Case finalization
Factors Influencing Discretionary Decisions - 1
• Situational features of the incident**
- Seriousness of the crime
- Strength of the evidence
- Victim preference
- Relationship between victim and suspect
- Suspect demeanour and condition
- Victim characteristics
- Numbers, volume or aggression
** Most important determinants of police behaviour
Factors Influencing Discretionary Decisions - 2
• Immediate work environment
- Location
- Time
•Force characteristics
- Specific/formalized policy
- Professionalism/bureaucratization (Wilson)
•Officer characteristics
- Race
- Gender
- Education
PROBLEMS WITH UNCONTROLLED DISCRETION
Denial of equal protection under the law
Poor police-community relations
Poor personnel management
Poor planning and policy development
Goldstein (1960)
“An officer’s decision, however, not to investigate or report adequately a disturbing event which he has reason to believe constitutes a violation of the criminal law does not ordinarily carry with it consequences sufficiently visible to make the community, the legislature, the prosecutor, or the courts aware of a possible failure of service.”
Who does policing-related research?
University academics /students (e.g. SOCSI, Crime & Security Research Institute at Cardiff University)
National governments (Home Office – England and Wales; Scottish government)
Local governments (community safety)
The police service (researchers/analysts working in force HQ, PCC offices)
National agencies (College of Policing, HMICFRS)
Independent Commission for Complaints Against Police (ICCP)
Independent research institutes (Policy Studies Institute, The Police Foundation)
Commercial consultancies (e.g. MORI, Price Waterhouse Cooper)
Think Tanks (e.g. Policy Exchange; Institute for Public Policy Research)
Campaigning/ third sector groups (e.g. Liberty, Women’s Aid)
Key questions of policing research
- What do the police do?
Crime investigation/law enforcement
Order maintenance/peacekeeping
Public reassurance and emergency response - How effective are the police?
How is ‘success’ defined, and for whom?
What evidence is being used to evaluate effectiveness? - What do the police think?
What are the attitudes and beliefs of police officers?
What is the relationship between attitudes and behaviour?
To what extent does this reveal a distinctive ‘cop culture’? - What is the relationship between the police and the public?
How do the public perceive the police, and vice versa?
How is this relationship affected by police and community characteristics? - How are the police presented in the media?
“Factual” representations of policing in the news
“Fictional” portrayals of the police in film and TV - How accountable are the police?
Accountability of policing policy
Complaints systems and legal redress
Evidence-based policing
“Three Rs”
Random patrol
Rapid response
Reactive investigations
“Triple-T”
Targeting
Testing
Tracking
Research informing police policy & practice: Policing domestic violence
Three substantive examples
Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (field experiment)
The Domestic Violence Arrest Decision (cross-sectional)
Risk-led policing and the DASH risk tool (mixed methods)
Example 1 (Experiment): Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment
Which police response is most effective for domestic assault?
Experimental group
Those incidents where officers made an arrest or separated the parties
Control group
Those incidents where officers offered advice or mediated the situation
Dependent variable
Re-offending by domestic violence perpetrators
FINDINGS:
Experimental Group 1 Arrest the offender O1 X1 O2 19%
Experimental Group 2 Separate the parties O1 X2 O2 33%
Control Group Advise or mediate O1 O2 37%
Example 2 (Cross-sectional): Policing Domestic Violence in Flint, Michigan
“The Domestic Violence Arrest Decision: Examining Demographic, Attitudinal, and Situational Variables”
Which type of variable will exert the most influence on an officer’s decision to make an arrest at a domestic violence incident?
Demographic
Attitudinal
Situational
Example 2 (Cross-sectional): Policing Domestic Violence in Flint, Michigan
FINDINGS & CRITIQUES:
Situational variables provide the most explanation for the arrest decision.
Witnesses present (1.79)
Victim/suspect cohabitating (2.02)
Last hour of shift (-1.32)
Why arrest?
There are other important police activities and decisions to study
What about organisational factors?
None were included in the multivariate models (e.g. time, resource levels)
Pseudo R²
Typically very low in social science research
Cross-sectional versus longitudinal research
The ‘chicken and egg’ problem
Example 3 (mixed methods): Risk-Led Policing in the UK and the DASH risk model
NATIONAL MAPPING EXERCISE:
- Analysis of 43 forces to describe their approach
- Aimed to identify different approaches or models of risk-led policing
- Three forces representing three different models chosen for fieldwork
FIEDLWORK IN 3 FORCES
- 61 interviews with police & partners
- 120 hours of observations
- 1296 online survey responses
- Analysis of 2000 domestic abuse reports
Example 3 (mixed methods): Risk-Led Policing in the UK and the DASH risk model
FINDINGS & CRITIQUES:
Although the DASH ‘concept’ is valued, the operational delivery of it is being questioned.
Quality and completeness of DASH is a concern to both police and partners.
Police understanding of domestic abuse and risk largely informed by physical violence (little understanding of coercive control).
Critique: process rather than outcome evaluation; focus on IPV rather than DVA more broadly
