Policing Diversity: Themes and Concerns from the Recent British Experience

Rowe, Michael

doi:10.1177/109861102237689

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The police research covers the promotion of (ethnic) diversity within the police force and also 'policing diversity' as a means of achieving legitimacy (Rowe 2002, Cashmore 2002, van Ewijk 2011, Peterson and Uhnoo 2012, Pettersson 2013), but in the private security industry, strategies concerning ethnic diversity are a new phenomenon that has not been researched. Previous research in the field of private security has focused on the actual service delivery of private security officers (Hobbs et al 2003, Wakefield 2003, Button 2007b, the 'risk gaze' or risk profiling targeting specific categories of people (McCahill 2002, Wakefield 2003, Hutchinson and O'Connor 2005 and also ethnic profiling by private security officers (Gabbidon 2003, O'Dougherty 2006, Kempa and Singh 2008, as well as public perceptions of the industry (Livingstone and Hart 2003, Noaks 2008, van Steden and Nalla 2010, Berndtsson 2011, Thumala et al 2011.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Private security policing by ‘ethnic matching’ in Swedish suburbs: avoiding and managing accusations of ethnic discrimination

Löfstrand

2013

Policing and Society

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Recent research has stressed the dependency of the private security industry on public recognition and legitimacy. This article discusses how one Swedish security company, through the work of its individual security officers 'on the ground', carries out legitimation work in relation to the public. The empirical focus in this examination is on the company's work vis-à-vis youths from 'foreign' backgrounds in the ethnically and socioeconomically segregated suburbs of one of the largest cities in Sweden. The ethnographic data collected through field-based interviews and observations on the security company officers' work, perceptions and views point to a specific type of legitimacy management strategy adopted by the company in question in its operational context: 'policing by ethnic matching'. The article shows how this strategy is implemented to avoid anticipated accusations of ethnic discrimination, to manage such accusations when they nevertheless occur and to repair the legitimacy of the business when it is seen to have been damaged. The techniques used in the company's efforts to advance its legitimacy claims are shown to rely on impression and emotion management.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Private security policing by ‘ethnic matching’ in Swedish suburbs: avoiding and managing accusations of ethnic discrimination

Löfstrand

2013

Policing and Society

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“…The percentage of Hispanic American officers in the Chicago Police Department is steadily increasing in recent years due to continuously implementing affirmative action in the department. A study (Rowe, 2002) in England showed that the police-department-employed racial minority officers policing in diversified neighborhoods might reduce violent crimes in those communities. It is reasonable to believe that police departments will successfully recruit racial minorities, regardless of the proportion of racial minorities in the communities, if the departments continue to implement the affirmative action policies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Racial Minority Applicants Have a Better Chance to Be Recruited in Predominately White Neighborhoods? An Empirical Study

2005

Police Quarterly

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For decades, police departments across the nation have made notable progress in aggressively recruiting racial minority officers and female officers. The main controversy is primarily centered on the adverse impact of recruitrelated testing, such as psychological tests, on racial minority applicants. This study examines racial disparity in the police selection process by analyzing the effect of race on police department recruitment decisions. Results show that the applicant’s race is not correlated with the department recruitment decision. This study also finds that racial minority applicants are less likely to be recommended by psychologists on the basis of psychological testing and assessment. Interestingly, a psychologist’s recommendation does not have any significant impact on police recruitment decisions among the non-White group. Most importantly, this study finds that racial minority applicants in the police selection process have no apparent preferential privilege in a predominately White community.

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“…(P1, 2008)Her belief that numbers of females are irrelevant and personality and the individual is paramount does not fit neatly with the anti-woman in power rhetoric she had heard from front-line male officers. As she had not encountered such arguments in relation to race (see Chan et al, 2010), it seems unlikely that ethnicity would be used explicitly in this way post Macpherson (see Chan et al, 2010; Loftus, 2008; Rowe, 2002).…”

Section: The Lived Realities Of Women Police Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty-three women officers’ experiences of policing in England: The same old story or a different story?

Cunningham

Ramshaw

2019

International Journal of Police Science & Management

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Our research project was concerned primarily with using a feminist analysis to explore the lived reality of 23 women police officers in England and Wales. We undertook 23 qualitative interviews with our participants and our research straddles four decades of policing practice, which allowed us to explore changes that were seen to have taken place during this period. First, participants discussed their lived reality, which included banter, bullying and harassment for many. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, at certain times of unrest, riots or threats, some of our participants were provided with opportunities, for example, during the IRA threat, the riot in Toxteth and the miners’ strike. We suggest that examples from our data capture an early disruption of the ‘ideal’ heroic male police officer that Silvestri examines [Silvestri M (2018) Disrupting the ‘heroic’ male within policing: a case of direct entry. Feminist Criminology 13(3): 309–328] whose removal from their normal role during periods of socio-political disorder allowed women officers to leave the gendered division of labour and undertake the heroic police constable role while the men were busy being ‘heroic’ at the source of threat and unrest. We sought to explore changes such as the uniform as a site of protest for some of our officers who challenged an uncomfortable and unfit uniform in the early days, and explained that there were still problems with the kit and design at times. Our findings illustrated that, on the whole, although massive changes had been made, it was a case of the same old story in terms of sexual harassment and banter for female officers and more was required to address these issues, which fits with reviews and studies in both England and Wales and in Australia. Finally, we noted using participants’ words how much many of these women had enjoyed their role within policing in spite of these challenges.

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Policing Diversity: Themes and Concerns from the Recent British Experience

Cited by 11 publications

References 4 publications

Private security policing by ‘ethnic matching’ in Swedish suburbs: avoiding and managing accusations of ethnic discrimination

Private security policing by ‘ethnic matching’ in Swedish suburbs: avoiding and managing accusations of ethnic discrimination

Do Racial Minority Applicants Have a Better Chance to Be Recruited in Predominately White Neighborhoods? An Empirical Study

Twenty-three women officers’ experiences of policing in England: The same old story or a different story?

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