Workforce Modernisation: Implications for the Police Service in England and Wales Evaluating HMIC, 2004 Thematic: Modernising the Police Service (original) (raw)
Related papers
Workforce Modernisation: Implications for the Police Service in England and Wales
The Police Journal, 2006
Thematic on modernising the police service. It identifies the significance of these by reference to the more general framework of New Labour's commitment to modernising public services and the implications of this for the police service. It contrasts the response on the part of the police service to the current modernisation programme with that of police associations to the earlier Sheehy Inquiry and Posen Review in the early 1990s. The article assesses the role and status of civilian staff in the police service and draws on comparative data collected by HMIC on the use of such staff in police services around the world. It draws attention to the current use of 'sworn' and 'non-sworn' officers in a number of police forces abroad which may well provide some insight into the future structure of police services planned for England and Wales. The article thereafter considers the modernisation programme that is currently being piloted within Surrey Police. It considers the potential impact of recent party political competition over police numbers, particularly in relation to any planned reduction in police establishment occasioned by full implementation of Workforce Modernisation within police forces.
Re-Engineering the Police Organisation: Implementing Workforce Modernisation in England and Wales
The Police Journal, 2007
This article assesses the need for major re-engineering of the police service in England and Wales to project and sustain the workforce modernisation programme in England and Wales. It argues that having avoided the bureaucratic cul-de-sac that police mergers represented, a real opportunity for effective reform has now arisen. This reform would encompass immediate delegation to basic command units of manpower budgets and the determination of policing services at this level. The article draws on the experience of one chief officer who was to confront the problems of bureaucratic inertia within his own police force and some organisational practices that served to undermine police service delivery. It considers the current problems surrounding the centralised control of police budgets and the impact of this on the ability of BCU Commanders to sustain effective reassurance policing. The article also assesses the impact and future implications of workforce modernisation along with recent evaluations of the PCSO and 'mixedeconomy teams' from pilot sites. Finally the article draws on recent experience from one police force Chief Officer Team to evaluate the continuing problem of police organisational culture particularly in relation to workforce modernisation and the future expansion of the role of police staff within police forces in England and Wales.
Sociological Research Online, 2017
This article focuses on police officers' views of the professionalisation of policing in England against a backdrop of government reforms to policing via establishment of the College of Policing, evidence-based policing and a period of austerity. Police officers view professionalisation as linked to: top-down government reforms; education and recruitment; the building of an evidence-base; and the ethics of policing (Peelian principles). These elements are further entangled with new public management principles, highlighting the ways in which professionalism can be used as a technology of control to discipline workers. There are tensions between the government's top-down drive for police organisations to professionalise and officers' bottom-up views of policing as an established profession. Data is presented from qualitative interviews with 15 police officers and staff in England.
The current configuration of personnel within police forces now calls for radical reform
2015
The police service has come under strain from funding and personnel reductions over recent years, despite the surprise of the recent Autumn Statement freezing spending. Here, Barry Loveday responds to a new HMIC report which suggests, amongst other things, a ‘policing degree’, greater expertise in cyber crime, and changing the dominant policing paradigm from capacity to capability.
Police Management and Workforce Reform in a Period of Austerity
Springer eBooks, 2015
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Criminology & Criminal Justice, 2023
The occupation of policing is in crisis. Criticism of police failings has created intense pressure for the traditional 'occupational closure' model of policing as a craft to be replaced by new 'professional' models associated with 'evidence-based policing', harm reduction, risk management and vulnerability. Various change initiatives have amounted to the 're-professionalisation' of policing, whereby previous models of police professionalism based on craft, discretion and judgement have been abandoned and replaced by new protocols, guidelines and enhanced external scrutiny. This article explores how these changes are interpreted by operational police officers, using qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork to explore officers' application and understanding of the new requirements. Whereas some literature argues that 'police culture' remains largely unchanged, our data illustrate how officers' daily routines are in a state of enforced flux. While there was some limited support for the rationale for change, officers were highly critical of the practical implementation of policing vulnerability, were sceptical of the new doctrine of 'professionalism', and resentful of new managerial controls and priorities. This does not amount to the stubborn persistence of a 'reform-proof' police culture. Rather, officers described substantial change to the everyday culture and practice of policing, in ways they regard as confused, self-defeating and unworkable. We argue that professionalisation imposed ‘from above’ via dogmatic managerial logic can have detrimental implications for occupations and the public they serve.
Conservatives and the Constabulary in Great Britain: Cross-Dressing Conundrums
The Politics of Policing: Between Force and Legitimacy, 2016
Purpose-To analyse the historical peculiarity of the contemporary British politics of policing. Methodology-Analysis of policy statements and debates, news reports, and official statistics, in the light of historical studies of the earlier politics of policing. Findings-The Conservative government's police reform programme severely diminishes the resources, powers, status and independence of the police, reversing the Tory's traditional unquestioning support of the police. The package is shown to reflect broader changes in political economy and culture under neoliberalism. Originality/Value-There has been no previous academic analysis bringing together the various aspects of the reform programme, contrasting it with previous historical understanding of the politics of policing, and linking it to broader contemporary change.