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Consent and the Legal Regulation of Policing
... A tam, kde je rutinně odzkoušeno, ţe ze zákona povinné jednání nepřináší efekt, je snaha tuto povinnost obejít. Klíčem, podle nějţ policisté volí konkrétní postup, je součin míry efektivity a míry prověření daného postupupolicista se drţí zákona, pokud nemá zvláštní důvod jednat jinak, neboť je to pro něj výhodné [Dixon 2005: 640] -jednání v souladu se zákonem je totiţ nepochybně jedním ze zdrojů autority policistů. Podle jiného pohledu se policisté odchylují "od institucionálně dané právní vazby tehdy, kdyţ subkulturální cítění spravedlnosti působí silněji neţ korektní postupy" [Behr 2003: 51]. ...
... Tím jsme se dostali k normám, podle nichţ se policisté řídí stejně jako podle zákonů, ale které mají oporu spíše v kaţdodenní rutině a v étosu bojovníků dobra se zlem. Většina policejní práce se řídí jakýmsi "pracovním konsensem" mezi oběma typy předpisů [Dixon 2005: 659] a představou souladu s tím, co policisté povaţují za normální 4 . Díky tomu policista při silniční kontrole kupříkladu ví, koho stavět a v jaké situaci dávat jak vysokou pokutu [Ericson 2005: 235]. ...
Sborník Otev ená spole nost, o.p.s.-Centrum ProPolice zá í 2010Publikace se věnuje práci policistů na místní úrovni v souladu s myšlenkou community policing. Jedná se o sborník starších i novějších textů pracovníků a spolupracovníků ProPolice – jeho hlavním cílem je rozšířit dosud velmi malé množství informací, které lze k této problematice v češtině nalézt. Sborník je zdarma ke stažení na webu ProPolice.
Sborník byl sestaven tak, aby poměrně různorodé texty dohromady tvořily souvislý, logicky provázaný soubor. Texty jsou uspořádány do tří tematických celků. První se věnuje tomu, co pojem vlastně znamená, jaká je jeho historie a jaké jsou důvody vůbec uvažovat o tak zásadní změně pohledu na každodenní policejní práci. V tomto oddílu jsou tři texty – první shrnuje základní principy tohoto „nového" stylu práce policie, co k němu vedlo a dává i několik příkladů ze zahraniční praxe. Na něj navazuje text, který shrnuje současnost community policing v České republice, a nakonec tento oddíl uzavírá přehledový text o historickém vývoji community policing v USA od prvních náznaků až po současnost.
Cílem druhého oddílu je hlavně přinést trochu naděje a inspirace do praxe policistů v ČR. Věnuje se nejdříve tomu, kdo všechno už dnes má podíl na spoluutváření bezpečného prostředí v Česku (a ukazuje, že policie při této snaze není zdaleka tak osamocená). Druhý text v tomto oddílu se věnuje otázce, co může přinést malá změna v zaběhnuté rutině policejní činnosti – pokud se policisté vedle pachatelů trestné činnosti zaměří se stejným důrazem i na místa, na nichž k prohřeškům proti zákonu dochází nejčastěji.
Třetí oddíl se věnuje akademičtější debatě o community policing. První text by měl pomoci pochopit, že community policing, ačkoli se v mnohém odkazuje k „zlatému věku" policie (např. k prvorepublikovému četnictvu) je novou filosofií, která vychází z toho, jaký je svět dnes a ne před mnoha desítkami let. Celou čítanku uzavírá asi nejvíce teoretický text – jedná se o přehled zkoumání každodenní práce očima akademiků a vědců v anglosaském prostředí. Policejní sbory napříč světem jsou si velice podobné, a proto právě pohled z jiné perspektivy může být tím, co pomůže pochopit některé problémy, které se tomu, kdo se s nimi ve své práci potýká každodenně, zdají nepřekonatelné.
Sborník sice na řadu otázek určitě nepřinese odpovědi – ale může posloužit jako odrazový můstek pro ty, kdo chtějí o community policing vědět trochu více a podpořit debatu o tom, jak tuto deklarovanou prioritu Policie ČR přivést v každodenní práci policistů k životu.
... As noted in Chap. 3, Dixon argues that relative considerations of the norms that govern the police may not go beyond the limits already prescribed by the status quo and that it is important to acknowledge how accountability changes as contexts change (Dixon 1999). Prenzler goes further, arguing that evidence from numerous inquiries and reviews in different jurisdictions strongly suggest '…that even the best investigations of police by police are undermined by perceptions or suspicions of bias' (Prenzler 2016, p. 22). ...
... In addition, the community reaction to the video demonstrated the effectiveness of LGBTQI community organizing through the call to action from LGBTQI politicians and community organizations to get people to make complaints. Moreover, the exposure through the video, and what it set in train, revealed the limitations of police reliance on its formal complaints mechanism as the main actionable indicator of dissatisfaction with policing methods and compromised police legitimacy with this position (Dixon 1999;Goldsmith 2010). The resources required for the NSW Police Force to process the complaints provided an incentive: …it took me 11 months in this office to get through all of the complaints of 2013. ...
The easy capture, storage and online dissemination of bystander accounts of public order policing have given greater currency to public demands for policing institutions to be publicly answerable. This chapter details the importance of civilian scrutiny of public order policing through digital media technologies as a form of police accountability. The chapter shows the corroborative force of social media for complainants/victims within the broader context of the ‘social media test’. Drawing on police and non-police perspectives, the chapter progresses Ericson’s accountability dyad as an evaluative framework. The chapter argues that the perpetuity of digital media generates expectations of ‘perpetual accountability’. This perpetuity can pressure police to qualify remedial processes that are publicly available but may not be widely known. Concurrently, public confidence in police complaints handling and internal police disciplinary procedures remain a credibility problem for public police across many jurisdictions. These issues of police accountability emphasize the distinction between pressuring the police to account and holding the police to account. The chapter considers the implications of the durability of bystander accounts of police conduct posted online, and police apologies to LGBTQI communities as a form of police accountability.
... A tam, kde je rutinně odzkoušeno, ţe ze zákona povinné jednání nepřináší efekt, je snaha tuto povinnost obejít. Klíčem, podle nějţ policisté volí konkrétní postup, je součin míry efektivity a míry prověření daného postupupolicista se drţí zákona, pokud nemá zvláštní důvod jednat jinak, neboť je to pro něj výhodné [Dixon 2005: 640] -jednání v souladu se zákonem je totiţ nepochybně jedním ze zdrojů autority policistů. Podle jiného pohledu se policisté odchylují "od institucionálně dané právní vazby tehdy, kdyţ subkulturální cítění spravedlnosti působí silněji neţ korektní postupy" [Behr 2003: 51]. ...
... Tím jsme se dostali k normám, podle nichţ se policisté řídí stejně jako podle zákonů, ale které mají oporu spíše v kaţdodenní rutině a v étosu bojovníků dobra se zlem. Většina policejní práce se řídí jakýmsi "pracovním konsensem" mezi oběma typy předpisů [Dixon 2005: 659] a představou souladu s tím, co policisté povaţují za normální 4 . Díky tomu policista při silniční kontrole kupříkladu ví, koho stavět a v jaké situaci dávat jak vysokou pokutu [Ericson 2005: 235]. ...
Monografická publikace, 61 stran, Praha: Otevřená společnost, 2010, ISBN 978-80-87110-20-1
... Other, now orthodox, measures include a dedicated and wellresourced internal affairs unit, mandatory reporting by officers of suspected misconduct, rigorous screening procedures for applicants, an altered recruitment profile to enhance diversity and extensive pre-service and inservice ethics training. Reduction of opportunities for misconduct has also been attempted through removal of police from vice control, for example, or tape recording of interviews (Newburn, 1997;Dixon, 1999). There is evidence that this battery of measures can be effective in significantly reducing corruption (CJC, 1997a). ...
... Some of these differences suggest the appropriateness of different responses to misconduct. (Delattre, 1989: 69) Most democratic countries place extensive legislative restrictions on police powers in terms of acceptable grounds for arrest or the use of listening devices (see, for example, Dixon, 1999). Nonetheless, the fact that police are employed and equipped to enforce the law, as well as having some specific powers above those of ordinary citizens, means that they represent a major force and a threat to civil liberties if their power is misused (Fitzgerald, 1989). ...
Problems of recurring corruption have stimulated major reforms in policing in many countries in the last 30 years. Considerable advances have been made in recruitment, training, complaints investigations and external oversight of conduct. However, continuing problems have prompted a search for more effective forms of misconduct prevention. This article examines the situation in Australia in relation to the emerging and controversial anti-corruption strategy of integrity testing. The study is concerned with `integrity tests' that simulate misconduct opportunities for serving officers not pre-employment screening tests. The eight police agencies in Australia were asked to supply information on planned or implemented testing programmes as well as information on policy perspectives and debates. Only three jurisdictions were identified as conducting targeted testing. The success of these programmes in identifying misconduct suggests this may be an essential anti-corruption device and leaves a question mark over the adequacy of accountability in jurisdictions without this capacity. Two other agencies were planning to introduce targeted testing. While some agencies had given serious consideration to random integrity testing, legal, ethical and practical concerns have meant that no programmes have been introduced except for drug and alcohol testing. The latter also appears to be a useful tool to improve police conduct. The article concludes with a theoretical review of the possible benefits of randomized testing as a form of behavioural audit. Yes Yes
... Polizei-und Grenzschutzbehörden unterliegen einer streng definierten formalen Organisationsstruktur und einem normativen Regelwerk (vgl. Dixon 2005). Von außen üben Gesetze und politische Vorgaben Einfluss auf die Organisationen aus, und die internen Strukturen regeln das Handeln innerhalb der Organisation: ...
... Reiner (2010) makes a similar point in regard to policing more specifically; that there is agreement on the need for some form of social control through policing but that the form of that policing is often taken for granted as the status quo. Dixon argues that relative considerations of the norms that govern the police may not go beyond the limits already prescribed by the status quo and that it is important to acknowledge how accountability changes as contexts change (Dixon 1999a). The police are central to the effectiveness of a states' functioning, but political analysis often underplays the substance of policing as a source and symbol of the quality of political civilizations or how police powers might be differently arranged (Reiner 2010). ...
This chapter considers the significance of bystander social media videos in bounding police use of force and negotiations of police legitimacy. Bystander social media videos of police–civilian encounters can reveal processes of criminalization and legitimation. They can also challenge the status quo on police responsibility and accountability within socially and politically organized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex communities (LGBTQI). Differing understandings on police use of force and degrees of use of force used are central to divergent police and public perspectives on legitimate police use of force. The chapter argues that the exposure and scrutiny of questionable police practices through bystander social media videos can enable audiences to better evaluate proportionality within context and question the lawfulness of police conduct and the necessity of police powers. The chapter makes the case for the concept of ‘dynamic legitimacy’: the repeat viewing and sharing capacities of Web 2.0 social media networks that can standardize legitimate police practice through real-time demands from online audiences for greater justification of police conduct. These demands can exhaust standard police responses through a potentially infinite claim–response dialogue.
... Accountability is closely tied to concepts of "policing by consent." Accountability takes a range of forms; it may be manifest in moral decision-making, embedded in codes of professional conduct and formalized in legal regulation (see Dixon, Coleman, & Bottomley, 1990). Frameworks of police accountability in the United Kingdom are tripartite in nature between the Home Office, Police Crime Commissioners, and Chief Constables. ...
Growth in the armed forces undertaking public policing is occurring in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and as such, a complex security landscape emerges, both practically and conceptually. The aim here is to pose questions of the manifest and latent issues in the assemblage of multiple actors in public policing. It asks the reader to consider the implications of military actors transitioning from defense duties ordinarily associated with military work, to policing activities in public spaces. Taking the London 2012 Olympic Games as our point of reference, this article argues that to understand military presence, their role must be considered in the broader context of military and policing functions, the “war on terror,” accountability, and future priorities for public policing. We must be careful not to assign the presence of the military into preexisting understandings of how megaevents should be secured—the military patrolling the streets of London represents more. Instead, as their presence comes to be legitimate in certain geopolitical contexts, critical questions must be asked especially as public and private arrangements are continually reworked in the domestic fight against terrorism.
... Assaults on police clearly do happen but the broader police accountability literature has identified police use of the 'trifecta' as a key problem: charges of 'abusive language,' 'resist arrest,' and 'assault police,' which are then used to thwart any potential complaint, and for charge bargaining and plea negotiations. Understanding such police uses of law as a resource (Dixon 1997) shapes police data on public offending and assaults on police. ...
... (Dixon et al. 1990; 346, also see Mead, 2002) Given the ambiguous nature of the relationship between state and citizen in this context, the protective role of the state is minimal and key safeguards are not in place. Reasonable suspicion is not required, officers are not restricted as to the items they can search for, officers are not obliged to state the purpose of the search, nor are officers obliged to tell a person that they have the right to refuse the search. ...
This study examines the development of police stop and search in Scotland from the post-war period onwards. The aim is to explain the remarkable scale of stop and search, the attendant lack of political or academic engagement prior to the formation of the single service in in April 2013, and to draw out the implications, both for policing and the public.
The thesis takes a top-down perspective which seeks to explain the policing direction in terms of elite outlooks and decision-making over time. It is argued that search rates in contemporary Scotland can be explained in terms of an incremental shift in the way that the tactic has been conceptualized by political and policing elites. Specifically, it is argued that the post-war construct of stop and search as a reactive mechanism premised on investigation, detection and the disruption of crime, has been displaced by a proactive model, premised on intensive, risk-based stop and search activity. It is argued that this shift has partly attenuated the link between stop searches and suspicious behaviour by introducing non-detection as a measure of successful deterrence, alongside the traditional aim of detection. In short, it is argued that stop and search has been remodelled as a tactic that can be legitimated irrespective of the outcome. The thesis will show how this shift has progressively weighted the balance between crime control and individual freedom in favour of the state, and weakened the rights of the individual, with minimal regard for procedural protection and human rights.
The thesis employs a wide range of data sources and methodologies to investigate the core argument, which is developed from three interrelated positions. First, taking a historical perspective, the thesis examines elite sensibilities and decision-making in relation to stop and search from the early 1950s, through to the early 2000s. Next, the thesis adopts an empirical position to investigate the use of stop and search between 2005 and 2010, and shows how search activity on the street reflected dominant outlooks higher up the ranks. Finally, the thesis adopts a normative perspective in order to assess the ethical implications of stop and search practice in Scotland, and to develop a series of informed recommendations for policy and practice.
... One officer they interviewed stated that '[a] lot of people are not quite certain that they have the right to say no. And then we, sort of, bamboozle them into allowing us to search' (Dixon 1990). ...
From a position of near parity in 2005/2006, by 2012/2013 recorded search rates in Scotland exceeded those in England/Wales seven times over. This divergence is intriguing given the demands placed on the police, and the legal capacity to deal with these are broadly similar across the two jurisdictions. The aim of this paper is to unpack this variation. Using a comparative case-study approach, the paper examines the role of structural ‘top-down’ determinants of policing: substantive powers of search, rules and regulations, and scrutiny. Two arguments are presented. First, we argue that the rise of stop and search in Scotland was facilitated by weak regulation and safeguards. Second, we argue that divergence between the two jurisdictions may also be attributed to varying levels of political and public scrutiny, caused, in part, by scrutinising stop and search almost exclusively through the prism of ‘race’. In Scotland, the significance of these factors has been made evident by dint of organisational developments within the last decade; by the introduction of a target driven high-volume approach to stop and search in Strathclyde police force circa 2007 onwards; and the national roll-out of this approach following the single service merger in April 2013. The salient point is that the Strathclyde model was not hindered by legal rules and regulations, nor subject to policy and political challenge; rather a high discretion environment enabled a high-volume approach to stop and search to flourish without challenge.
... Recent reforms, which tried to increase the monitoring density over police practices, have proven to be of limited success. This was demonstrated by Dixon et al. (1990) with the example of the 'Police and Criminal Evidence Act' (PACE) in England of the 1980s. The goal of this law was a better control of police practices 'from above' in the sense of a 'juridification' of discretionary powers. ...
From the standpoint of legal theory, the modern state and the police constitute each other: the police is the instrument by which the state internally realizes its monopoly of violence and thus its sovereignty. From a sociological point of view, however, the state, its law and its bureaucratic regulations are only one moral order towards which policemen orient their actions. For policemen, like all bureaucrats, have to face a fundamental paradox: It is their role as bureaucrats which brings them into contact with the life-worlds of citizens, but a purely bureaucratic logic does not suffice to process these problems. Therefore, the law is mobilized selectively, depending on the interaction partners and situative appreciations. In addition, or alternatively, policemen also orient their actions towards other moral orders, pragmatic considerations, and even esthetic concerns. Furthermore, the police always competes, and cooperates, with other policing institutions; in fact, most policing is not done not by the police but by private actors. A comparative historical sociology of police allows to identify the particular cultural repertoires and practical norms to which policemen, in a given place and time, refer. However, the reference to law, and to the legitimate use of violence, always remains the last resort; even when referring to other moral convictions and pragmatic considerations, policing, by the police, is always done in the shadow of the state.
... 256-257). The United Kingdom underwent a period of legal prohibition of street betting, from 1906 to 1960, and de facto regulation of betting by police emerged there too, though in a less malign form than in NSW (Dixon, 1999a). Dixon describes these systems as, at least in part, a pragmatic response by police, opting to preserve order through negotiation and compromise rather than attempt to fully enforce an impossible prohibition (1991, pp. ...
One groundbreaking aspect of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in New South Wales was to recognize the importance of the historical dimension of corruption. The historical consensus is that systemic police corruption emerged in NSW only after the Second World War but, as Wood acknowledged, there has been little detailed research into earlier periods. One window into policing in the 1930s is provided by the Markell Royal Commission, which investigated allegations of police misconduct in relation to illegal bookmaking in 1936. This article explores the evidence gathered by Markell, and argues that his inquiry uncovered a system of entrenched police corruption at a level of complexity previously thought not to have appeared for another decade. It is argued that poor management contributed to the growth of systemic corruption from the early 1930s, and that a defensive and negative reaction to the exposure of this corruption caused an historic opportunity for reform to be lost.
... In practice, however, it was not clear from their descriptions that they made members of the public fully aware of their rights in relation to voluntary searches. In keeping with the findings of Dixon, et al. (1990) there was a sense that the public were often unaware that they could decline. ...
... 'If 'consent' is obtained, the legal relationship between the actors is not that between a state official and a private citizen, but rather that between two private citizens.' (Dixon 1990;346. Also see Mead, 1992). ...
This report sets out selected findings from a doctoral project on the use of stop and search in Scotland. The report sets out a body of evidence on the use of stop and search between 2005 and 2010. The aims are to provide relevant data which may be used to inform public and policy debate, to identify issues and concerns which policing stakeholders may wish to engage with, and to set out a series of recommendations for police practice.
... Regulating this decision-making process poses similar problems to the regulation of stop-and-search practice (see, e.g. Dixon et al. 1990;McConville et al. 1991;Quinton et al. 2000). Despite possession of cannabis being a criminal offence, the presumption of arrest did not automatically mean that those found in possession of cannabis would be arrested. ...
British drugs legislation has recently been changed to reclassify cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C one. The reclassification is intended to reflect more accurately the risks posed by cannabis relative to other drugs. The debate about reform of the British laws in regulating cannabis possession has tended to ignore the fact that even before cannabis was reclassified as a Class C drug, police officers often turned a ‘blind eye’ to cannabis offences, or else gave informal warnings. This paper examines the political background to reclassification. It then examines the factors that guide officers to use their discretion and informally dispose of cannabis offences. It goes on to consider the impact that reclassification may have on informal action. The data are drawn from a detailed study of the policing of cannabis prior to reclassification, conducted by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research. 1 We demonstrate that a multiplicity of police, offender and situational factors, either alone or in combination, influence an officer’s decision to take informal action on the street. We outline the potential for reclassification to generate a reduction in the use of informal disposals, which may create a ‘net-widening’ effect, or an increase in use, which might lead to the offence being selectively decriminalized. The implications for both scenarios are considered.
... The concept of 'reasonable suspicion' is vague and police officers differ widely in their understanding of it (Quinton et al., 2000). Moreover, searches 'consented' to by suspects invoke neither PACE powers nor protections and this is very problematic since the concept of 'consent' is slippery because suspects may be ignorant of their rights to refuse to be searched (Dixon et al. 1990). Finally, stops and searches, like many aspects of police work, are largely invisible to supervisory officers and, therefore, 'the norms and working practices of the street level police officer take priority over outside regulation' (Young 1994: 14). ...
Since the implementation of stop and search reform in Scotland, the volume of this tactic has decreased and proportionality has increased. However, little has been published that has detailed the design, communication and implementation of stop and search reform in Scotland. This article traces the policy intentions of this reform programme and demonstrates that these aligned with central tenets of procedural justice theory. This article then examines ethnographic data regarding the dissemination and implementation of reform into police practice between 2016 and 2018, which demonstrates that the procedural justice intentions of reform to improve the policing of Scotland’s children and young people were not reproduced in practice. Instead, reform paved the way for the emergence of a new and unscrutinised practice that came to be known as ‘stop and engage’ that has enabled the continued antagonistic and over-policing of young people in the post-reform environment.
In this chapter, we consider some key aspects of data, transparency and accountability of police stops. What practices exist across Europe in relation to the recording of police stops and public availability of data? We explore what is meant by data quality and why it is important in the governance of police stops. We consider various potential intended purposes and uses of data in relation to oversight, for example, in relation to transparency, public confidence, effectiveness and equity. What role does data have in exploring the distribution of this police power e.g. proportionality and potential discrimination? How might data be used to facilitate reflection, learning and improvement? Case studies and vignettes are used to explore lessons learned and good practice examples in bringing improvements to data, transparency and governance of police stops. Concerns, challenges and unintended consequences regarding various aspects of the usage of data for oversight purposes are explored.
This article analyses the operation of police vehicle stop checks in England and Wales. In contrast to other common police powers, vehicle checks are remarkably under-regulated and have received little academic attention, but they are regularly used coercive powers supported by criminal sanction. Based upon a 6-year ethnographic study, including observations of 205 vehicle stops, this article sets out how stop checks are used as part of routine policing. We consider their effectiveness in reducing crime and assess their link to stop and search. Our data cast doubt on the effectiveness of self-generated vehicle stop checks for identifying crime and indicate that they may play a role in driving racial disproportionality in stop and search. We conclude that stop checks should be recorded by officers, which will improve the accountability of the power and could provide important data for uncovering the reasons for racial disproportionality in the use of stop and search.
In the previous chapters the presence of a complex set of discourses connected with risk and necessity was identified and considered. These discourses have a powerful role in shaping policy and doctrinal law. The intersecting risks evident in parliamentary discourse appeared to be directed towards the justification for legalising and authorising unlawful activity for a designated purpose, with an associated shift in the presumption of admissibility of evidence. At the same time lawmakers remained uneasy about this form of power. It collided with a host of legal and liberal values concerning the limits on executive policing power and curtailing civil liberties. A solution was needed to address the problem. That solution was the invocation of another discourse: accountability. Attempts to justify these actions were based on two forms of reasoning: necessity and accountability. Accountability provided the answer to concerns about the abuse of power, while necessity provided the justification. Both accountability and necessity, in their combination, were intertwined with an imperative reasoning. In the first part of this chapter an examination of the role of accountability in shaping controlled operations law is proposed. The essential argument is that the doctrinal architecture of controlled operations law is profoundly shaped by questions of accountability, both as a claim and a mechanism. Drawing on governmentality scholarship, the second part of the chapter considers the role of accountability in its relationship with the controlled operation as the application of audit rationality to the problems arising out of the risks of abuse of power and the apparent lack of trust in police agencies. The “criminogenic population” being governed includes the investigator. The controlled operation, in this sense, becomes a framework through which the behaviours of investigators and suspects are rendered both intelligible and visible through retrospective examination and scrutiny. Accountability, as a rationality and technology of liberal governance, is imported into doctrinal law as a solution to the problem of risk.
The connection between police and security is axiomatic for all major German political parties (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis90/Die Grünen, Die Linke, AfD). Differences arise in the definition of security and the role of the police in its production, as well as in the extent to which the police should cooperate with other state, societal and supranational actors. For most parties , internal and external security increasingly coincide. An exception are the AfD, which continues to see the nation state as the exclusive producer of security, and the CDU/CSU which insists on the priority of the state in the production of societal security. The other parties, however , take the view that extended security can only be achieved through cooperation between state (including the police) and civil society actors. The respective concepts of security are thus AP IFEAS 193/2020 positioned on a matrix that is spread out from two positions: on the one hand, a position that focuses strongly on the executive of the (nation) state, and on the other hand, expanded concepts of security that reach beyond the borders of the nation state towards both 'society' and the supranational level. These different concepts of security are matched by differently broad concepts of policing. Additionally, the study also contains a detailed appendix on the organizational processes in which the election programs of the parties are developed.
Der Zusammenhang von Polizei und Sicherheit ist für alle größeren deutschen politischen Parteien (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis90/Die Grünen, Die Linke, AfD) selbstverständlich. Unterschiede ergeben sich in der Definition von Sicherheit und der Rolle der Polizei bei ihrer Produktion, sowie hinsichtlich des Ausmaßes, in dem diese dazu mit anderen staatlichen, ge-sellschaftlichen und überstaatlichen Akteuren kooperieren soll. Für die meisten Parteien fallen innere und äußere Sicherheit zunehmend zusammen. Neben der AfD, die weiterhin den Na-tionalstaat als den exklusiven Produzenten von Sicherheit versteht, beharrt auch die CDU/CSU auf der Priorität des Staates bei der Produktion von gesellschaftlicher Sicherheit. Die anderen Parteien vertreten dagegen die Ansicht, dass gesellschaftliche Sicherheit nur in Kooperation von staatlichen (darunter die Polizei) und zivilgesellschaftlichen Akteuren her-gestellt werden kann. Die jeweiligen Begriffe von Sicherheit ordnen sich somit auf einer Matrix ein, die von zwei Positionen her aufgespannt ist: auf der einen Seite eine Position, die stark auf die Exekutive(n) des (National-)Staats fokussiert, auf der anderen Seite erweiterte Begriffe von Sicherheit, die über die Grenzen des Nationalstaats hinaus sowohl auf ‚Gesellschaft' als auch auf die suprastaatliche Ebene rekurrieren. Diesen unterschiedlich weiten Sicherheitsbe-griffen entsprechen auch jeweils unterschiedlich weite Begriffe von Polizeiarbeit (policing). Zu-sätzlich enthält die Untersuchung einen ausführlichen Anhang zu den organisatorischen Pro-zessen, in denen die Wahlprogramme der Parteien entstehen.
Du point de vue de la théorie juridique, l’État moderne et la police sont mutuellement constitutifs : la police est l’instrument grâce auquel l’État exerce son monopole interne de la force physique et, ainsi, sa souveraineté. D’un point de vue sociologique cependant, l’État, son droit et ses règlementations bureaucratiques ne constituent qu’un ordre moral parmi d’autres en fonction duquel la police oriente ses actions. En effet, les policiers – comme tous les bureaucrates – font face à un paradoxe fondamental. C’est grâce à leur rôle de bureaucrates qu’ils restent en prise avec les univers des citoyens, mais la logique bureaucratique ne suffit pas à elle seule à résoudre les problèmes auxquels ils sont confrontés. Par conséquent, le droit est mobilisé par eux sur un mode sélectif, en fonction des partenaires de l’interaction et de leurs appréciations de chaque situation. Les policiers orientent également leurs actions selon d’autres ordres moraux, d’autres considérations pragmatiques, et mêmes esthétiques. Par ailleurs, les services de police entrent en permanence dans des relations de concurrence ou de coopération avec d’autres structures de maintien de l’ordre. En effet, cette fonction de maintien de l’ordre est aussi pour une bonne part prise en charge par des acteurs privés et non seulement par les services de police. La sociologie historique comparative permet d’identifier des répertoires culturels et des normes pratiques spécifiques auxquels les policiers se réfèrent dans des contextes historiques et géographiques donnés. Néanmoins, la référence au droit et à l’usage légitime de la violence intervient toujours en dernier ressort ; même lorsqu’il fait référence à d’autres convictions morales et à d’autres considérations pragmatiques, le maintien de l’ordre par la police se fait toujours à l’ombre de l’État.
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Abstract: From the standpoint of legal theory, the modern state and the police constitute each other: the police is the instrument by which the state internally realizes its monopoly of violence and thus its sovereignty. From a sociological point of view, however, the state, its law and its bureaucratic regulations are only one moral order towards which police officers orient their actions. For police officers, like all bureaucrats, have to face a fundamental paradox: It is their role as bureaucrats which brings them into contact with the life-worlds of citizens, but a purely bureaucratic logic does not suffice to process these problems. Therefore, the law is mobilized selectively, depending on the interaction partners and situative appreciations. In addition, or alternatively, police officers also orient their actions towards other moral orders, pragmatic considerations, and even aesthetic concerns. Furthermore, the police always competes, and cooperates, with other policing institutions; in fact, most policing is not done not by the police but by private actors. A comparative historical sociology of police allows to identify the particular cultural repertoires and practical norms to which police officers, in a given place and time, refer. However, the reference to law, and to the legitimate use of violence, always remains the last resort; even when referring to other moral convictions and pragmatic considerations, policing, by the police, is always done in the shadow of the state.
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Mots clés/key words : État, police, bureaucratie, droit, sociologie historique ; State, police, bureaucracy, law, historical sociology
This chapter argues that Police in Africa bears testimony to a renaissance in empirically grounded, ethnographic long-term research on the everyday dimensions of police work, combined with a re-focussing on the state as a central figure in policing and the production of in/security, and a seriousness vis-à-vis the everydayness and banality of bureaucratic work in Africa. It reflects current debates about the state and bureaucracy in Africa as well as the ethnography and sociology of police and policing, all the while refuting African exceptionalism. It also gives an overview of the contributions to the volume. © Jan Beek and Mirco Göpfert and Olly Owen and Jonny Steinberg, and the Contributors, 2017.
State police forces in Africa are a curiously neglected subject of study, even within the framework of security issues and African states. This book brings together criminologists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, political scientists and others who have engaged with police forces across the continent and the publics with whom they interact to provide street-level perspectives from below and inside Africa’s police forces. The contributors consider historical trajectories and particular configurations of police power within wider political systems, then examine the ‘inside view’ of police forces as state institutions - the challenges, preoccupations, professional ethics and self-perceptions of police officers - and finally look at how African police officers go about their work in terms of everyday practices and engagements with the public.The studies span the continent, from South Africa to Sierra Leone, and illustrate similarities and differences in Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone states, post-socialist, post-military and post-conflict contexts, and amid both centralizsation and devolution of policing powers, democratic transitions and new illiberal regimes, all the while keeping a strong ethnographic focus on police officers and their work. © Jan Beek and Mirco Göpfert and Olly Owen and Jonny Steinberg, and the Contributors, 2017.
From the standpoint of legal theory, the modern state and the police constitute each other: the police is the instrument by which the state internally realizes its monopoly of violence and thus its sovereignty. From a sociological point of view, however, the state, its law and its bureaucratic regulations are only one moral order towards which policemen orient their actions. For policemen, like all bureaucrats, have to face a fundamental paradox: it is their role as bureaucrats, which brings them into contact with the life-worlds of citizens, but a purely bureaucratic logic does not suffice to process these problems. Therefore, the law is mobilized selectively, depending on the interaction partners and situative appreciations. In addition, or alternatively, policemen also orient their actions towards other moral orders, pragmatic considerations, and even esthetic concerns. Furthermore, the police always competes, and cooperates, with other policing institutions; in fact, most policing is not done not by the police but by private actors. A comparative historical sociology of police allows to identify the particular cultural repertoires and practical norms to which policemen, in a given place and time, refer. However, the reference to law, and to the legitimate use of violence, always remains the last resort; even when referring to other moral convictions and pragmatic considerations, policing, by the police, is always done in the shadow of the state. Zusammenfassung Das Verhältnis von Polizei und Staat ist unterdeterminiert, zumindest dann, wenn man eine soziologische, und keine juristische Perspektive annimmt. Die Polizei ist in doppelter Weise auf den Staat bezogen. In Bezug auf die Herrschaftsfunktion des Staates ist die Polizei die Trägerin des Gewaltmonopols des Staates nach innen. Sie si-chert somit auch in letzter Instanz das Regulationsmonopol (oder Gesetzgebungsmonopol) des Staates in Bezug auf das Staatsvolk und das Staatsgebiet ab. In Bezug auf die organisatorische Form des Staates ist die Polizei eine von vielen staatlichen Teil-Bürokratien. Sowohl die Beschreibung der Polizei als Trägerin des Gewaltmonopols als auch ihre Beschreibung als bürokratische Organisation und als Behörde decken aus soziologischer Sicht jedoch nur einen Teil der gesellschaftlichen Funktionen und professionellen Praktiken der Polizei ab. Gesetze, und die eventuelle Berufung auf das Gewaltmonopol, sind nur eine von mehreren Ressourcen, über die Polizisten in ihrer beruflichen Praxis verfügen. Andererseits gehen die Funktionen der Polizei wiederum weit über die Durchsetzung von Gesetzen hinaus. Auch die Beschreibung der Polizei als bürokratische Organisation trifft den Sachverhalt nur zum Teil. Das alltägliche Funktionieren der Polizei und die alltägliche Polizeiarbeit werden vielmehr durch eine Spannung von formalen Normen und informellen Praktiken bestimmt, wie sie in allen (staatlichen und nichtstaatli-chen) Organisationen besteht. Auch wurde die seit dem 17. Jh. in Europa erfundene staatliche Form der Polizei niemals zur einzigen Instanz von Polizeiarbeit. Bis heute wird sie durch privates policing begleitet, ohne das effek-tive staatliche Polizeiarbeit nicht möglich wäre. Allerdings bleibt der Bezug zum Recht, und auf die Möglichkeit der Gewaltanwendung, in jedem Fall das letzte Mittel der Polizeiarbeit, die somit immer im Schatten des Staates statt-findet.
This chapter outlines some of the challenges that providers of assistance to developing democracies face in helping create practices of democratic policing. Police in modern democracies face a “democratic dilemma” wherein effective crime control practices that are too aggressive can curb democratic liberties on one hand, and a closely controlled police force’s failure to confront social disorder can similarly harm democratic institutions. It discusses three main areas where international actors can contribute to the creation of a police force to handle these issues: organization, professionalization, and legalization. Foreign intervention can structure police forces so that they are less likely to allow for abusive environments. They can also help create cultures of professionalism by arranging opportunities for cross-national police relations that can foster a respect for the rule of law. Finally, foreign intervention can help to create legal structures that regulate police behavior and punish police misconduct. After describing these contributions, this chapter ends with some reflections on the amplification of problems of democratic policing in relation to transnational crime.
Although there is currently no legal duty on the police to inform the subjects of searches that they have the right to refuse their consent, this article considers the impact of the Human Rights Act. It sets out, briefly, the domestic Position before proposing several arguments based on Article 8 of he European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in favour of a change to informed consent in policing. It assesses how such challenges may,be brought before a court and looks at the scope of any duty that may be imposed.
This article will argue that police performance crime can be described as structurally coerced action because it represents the most reasonable response to a sanction‐containing organizational demand set beyond a legitimately attainable threshold. This account of police performance crime recognizes the importance of structural strain, rational choice and social learning experiences as key contours on its contextual landscape. However, the concept of coercion as a moral concept requires a further and vital ingredient ‐ enroachment upon some moral right. The claim of right asserted here is one to have organizational rewards allocated upon the basis of merit‐based criteria. It is strain theory which provides a space for the assertion of encroachment upon this moral right, while the theories of rational choice and social learning help explain the reasonableness of action. The designation of police performance crime as coerced action contains serious implications for criminal responsibility, punishment and crime‐prevention strategies which the article explores.
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the influence of police cultural knowledge on the investigation of violent serial crimes. Specifically, it aims to identify whether such knowledge impacts the way in which investigative techniques are implemented. Of particular interest is the police knowledge specific to victims of violent serial crimes. Design/methodology/approach – A case study analysis of five incidents of serial murder and four incidents of serial rape in Australia was conducted. This included a qualitative analysis of cold case files from New South Wales Police, Australia. These data were triangulated with data obtained from interviews with detectives who had investigated incidents of serial murder and serial rape from that agency. Findings – The police cultural knowledge relating to the victims of these crimes at the time of reporting negatively impacted the subsequent investigation of these cases. This resulted in a marked delay in the recognition of cases as part of a series of crimes and a delay in the allocation of investigative resources. This knowledge was informed by police experience in street policing, not from experience in the investigation of violent serial crimes. Research limitations/implications – This paper is limited to selected cases of serial crimes that occurred in Australia. Practical implications – This research suggests that police cultural understandings of victims need to be reviewed and changed to include knowledge of serial crime victims, offenders and their crimes. Such changes could contribute to improved recognition of related crimes as being serial in nature, essentially opening the way to preventing further victimisation. Originality/value – There is no research that considers the impact of police cultural knowledge on the investigation of violent serial crime, and its subsequent contribution to the length of time of the series of crimes remains unconnected.
Drawing on a recent study of the impact of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras on policing practices in a large English police force, this paper considers whether the presence of surveillance cameras affects the working attitudes and behaviour of individual police officers. In particular, this paper asks whether CCTV makes the police more accountable or more cautious in the exercise of their discretion in public spaces. Although noting that in certain circumstances CCTV may inadvertently help to reduce incidences of police misconduct, this paper concludes by arguing that more needs to be done to prevent the police from interfering with the operation of CCTV and gaining unauthorised access to potentially incriminating video evidence.
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