Police, managerialization and presentational strategies

Abstract

Purpose -The managerialization of the police may be seen as an effort to restore the legitimacy of the police. This paper aims to show that the managerialist strategy presently occurring within police forces creates new pitfalls and unintended consequences. Design/methodology/approach -The paper concentrates on the managerialization of the police in The Netherlands. It is based on a study of large numbers of police policy documents over the last 20 years, on interviews with key persons and on long term survey data on citizens' views on the police. This analysis focuses on four elements of managerialization: creating the police as a businesslike organization, performance management, quality management, and the view on citizens as customers of the police. Each of these elements is analyzed as a police presentational strategy. Findings -The managerial strategies that police organizations use as endeavors to restore their legitimacy, are described. There are no clear empirical indications that the managerialization of the police restored citizens' trust in the police. On the contrary, it may even undermine the police legitimacy.Research limitations/implications -The analysis focuses on one country, The Netherlands. Because police organizations in many countries were confronted with similar managerial changes, it is expected that many of the findings and conclusions are more generally relevant. Practical implications -The paper presents a critical view on the common managerial assumption that police legitimacy may be restored by promoting police instrumental performances. Originality/value -This paper views managerialization as an endeavor to restore police legitimacy. It concentrates on managerial presentational strategies and image work as forms of legitimacy management of police organizations.

Two theories on the police – The relevance of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim to the study of the police

“…As has often been noted before, the concept of police legitimacy is a central issue in police studies, not only because in many countries for the last few decades it has become increasingly difficult for the police to maintain or restore their legitimacy, but also because legitimacy is a complex, multi-dimensional concept (Richardson, 1985;Suchman, 1995;Terpstra and Trommel, 2009). Following the analysis of Beetham (1991) on its main lines, but using a somewhat different terminology, it can be stated that the legitimacy of the police can be distinguished in two principal components: social and normative legitimacy, the former corresponding with the Durkheimian perspective and the latter with the Weberian one.…”

“…Although it has often been argued that this symbolic-moral dimension is at least as important as the instrumental aspects of the police (Bayley, 1994;Manning, 1977;Loader and Mulcahy, 2003), in many countries during the past two decades it seems time and again that this has been neglected or underestimated, possibly as a result of the great influence of dominant utilitarian discourses like the New Public Management (Terpstra and Trommel, 2009). The large dark number of crimes and the limited preventive meaning of criminal law might cause one only to doubt the beneficial effects of criminal investigation.…”

Governance and accountability in community policing

“…The government therefore decided to introduce a more radical system of performance management. This illustrated the growing influence of NPM discourse and methods within the Dutch police since the mid 1990s [39]. The new system of performance management introduced quantitative targets (with process, output and outcome indicators) that the police forces should attain.…”

“…There seems to be an alternation between support for and criticism of the model, both in and outside the police organization. The erosion of community policing as a dominant mainstream model is the result of several factors, including the new managerial stress on the 'core business' of the police [39] and the shift to a more repressive, punitive policy climate in the Netherlands [20,21]. According to some commentators this may imply a radical break in the development of community policing in the Netherlands, resulting in the model losing its position.…”

“…This system contains targets and performance indicators which the regional police forces have to achieve. A revised system of performance management was introduced in 2007 [39,42]. Compared with its predecessor, less emphasis was put on strict, quantitative performance indicators.…”