Police Culture In A Changing World

This fascinating new title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on extensive field work across a range of ranks and units in the UK's police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic and political change have had on police culture. She offers new understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and equitable service to all groups in society. Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a a truly comprehensive analysis of present day policing culture.

In this case study of police racism and police reform in Australia, the author provides a critical assessment of police initiative in response to the problem of police/minorities relations.

This book brings together knowledge, debates and themes of police culture in one highly accessible resource to provide an overview of the key literature of the area.

Democratic policing today is a widely used approach to policing not only in Western societies but increasingly around the world. Yet it is rarely defined and it is little understood by the public and even by many of its practitioners. Peter K. Manning draws on political philosophy, sociology and criminal justice to develop a widely applicable fundamental conception of democratic policing. In the process he delineates today's relationship between democracy and policing. Democratic Policing in a Changing World documents the failure of police reform, showing that each new approach - such as crime mapping and 'hot spots' policing - fails to alter any fundamental practice and has in fact increased social inequalities. He offers a new and better approach for scholars, policy makers, police, governments and societies.

Community policing has often been promoted, particularly in liberal democratic societies, as the best approach to align police services with the principles of good security sector governance (SSG). The stated goal of the community policing approach is to reduce fear of crime within communities, and to overcome mutual distrust between the police and the communities they serve by promoting police-citizen partnerships. This SSR Paper traces the historical origins of the concept of community policing in Victorian Great Britain and analyses the processes of transfer, implementation, and adaptation of approaches to community policing in Imperialand post-war Japan, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. The study identifies the factors that were conducive or constraining to the establishment of community policing in each case. It concludes that basic elements of police professionalism and local ownership are necessary preconditions for successfully implementing community policing according to the principles of good SSG. Moreover, external initiatives for community policing must be more closely aligned to the realities of the local context.

Police culture has for over half a century attracted interest from academics, students, policy-makers, police institutions and the general public. However, the literature of this area has proven to be diverse, sprawling and prone to contradiction which has led to an enthralling yet intricate body of knowledge that, whilst continuing to provoke interest and debate, has largely escaped any wider commentary. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the area of police culture primarily by situating it in the context of the literature of organisational culture. From this starting point, the idea of police culture is developed as an occupationally-situated response to the uniqueness of the police role and one in which our understanding is, at times, hindered by the challenges of definitional, operational and analytical concerns. The book then charts the development of our understanding of the concept, through traditional explanations to the contemporary, highlighting in turn the tensions that exist between the elements of continuity in the police world and those of change. Police culture: themes and concepts draws on research from the 1950s to the 21st century from the UK, USA and elsewhere to show how the historical trajectory of police work from its early origins through to the late modern present have imbued it with a complexity that is undermined by deterministic explanations that seek to simplify the social world of the police officer. This book will be of interest to academics and students studying the sociology of policing as well as criminology.

Police culture has been widely criticized as a source of resistance to change and reform, and is often misunderstood. This book seeks to capture the heart of police culture—including its tragedies and celebrations—and to understand its powerful themes of morality, solidarity, and common sense, by systematically integrating a broad literature on police culture into middle-range theory, and developing original perspectives about many aspects of police work.

Explaining the ways the concept of police culture has meaning in contemporary UK policing and has relevance to the lives of police practitioners, this book will enable both police officers and students of policing to understand the relevance of cultural factors to numerous areas of police business including the police/public relationship, diversity, management/leadership, specialization, professionalization, technology and police reform. To achieve this, the book uses an evidence-based approach to under-pinning the concepts (and applications of concept) covered in this book.