Police legitimacy in context: an exploration of “soft” power in police custody in England

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine how police authorityin its "soft" formis used and understood by staff and detainees in police custody in England, examining how these meanings are shaped by this unique police setting. It is argued that the nature of this setting, as fraught and uncertain, along with the large volume of citizens who come into contact with the police therein, makes police custody the ultimate "teachable moment". Design/methodology/approach-The present paper is based on in-depth qualitative data collected between March 2014 and May 2015 in four custody suites (in four forces). In each site, the researchers spent three to four weeks observing and then interviewed 10-15 staff (largely police officers, detention officers but also a few other criminal justice practitioners) and 10-15 detainees. In total, the paper is based on 532 hours of observing and 97 interviews (47 with staff and 50 with detainees). Findings-One way that the staff used their authority in the custody suites in the research was softly and innocuously; this entailed for example staff communicating in a respectful manner with detainees, such as by being deliberately polite. The authors conclude that this "soft" power was a dynamic, processual matter, shaped in particular by the physical conditions of the suite, the uncertain and insecure nature of detainees' circumstances, as well as by the sense of disempowerment they felt as a result of being deprived of their liberty and autonomy, all of which contributed to police custody being the ultimate "teachable moment". Originality/value-The paper draws on a range of qualitative data collected from both staff and detainees in four types of police custody suites as part the "good" police custody study. It therefore makes an original contribution to the field which has tended to rely on cross-sectional surveys of citizens not policed populations (Harkin, 2015; Worden and Mclean, 2017).

The Role of Organizational Culture and Climate for Well-Being among Police Custody Personnel: A Multilevel Examination

“…These findings showed that ‘good’ police custody is something more than the use of soft skills [ 65 ]. Although beyond the direct aim of this study, it is safe to infer that the tensions identified by police custody officers and police staff in the current study could be resolved by creating a national police custody service staffed by police custody inspectors/managers and sergeants seconded for the purpose (as in other branches of the service like regional police training), who would continue to be supported by civilian detention officers/assistants and nurses.…”

Containment and care? A qualitative interview study exploring police custody staff views about delivering brief alcohol interventions to heavy drinking arrestees

“…Our study found the DOs with whom the arrestees have the most frequent contact are adept in interpersonal interactions within this context of containment; providing credibility and skills that are considered necessary to navigate this setting. This has been found in other research into police custody detention officers, who have been found to be skillful in the use of 'soft power', wherein detention officers were able to build rapport with arrestees by distinguishing themselves from the arresting officer, communicating respect and the use of humour (Skinns et al, 2016). However DOs were found to lack confidence and taskspecific self-esteem in providing a caring intervention in response to the identified need.…”

“…Whilst workload pressure and competing demands have been highlighted as an issue in other settings (Anderson, 2009;Bendtsen et al, 2015;Brown, Newbury-Birch, McGovern, Phinn, & Kaner, 2010) and have been associated with poor implementation of alcohol screening and brief intervention (Wilson et al, 2011), these settings have a primary function of providing care. Within the custody suite, care other than that with immediate and urgent consequence, is at times viewed as being in conflict with the core function of containment, with research finding an inverse relationship between the levels of busyness within different custody suites and how 'good' policing is for the arrestee (Skinns, Rice, Sprawson, & Wooff, 2016).…”

Using the ‘in-between’ to build quality in support relationships with people with cognitive disability: the significance of liminal spaces and time

“…Studies in geography drawing on liminality have tended to focus on sites that are fixed, ongoing and usually building-based (Atkinson & Robson, 2012). A small number of geographers, and others in related disciplines, have detailed the role of physical and emotional spaces in shaping experiences of liminality, including the police custody cell (Skinns et al, 2017), end-of-life care (Marsh et al, 2017), and the internet (Madge & O'Connor, 2005). Feminist geographers have long critiqued the power-laden and constraining duality of private and public space, and highlighted the presence and vitality of spaces in-between, often occupied by women and others, including people with disability (e.g., Jang et al, 2019) who are socio-spatially marginalised.…”