Policing Images

Rob Mawby

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781903240717
• eBook ISBN: 9781135995942
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

In recent years the police have become one of the most watched and most visible organisations, and across the media there has been constant interest in the police. In such a situation the police themselves have been intensely concerned with promoting, projecting and protecting the police image.

This book is concerned to document and to explain this image work, the activities in which the police engage that construct and project images of policing. Drawing upon first-hand research with the police themselves (including such examples as the way the South Yorkshire Police handled the Miners Strike and the Hillsborough stadium disaster), the book includes a detailed look at police press and public relations officers at work, and at operational policing and police work. Its broader argument is that image work has the capacity to both legitimate policing and to mask problems of legitimation.

At a time of intense debate about the future role and nature of the police this book makes a key contribution, and raises important questions about the implications of police image work for both democratically accountable policing and the wider transformations in society being brought about by the media and its management.

Chapter 1

A history of police image work 1829–1987

The Police are reminded of the great importance of not using any irritating language or expressions … the more good temper and coolness shown by the Police whenever they are called upon to act, the more readily will all the well disposed assist them in preserving the public peace. (Metropolitan Police General Regulations, Instructions and Orders, 1851 edition)

Numerous examples were found in all forces visited of poor behaviour towards members of the public and colleagues alike … Every time an officer abuses the trust placed in him or her by the public, the collective image of the Police Service is damaged. (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary 1999: 3)

Policing in Great Britain has always been as much a matter of image as substance. (Reiner 1994a: 11)

Activities which fall under the umbrella of ‘image management’ or ‘promotionalism’ have been brought to bear in recent years on the British police service, including corporate identity, marketing, press and public relations activities.¹ However, image management is not exclusively a modern practice; police image work has always existed. By ‘image work’ I mean all the activities in which police forces engage and which construct and project images and meanings of policing. These include overt and intended image-management activities, but also the less obvious, the unintended, the mundane practices of police work which communicate images of policing. This chapter traces the emergence of police image work from the establishment of the modern police in 1829 by Robert Peel through to the appointment of Peter Imbert as Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 1987. In doing so the chapter considers the origins of the police image and the key shifts in its management. The character of image work changes during the period. Initially it is piecemeal and concerned with the design and establishment of an appropriate image, whilst later, reflecting developments in the media, image work is closely connected to press and public relations activities and the establishment of systems for communication. Throughout the period, however, image work is related to legitimacy, initially its fostering, latterly its maintenance.

Four historical phases encapsulate particular characteristics of image work. The first period, that of informal image work runs from 1829 to 1919. In this period there were no formal mechanisms, though image was uppermost in elite minds and its communication was important. Image making was at work in the design and presentation of a force with a specific and not wholly welcomed role in society. The second period is one of emergent public relations and runs from 1919 through to 1972. It starts with the establishment of the first police force press bureau, marking the formalisation of police-press relations. This period sees greater resources dedicated to establishing formal channels for image and information management, though developments remain sporadic. The third period, embedding public relations starts with the appointment of Robert Mark as Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 1972. Mark embarked upon a policy of what he called ‘open administration’ (Mark 1978: 135) which included a radical revision of the Met.’s relationship with the news media. This policy was continued by Mark’s successors, David McNee (1977–82) and Kenneth Newman (1982–87). The fourth period, that of professionalisation of police image work, begins with the appointment of Peter Imbert as Metropolitan Police Commissioner in 1987 and runs through to the present day. During this period Imbert commissioned the advice of corporate image consultants and, outside the Metropolitan Police Service (hereafter the Met.), in many forces communication of the police image became a discrete activity resourced by trained professionals.

The following sections of this chapter discuss the first three of these phases, the fourth phase is discussed in Chapter 2 within the context of wider developments in contemporary British policing. In this chapter discussion focuses on the national context and the Met. as this is the best documented and the Met. has been the barometer in terms of image promotion. The Met. is not typical in terms of image work, indeed as later chapters demonstrate, there is an uneven pattern of convergence and divergence in the organisation of image work. Nevertheless, historically, significant shifts have focused on the Met. and set the pattern for developments elsewhere.

Informal image work 1829–1919

During this initial phase which commences with the establishment of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the modern language of image management was not in existence and activities now recognisable within the spheres of corporate identity, marketing, press and public relations were not distinct activities with their own objectives. Yet the fore-runners of these image-making activities existed, wrapped up within the approach taken and the policies adopted by the architects of the modern police. In this sense image-building activities were inseparable from the raft of measures which were designed to establish an acceptable police service. As such, image making infused all activities aimed at legitimating the police service. This is a significant point. As this and later chapters explore, this was not always to be the case.

In The English Bobby: An Indulgent Tradition,² Clive Emsley addresses the origins of the image of the ‘Bobby’ and suggests how the ‘indulgent tradition’ developed and was maintained (Emsley 1992). Like others (Critchley 1973, Tobias 1975, Reiner 2000a), Emsley notes that in the 1820s there was opposition to the creation of a police force as the continental model of policing, which cast the police as overt and covert agents of the state (Chapman 1970), was alien to the English way of life. The historian E.P. Thompson (1980: 204) has noted ‘the peculiar jealousy of the British people towards the central powers of the state, their abhorrence of military intervention in civil affairs, their dislike of state espionage and of any form of heavy policing’. This was part of ‘Englishness’ as an ‘official identity’ and ‘cultural ideology’ forged during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and by the years of Empire (Haseler 1996: 2). Included within this identity was a commitment to such ideals as liberty, expressed, for example, through the campaigning, if self-serving, activities of John Wilkes (1727–97) (Pringle 1955: 169–82). The English were also suspicious of large standing armies and if a police force was to be established it required an image that disassociated itself from both the continental model and the military.

These ideals of ‘Englishness’ were initially an obstacle to the establishment of the modern police, yet policing was later to become an important ingredient in the construction of Englishness, officially and popularly represented as one of its ‘best in the world’ institutions. As Tobias points out:

The Metropolitan Police itself was born into a suspicious world full of people looking sharply for signs of a threat to liberty, and certainly its first leaders were constantly alert to suppress or prevent conduct likely to put the force in bad odour with the public. (Tobias 1975: 100).

To counter this suspicion, Critchley believes the most important founding principle for the new police was that they ‘must go out of their way to win the goodwill and cooperation of the public, advertising themselves as a service rather than a force’ (Critchley 1973: 30, emphasis added). Suspicion of the police, and the need for legitimation, has been and remains a consistent problem for the police to address.

Robert Peel and the first Metropolitan Police Commissioners, Richard Rowan and Charles Mayne, made a conscious contribution to the creation of a police force that was acceptable to the policed (Emsley 1992: 115–16, Reiner 2000a: 50). The image of this force was considered carefully and designed for specific purposes. The police were uniformed, to communicate the message that they were not spies, and the uniform was deliberately a different colour (blue) from military uniforms (black) (Reith 1943: 36, Ascoli 1979: 90). Secondly, the police were unarmed, again to distinguish them from the military, and the truncheons they carried were discretely positioned out of view in the tunic (Reith 1952: 152, Waddington 2000: 170). Thirdly, the low pay discouraged ‘gentlemen and commissioned officers’ from joining thus avoiding again the ‘taint of militarism’ (Emsley 1992: 116) and encouraging the incorporation of the working class. As Critchley puts it ‘the police and those with whom they were mainly likely to come into contact would have similar backgrounds and experience and, it was hoped, a degree of mutual sympathy, even forbearance, would develop’ (Critchley 1973: 31).

Image considerations run through the original Metropolitan Police Instructions of 1829 devised by Rowan and Mayne and issued to each recruit. These have a general tone of creating and maintaining a particular image. There are many references to the importance of being properly dressed in full uniform at all times and officers are instructed to give their names and divisions when so requested and are warned against concealing their numbers to prevent identification by members of the public (Metropolitan Police Orders, 11 October 1829, p. 55).³ There is an emphasis on officers using appropriate language and projecting a demeanour of civility and respect towards members of the public. For example, attention is drawn to the importance of treating visitors to police stations with ‘civility and attention’ (ibid, 6 August 1830, p. 66; 17 July 1831, pp. 75–6). Moreover:

The Police are reminded of the great importance of not using any irritating language or expressions … the more good temper and coolness shown by the Police whenever they are called upon to act, the more readily will all the well disposed assist them in preserving the public peace’. (ibid, 20 August 1842, p. 109).

Ascoli has noted that this is ‘a classic statement of the art of public relations in its widest sense’ (Ascoli 1979: 86). Officers are also exhorted ‘at a time when an attempt is made to create a strong prejudice against them, that they should do their duty with every possible moderation and forbearance’ (Metropolitan Police Orders, 1 November 1830, p. 71). They should act with ‘… utmost temper and forbearance … with good humour and civility’ (ibid, 26 October and 1 November 1830, p. 71). Image making then was present at the very inception of the modern police.⁴

Emsley argues that a favourable police image was able to develop through the non-political and locally accountable character of the police service operating within the ‘political stability and political structure of Victorian Britain’ (Emsley 1992: 118, 121–2). This was underpinned by the successful policing of such events as the Great Exhibition of 1851. Reiner puts forward eight characteristics that were used to foster legitimacy: a bureaucratic organisation; the rule of law; a strategy of minimal force; non-partisanship; accountability; the service role; preventive policing and police effectiveness (Reiner 2000a: 51–8). Approximately 25 years after the 1829 Metropolitan Police Act, through the use of such measures, the opposition to the new police was ebbing away:

Here was an institution which Englishmen could boast of as being particularly English in that, in contrast to European police organisations, it was generally unarmed, non-military, and non-political; it suited well the liberal Englishman’s notion that his country’s success derived from institutions, ideas and practices which provided models for the world. The police constable, to many middle-class Victorians, became the personification of an idealized image of the English legal system. (Emsley 1992: 118)

The acceptance of the police and the development of popular police images was aided by the growth of the media in the middle of the nineteenth century. During the 1840s, Britain experienced ‘the effective establishment of a popular Sunday press … the growth of new kinds of periodical … development of minor theatres … the rise of the music halls’ (Williams 1961: 72–3), all of which helped to develop and spread popular images of the police. Emsley (1996: 62–3) quotes favourable police character sketches from Punch (1851), The Times (1863) and The Quarterly Review (1856). In the same period a body of popular literature emerged providing positive representations of policing to the reading public. This comprised the reminiscences of police officers, accompanied by ‘a tide of fiction posing as genuine memoirs’ (Cox 1992: xiv), whilst, in contrast, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins based fictional characters on real police officers.⁵

Focusing on a particular aspect of English culture, namely theatrical entertainment, it is evident that by the early 1880s, favourable images of the police were being conveyed. In productions such as Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance (1880), the police were characterised as ‘decent, dutiful, well-meaning and incorruptible – even if not overbright’ (Cannadine 1992: 27). However, the images developing in popular culture were not wholly positive and uncritical. Punch appeared in 1841 and initially targeted the police with ‘ridicule and contempt’ (Ascoli 1979: 119) later softening to ‘joking and jibes’ (Emsley 1992: 120). In ballad literature and, later, in the music halls the police were satirised for their association with strong drink, as well as to cast doubt on their competence and honesty. Robert Mark relates in his autobiography that the music hall song ‘If you want to know the time ask a policeman’ originates not from police officers’ renowned time-keeping skill, but from the practice of police officers stealing watches from drunken ‘toffs’ (Mark 1978: 17; see also Reiner 1994a: 13–14). Steedman argues that police officers were ridiculed not only for their affinity to alcohol which conflicted with their duty to control drunkenness but also as working-class men that had ‘sought entry to a wider sphere … to become among those who govern and manage’ (Steedman 1984: 162). Indeed scholars have differentiated the acceptance of the police by the various sections of Victorian society, suggesting working class resentment of the new police remained after influential sections of the middle classes had been won over (Storch 1975, Brogden 1982: 180–1). In an examination of policing Islington in London, Cohen argues that police/working-class relations comprised ‘outright physical confrontation’ until around 1920 whereupon ‘an unwritten system of tacit negotiation’ emerged in its place (Cohen 1979: 123).

Cannadine notes that the positive depiction of the police in Pirates of Penzance was a recent innovation and in addition to reflecting changed attitudes, the theatrical images may have helped to create the new attitude (Cannadine 1992: 22). Traces of the ‘indulgent tradition’ are identifiable in this operetta. The image of the police officer was being conveyed affectionately, contributing to the establishment of the popular ‘Bobby’ image, joining other national symbols such as the Jack Tar and John Bull. This was the age of Empire, a time of national success, when the English identity had been established and the Empire had ‘added, to an already pretty elevated self-image of Englishness, the crucial ingredient of superiority.’ (Haseler 1996: 37). In Emsley’s words, ‘part of the success of Victorian society was rubbing off on its new guardians’ (Emsley 1996: 64).

In the late nineteenth century the social and political conditions of Victorian England had allowed the police to consolidate their role and image and by the early 1900s the Met. were being described as the ‘best police in the world’. Hansard records several occurrences of the police being described as the world’s best at the turn of the century and there are other similar references in contemporary books and newspapers (Emsley 1996: 94). By 1908 a Times editorial was describing the ‘policeman in London’ as ‘not merely guardian of the peace; he is an integral part of its social life … the best friend of a mass of people who have no other counsellor or protector’ (cited in Critchley 1978: 326). Although this sentiment might not have been held in all sections of society it is apparent that by the early twentieth century the police had gained a measure of legitimacy. In doing so the construction and communication of an appropriate image had been a significant factor in building support and acceptance, but the image work was informal, concerned with presentation, the inculcation of modes of behaviour for police officers and emphasising the distinct role of the new force as concerned with ‘the prevention of crime … the security of person and property, the preservation of the public tranquillity’ (General Instruction Book, 1829). In the period that followed, from 1919 to 1972, more formal arrangements for police image work were to emerge.

Emergent public relations 1919–1972

For 90 years the Met., and provincial forces for a shorter period, existed without a specialist department to represent them to the outside world and to liaise directly with the press. William McAdoo, a former New York City Police Commissioner, following a visit to London in 1909, noted with astonishment that the press praised the police ‘on every occasion’ but that they were not allowed into Scotland Yard (cited in Emsley 1992: 123). Emsley believes the lack of ‘continual press investigation and criticism probably contributed to the “indulgent tradition” in the early years of the twentieth century’ (Emsley 1992: 123). However, times were changing. In the second period of police image work the growth and influence of the popular press and the potential for police conflict with the middle classes, their traditional supporters,⁶ compelled the police to address formal mechanisms for image-management. This second phase of police image work begins with the establishment of the Scotland Yard Press Bureau in 1919 – the harbinger of formal police public relations activities.

In his study of crime reporting Chibnall documents that as popular journalism expanded and competition increased around the 1920s, the police were a crucial, if uncooperative news source. Consequently, informal arrangements for the acquiring of information often consisted of police officers selling information in pubs to reporters (Chibnall 1977: 49–51). When concern over this informal system reached the level of p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of figures and tables
• Introduction
• 1 A history of police image work 1829–1987
• 2 The professionalisation of police image work since 1987
• 3 Police legitimacy, communication and the public sphere
• 4 The national picture: systems of police image work
• 5 One force and its image
• 6 Press and public relations officers at work
• 7 Image work in routine policing
• 8 Image work, police work and legitimacy
• References
• Index