This book adds to knowledge about chief police officers in England and Wales by exploring their understandings of the right of police to exercise power. Their beliefs, motivations, backgrounds, and cultures are examined. Light is cast on how they perceive power, coercion, control, policing purpose, gendered understandings, protecting people, vulnerability, policing by consent, discretion, operational independence, law and the oversight and political direction (or governance), and accountability of police. Chief officers used three legitimating narratives based on: protecting people ― particularly the most vulnerable ― policing by consent, and law and the oversight and political direction of police. These accounts are assessed. Damaged processes of police governance that risk undermining police leadership and legitimacy are revealed. Critically, chief officers’ understandings of legitimacy are found to be confused, conflicted, and, above all, convenient in supporting them in asserting a privileged position from which they can pursue their preferences for the use of power.
Author(s): Ian Shannon
Series: Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 259
City: London
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
1: Introduction
Chief Police Officer Literature
The Scholarly and Policing Terrain Covered and Contributed To
Methodology
Structure of the Book
References
2: Legitimacy: A Contested Concept
Hobbes
Utilitarianism
Weber
Durkheim
Beetham
Perspectives That Challenge Claims to the Legitimacy of the State and Its Institutions
Procedural Justice
Conclusion
References
3: Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations
Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds
Chief Police Officers: A Liberal Elite?
The Career Paths and Socialisation, Development and Training of Chief Police Officers
Chief Police Officers’ Motivations
A Power/Service Paradox?
Gendered Understandings of Power
How Chief Police Officers Reflect on the Use of Power and the Right to Use It
Conclusion
References
4: Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable
Methodology
Vulnerability, a Developing Discourse
Vulnerability, a Complex Concept
The Development of a Police Discourse of Vulnerability and Associated Policy
Politically Privileged Threats
Protecting the Vulnerable as a Response to Police Failures
Divergent Police Responses to Vulnerability
Policing Purpose and Vulnerability
Ambiguous and Hidden Vulnerability
Vulnerability and Prioritisation
Threat, Harm and Risk: Identifying and Responding to Vulnerability
Conclusion
References
5: Policing by Consent
The Endurance and Meaning of ‘Policing by Consent’
Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Policing by Consent
Hazy Consent
Communicating, Conversations and Accountability
Neighbourhood/Community Policing
Gauging and Building Consent
Informed Consent or Coerced Compliance?
Listening to People with Little Power
Procedural Justice
Withdrawn Consent
Police Performance Management and Consent
Conclusion
References
6: Law and Governance
A Right to Exercise Power Based on Law
Legality and Legitimacy
Contemporary Police Governance
Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Governance
Operational Independence After the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
Chief Police Officers’ Concerns About Career Security and Progression
Discussion of Police Governance
Conclusion
References
7: Conclusion
Overview
Legitimacy: A Contested Concept
Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations
Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable
Policing by Consent
Law and Governance
How an Archetypal Chief Police Officer Understands the Right to Exercise Power
Confused
Conflicted
Convenient
Implications for the Current and Future State of Policing
Areas for Further Research
Conclusion and Recommendations
References
Index
