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

Terpstra, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.ijlcj.2011.01.009

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In contrast, critical or conflict perspectiveswith their roots in Marxist and even Weberian sociology (Terpestra 2011)understand the police as acting less in the public good, and more for dominant elites. The role of the police is to neutralise population groups considered 'dangerous', including ethnic minorities and those of lower socio-economic status (Marenin 1982, Petrocelli et al 2003, McMichael 2017, and policing decisions are made on extra-legal considerations, as well as legal factors (Lee et al 2013).…”

Section: What the Citizen Does And Who The Citizen Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a number of theoretical traditions around the role of the police, and police use of force in particular. For consensus theorists, police can be understood as acting for the public good and protecting social order as a whole (Marenin 1982, Lee et al 2013, Terpestra 2011, Kitossa 2016. Police use of force has been likened to 'a subcontract to collect garbage'; an arrangement which 'leaves the police with dirty hands' but which 'makes our lives infinitely more pleasant' (Sherman 1980, p. 2).…”

Section: What the Citizen Does And Who The Citizen Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Taser, Taser’! Exploring factors associated with police use of Taser in England and Wales

Dymond

2018

Policing and Society

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Police use of Taser in England and Wales has received little academic attention, despite being the topic of much public controversy. Much of our knowledge comes from the United States of America, but these findings are based on a small number of data sets and little testing has been done to see whether such findings apply internationally. This article uses a novel dataset from a police agency in England and Wales, and pilots new covariates, to conduct a multivariate analysis of factors associated with Taser use: the first time such analysis has been conducted outside of North America. This analysis also provides an ideal opportunity to test long-standing theoretical debates about whether police use of force is affected by 'who the citizen is', as the conflict approach would predict, or 'what the citizen does', in keeping with the consensus tradition. Variables from both the former (namely gender and mental health issues) and the latter category (including presence or use of a weapon) were found to be statistically significant after the inclusion of controls. The results highlight limitations to the application of the American based literature internationally and demonstrate stronger support for consensus than conflict theories. They also highlight that, under certain conditions, it may be appropriate for officers to take civilian characteristics into account when making use of force decisions.

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Section: What the Citizen Does And Who The Citizen Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What the Citizen Does And Who The Citizen Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Taser, Taser’! Exploring factors associated with police use of Taser in England and Wales

Dymond

2018

Policing and Society

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“…As one observer already argued many decades ago, 'the police themselves are the most important actor determining public attitudes' (Gourley 1954, p. 135). This is because social legitimacy, which includes trust (Beetham 1991, Tyler 2004, Terpstra 2011, has a 'dialogical character' (Bottoms and Tankebe 2012). It contains an authority's claim to legitimacy as well as how the 'audience'the publicbestows legitimacy on that authority (here: the police).…”

Section: A Socio-institutional Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Police trust-building strategies. A socio-institutional, comparative approach

Schaap

2020

Policing and Society

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Police require public trust to do their work well. Recognising this, police organisations across Europe implement various methods to gain trust: trust-building strategies. Surprisingly, the field of trust in the police and police legitimacy has paid scant attention to what the police actually do to improve trust. The present contribution outlines an approach to understanding police trust-building strategies in their social and institutional context applying a comparative, dynamic perspective. Departing from the assumption that trust and legitimacy exist in a dialogue between the public and the police, the author argues that trustbuilding strategies develop in an unpredictable, dynamic complex of interrelated social and institutional factors. What is seen as a suitable trust-building strategy is determined by dominant 'rationalised myths', ways of thinking about what good police work should look like. These are shaped by a diverse range of different actors and factors. This complex affects each phase in the development of police trust-building strategies: problem recognition, generation of strategies, and adoption of strategies. Illustrating the value of the socio-institutional approach towards trustbuilding strategies, each of these phases is discussed in the context of a comparative, dynamic study of police trust-building strategies in England and Wales, Denmark, and the Netherlands. It is argued that this more sophisticated understanding of trust-building in its social and institutional context does not just tell us something about the police, but also helps us understand how state institutions shape and maintain their position in the complex environments of our changing societies.

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“…[…] Social legitimacy is situationally bound and has to be produced and reproduced in permanently changing relations between the police and the citizens. Social legitimacy requires police and citizens to (re)create a mutual relationship and try to cooperate (2011: 8–9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Many disorderly youths, few serious incidents

Steden¹,

Broekhuizen

2015

The Police Journal

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This paper presents fieldwork on police-citizen interactions in a setting of (latent) friction with ethnically diverse populations. Often, the police are frustrated with disorderly youngsters hanging out on streets and squares. Contrary to what was anticipated, however, escalation occurred only sporadically. Patrol officers were most keen on traffic control and order maintenance and, in so doing, dealt most frequently with youngsters from minority groups. Community officers played a more socially engaged role, but were less willing and able to gain access to such groups. Taken together, both types of officers managed to preserve sensible contacts with ethnic minority populations due to their professionalism in regulating emotions and their realisation that overly harsh police action would make things worse.

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

Cited by 18 publications

References 17 publications

‘Taser, Taser’! Exploring factors associated with police use of Taser in England and Wales

‘Taser, Taser’! Exploring factors associated with police use of Taser in England and Wales

Police trust-building strategies. A socio-institutional, comparative approach

Many disorderly youths, few serious incidents

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