Policing

Policing

1. 1. HISTORAL PERSPECTIVE

   • 1.1 POLICING IN VICTORIAN ERA
     • Crime prevention through moralisation of the working class
     • Urban industrial environment - growth in 'crime' and 'disorder'
     • Early policing focused on taverns, streets
     • Perceived focus on working class fuelled resistance to the police
     • Studies during the 70s and 80s revealed that the existence of a different kind of policing... different issues were bubbling under the surface
       • "A claustrophobic workplace culture which presumed conformity to a hegemonic white, heterosexual culture and condone vituperative sexist and racist attitudes" (McLaughlin 2007: 146)
         • Police organisational deviance - corruption, discrimination and partial law enforcement, racism, sexism and homophobia
   • 1.2 POST-WAR POLICING
     • Policing was mainly peace making
       • Only one element in maintaining social order
     • Dependence on informal social controls
     • CONSENSUAL POLICING - Police simply reinforced moral boundaries (symbolic orders)
     • Policing had moral authority rather than legal powers
   • Community were their own polices
     • 1829 - Sir Robert Peel (Home Secretary) established met police
     • Metropolitan area only, the main aim of 'peelers' was crime prevention
     • State controlled 'force' contested... a struggle for legitimacy
   • Shifting perspectives of social control and population governance
   • Police gained legitimacy – according to Reiner (2000), due to policies adopted by early commissioners that created the distinctive style of English policing, In Reiner’s (2000) words the image of police changed from ‘PLODS’ to ‘PIGS’
     • Police do a 'good or excellent job' fell from 64% in 1996 to 48% in 2005
     • Police are crucial to the criminal justice system. They are in effect the front-line definers of what comes to be regarded as crime and who are to be considered the criminals
     • The rules and guidance, such as PACE, provide only a backcloth against which the police operate on a day-to-day level, which is inevitably affected by their own perceptions of their job, the crimes they must deal with, their occupational culture and how they interpret the many rule and guidelines

2. Important to remember that; 'Society's need for social order does not require the establishment or maintenance of an organised police institution' (McLaughlin, 2011)

   • Policing is socially necessary, but state-structured police work is not
     • THE INDEPENDENT POLICE COMPLAINTS COMMISSION
       • Established in the Police Reform Act 2002. Responsibility for investigation public complaints about specific activities, scrutinising broader policing issues. It employs own investigators (not ex officers) and aims to enhance public confidence in policing (trust, accountability)
       • Police refer themselves following fatal incidents. Approx. 35’000 complaints against the police each year and most concerns: neglect of duty, incivilities, oppressive conduct and very few (2%) relate to discrimination
     • Reiner (2010) ‘Policing’ is: “An aspect of social control processes which occurs universally in all social situations in which there is at least the potential conflict, deviance or disorder. It involves surveillance to discover actual or anticipated breaches and the threat or mobilisation of sanctions to ensure the security of the social order.”
       • Authority is reinforced by the symbols of the job; cars, radios uniforms – all signify the authority vested in the role of police officer (Holdaway, 1983)
     • Knowledge and experience of officer is important here, as is the local police culture which defines certain areas and groups as representing trouble; this can be seen in relation to the decision to stop and search. PACE states that decision to stop and search MUST NOT be based on someone’s race or hairstyle (unless this is likely to signify gang membership). These articles are VERY LIMITED. No factor, be it age, colour, style of dress or the circumstance in which they find someone, can be responsible for any one stop (Davies et al, 2015)
   • Development of the police force was contingent on what the political elite's vision of what an orderly, disciplined society might look like
     • Concerns about relationships between the police and minority communities date back to the 1960s; since then a wide range of reports have detailed what Bowling and Philips (2003) describe as OPPRESSIVE POLICING OF MINORITY COMMUNITIES
       • Many factors involved in the stop and search decision make it very difficult to establish statistically a ‘race factor’ (Holdaway 1997). Attitudes of individual police officers and culture mirror the racism prevalent in wider society and that decisions to stop may be affected by racist stereotypes. Commission of Racial Equality – demonstrated only too clearly, some police officers display strongly racist attitudes

3. 2. ORGANISATION OF THE POLICE

   • 43 separate constabularies (123 prior to 1964 Police Act)
   • All officers enter as constable - legitimacy due to personal experience
   • Organised around a rank structure: constable, sergeant, inspector, superintendent, assistant chief constable, deputy chief constable and chief constable
     • Roles of the police: Crime control and Investigation, Crime reduction, Order maintenance, Peace-keeping, Social service, Emergency, State Security
       • Bowling and Foster (2002) discuss: the potentially opposing ‘liberal’ and ‘military’ models of policing and that police have been noted for an emphasis on consensus policing – peace keepers, use of minimum force and stress community safety (LIBERAL). Police are expected to provide a rapid and efficient response to major disturbances – force emphasis, harder policing styles (MILITARY)

4. 3. POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONERS

   • Introduced in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act in 2011
     • PCC for each service is now directly elected by the public
       • Responsible for: appointing chief constable, setting priorities, representing community interests and raising funding in their area
   • BENEFITS (according to Home Office):
     • 1. Public can better hold police forces to account
     • 2. Greater public engagement in policing
     • 3. Greater public ownership of force performance
   • Police are supposed to be:
     • Non-Partisan, Impartial and Unbiased
   • Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the codes made under its authority, are there to protect the citizen from the abuse of police power and to set out what is acceptable behaviour on the part of the police
     • Provides creation of Codes of Practice to deal with the minutiae of implementation, Breaches by police does not constitute an offence: can be basis of a complaint which could lead to disciplinary - Davies, 2015
     • PACE reforms were introduced because of several proposed police and prosecution reforms that led not only to the introduction of the codes but also the establishment of a separate and new prosecuting agency – CPS. History of PACE mistakenly explained as a response to high-profile miscarriages of justice cases such as; Birmingham 6.

5. 4. POLICING AS CRIME CONTROL

   • Primarily emphasis and bulk of workload is detecting and investigating crime
     • Responding to public calls for assistance, arrest, interrogation, gathering evidence
     • Largely REACTIVE – emphasis on response rates, clear-up rates, solving
   • Upholding and enforcing the law
   • Such activities dominate public perceptions of policing
   • Also, seen by many officers as 'real police work'
     • Most crime is not reported to the police (dark figure of crime)
   • Can one agency really achieve 'crime control' anyway? logistically on their own?

6. 5. POLICING AS ORDER MAINTENNCE

   • Majority of time, activities = MUDANE
     • PEACE-KEEPING - the traffic control, football match presence, moving the homeless on..
       • 'Threats' to public peaces, disturbances, drunks, anti-social behaviour, public urination
         • Conception of policing as a 'public service'
       • Associated with zero tolerance policing and community policing. Focus is on maintaining ‘quality of life’, pleasant places to live etc
     • Resolving petty disputes where no crime has occurred
     • Largely PROACTIVE (although sometimes reactive)
   • ARE THE AIMS OPPOSITIONAL?
     • Prevent crime and maintain peace
     • Bring law breakers to justice and protect the community
     • Comes into tension with each other on how crime control or order maintenance is actually carried out
     • Emphasis and expectations of police role and nature of policing is always changing

7. 6. POLICING STRATEGIES

   • STRATEGY ONE - ZERO TOLERANCE:
     • Associated with the strong law enforcement approach adopted in the US in the 1980s
       • Focuses on three strikes
         • A vigorous response to minor offences: drugs, sex work, vagrancy, etc
   • STRATEGY TWO - HOT SPOTS:
     • Developed in the US in the 1990s
       • Criminal behaviour not spread evenly, but occurs in clusters
         • Focus most resources in these areas
           • Targeted patrols
             • Could this have a negative impact for less affluent areas?
   • STRATEGY THREE - COMMUNITY POLICING:
     • Tackling ‘quality of life’ problems such as ASB (Anti-Social Behaviour) and nuisance behaviour (petty crime is what people hate as it blights their community)
       • Associated with the ‘broken windows’ thesis
         • Visible signs of decay in an area signal public disinterest, ‘Respectable’ people move out, Area turns into a criminogenic hotspot
           • Aim to protect the slide into decline
     • Relationship between the police and community is vital to enhance not only police-community relations but the effectiveness of the police. The concept of community policing is based on ideas that the police should consult and seek cooperation with the public and in general create a tranquil and safe environment (Bennett 1994a: 6)
     • Community policing not proven easy to implement although there is many benefits, Law enforcement and investigation seen as ‘REAL WORK’ whereas community policing seen as a lower status – community-based police officers described as ‘HOBBY BOBBIES’

8. 7. POLICE DISCRETION

   • Lots of situations are vague, largely outside the 'law'. Officers therefore must use discretion. Decided if situation is 'criminal' or a bit deviant or dodgy - most appropriate means of 'solving'. Lower ranks use discretion the most
     • DISCRETION 2 - PNDs
       • Penalty Notice for Disorders
         • Established in 2001 with rollout from 2004. Permit the police to issue on-the-spot fine to anyone 16+ for an alleged offence. Nuisance, shoplifting, burglary, response
           • Since 2004, 200'000 PNDs issued each year but there is no national standard, huge variations in use, evidence of inappropriate use
   • DISCRETION 1 - STOP AND SEARCH
     • ‘Sus’ laws under the Vagrancy Act 1824 (acting suspiciously + intent to commit and arrest able offence) – context wise? What is the definitions of acting or intending?
     • Operation Swamp in Brixton (April 1980), ‘sus’ law used to stop over 1000 people in just 6 days
     • Perceived use of heavy handed and indiscriminate use of stop and search against African-Caribbean individuals
     • Police in conflict with the community, loss of trust and legitimacy (riots in Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Tottenham) , Report concluded that the riot was a spontaneous response to continued bad relations
     • STOP AND SEARCH NOW
       • HMIC REPORT 2013 found that
         • 27% of s&s no reasonable ground, contravened PACE
         • Reference a public survey which concluded that over ¾ respondents thought that stop and search helps catch criminal, over 50% seeing stop and search made them feel safer but 55% BME felt that people were disproportionately targeted – unfair use
       • Tension: can be seen to be controlling crime BUT in practice it creates tension and can disrupt notions of policing by consent, community relations, issues of due process etc.
   • DISCRETION 3 - OOCDs:
     • Out of Court Disposals
       • Long been used by police but expanded since 1997, Simple cautions and conditional cautions. Simple – recorded on PNC and CRB (PNC = Police National Computer / CRB = Criminal Record Bureau. Conditional – restrictions on movement etc
         • 2012; over 200’000 cautions administered by the police and many criticisms mirror those of PNDs. Considerably expanded police legal powers on the street and few check in place to guard against misuse
   • CONSEQUENCES
     • Scarman found evidence of disproportionate and indiscriminate use of S&S against black people and concluded that public tranquillity should have priority over law enforcement. Needs to move to ‘community policing’
     • POLICE AND CRIMINAL EVIDENCE ACT (PACE) 1984
       • Governs searches prior to arrest (inc, S&S). Arrest, detention, questioning and treatment in police custody. Accurate records, recording of interviews and Powers and duties of the police, rights of suspects and admissibility of evidence