Andrew Goldsmith

Police reform and the problem of trust

Police reform is widely undertaken in developing and post-authoritarian countries. The starting point for analysis of this phenomenon, it is suggested, is the absence of public trust in police that characterizes police-community relations in these countries. Without public trust in police, ‘policing by consent’ is difficult or impossible and public safety suffers. The nature of trust is examined in general terms and related to the problem of trust in governance. Then, the problematic nature of trust of the police is considered; structural features as well as performance aspects are invoked to explain distrust of police. In the penultimate section, the question of how to build trustworthy police forces is examined in the light of what has been learnt about the difficulties of maintaining or establishing trust in police. Process as well as substantive improvements each play a role here. In addition to building trust, ways of institutionalizing distrust are needed. The article concludes by pointing to some inherent limits or constraints upon trust-building, including the impact of the wider environment in which policing occurs, and the need to trust the tools we use for building trust.

Transnational police building: critical lessons from Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands

Abstract In this paper we begin by defining and examining the concept of police building. Its historical precedents and contemporary forms are briefly reviewed, showing a variety of motives and agendas for this kind of institution building. We argue that police building has been a relatively neglected dimension of nation- and state-building exercises, despite its importance to functions of pacification and restoration of law and order. The emerging literature on international police reform and capacity building tends to adopt a narrow institutionalist and universalistic approach that does not take sufficient account of the politics of police building. This politics is multilayered and varies from the formal to the informal. Using two case studies focusing on events in 2006 in Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands, the reasons for the fragility of many current police-building projects are considered. In both cases, we argue, police capacity builders paid insufficient attention to the political architecture and milieu of public safety.

Disgracebook policing: social media and the rise of police indiscretion

This paper examines the problems for police reputation, operational effectiveness and integrity of the criminal justice system that can arise from off-duty use of social media (SM) by police officers. It locates recent trends in SM use against the background of changes in information and communication practices in policing and the wider community. The concept of police indiscretion is used to explore those features of SM that facilitate and encourage disclosures as well as to, using a series of case studies, identify the harms that can arise. It is suggested that there is currently insufficient appreciation of how SM is impacting upon policing and that, in contrast to the impacts of previous new technologies, SM has the potential to transform many policing practices more quickly and in a more wholesale fashion. Some suggestions for responding to this scenario are offered.

Digital drift and the criminal interaction order

Despite growing interest in cybercrime, the Internet still poses significant challenges for criminological understanding. Its penetration of everyday life is relevant to many crime types, not just cybercrimes. This article examines the ways in which criminal commitments form using the Internet and related communication technologies that empower the individual relative to the group (gang, mafia, etc.). We argue this occurs in two ways. First, it allows individuals to limit involvement in particular associations or networks. The concept of digital drift is used to explore this element. Second, it allows them to commit crimes more autonomously through facilitating self-instruction. Drawing on Goffman, the importance of studying the encounter as the basic unit of a criminal interaction order is proposed.

Gendering Transnational Policing: Experiences of Australian Women in International Policing Operations

This article explores the issues encountered by Australian women police officers on international peace keeping and capacity-building deployments in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The discussion draws upon the literature on transnational policing as well as on womens participation in domestic police forces. The women police interviewed for this research encountered challenges working with colleagues from both the host nation and other contributing forces. The most commonly reported difficulties, however, stemmed from the behaviour of some of their Australian colleagues. These experiences point to the risk that a small number of male Australian police are reverting to a macho culture on international missions. The symbolic as well as practical implications of any kind of ‘gender reversion’ are likely to be significant.

Out of step: multilateral police missions, culture and nation-building in Timor-Leste

Internationally, there is a current rising demand for police to participate in complex peace operations. Achieving multilateral ‘integrated missions’ has become a key objective for these operations. One of the key requirements for such operations is interoperability between police drawn from different countries. Australia has had police serve in multilateral and other kinds of missions in Timor-Leste since 1999. In this article, we draw on interviews with 64 Australian police officers who participated in different missions in Timor-Leste. Integrating the insights from cultural analysis, the paper explores the specific challenges of bringing together police from different nations to work effectively within these operations.

Police in the development space: Australia's international police capacity builders

Abstract International police now contribute the second largest proportion of personnel to peacekeeping missions after militaries. They are thus key contributors to post-conflict transitions in developing countries. In the past decade Australian police have played a major role in a range of international missions in the Asia-Pacific region, partially funded by Australias international development budget. Increasingly the Australian Federal Police, as Australias lead agency in this area, has explicitly adopted the development language of capacity building to describe a significant part of their role. This paper considers the contribution of Australian police to building or developing the capacity of new and/or re-formed police forces following conflict. It also examines the degree to which international police missions are able to contribute to broader development goals and achievements within these settings. In doing so, it engages with the question of ‘outsiders’ (non-development professionals) performing development work in the increasingly populated space of post-conflict recovery and reconstruction.

Trust, trustworthiness and trust-building in international policing missions:

Trust is widely accepted as being central to domestic police effectiveness and legitimacy. It facilitates dealings between the public and the police, and eases relationships between the individuals within police services. In this article, we argue that trust has an equally fundamental role in international policing missions, yet establishing trustworthy policing arrangements is even more difficult, for a variety of reasons. We examine a number of these reasons here. The data used is drawn from interviews with Australian police on international deployment in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. As the data from case studies indicate, international policing missions often take place in countries with low levels of public trust in the police. For many in these countries, international interventions can be matters of ambivalence or even induce active resistance and resentment. Finding ways of cooperating and collaborating, if not trusting, are fundamental to achieving international policing mission objectives. The article therefore considers some ways in which these missions may minimize distrust and earn trust.

Achieving restorative justice: Assessing contrition and forgiveness in the adult conference process

This paper examines the key processes and outcomes of a pilot adult restorative justice programme initiated in one Australian state. We focus particularly on the methods used to ‘capture’ expressions of contrition and forgiveness in various conference settings. In addition, we examine the legal and procedural considerations arising from the pilot, and draw, importantly, on victim and offender narratives of ‘the conference experience’. In concluding, we note the substantive potential for restorative justice to play a meaningful role in adult contexts and briefly consider the future for initiatives of this kind.

Digital Drift and the “Sense of Injustice”: Counter-Productive Policing of Youth Cybercrime

ABSTRACT Over the past several decades, criminological scholarship has increasingly focused on the problem of cybercrime including technology-enabled offending. Theoretical developments that account for these offences have not grown in tandem, leading to questions as to the nature of cybercriminality relative to traditional forms of offending. Recently, Goldsmith and Brewer proposed the conceptual framework of digital drift, extending elements of Matza’s original theories to the virtual environment. While making a useful contribution to the theorization of cybercrime, we argue that further elements of Matza’s original work also warrant consideration. In particular, we acknowledge the role of policing and the criminal justice system in affecting offender perceptions and decision-making. As such, this article extends the theorizing around digital drift to incorporate the ways that offender views are shaped in reaction to the law enforcement and industry responses to cybercrime. The implications of this extension are discussed in depth.