POLICING PAST AND PRESENT

• THE PENAL SYSTEM

  A) Police

  B) magistrates

  C) Prosecution

  D) trial

  E) crown

  
• DEFINING POLICE & POLICING

  • Police  ”The specialist state agency tasked with crime control, order maintenance, & emergency response” (Jones, Newburn and Reiner, 2017) 
  • Policing  ‘A subset of social control that involves organised forms of order maintenance, peace-keeping, rule of law enforcement, crime investigation & prevention & other forms of investigation and information-brokering
• What Makes the Police Different?

  • Defining Feature: Authority to use coercive force or threat of force against citizenry
  • Egon Bittner (1970) The Functions of the Police in Modern Society

  ‘The police are nothing else than a mechanism for the distribution of situationally-justified force in society!’ (Bittner, 1970).

  All police tasks involve ‘something that ought not to be happening & about which  someone had better do something now!’(Bittner, 1970, cited in Jones, Newburn and Reiner, 2017, p.770)
• EARLY DAYS OF POLICING

  • Medieval Parish Constables - Represented “collective responsibility”; local   men who reported to courts & maintained the King’s peace for brief terms – some more diligent than others
  • Watchmen - Statute of Westminster (1285) ordered boroughs to appoint “watches” (4-12 men) to patrol in groups
  • Justices of the Peace - Socially superior royal officials who presided at the courts; swore an oath & paid a fee
• Policing in the 18th Century

  • 1700s: Crime & disorder of increasing concern; rioting over food shortages, high prices, gin crisis
  • 1737: Act of Parliament for “better regulating the night watch”
  • 1740s: London “swarming” with daring thieves  Centre of commerce with increasing population; leads to rise of “thief-takers
• Policing in the 18th Century

  • 1749: Henry & John Fielding, London’s principle magistrates, employ professional thief-takers & establish Bow Street Runners
  • 1780: The Gordon Riots  50,000 anti-Catholic protestors march on parliament
  • 1785: William Pitt’s government proposes centrally controlled police for the metropolis
• Establishing the Modern Police

  • Early 1800s: Widespread resistance to organised policing across classes. Wealthy: resented higher costs, regulation, interference in freedoms, property rights. Workers, radicals: police as repressive state agents, targeting lifestyles & activities.
  • Bowling, Reiner and Sheptycki (2019, pp. 65-67) describes two explanations of police development: an orthodox ‘cop-sided’ account & a revisionist account.
  • •Robert Peel (Home Secretary) finally passed key act in 1829: founding Commissioners = Charles Rowan & Richard Mayne.
• Police reform in the 19th century

  • 1829 Metropolitan Police Act - First professional police force (London only): organised, disciplined. Principle of citizens in uniform: “The police are the people & the people are the police” (Robert Peel attrib.). Independent (in theory) from politicians & ruling classes: authority from Crown but must maintain public’s ‘willing co-operation’.
• Civil Conflict & the Spread of the Police

  • 1839 County (Rural) Police Acts – response to social unrest among Chartists & anti-poor law protesters; enabled JPs to establish forces in their counties
  • 1856 County & Borough Police Act – fears about rioting by demobilised Crimean soldiers, plus end of transportation led to creation of forces at county & borough levels
  • 1880s Special Irish Branch – set up to fight Irish republican brotherhood on mainland; later Special Branch (all 52 forces); since 1995, part of counter-terrorism policing serving MI5
• Police on Strike 1918, 1919

  • 1914 – 18 War Strain on depleted forces; dissatisfaction over pay & conditions = strengthened unions
  • 1919  Police strike Many arrests; all strikers dismissed & never reinstated (1,056 in London)
  • Police Act 1919  Banned union & created Police Federation; causing disaffection  = punishable by law; pay rise given to all officers
• Sources of Police Legitimacy

  Reiner et al. (2019)

    Bureaucracy – chain of command

    Rule of law – check on powers

    Minimal use of force – key strategy

    Non-partisanship – independence

    Accountability – to courts, public

    Service role – informal tasks

    Prevention – over detection

    Effectiveness – provision of redress
• Post War Policing

  • Post-war to 1960s: extended period of relative social peace 
  • Increasing centralisation: Police Act 1946 reduced forces to 117; Police Act 1964 created 49 large forces
  • Police numbers fell to all-time low; crime increased
  • Public perceptions shaped by fictional ‘ordinary copper’, George Dixon in film & TV series Dixon of Dock Green
• 1960s: From Local Bobby to State Lackey? 

  Emsley (1996): Cultural issues changed relations between police & public:

  • Decline in deference
  • Spread of education
  • Consumerism, car ownership
  • Growth of counter-culture: youth, liberation movements,   demonstrations, civil disobedience

  Policing issues: Corruption, accountability, concerns about efficiency, use of new technology, rough treatment of protesters
• 1970s–80s: Policing in Crisis

  Fears of politicisation, militarisation under Margaret Thatcher (elected 1979)

  • ‘Maggie’s private army’ given better pay & resources
  • Firearms issue increased by 400% 
• 1970s-80s: Policing in crisis

  Other challenges to policing by consent:

  • Corruption scandals (drugs/robbery/ serious crime squads); suspects framed; confessions extorted
  • Violent public order tactics: riot shields & ‘kettling’; deaths of Kevin Gateley, Blair Peach
  • Miscarriages of Justice: The Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and Maguire Seven
  • Brixton Riots: harassment & racism alleged by Black communities, reinforced by research, sus laws
  • Distancing effects of new technology: ’Bobbies-on-the-beat to car patrols;  reliance on raids rather than investigations
• Policing in Crisis: The SPG

  • Special Patrol Group formed 1961 - Mobile reserve focused on public order
  • Anti-Racism Demo, Southall, Middx, April 24, 1979 - Blair Peach (33) , NZ teacher, died from head trauma; inquiry found one of six SPG officers responsible; unauthorised weapons found
  • National Front March, London - Kevin Gately (21) student protester died from blunt force trauma; inquiry inconclusive 
  • Concern over ‘force within a force’; disbanded 1986 - Now Territorial Support Group (TSG)
• Policing in Crisis: The Brixton Riots

  • 1981: Racialised violence, rioting & public disorder in Brixton & Southall, spreading to other UK cities - The Scarman Report: sources of unrest = ‘impoverished physical environment’, 'the social & economic disadvantages which are suffered particularly by black residents, especially   young blacks’ & ‘create a disposition towards violent protest’; called for police racial awareness training & community consultation 
  • The New Cross Fire 
• 1990s: Policing without consent?

  • Public disorder Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) aimed to balance police powers & public’s rights, but police still respond with riot control hardware
  • Continuing concerns over corruption, abuses of power, miscarriages of justice, racism (response to 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence)
  • 1997: New Labour government of Tony Blair adopts law & order agenda
  • Policing = ‘post-legitimation’: debates focus on pragmatism not principle  (Reiner et al. 2019) 
• Policing the New Millennium

  • Social context Increasing inequality, relative poverty, wide pay gaps, long-term exclusion from employment
  • Criminal justice context Political consensus; reforms geared towards increased police effectiveness
  • Policing under New Labour  Intelligence-led, problem-solving, partnership & joined-up thinking (rather than social causes of crime)
  • Neo-Liberal Policing 2010–  Budget cuts, declining numbers, rising crime figures, waning public confidence? 
• Reform or Compromise: HMCIC-FRS 2019

  • Sir Thomas Winsor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (2019) State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England & Wales 2018
• Current Issues for the Police: Internal

  • Casey (2023) “institutional racism, sexism and homophobia” (p.7)
  • Reform of police structure (to meet demands of online & cross-border crime)
  • Budgets & staffing
  • Managing funding arrangements
  • Recruiting & training new officers
  • Increasing officer diversity
  • Policing diverse communities
  • Social media scrutiny 
• Current Issues for the Police: Crime

  • Responding to vulnerable & mentally ill
  • Domestic abuse
  • Knife crime
  • County lines drug offending
  • Public order (Insulate Britain, Extinction Rebellion)
  • Terrorism (threat level; radicalisation) & organised crime
  • Gender-based violence
  • Cyber crime
• Met in crisis - again?

  • Hundreds of wanted criminals facing arrest in Met crackdown 
  • Met chief vows to be ruthless with corrupt officers
  • More trust, less crime and high standards
  • Root out racists and misogynists
  • We are going to get back to the scene of every burglary in the home