THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF POLICING PART TWO

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THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF POLICING PART TWO

• Mike Kilroe
• January 2009

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Outline

• The Nine Principles of Policing
• The Development of the Metropolitan Police
• Variations on a theme
• Policing 1945-1979
• Archive footage

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The transition to the formation of state police

• Reiner (1997) Modern societies exhibit police
  fetishism
• Fetishism man-made object having power
• The ideological assumption that the police are a
  functional prerequisite of social order
• Schwartz and Miller (1964) argue that
  specialised police forces only emerged in
  societies with a specialised division of labour
• Social Differentiation
• In contrast more traditional societies enforced
  norms by alternative means

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The Nine Principles of Policing

• The philosophy of policing by consent
• Appeared as appendix to A New Study of Police
  History by Charles Reith (1956)
• They were originally composed by Charles Rowan
  and Richard Mayne (The first joint Commissioners
  of the Metropolitan Police0
• Rowan and Maynes conception of a police force
  was unique because it derives , not from fear,
  but almost exclusively from public co-operation
  with the police

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The Development of the Metropolitan Police

• Bobbies or Peelers
• Within 12 weeks of 7th July 1829 a force of
  nearly one thousand men was recruited
• London organised into 6 divisions
• Each one divided into 8 sub-sections
• These in turn dived into beats
• This is derived from a military model
• Uniformed (blue not scarlet/gold as Peel
  intended)
• Disciplined along military lines
• Within 2 years half the force's original
  constables were dismissed
• Political opposition from Whigs (early version of
  the Liberal political - representing merchant
  industrial interests) and London magistrates (who
  continued to use Bow Street Runners etc)

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VARIATIONS ON A THEME

• Early forms of policing in North America
• Major colonization of North America from 17th
  century
• Early settlements watchmen and military (New
  England)
• New York (High Constable/Sub Constable/Watchmen)
• In Canada areas of French settlement adopted
  police structures from France (Militia)
• A system of regulation of slaves/workers/indigenou
  s population (Mawby 1999)
• War of Independence (1775-83)
• Civil War (1861-65)
• The Wild West and frontier justice
• First modern force in USA established in New York
  in 1844 modelled on London Police (Miller 1977)
• In 1850s Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New
  Orleans build on New York model
• Armed. Uniformed but uniforms not popular.
  Diverse. Corrupt
• Uniforms symbol of Britain and undemocratic

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Variations on a theme
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Developments elsewhere in the British Isles

• Scotland
• The Procurator Fiscal (Public Prosecutor)
• Modern police forces established in larger cities
  between 1800-1824
• Scottish Office created in 1885 (Home Office)
• Pressure on smaller forces to amalgamate
• There were still 33 separate forces in 1964
• There are now 8

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Developments elsewhere in the British Isles

• Ireland
• Policing in Ireland initially established as a
  force of colonial occupation
• Royal Irish Constabulary highly centralised
  (Westminster), armed militaristic force of
  occupation
• Recruits mainly English, ex military, living in
  barracks - Controlled by Protestants and London
  (Enloe 1980)
• A Quasi military force (Johnston 2000)
• Bowden (1978) The system of policing in Ireland
  bore little relationship to system in England
• No police force for the maintenance of peace
  exists.. (Sinn Fein 1920s)
• Following the partition in 1920 and Northern
  Ireland as part of UK , RUC created
• Irish Free State (Republic of Ireland) Civic
  Guard formed by the provisional government in
  1922

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Policing 1945-1979

• Early 1950s post-war Britain
• A Golden Era of Policing
• The benign bobby on the beat (Jones 2001)
• Dixon of Dock Green
• No Hiding Place
• A symbol of national pride (Reiner)
• Consensus re role and direction of policing
• The law-abiding sections of the community have
  come to accept the police more as guardians and
  less as oppressors. Time and experience have
  dispelled old fears. (Police Journal 1955)
• The influence of America/America culture /cop
  culture

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Optimism and Post- War Britain

• The wider picture
• Formation of the NHS
• Education reforms
• More w/c kids going to grammar schools/University
• Full employment
• New housing
• Low crime rate
• Let's be frank about it most of our people have
  never had it so good (Harold Macmillan 1957)
• A general feeling of well being
• YouTube - Elizabeth is Queen - Coronation of Her
  Majesty (2 June 1953)

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Pessimism and Wider Society

• Crime rates rise mid 1950s
• Availability of guns
• Moral panics around youth culture
• Folk devils as a threat
• The Cold War
• Increase in marches/demonstrations CND
• Riots Notting Hill Nottingham 1958
• Corruption charges against Chief Constables
  1956/57(Brighton)
• Assaults against those in police detention
• Perhaps a golden age never existed!

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Policing from the 1960s

• 1960s sees first sociological research on police
  (Banton 1964)
• Police discretion
• Rule bending
• Rule ignoring
• Noble Cause Corruption
• Also sees police engagement with middle class
• Middle class formerly deferential
• More motor cars
• Articulated student protest (Vietnam)
• More industrial unrest
• New group of black adolescents who could not find
  work
• Development of Police Public Order Units
• Cooperation between forces
• Riot control/Paramilitary techniques

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The Introduction of Unit Beat Policing

• Originally an experimental scheme
• Home Office circular 1967
• Reduction of officers on foot
• More patrol cars
• Introduction of personal radios
• Strive for efficiency and better relations with
  the public
• Newburn (1995) This was a disaster
• Reiner Fire Brigade policing
• A move from proactive community policing to
  reactive policing (Johnston 2000)
• Scarman A root cause of the 1981 riots

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Policing and the Conservative Years

• Crime increase linked with the failure of the
  1974-1979 Labour government
• A crisis within the state (Habermas)
• Legitimation crisis (Habermas)
• The state failing to deliver
• A crisis within capitalism (Hall)
• The winter of discontent (1978/79)
• Thatcher government elected 1979
• A period of radical and controversial change
  (Newburn 1985)
• Pay increase for armed forces and police
• Two landmark events that affect political/social
  aspects of policing
• Riots 1981/85 and miners dispute 1984/85
• These change tactics, equipment and training of
  police to deal with disorder

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Policing and the Conservative Years

• Margaret Thatcher 1984
• The Enemy within
• Mob violence can only be defeated if the police
  have the complex moral and political support of
  government
• Lowe (2001) states during this period the police
  can be viewed as the Conservatives own Praetorian
  Guard
• There develops a degree of arrogance within the
  police in the first half of the Conservative
  years (Lowe)

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Thatcherism

• New Right Policies
• Influenced by Friedrich Hayek The Road to
  Serfdom 1944
• Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economy
• Minimum central control
• Too much socialism in Britain (Thatcher)
• Privatisation
• Council house sales
• Shares British Telecom
• Emphasis on personal responsibility, authority,
  family
• Authoritarian Statism (Hall)
• Police budgets increased