This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Venezuela,
and Brazil. These societies are very different ethnically, socially, politically, economically, historically and have wildly
different levels of crime. Their policing arrangements also differ significantly: how they are organised; how their officers
are equipped and trained; what routine operating procedures they employ; whether they are armed; and much else besides. Most
relevant for this research, they represent policing systems with wildly different levels of police shootings, Police in the
two Latin American countries represented here have a justified reputation for the frequency with which they shoot people,
whereas at the other extreme the police in England do not routinely carry firearms and rarely shoot anyone. To probe whether
these differences are reflected in the way that officers talk about the use of force, police officers in these different jurisdictions
were invited to discuss in focus groups a scenario in which police are thwarted in their attempt to arrest two youths (one
of whom is a known local criminal) by the youths driving off with the police in pursuit, and concludes with the youths crashing
their car and escaping in apparent possession of a gun, It might be expected that focus groups would prove starkly different,
and indeed they were, but not in the way that might be expected. There was little difference in affirmation of normative and
legal standards regarding the use of force. It was in how officers in different jurisdictions envisaged the circumstances
in which the scenario took place that led Latin American officers to anticipate that they would shoot the suspects, whereas
officers in the other jurisdictions had little expectation that they would open fire in the conditions as they imagined them
to be.
This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven
countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on
the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has
looked at police officers’ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical
encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they
were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries
and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology.
Substantial growth in private policing has been documented in countries throughout the world, and the division of responsibilities for policing between public and private authorities has become increasingly blurred and contested during the last three decades. Because private policing is so frequently assessed on the basis of criteria established with respect to the public police, substantial myths have developed about the powers and accountability of private police; specifically, it is commonly asserted that private police have no significant power(s), and are essentially not accountable, in comparison with the public police. The author argues that such assertions misrepresent the very substantial coercive power of private police as well as the variety of mechanisms through which they may be held accountable, and also commonly exaggerate the effective accountability of the public police. The author concludes that a greater appreciation of the actual power and accountability of private police will provide an improved basis for the development of sound public policy with respect to both private and public policing, and with respect to appropriate relationships between private and public policing organisations. 相似文献