The ethics of researching the police

Skinns, Layla; Wooff, Andrew; Sprawson, Amy

doi:10.4324/9781315795294-14

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…At the time of this research, the authors worked both as researchers for the SPS as well as academics at universities. This ‘insider outsider’ position had the advantages of access and support from within the organisation as well as beginning the research with a deeper understanding of the research contexts (Heslop 2012), but it also carried with it a number of ethical challenges in relation to participants’ free consent (Skinns, Wooff and Sprawson 2015). Although every effort was made to emphasise the independence of this research from the SPS and that non‐participation would have no negative consequences, the nearly 100% participation rate may indicate that officer recruits did feel a degree of institutional pressure to participate, despite the best efforts of the researchers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming a Prison Officer: An Analysis of the Early Development of Prison Officer Cultures

Morrison

Maycock

2020

Howard J Crime Justice

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Despite the fact that over recent years, imprisonment in Scotland has adopted a bold and aspirational policy direction including proposed reforms to the role of the prison officer, there has been little research into prison officers in Scotland, and by extension, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) as an organisation. This article offers a unique empirical insight into prison officer recruits and evolving prison officer cultures, by longitudinally tracking 31 prison officer recruits over training and early working experience. The article provides an in‐depth perspective on prison officer recruits’ views and experiences, and it also makes a contribution to the emerging area of research of the SPS through a focus on organisational change and reform. Finally, it incorporates, and further develops, a body of literature on penality and the penal state by interrogating the tensions between policy and practice within the context of the Scottish penal system.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Becoming a Prison Officer: An Analysis of the Early Development of Prison Officer Cultures

Morrison

Maycock

2020

Howard J Crime Justice

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“…The Police Service is constantly challenged over its activities through extensive media coverage of events, often negatively with significant internal and public impact. 13 Ethical research of or with the police presents problems for social science, 14 particularly over informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, and these problems are intensified by the exceptionally strong hierarchical management structures and rigid regulatory conditions of police employment. Police culture itself has received a great deal of academic attention over the years 15 and has been categorised in several ways, not least of which is a defensiveness due partly to issues of required professional confidentiality but also of collegiate and self-protection.…”

Section: The Challenges Of Functional Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police Functional Adaptation to the Digital or Post Digital Age: Discussions with Cybercrime Experts

Johnson

Faulkner

Meredith

et al. 2020

The Journal of Criminal Law

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This article examines the challenges of functional adaptation faced by the police in response to technologically driven changes in the nature of crime. It also recounts how research under the auspices of a ‘dark web’ research project resulted in a search for an effective approach to engaging with investigators dealing with cybercrime. In doing so it tested, as a research methodology, a standard change implementation tool (problem tree analysis) from the Disaster Management and Sustainable Development (DMSD) discipline. This in turn resulted in significant consideration being given to the physical space in which that methodology is used. It presents the results of a workshop held with cybercrime investigators (not all were police officers) in terms of the importance of four key organisational and cultural issues (management, leadership and institutional ethos within the police; the risks of over-complication and exaggerated distinctions between cyber and real world policing; ethics; and knowledge, training and development) alongside the development and acquisition of new technical capabilities.

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“…However, the researcher risks not only to become a burden for those involved in family conflicts, but also for the police patrol. Skinns, Wooff and Sprawson (2016) show an example where the presence of the researcher can influence the behaviour of both the police and those involved. In the worst case scenario, the researcher may stand in the way of emergency solutions, as safeguarding the researcher on dangerous missions may distract the police in their work.…”

Section: The Merit Of Participatory Observationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a pitfall of field research is that the researcher fails to maintain adequate distance from the police. Skinns, Wooff and Sprawson (2016) argue that a close relationship between the researcher and the police can easily become research with the police, and consequently research that primarily serves police organisations. Skinns, Wooff and Sprawson (2016, p. 198) explain:…”

Section: The Merit Of Participatory Observationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fieldwork in police studies – the ethical dilemma in participatory observation with police patrols

Aas

2020

Police Practice and Research

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Police research in Norway is a young research discipline and its methodological approaches have to a small extent been discussed in public. The aim of this article is to discuss one of the most controversial approaches in police studies: participatory observation with police patrols. This research method becomes particularly controversial when participation takes place in a private arena, that is, in private homes. The conflict between two central values, a consideration of privacy versus the need for direct access to police methods, is examined in this article. Ethical guidelines were mandated in Norway in 2005 to govern police research and to assist with providing a legal framework for researchers participating in police patrols within private domains. A call to amend the law to provide for this research method was proposed in 2007. A comprehensive public hearing as a result of the proposal did not lead to any initiative to adjust the law. In recent years there has been an increased participation of TV media 1 in the Norwegian operational police service resulting in an increased relevancy of this methodological discussion. Using documents from the public hearing, this paper outlines the key arguments made. It contributes to the debate by further advancing a rationale for retaining the use of participatory observation in policing research. It highlights the potential positive and negative impacts of such research, concluding that the valuable contributions from this research methodology help to make a strong case for allowing this type of research to continue.

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The ethics of researching the police

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

Becoming a Prison Officer: An Analysis of the Early Development of Prison Officer Cultures

Becoming a Prison Officer: An Analysis of the Early Development of Prison Officer Cultures

Police Functional Adaptation to the Digital or Post Digital Age: Discussions with Cybercrime Experts

Fieldwork in police studies – the ethical dilemma in participatory observation with police patrols

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