Initiating customer/police interaction in the UK: Early insights from research

Policing does not exist in a social, political or economic vacuum. As the task of policing becomes ever more complex, policing in the UK should explore innovative ways to remain effective. The notion that the public are the ‘customer’ is relatively new within the policing world and there is an increasing emphasis to ensure that the police maintain and preferably increase the public’s perception of the organisation. In the main, the public contact the police for some form of service and in times of austerity; police services across the country are attempting to align their service and organisational structures to customers’ needs in order to provide an economic and efficient service. In order to do this, the needs of those who receive the service need to be considered as the first step in this process. This article, based on recent research explores how customers engage with and contact the police and by better understanding the dynamics and intricacies of such contacts, may allow the police service in England and Wales to better understand customer preferences.     

Regulating stop and search: a challenge for police and community relations in England and Wales

Policing in England and Wales has become increasingly contested since the 1960s and has been subject to unprecedented levels of public scrutiny. Stop and search powers have played a central role in this process and, though often described as an essential part of modern policing, have continued to provide a flashpoint in police–community relations. In this article the authors briefly review the history of stop and search in England and Wales, drawing particular attention to the concerns that have been raised about the use of this power in relation to minority ethnic communities. The article goes on to consider how issues of public trust and confidence have been addressed and raises questions about the effectiveness of efforts to regulate this area of activity. Finally, we suggest that regulation has become too tightly bound to ‘‘race’’ and measures of disproportionality. Instead, we argue that the current focus on ‘‘race’’ should be broadened to include other groups that may be subject to over-policing and that monitoring should be based on a system of triangulation, which combines multiple indicators and mixed methods.     

A Challenge for Police-Community Relations: Rethinking Stop and Search in England and Wales

This article presents research carried out as part of a government research programme looking at how police tactic of 'stop and search' in England and Wales. For many years, figures which have shown a higher rate of stop and search of minority ethnic groups, particularly black people, have provoked much controversy, and have been seen by many as a manifestation of police racism. This article reviews the way in which stop and search impacts on public confidence, with particular reference to those from minority ethnic groups. It goes on to explore its role within policing, including an examination of its effectiveness against crime and the evidence for racism in police practice. Following from this, it considers how stop and search can be used in a way that minimises negative impacts on the community and maximises its effectiveness against crime.     

The Legal and Social Construction of Value in Government Procurement Markets

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 introduces a social value duty. It requires public authorities in England and Wales that are carrying out procurement activities to ‘consider’ how such activities might ‘improve … economic, social and environmental well-being’. This article analyses qualitative, empirical data on how the social value duty has been interpreted and applied across local government in England. Although only a weak legal duty, this law has made a notable impact on practice. The article explains the changes brought about in practice under the social value duty and seeks to understand why these changes have occurred. It does so by recognizing local government procurement markets, as well as local government organizations themselves, as strategic action fields. In these fields, there are competing visions for social value. It is through conversations between actors that a common meaning comes to be attached to the law.     

Public Experiences of Police Violence and Corruption in Contemporary Russia: A Case of Predatory Policing?

“Predatory policing” occurs where police officers mainly use their authority to advance their own material interests rather than to fight crime or protect the interests of elites. These practices have the potential to seriously compromise the public's trust in the police and other legal institutions, such as courts. Using data from six surveys and nine focus groups conducted in Russia, we address four empirical questions: (1) How widespread are public encounters with police violence and police corruption in Russia? (2) To what extent does exposure to these two forms of police misconduct vary by social and economic characteristics? (3) How do Russians perceive the police, the courts, and the use of violent methods by the police? (4) How, if at all, do experiences of police misconduct affect these perceptions? Our results suggest that Russia conforms to a model of predatory policing. Despite substantial differences in its law enforcement institutions and cultural norms regarding the law, Russia resembles the United States in that direct experiences of police abuse reduce confidence in the police and in the legal system more generally. The prevalence of predatory policing in Russia has undermined Russia's democratic transition, which should call attention to the indispensable role of the police and other public institutions in the success of democratic reforms.     

The Rise of Digital Justice: Courtroom Technology,Public Participation and Access to Justice

This article addresses a little discussed yet fundamentally important aspect of legal technological transformation: the rise of digital justice in the courtroom. Against the backdrop of the government's current programme of digital court modernisation in England and Wales, it examines the implications of advances in courtroom technology for fair and equitable public participation, and access to justice. The article contends that legal reforms have omitted any detailed consideration of the type and quality of citizen participation in newly digitised court processes which have fundamental implications for the legitimacy and substantive outcomes of court‐based processes; and for enhancing democratic procedure through improved access to justice. It is argued that although digital court tools and systems offer great promise for enhancing efficiency, participation and accessibility, they simultaneously have the potential to amplify the scope for injustice, and to attenuate central principles of the legal system, including somewhat paradoxically, access to justice.     

Policing organized crime

Conclusions Recent criminological research in the Netherlands underscores the fact that organized crime is embedded in society and the overall picture makes it clear that police emphasis on a crime fighting model of the police, based solely on criminal law will not be entirely effective. Therefore, the Twente police force developed a new strategy of policing organized crime in their region. This strategy is based on criminological knowledge and on the approach of community policing: preventive, pro-active and integrated actions taken by various partners of the police in order to reduce illegal activities of organized crime groups. This strategy, however, can only succeed when two conditions are satisfied. First, this approach can only function in an open democratic society in which numerous public and private organizations and the public feel responsible for the emergence of organized crime in their environment. Secondly, the police force and their partners must be (relatively) free of corruption. This implies that this strategy can only be effective in societies in which organized crime has not deeply penetrated democratic institutions and business organizations. Respectively Commissioner of Police and head of the Division Organized Crime of the Twente Police force and Professor of criminology and director of the International Police Institute (IPIT) at the University of Twente. PO Box 217, 7500 EA Enschede, The Netherlands. We would like to thank Alexis Aronowitz of the IPIT for her comments on an earlier draft of this paper and for her grammatical corrections, as well as the members of the editorial committee for their suggestions for improvements.     

The Confucian ethic and the spirit of East Asian police: a comparative study in the ideology of democratic policing

This paper is an empirical study in comparative police ideology. It describes cultural qualities that distinguish Taiwan’s idea of democratic policing from comparable ideas in other places. I examine the historical process by which Taiwan’s police came to be organized around the population registry (the hukou). This process has institutionalized a Confucian understanding of civic virtue as an organizing principle in Taiwanese policing. Based on these historical and cultural observations, I formulate an ideal typical model of Taiwanese “policing through virtue” that can be compared to other stereotypical national policing styles such as Britain’s “policing by consent,” America’s discretionary policing, and France’s formalist emphasis on division of power and rule of law.     

Problem-oriented policing in public housing: The Jersey City evaluation

This paper examines the impact of a problem-oriented policing project on serious crime problems in six public housing sites in Jersey City, New Jersey. Representatives from the police department and the local housing authority, social service providers, and public housing tenants formed six problem-solving teams. Using systematic documentation of the teams' activities and calls for police service, we examine changes in serious crime both across and within the six sites over a 2 1/2-year period. We find that problem-oriented policing, as compared with traditional policing strategies used before the problem-oriented policing project, led to fewer serious crime calls for service over time and that two public housing sites in particular succeeded in reducing violent, property, and vehicle-related crimes.     

More Harm than Good? The Language of Public Protection

Abstract: Issues of risk and public protection are currently a critical, and politically sensitive, area of practice for probation and youth justice services in England and Wales. The language of public protection shapes practice in significant ways, yet this use of terminology is an issue which has received relatively little attention. This article examines the current debate between policy makers and independent inspectors concerning the use of the terms 'harm' and 'serious harm' to illustrate how linguistic confusion can hinder practice. The article concludes with suggestions for an alternative vocabulary that could bring greater clarity to risk assessment and risk management processes.     

Lessons from empirical research on policing in Israel: policing terrorism and police–community relationships

This article reviews recent empirical research on policing terrorism and police–community relationships in Israel, for the purpose of drawing lessons for policing in Israel and other democratic societies. The studies in the first section reveal the implications of policing terrorism for crime control and police–community relationships. In the second section, studies show a long-term drop in public support for the police. They also address the implementation of community policing, the relationship between the Israel National Police and the Arab sector, and the importance of procedural justice to Israeli citizens. In our discussion, we take a broad perspective and suggest overall conclusions and implications.     

Identifying the origins of welsh local government reform

Although those within Welsh local government circles were aware that the Welsh Office was considering restructuring local government as early as December 1990, the first the general population knew of the proposed changes was in June 1991. It was in that month that the Welsh Secretary produced a consultation paper entitled The Structure of Local Government in Wales. ¹ This advocated the introduction of unitary authorities throughout Wales. The publication of this consultation paper was at the same time as those for Scotland² and England.³ This gave the impression that Wales was merely following events in England and Scotland. Such an assumption remains widespread. In the first part of his article ‘Legislating for Wales ‐ Local Government (Wales) Act 1994’ Paul Griffiths indicated that the local government changes in Wales were unplanned and perhaps unintended and a reaction to changes occurring in England.⁴ This article aims to shed more light on the background behind Welsh local government reform. It indicates that the changes in Welsh local government were more a matter of coincidence than merely a mirror of those happening elsewhere. It also argues that the changes in Wales have their own unique Welsh origins, and that the changes may well have occurred, regardless of what happened in the rest of the United Kingdom.     

Crafting public security: demilitarisation,penal state reform and security policy-making in post-authoritarian Chile

ABSTRACT

Here I dissect the institutionalisation of ‘citizen security’ as a category and sector of public policy in post-authoritarian Chile. Deploying a Bourdieusian field theory approach and questioning narratives of security policies as responses to criminality or adaptations to democratic values, I argue that the construction of a new security policy sector – with a new consensus (distinct from that of National Security), with reformed police and courts in its core, leaving aside the military and extending beyond traditional agencies – derives from (i) struggles over policing and criminal justice reforms, (ii) tensions between the military and democratic authorities in democracy and (iii) performative integrations of the new policy components. These mechanisms explain the evolution of the security problem and the progressive aggregation of bureaucratic agencies and methods to the ‘public security policy’ – policing, judiciary, urban design, prisons and prevention plans. I close discussing alternative accounts of institutional variations in security governance in the region.     

Prison Legitimacy and Procedural Fairness: A Multilevel Examination of Prisoners in England and Wales

The procedural justice model has been widely used as an explanation for understanding legitimacy and compliance with the law, particularly within the context of policing. Central to this model is the importance of procedural fairness—in which the treatment of citizens and offenders by criminal justice agents can play a key role in building legitimacy and influencing compliance with legal rules and values. This paper examines the relationship between procedural fairness and legitimacy within the context of corrections. Drawing on data from a longitudinal survey of more than 3,000 prisoners across England and Wales, we identify an important link between procedural fairness and prisoner perceptions of legitimacy. We further examine variations in legitimacy in terms of individual prisoner characteristics, conditions within prison, as well as differences between prisons.     

The New Model Wales

The United Kingdom is currently undergoing a rapid process of fundamental constitutional change. One of the chief developments is a redistribution of law-making and governmental powers to different territories of the Union. It is a programme of devolution, as befits an unwritten constitution characterized by the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, and not federalism. The case of Wales, historically closely integrated with England,1 presents here its own challenges. The aim of this article is to examine the process of change for Wales, to explicate and critically assess the Welsh scheme of devolution, and to consider possible future development in a broad legal and constitutional setting.     

Will ‘broken windows policing’ work in Trinidad and Tobago? A critical perspective on zero tolerance and community policing in a multi-ethnic society

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is a multi-ethnic Caribbean nation currently experiencing problems with disorder and violent crime. In response, practitioners have considered the merits of introducing broken windows policing. This article examines the literature on zero tolerance policing, also known as ‘broken windows policing,’ and explores the dangers of potentially harmful interpretations of this approach, particularly in the context of racial and political conflict in a developing society. It also explores whether broken windows can be effective in T&T, where there is social unrest and declining public support for police. Based on prior research, it is suggested that broken windows policing, when incorporated with targeted problem-solving approaches, could be successful in reducing crime in the short-term. Several problem-solving strategies that were effective in New York City and other American cities are also recommended. It is suggested that community-oriented policing strategies designed to increase citizens’ trust and confidence in police be properly implemented before the adoption of any of these problem-solving strategies.     

'Contractual Governance' of Deviant Behaviour

This paper seeks to analyse and make sense of the growing role and implications of forms of 'contractual governance' that are emerging in diverse fields of social life and public policy in England and Wales, both within and beyond criminal justice. Collectively, these modes of control mimic and deploy 'contracts' and 'agreement' in the regulation of deviant conduct and disorderly behaviour. The rise of contractual governance is explored against the background of a crisis in penal modernism and the challenge of crime prevention. Contractual governance in a number of fields is outlined and discussed, including home-school agreements in education; acceptable behaviour contracts and introductory tenancies in social housing; restrictive covenants in private residential neighbourhoods; domestic security and private residential patrols and youth offender contracts. It will be argued that, in these contexts, contracts seek to induce conformity and order through modes of governing the future that depart significantly from traditional modes of policing and that recast social obligations in forms of parochial control.     

Judicial oversight of policing: investigations, evidence and the exclusionary rule

Police procedures and practices in the investigation of crime are shaped by many things. One particularly important constituent part of the development of investigative procedures and practices is the approach of the courts to the admissibility at trial of evidence obtained in a certain manner. While a judge can only address the specifics of whatever cases are brought before him, the judiciary as a whole have a significant role to play in terms of police accountability and governance through their development and application of any exclusionary rules of criminal evidence. This article examines the judicial oversight of policing by way of the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence at trial. Its central focus is on the development and operation of the exclusionary rule in Ireland, though relevant law in other jurisdictions, including England and Wales, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, is also considered. Particular attention is paid to the recent Irish Supreme Court decision of DPP v Cash, and its ramifications for judicial oversight of policing.     

Authoritarian policing with Chinese characteristics: A case study of motorcycle bans in the Pearl River Delta

Despite unprecedented economic and social changes over the past three decades, China remains an authoritarian regime. However, the current authoritarian regime differs in many ways from that under Mao. Since the nature of a police force reflects the character of the political regime within which it operates, this paper explores current police practices in China. It argues that policing in China is neither completely authoritarian nor democratic, but best understood as soft-authoritarian. The case study examines policing of a motorcycle ban that was implemented to prevent motorcycle snatch theft in the Pearl River Delta. The police remained authoritarian and used many coercive strategies to push for the motorcycle ban. However, their hard-line strategies were matched by some soft-line persuasive tactics. I argue that changing state-society relations are leading to resistance to hard-authoritarian policing and contributing to soft-authoritarian policing in China.     

The pluralization of policing and the rise of private policing in China

Policing in China has undergone tremendous change during the economic transformation of the past three decades. This paper describes the plural policing bodies that have existed during pre- and post-reform periods in China. In the pre-reform period the policing bodies were generally public in nature with the public security police playing an important role in providing professional guidance to the other policing bodies. In the post-reform period, there has been a transition from a monopoly of public policing to an integration of public/private policing, with the public security police still playing a leading role in the policing network. Apart from the emergence of private policing (the security service industry), there is also a trend towards privatizing some previously public policing bodies in line with the movement toward strengthening the rule of law and towards privatization in general.