Policing and Criminology

Craig Paterson, Ed Pollock

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780857254139
• eBook ISBN: 9780857254146
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

A concise and up to date introduction to criminology for those undertaking degrees and foundation degrees in policing, police studies and related subjects. It provides an introduction to criminological perspectives on the development of the police service over the last 200 years alongside an overview of contemporary themes. Key topics include the changing role of policing, police governance and accountability, policing philosophies and strategies and the globalisation of policing. The book also examines the role criminology has played in the modernisation agenda and police reform, the shift to evidence-led policing, and the relationship between criminological theory and police practice.

1 An introduction to criminology

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• identify the historical links between policing and criminological study;
• identify essential criminological tools and their role in researching the police and policing;
• identify different criminological theories;
• understand the role of criminological study in researching the police and policing.

LINKS TO STANDARDS

This chapter provides opportunities for links with the following Skills for Justice, National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Policing and Law Enforcement 2008.

AE1 Maintain and develop your own knowledge, skills and competence.

CA1 Use law enforcement actions in a fair and justified way.

HA2 Manage your own resources and professional development.

Introduction

Policing has been a subject of social inquiry throughout the history of the United Kingdom (from now onwards the UK), across Europe, and further afield. From the Knights Templar in the Holy Land during the Crusades to the Spanish Inquisition in early modern Europe, history provides us with numerous examples of famous (and infamous) groups and individuals whose job it was to police social order. The study of policing, therefore, pre-dates criminology and criminologists by centuries. In contemporary societies, the Police Service, as an institution, and policing, as a key social function, are key components of democratic social order across the world. This societal position makes careful scrutiny of the role and function of the Police Service essential, and criminologists have taken it upon themselves to develop numerous critiques of the ways in which the police and policing operate within societies.

This book provides an introduction to the criminological study of policing which, in the Anglo-American context, emerged during the 1960s and has remained a core constituent of criminological study ever since. Over the past decade, a new academic area of study has come to the fore, police studies, which draws on criminological study and other academic subjects. The following pages will provide you with a guide to the broad contours of police studies and criminology plus the contribution each can make to understanding developments in policing in the UK and elsewhere.

Criminological inquiry revolves around two central areas.

1. Analysis of the causes of crime.
2. Evaluation and analysis of methods of crime control.

This twin focus on why people commit crime and how societies manage crime problems provides the bedrock of the academic discipline of criminology. Criminological study of the police emerged out of the social conflict of the 1960s, which bore witness to an acceleration in social change that was accompanied by urban unrest, political protest and new social problems for the police to manage. Early studies identified a perception of the police’s role as crime fighters, both within the police and from outside, while empirical studies (the cornerstone of criminological inquiry) provided evidence of the police’s role in maintaining social order and keeping the peace. It is important to note at this stage that the focus of this book is policing and criminology in the UK. Policing in the UK is split into three jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, although there are a number of national agencies that operate across all three areas. Although consideration is given of policing institutions and processes across the world (particularly in Chapter 8), this is mainly used to provide analytical context which helps us understand developments in the UK.

PRACTICAL TASK

Before you read on any further, have a think about what the main crime problems are in your area. Now have a look at your local crime and policing website (www.police.uk/). Are the crime problems that the statistics highlight the same as the ones you imagined?

The purpose of the book

The book highlights the links between the academic discipline of criminology, developments in policing and the police profession to bridge the gap between academic study and police practice. In order to do this, the book examines the development of the Police Service and their changing role in society. Links are made between criminological theory and police responses to offending and disorder, and the reader is introduced to a range of policing theories, the role of values and ethics and the multi-agency context of twenty-first century policing. The book provides an introduction to criminological perspectives on the development of the Police Service in England and Wales over the past 200 years alongside an overview of key contemporary themes in policing. Key topics include the changing role of policing in society, police governance and accountability, policing philosophies and strategies, the pluralisation of policing and the globalisation of policing. The book also examines the role criminology has played in the police reform and modernisation agenda and the shift to evidence-led approaches to policing. It also provides key information and learning materials for students on criminology and policing courses.

The structure of the book

This chapter introduces readers to the academic subject of criminology and its relationship with policing. A brief history of policing research is provided, and this is followed by an overview of links between criminological theories and developments in policing functions. Chapter 2 outlines the circumstances in which the ‘new police’ were established in England and Wales during the nineteenth century and provides an introduction to criminological accounts of the historical development of the police. Chapter 3 discusses the changing role and function of the Police Service throughout the twentieth century. A historical account of dominant policing philosophies and strategies is provided along with links to changing criminological perspectives on offending. Chapter 4 looks specifically at the contribution criminology has made to the study of policing during the second half of the twentieth century and the development of police studies over the past decade. Links will be made to the ‘crisis of legitimacy’ that the police experienced during the 1970s and 1980s in order to provide context for the later chapters on police reform.

Chapter 5 introduces readers to the re-invention of community policing during a historical period when consent towards the police from communities could no longer be guaranteed. Chapter 6 develops focus on police reform and looks at the pluralisation of policing provision and the impact this has had on the role of the Police Service and other agencies. Chapter 7 focuses on contemporary debates about police ethics and police reform in addition to presenting key arguments in previous chapters in an ethical or value-based context. Chapter 8 introduces students to the connections between the globalisation of crime and policing responses to crime. This includes the impact on policing of new technologies, global trade, population mobility and human trafficking, serious and organised crime, terrorism and other important contemporary topics. Finally, Chapter 9 discusses the likely shape of policing in the UK as we move further into the twenty-first century. In particular, the chapter considers how the Police Service might be required to contribute to multi-agency initiatives alongside other policing and offender management agencies, as well as with the contemporary focus on active citizens.

REFLECTIVE TASK

What do you think are the main responsibilities and duties of the Police Service in the UK? The Home Office’s Police Service website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/) provides you with an introduction to the many and varied responsibilities of the twenty-first century police.

Researching the police

Although criminological research of the police did not begin until the 1960s, there is an extensive range of sources of historical data which allows us to research the role that the Police Service has played in society since its establishment in 1829. Early histories of the police portray the creation of the police institution as part of the enlightenment progress towards a more civilised society and a legacy of benevolent police reformers with great foresight. This perspective was challenged from the 1970s onwards as critics of the police challenged this consensus vision of the police role. Despite this sustained critique, the criminological importance of the early histories lay in identifying the policy process through which the police institution was established as a key source of criminological analysis. This focus on contemporary public and private debates in addition to policy document analysis remain a part of the process of understanding governmental aims today and is a core constituent of all of the three main areas of police research.

• Sociological analysis of the police and policing.
• Cultural analysis of the police institution.
• Critiques of the police role and function, philosophies and strategies.

The sociological perspective

Until the 1950s the police were not subjected to in-depth social scientific study. This changed with the publication of Michael Banton’s (1964) The Policeman in the Community. Banton challenged the dominant policing narrative, which had been created by former senior police officers, civil servants and politicians, and which made links between the police and social stability and order. Banton’s work paved the way for a multitude of sociological studies of the police that shone a new light on the police role and emphasised the importance of peace-keeping ahead of crime fighting.

Banton was conducting his research at a time (1960-63) when public allegations of police corruption and misconduct were becoming increasingly prevalent. Banton’s research was published at the same time as the introduction of the 1964 Police Act that reformed the structure of the Police Service in England and Wales in response to concerns about police inefficiency and impropriety and this made him the first criminologist to recognise the importance of the role of the police officer in society (police-community relations) and the use (and misuse) of police discretion, though his analysis was framed by a consensual vision of society. The most prominent contemporary development in the social scientific study of the police has been in an area known as administrative criminology. Administrative criminology is normally funded by central government or individual police forces and uses specific research methodologies to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of different police, as well as other criminal justice, initiatives.

The cultural perspective

The police are a cultural institution that symbolise certain aspects of Britishness in the same way as the Anglican Church, the British monarchy, and fish and chips. Following on from Banton, many criminologists in the UK looked specifically at the role of police culture and the administration of street-level justice by police officers. Using mainly ethnographic methodologies, where a researcher submerges himself or herself in the occupational culture of an organisation, a body of literature on British police culture was built up by scholars such as Reiner (2010), Holdaway (1984) and Fielding (1988) throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. This literature highlighted the importance of ‘cop culture’ to policing as a consequence of the discretion that police officers are allowed when undertaking everyday police work.

Street-level policing often takes place away from the eyes of sergeants and inspectors and is subsequently rendered invisible from managerial figures. At first, the ‘cop culture’ literature focused upon the role of ‘street cops’ rather than managers and because of this it was often referred to as ‘canteen culture’. Much of the early literature on cop culture highlighted the negative impact of the culture upon operational policing, particularly where the police did not pro...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 An introduction to criminology
• 2 Policing and society
• 3 The evolution of policing in the twentieth century
• 4 Theories of police culture
• 5 Police reform and the restoration of community policing
• 6 Policing in a multi-agency context
• 7 Police ethics, values and legitimacy
• 8 The globalisation of policing
• 9 Policing in the twenty-first century: towards the active community?
• Index