Inside The British Police: A Force At Work book review
This is a book full of moral outrage, indignant at the exposed police practices during Simon Holdaway’s covert participant observation. Most of the events are centred around the “Hilton” branch which is an area that cultivated social deprivation and formed the “ground on which many police officers spent their working lives” (Holdaway, 1983, P.1). At the time of writing his then doctoral thesis, Holdaway was serving as a sergeant in the London Metropolitan police, making this book a unique piece of literature, filling the gaps of knowledge previous studies couldn’t penetrate because of the researcher-researched dynamic. Holdaway was not just researching the police, he was researching the very people he worked with, and at the time, before the PACE act of 1984 which outlined various strict rules and codes of conduct for police that continue today. (Loftus, 2016)
When Holdaway conducted his research there were no ethics committees or guidelines for covert ethnography and the guarded culture of police, combined with their mandate to use force and discretionary powers (at the lower ranks), meant it was important they were studied. Holdaway’s justification was a totalitarian one and In order to get real data that wasn’t staged, covert was the way forward. “When such an institution is over protective... it’s important they be studied” (Holdaway, 1983, P.1). It does appear throughout the book, that some colleagues may have
Durham Regional Police Services (D.R.P.S) is an organization who provides emergency services. This service agency works towards lowering crime rates, enforcing law, investigating crime patterns, and protecting civilians. “Durham Region (and other regional governments surrounding Toronto) was created by an act of provincial parliament and the Durham Regional Police Service began on January 1, 1974 ¨originally the amalgamated services of the seven town and township police departments in existence at that time.” (“History of Durham Regional Police, 2018”). Currently D.R.P.S is founded by Ontario’s provincial government. Since the many years that D.R.P.S has been created, it has dramatically grown over the years. The main reason being is that each year, the service anticipates to frequently improve on regions safety. For instance, Durham police service generates and provides an annual report to the public.
Police forces or Law enforcers have been used for centuries all around the world but America took particular interest in the English’s policing system. America’s policing ideas and process began
In “A Sketch of the Policeman’s Working Personality,” Jerome Skolnick discusses and analyzes how a police officer’s personal outlook is affected by his or her involvement in police work, creating an “us versus them” mind-set, as well as the frequent inability to “turn off” the police mentality outside of a work environment. While he states that a person’s work has an impact on his or her outlook of the world according to a recurring theme in the sociology of occupations, police work has a particularly strong impact on those cognitive lenses (Skolnick, 1966, p. 2). Because of the nature of their job, police have a tendency to look at the world in a way that makes it
This essay will introduce two competing perspectives of policing, they are the orthodox and revisionist perspectives. This essay will then relate the orthodox and revisionist perspectives to the themes of lack of structure, industrialisation and finally hostility. It will then discuss whether the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 was an effective solution to the changes within society as well as the challenges brought about through crime and disorder. The orthodox view is that the Metropolitan Police were, in fact, a rational decision made to adapt to the needs of the society. They argue that the establishment of the ‘new’ police was inevitable. The revisionist view would state that the ‘new’ police were not a rational decision. They believed that crime and disorder were not increasing, it was just that the ways of counting crime were largely different to previously. The revisionists also believe that the new system was in part beneficial for which to tackle issues that may have occasioned due to the new ‘dangerous class’ (Monkkonen, 1981, p147). In this essay, there will be reference made to the Brixton Riots in 1981 with a clear explanation as to how the orthodox and revisionist perspectives relate to modern policing activities.
The role of police officers is very significant to American history. Police work toward protecting citizens’ rights and helping America become the land of the free. The United States of America is built from the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights and police play a major role in making sure American rights are met. Evolution has changed many of American history for the better; policing is part of those changes. As new issues in society arise, police must change and adapt to protect and serve the public.
Within the article, “The Myth of Police Reform,” the author points out how police respond to a lot of problems in our society that should not require police intervention. This is clearly an explicit argument because the author states that, “Fear and compliance have their place, but it can’t be every place.” This editorial is meant for everyone because it brings up numerous examples of people being shot, chased, or arrested over issues that shouldn’t involve violence. It also gives examples including different ages, races, and gender. Most of these narrations end up with someone getting shot over a silly reason whether it is someone running around naked or some kid tripping on mushrooms. These examples help us infer that every problem cannot be handled by force. Some may disagree with this, but the police can make mistakes just like the rest of us. Honestly, this paper seems very one sided. As soon as he says something noble about the police, he has something just as bad to counter it.
There are numerous concerns based on the quantity and content of stop and searches which are often influenced by institutionalised racism (Home Office, 1997). Studies suggested that the police maintain a belief that black people are prone to be involved in violent crimes (Reiner, 1989). Therefore leading to black individuals routinely falling victim to police stereotypes and overgeneralisations (Bowling and Phillips, 2007). Police interviews have suggested that police perceive certain ethnicities to be involved with certain crimes, one interview suggested that if police are alerted of a robbery, 90% of the time they will assume it is involving a black individual (Quinton et al, 2000). Despite that there is evidence suggesting that racial disadvantages will cause an increase in young blacks to be involved with crime, suggesting that these suspicions are justified (Waddington et al, 2007). Furthermore, there is little research suggesting that police enforce their prejudices when working on the streets, thus suggesting that racial views are a result of police canteen sub-culture (Waddington, 1999).
Police Relations with Minority Ethnic Communities The Macpherson report was published in 1999 amidst problems of racial inequality and a lack of faith in the police amongst minority ethnic communities. There is an ongoing debate on whether Macpherson’s report was a help or a hindrance with regards to minority ethnic relations and the police; it is this dispute that the essay shall examine. To begin with the paper will look at the problems, which existed prior to Sir William Macpherson’s publication and which led to the publication of his report. It will then proceed to examine the failures of the Scarman report, in order to look at both the prior problems and failures regarding the 1981 Scarman
Firstly Policing, Philips and Bowling (2007) have noted that in the 1970’s there have been many accusations of oppressive policing if minority ethnic communities. These have included mass stop and search operations, police violence and failure to respond to racist violence.
The Frontline documentary, Policing the police, makes the argument that there are many problems with police departments across the United States and uses his correspondence with the Newark, New Jersey Police Department to make that point.
For over a century police departments in the United States and across the world have been following Sir Robert Peel's twelve principals of policing. Almost nothing or very little has changed since these principals were first implemented in England's "Scotland Yard". Many of these principals are behind today's investigating and policing practices.
The recent wave of terrorist attacks around the UK and the rest of Europe has caused an uproar of people who believe the British police service should be armed, expecting an attack 24/7, but this isn 't the first time the UK has experienced significant sustained terrorist attacks. Back then the attacks were being carried out by an organised guerrilla army, the PIRA, who were well known to the UK government and military. Nowadays attacks are being carried out by individuals trying to push their own political views in unconnected, isolated incidents. But is it really any safer to arm our police service?
The dictionary definition of the police is “the organized civil force of a state, concerned with maintenance of law and order, the detection and prevention of crime, etc,” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002). This definition states the minimum of what the police actually do. Providing support for families, protecting society from criminals and responding to calls 24 hours a day 7 days a week are just some of the other roles that police have to deal with. In this essay the evolution of the police will be discussed as well as how the police are facing challenges.
An opportunity to voice concerns with the protection of anonymity Police officers mainly deal with problems and conflict management, compounded by ‘broken Britain’ and the constant reports over their lack of effectiveness of the police and failings. Life on Mars comparison?? The perceived unjust nature of police work which can potentially undermine citizens’ rights and in the case of stop and search practices, demonstrably targets ethic minority communities have been evidenced to be counter-productive and can generate feelings of hostility and lack of trust towards police officers (Brunson and Miller 2006, Sharp and Atherton
UK police are one of the professional police around the world and for their professionalism, commitment, motivation and commitment of supply for their activities and the country as a whole known. Like any other force, they take the motivation to continue their level of commitment. Depending upon the level of organization, there are a number of motivational factors and theories that maintain this level of motivation at the top of the world, but there is another factor, which provides a roadmap for organizations in terms of professional obligations. This is leadership.