‘It’s a Profession, it Isn’t a Job’: Police Officers’ Views on the Professionalisation of Policing in England

Abstract

This article focuses on police officers' views of the professionalisation of policing in The concept of police professionalism is flexible and can be used to promote selfThis is a pre-print version of K. Lumsden (forthcoming) 'It's a profession, it isn't a Job': Police officers' views of the professionalisation of policing in England. Sociological Research Online. interests (Lee and Punch 2004).The article begins with an overview of the sociology of professions, the professionalisation of the police, and the English context. After outlining methods, the article presents findings including: the political drive to professionalise policing; education and recruitment; an expert body of knowledge via evidence-based policing; and ethics. These elements are entangled with new public management principles including a focus on performance and increasing efficiencies, highlighting the ways in which professionalism can also be used as a 'technology of control' (Foucault 1979) to discipline workers in the conduct of their work.

Views from the Frontline: Graduate Police Recruits on the Status of Evidence-based Practice

“…He argues that ambitions regarding professional status reflect the wider social and political context of their time and have been enacted variously to tackle police corruption and increase public confidence in the police, to promote further education of senior officers, and presently as a means to establish a new regulatory system for policing in England and Wales, that is distant from government and establishes the College of Policing at its centre (Holdaway, 2017). Lumsden (2017) has highlighted different understandings of professional for senior officers versus 'rank and file' and the ways in which emphasis on police professionalisation can be viewed by officers as undermining of their already established profession. This is perhaps best illustrated in the development of the knowledge base for a 'policing profession', where evidence-based practice is often perceived to privilege certain kinds of academic researchtypically the randomised control trial -as valid evidence while de-valuing other research methods and professional or 'craft' knowledge (Hough, 2010;Fleming and Rhodes, 2017).…”

Towards Professionalism and Police Legitimacy? An Examination of the Education and Training Reforms of the Police in the Republic of Ireland

“…Studies of police officers' understanding of professionalism reveal their commitment to a high service ideal as well as temperate support to self-regulate, along with higher levels of professionalism demonstrated by entry-level officers [97]. Current literature also identifies education and training as key to police professionalisation and modernisation [98] (p. 8), [84] (p. 281), evidenced in the spread of police partnerships with academia and universities throughout the USA, Europe and the UK, developing training, education, research and knowledge transference [99]. Within Ireland, the TFPI is categorical that policing should not be seen as a job but as a profession supported by a professional culture and essential traits, including that of a cultural commitment to CPD [30] (p. 85).…”

“…In this context, claims to professionalism are neither expressed or examined nor are the meanings of these claims taken into account. Lumsden [98] also proposes that the trait-based approach to professions is discredited by Abbott's [102] broader sociological account of the systems of professions, avoiding issues raised by the traits-based approach, while assisting in understanding the complex and multiple views of the police themselves. Abbott points to the link between a profession and its work as a jurisdiction, which is contested by other occupations and professions in rivalry, raising the core question: who has 'control of what, when and how' [102] (p. 9)?…”

“…While Lumsden [98] identifies a growing body of literature on the professionalisation of policing, especially in the USA, Europe and Australia [103][104][105], Holdaway contends that academics tend to accept the police as a profession. He argues there is an uncritical and under-investigated acceptance by academics, who rely on an implied belief that the police 'might be and probably are a profession' [101] (pp.…”

“…1, 4-5), ignoring the broader social understandings of professions. Lumsden and Evetts [98,106] both declare that the professionalisation of the police can be a contested space, with tension being derived from top-down notions of what professionalism should be, the bottom-up thoughts and conceptualisations of the rank and file, and the external direction given by the state as to what professionalism in policing should resemble. Both Manning and Heslop take the view that police professionalism is employed by the police as a strategy to uphold their mandate and advance their authority, autonomy and self-worth [107,108] (p. 314).…”