An article examined the factors that could trap the police in adversarial approaches to young people, and how best to move towards policing grounded on principles of procedural justice. Ideas about procedural justice might be able to gain more traction in times of austerity, given that changing policing style did not necessarily incur significant costs.
Source: Mike Hough, 'Procedural justice and professional policing in times of austerity', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A new book examined how traditional municipal policing had evolved in European Union countries.
Source: Daniel Donnelly, Municipal Policing in the European Union: Comparative perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the expansion of the police service in England and Wales, which had happened at a time of falling levels of recorded crime. A period of enforced contraction could be a positive opportunity to re-appraise what the state police ought to be doing. In some areas a narrowing of the police role might be both possible and beneficial.
Source: Andrew Millie, 'The policing task and the expansion (and contraction) of British policing', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined resident participation in neighbourhood policing; the extent to which police officers organized their priorities around those of residents who participated; and the ways in which officers worked with other state agencies and residents themselves to tackle certain problems. It questioned the notions of accountability embedded in neighbourhood policing, and whether the neighbourhood policing approach offered an effective mechanism for holding officers to account by residents.
Source: Karen Bullock and David Leeney, 'Participation, "responsivity" and accountability in neighbourhood policing', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 13 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the challenges for the European Union as a policy actor in tackling organized crime.
Source: Felia Alluma and Monica Den Boer, 'United we stand? Conceptual diversity in the EU strategy against organized crime', Journal of European Economic Integration, Volume 35 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs said that the Independent Police Complaints Commission was overloaded with appeal cases; that serious cases involving police corruption or misconduct were left underinvestigated, while the Commission devoted resources to less serious complaints; and that public trust continued to be undermined by the Commission's dependence on former officers and the investigative resources of police forces.
Source: Independent Police Complaints Commission, Eleventh Report (Session 2012–13), HC 494, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | IPCC press release | ACPO press release | INQUEST press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the hypothesis that police legitimacy was determined by procedural fairness, distributive fairness, lawfulness, and effectiveness. It also investigated the relative influence of legitimacy and feelings of obligation on citizens' willingness to co-operate with the police. Legitimacy was found to exhibit a direct influence on co-operation that was independent of obligation, and an indirect influence that flowed through people's felt obligations to obey the police.
Source: Justice Tankebe, 'Viewing things differently: the dimensions of public perceptions of police legitimacy', Criminology, Volume 51 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the relative importance of police numbers and visibility in determining public confidence in the service. Visibility had a significant and positive effect on confidence: but so did police numbers over and above the effect of visibility. Because the extent to which police were visible in local areas was itself a function of the number of police employed, the number of police had an additional indirect influence on public confidence through its direct effect on visibility. Reducing police numbers was therefore likely to erode public confidence in the police, even if frontline visibility was maintained through organizational efficiency.
Source: Katy Sindall and Patrick Sturgis, 'Austerity policing: is visibility more important than absolute numbers in determining public confidence in the police?', European Journal of Criminology, Volume 10 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the possible impact of contracting budgets and increasing demand from the public on the delivery of 'policing products and services' (sic). It considered the potential role of the private sector, along with alternative funding mechanisms such as payments by results. Such reforms were unquestionably significant and would change the relationship between the police service and the public.
Source: Colin Rogers and James Gravelle, 'Future of policing in the UK: understanding the economics', Review of European Studies, Volume 5 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
The coalition government announced a package of measures designed to strengthen standards of integrity in policing. The Independent Police Complaints Commission would be expanded to deal with all serious complaints against the police.
Source: Debate 12 February 2013, columns 713-725, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | IPCC press release | Police Federation press release
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the impact of the 2011 London disorder on attitudes towards the police, sentencing, crime, and disorder. Although public confidence had remained largely steady, confidence was lower (and already had been lower prior to the events) in those areas of London that were hit hardest by the disorder. A substantial shift was observed towards greater punitiveness and authoritarian viewpoints.
Source: Katrin Hohl, Betsy Stanko, and Tim Newburn, 'The effect of the 2011 London disorder on public opinion of police and attitudes towards crime, disorder, and sentencing', Policing, Volume 7 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined trends in public order policing. It traced the ways in which strategies used in Northern Ireland were being transferred to Britain, especially in relation to black and minority-ethnic communities.
Source: Liz Fekete, 'Total policing: reflections from the frontline', Race and Class, Volume 54 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
The government began consultation on proposals (made by an independent review) to allow people to join the police service in England and Wales without starting at constable rank, and to fast-track the best officers to senior management roles.
Source: Consultation on the Implementation of Direct Entry in the Police, Home Office
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Notes: Winsor report (2012)
Date: 2013-Jan
An article compared approaches to policing, and addressing offending and anti-social behaviour, in public housing in New York and in United Kingdom cities.
Source: John Flint, 'Policing public housing: New York and British cities', Safer Communities, Volume 12 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan