Policing Citizens Authority & ...

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Contents
1. What is Policing?
1
Introduction
1
What Officers Do—An Anecdote
1
The Same the Whole World Over?
3
Crime-Fighters?
4
Peacekeeping and Service?
12
Monopolists of Force?
15
Exercising Authority
20
Policing, Citizens and the State
20
Policing Non-Citizens: The Colonial Example
24
Continental and Other Forms of Policing
26
Contesting Citizenship
28
Conclusion
30
2. Keeping People in Their Place
31
Introduction
31
Discretion in Policing
31
A Flawed Perspective
38
Policing Subordination and Exclusion
45
Citizenship and Resistance
61
Negotiating Respectability
62
Keeping People in Their Place
63
3. Keeping Dissent in Its Place
64
Introduction
64
Criminals, Citizens and the State
64
Creating a Duopoly of Force
69
Control through Inclusion
70
“Ordinary Decent Protesters”
73
A Common Democratic Solution
74
Civil Rights: Contesting Citizenship
75
Reversing Inclusion
78
v
CONTENTS
Policing Divided Societies
84
The Resurgence of Militarization
87
Conclusion
95
4. Thought, Talk and Action
97
Introduction
97
Are Police Officers Born or Made?
97
Continuities in Explanations of Police Behaviour
102
Appreciating the “Oral Tradition” of Policing
109
Conclusion
120
5. Abusing Authority
121
Introduction
121
Bribery and Corruption
121
The Invitational
Edges
of Corruption
125
“Bending” and “Breaking the Rules”
127
Excessive Force
149
Conclusion
158
6. Controlling Police Officers
159
Introduction
159
Regulating Police Wrongdoing
159
Conclusion
183
7. Controlling Police Organizations
184
Introduction
184
Independence and Control
184
Impartiality, Discretion and Law
191
Accommodating Constitutional Tensions
195
Abuses of Power
196
A Mechanism for Restraint?
197
Making a Difference
201
Constructing Constitutionalism
204
8. Reform and Change
206
Introduction
206
Community Policing
206
Police Management
226
Privatization
243
Conclusion
249
Bibliography
251
Index
296
vi
CHAPTER 1
What is Policing?
Introduction
The simple answer to the question “What is policing?” is that policing is what police
officers do. There is much sense in this response, but it is typical of the sociologist to
make life complex by showing that there is much more to the subject under examination
than meets the eye. This can be frustrating for the reader, because before we can examine
our subject we need to stand back from it and assess
why
it needs examining and
what
needs examination. However, I will try and temper your frustration by eschewing general
conceptual issues—at least for the moment—and concentrate instead on what real-life
police officers actually do or rather did during one evening’s duty in Chicago.
What Officers Do—An Anecdote
I met the two officers I was to accompany for the Friday evening’s patrol at the police
station. Pete had seven years’ experience, having spent a few years in the military. He
was white, married, had a couple of kids, lived in the suburbs and was soon hoping for
posting to the detective branch. Al was a rookie, having graduated from the police
academy just a few months previously. He was much younger than Pete, an unmarried
African-American and was attached to his more experienced partner so as to learn how
the job should be done in practice—a relationship that is common in police forces
throughout the world and goes by a variety of official designations, such as “Field
Training Officer” (van Maanen 1973) or “Tutor Constable” (Fielding 1988). The
attitudes of the two men were also quite typical of their respective roles and experience:
Al was enthusiastic at the prospect of getting out on the street and talked excitedly about
his work. Pete was more laconic and not a little cynical—his was a job to be done and a
period to survive.
I climbed into the rear of the blue and white patrol car and with Pete driving we
pulled out into the early evening traffic which had obligingly stopped to allow us onto
the road. For a while we drove around the area for which these officers were responsible.
1
POLICING CITIZENS: AUTHORITY AND RIGHTS
Similar to a wild animal establishing its territory we cruised the area to see that everything
was as it should be. As we did so my companions pointed to various housing projects
containing low-cost accommodation and from where we might expect to receive calls.
There was quite a bit of personal domestic chatter between Pete and Al and gossip about
colleagues and events within the police bureaucracy.
It took about an hour of patrolling before Al reached for the radio handset and
acknowledged receipt of a dispatch. He explained that there was a drunk causing a
nuisance in a bar near the city centre. We drove directly but without undue haste to the
bar. As the officers walked into the dimly lit interior the angry exchanges from a group
of people standing near the bar suddenly hushed. Pete asked what the problem was and
the smartly dressed manager told of how the dishevelled man had become drunk and
refused to leave when asked to do so by the bartender, who was also standing in the
group. The man was clearly very intoxicated, unable to stand without swaying and his
speech was slurred. Pete turned to him and asked whether he was going to leave or
would he prefer to be arrested. The man lurched unsteadily towards the door onto the
street with Pete and Al in close attendance. Outside the man slumped against the
display window of a neighbouring shop as Pete warned him that if there was any
recurrence of trouble he would arrested. Just then another patrol car turned up and
Pete ambled over to tell them that there was nothing to worry about and thanked them
for stopping by; they left with a wave. Pete returned to the man and told him to go on
his way.
As we climbed back in the car Pete suggested that we cruise down to the entertainment
district which was not far away. People were now thronging the streets and the patrol
car had some difficulty nosing its way through the heavy traffic. It was noticeable that
we became the centre of attention for many pedestrians and Al took obvious but quiet
delight in returning the smiles and waves of the many small groups of scantily clad
young women. Having woven our way through the crowds we resumed our general
patrol and then had a break for a meal.
The second half of the shift was dominated by a single incident to which we were sent
immediately after the meal break. An African-American man had reported a robbery.
We pulled up at the address to which the dispatcher had sent us to find the man waiting
on the footpath. The story he told was this: he had been in business with another man
for a couple of years, but they had begun to experience financial problems and could not
pay their small group of employees. His partner had proposed selling the personal
computer that was used in the office, but the complainant had refused to permit this. He
had been in the office during the evening, trying to find alternative ways of saving the
business, when two nephews of his partner turned up to take the computer. He had
resisted and they had beaten him before removing the computer. Pete shone his flashlight
onto the man’s face and inspected the cut and bruising around his left eye; meanwhile Al
was taking notes. The complainant did not know where the nephews might be found,
but he gave an address for his business partner. He said that he would remain in the
office for a while and the officers went in search of the partner at what turned out to be
a surprisingly swanky apartment building. The officers enquired of the concierge who
used the internal phone to call the partner. He refused to see the officers, but agreed to
talk on the phone. He alleged that he was not a “partner” but had merely loaned the
complainant money to start his business. The computer had been repossessed when the
complainant had failed to repay the loan. His nephews had acted in self-defence when
the complainant had pulled a gun on them and they had disarmed him. He did not know
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