‘Citizens in Policing’: Exploring the Role and Impact of Volunteering in Law Enforcement

Britton, Iain; Knight, Laura

doi:10.1093/police/paaa051

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Within this context, Lumsden and Black (2017) note the need for police officers to incorporate both positive and negative forms of emotional labour – being both “nicer than nice” and “tougher than tough” (2017, p. 611). However, emotional labour in the police remains an under-studied area (Schaible, 2018; Britton and Knight, 2021), including in support functions (Adams and Mastracci, 2020; Simpson, 2021; van Steden et al ., 2022). “Emotional dirty work” is, nonetheless, necessary for the functioning of society (McMurray and Ward, 2014), and thus an area that should be investigated in the context of public service work under austerity (Hopkins and Simms, 2020).…”

Section: The Current Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional labour and burnout among police officers

Hopkins

Dowell

Flitton³

2023

PIJPSM

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PurposeWith rare research access to the police service in the United Kingdom, the authors investigate levels of burnout and the performance of emotional labour.Design/methodology/approachUsing 330 surveys completed by serving police officers, the authors investigate levels of burnout and also the performance of the three elements of emotional labour.FindingsInvestigating heterogeneity, the authors create a typology of three different types of officer. In addition to a core group, this includes groups with misaligned and matching values. Surface acting impacts on all groups, and in each group it is associated with increased levels of burnout.Originality/valueA unique feature of this research is the involvement of a practitioner from the police service in the authorship team, together with re-engagement with the police service in order to refine this typology. Possible coping strategies are introduced following this consultation.

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Section: The Current Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional labour and burnout among police officers

Hopkins

Dowell

Flitton³

2023

PIJPSM

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“…In E&W, akin to the Malaysian model, there is a national program designed to support special constables to the point of safe and lawful accompanied patrol called the Initial Learning for the Special Constabulary. In E&W, there is considerable variation in delivery of training locally across police forces (Britton et al , 2018a). There have been critiques of special constable training not accounting for individuals who may have significant experience prior to their volunteering career (e.g.…”

Section: Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Special Constabulary (current strength 9,571) is organized in a nationally consistent model but led and managed in individual police forces with some degree of variation (Britton et al , 2018a). A majority of special constables are concentrated on front-line responding, neighborhood policing and visible patrol (Britton and Callender, 2018; Bullock and Leeney, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing volunteer policing in Malaysia, England and Wales and the United States of America: cross-national findings

Cheah

Britton

Callender

et al. 2021

PIJPSM

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PurposeThis article offers a tri-national comparison between Malaysia, England and Wales and the United States of AmericaDesign/methodology/approachIt is based on reviewing, collating, comparing and contrasting previous research findings and official reports on the topic with a view to identify recurrent commonalities in the three countries studied.FindingsThree key common themes are identified and presented in the article: (1) The relevance of the cultural positioning of volunteers in policing; (2) the importance of understanding the roles and capability of police volunteers; (3) recognizing prerequisites for recruitment of volunteers and the nature of their subsequent training.Research limitations/implicationsWe suggest that more detailed comparative studies of volunteer policing structures and officer roles would be valuable.Practical implicationsThe practice implications of these findings are discussed, and the potential value of and major challenges in carrying out cross-national national comparative study in the field of volunteer policing shown.Social implicationsThe paper discusses important issues in the role and value of police volunteerism to criminal justice and society.Originality/valueThere are few international comparisons of volunteer policing and even fewer that compare approaches between Western and Eastern countries. This is the first study to do so.

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“…Each police force in England and Wales has a Special Constabulary, comprising part-time, volunteer police officers who share the same 'warranted' sworn powers of their regular, paid police officer colleagues and who undertake similar front-line policing duties. This voluntary activity is undertaken on a sizeable scale, involving 9174 Specials in March 2021 (Home Office, 2021), and Special Constables contributing 3.2 million hours of voluntary policing service in 2017 (Britton et al, 2018a). This paper focuses on the early experience of newly joined volunteer Special Constables.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper focuses on the early experience of newly joined volunteer Special Constables. Every year there are an estimated 16,500 applications to become a Special Constable in England and Wales (Britton et al, 2016b), and over a decade just over 45,000 individuals will have joined up with the Special Constabulary, averaging 4500 per year (Britton, 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Special beginnings: An explorative study of the early career experiences of volunteer special constables

Britton

Callender

Farquharson

2022

The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles

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The paper reports on a study of the early career experiences of voluntary Special Constables. The research identified the importance of practising, becoming and belonging for volunteers during initial training. Significant challenges in their early front-line practice were experienced alongside problems of processes, management, and organisation, and cultural challenges in terms of ‘fitting in’ and building relationships. The paper argues for the need to further professionalise police force approaches to new Special Constables and the need to shift away from a ‘finding their own way’ paradigm for new volunteer officers towards a structured, unified pathway of development.

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‘Citizens in Policing’: Exploring the Role and Impact of Volunteering in Law Enforcement

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Emotional labour and burnout among police officers

Emotional labour and burnout among police officers

Comparing volunteer policing in Malaysia, England and Wales and the United States of America: cross-national findings

Special beginnings: An explorative study of the early career experiences of volunteer special constables

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