Policing and accountability: the working of police authorities

Abstract

In recent times policing has attracted a good deal of controversy, such as the paramilitary tactics employed at demonstrations, the use of stop and search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000, and the manner in which police officers are deployed on day-today duties. This paper outlines the role and potential of police authorities to influence police policy and operations, and also highlights the need to seek greater citizen participation in holding the police to account. The major part of the paper draws on ground-breaking research on police authorities using questionnaire and in-depth interview data to outline just how it is that police authority members approach their duties.

Institutional hybridity and cultural isomorphism in contemporary policing

“…To Noordegraaf (2006), these responses are common in the post-NPM landscape and effectively convey that organizations have a full understanding of the new social conditions within which they find themselves. Whilst, the old tripartite system (see Millen and Stephens, 2011) under which the police of England and Wales used to operate recognized (in terms of its structure) the responsibility to both the state and to the public, it can be argued that scrutiny brought to bear from both sides has increased and intensified as the processes of late modernity have taken hold. Neoliberalism is intrinsically linked to late modernity (see, for example, Ayers, 2005; Dawson, 2013) and has led to a reduction in police budgets in England and Wales via austerity programmes (see Lumsden and Black, 2017).…”

Policing Protest in the Austerity-driven Slovenia

“…And why did it have a particular shape? It formulates the theory-driven hypotheses (della Porta, Reiter, 1998, p. 21;Whelan, 2017;Millen, Stephens, 2011) that the Slovenian model of protest policing most likely is between the antinomic ideal types of escalated force and negotiated management close to the latter. Additionally, its shape might derive from the organizational dynamics of the Slovenian National Police which typifies with the dialectic of decentralization and hierarchical submission in police units, the effectively used possibilities to coordinate the different groups operating within protesting crowds, and certainty about the aims of the intervention (della Porta, Reiter, 1998, p. 21).…”

A state-of-the-art review on police accountability

“…Police officers are granted influential powers and possess a certain amount of discretion when making decisions during their daily activities. Because these actions can have far-reaching consequences, police accountability is essential (Kelling et al, 1988; Lamboo, 2010; Millen and Stephens, 2011; Ransley et al, 2007).…”