Jacques de Maillard

Technical or political? The working groups of the EU Council of Ministers

Abstract The Council is too often depicted as the battleground for intermittent clashes between national ministers. Based upon case studies of legislation produced in five ‘First Pillar’ sectors, the research presented here has explored the submerged, and much larger, part of this institutional ‘iceberg’: Council working groups. It does so by examining how members of these entities interact with civil servants in COREPER and ministers, on the one hand, and representatives of the Commission and the European Parliament, on the other. Contrary to many practitioner or formalist accounts, the principal finding is that working groups do not operate solely on a ‘technical level’. Instead, they are vital arenas through which the ambiguous nature of politics in the European Union heavily influences negotiating processes and legislative outcomes.

Crime and Justice in France Time Trends, Policies and Political Debate

Crime and insecurity have been major political issues in France during the past 20 years, and especially during the presidential election campaign of 2002. This survey focuses on empirically-based social science that is relevant to these issues. Key themes are crime trends and the influence of incivilities and of fear of crime. The political debate about crime and crime reduction since the 1970s is described and analysed. The paper describes and critically assesses the various measures of the crime phenomenon (vital statistics, victim surveys, self-report studies) and summarizes the information provided by these measures at various times. The various societal responses to crime and insecurity are reviewed, including police work (and police reform), incarceration trends, social prevention and the new partnerships at a local level. Moves to decentralize policy and practice in the field of control and prevention of crime are discussed. Finally, key publications, centres of criminological research and sources of funding are reviewed.

The governance of safety in France Is there anybody in charge

France has been affected by various changes concerning safety policies during the last two decades, especially at the local level. Several features can be noticed: territorialization, the link between prevention and repression; and contractualization. In such a context, the traditional monopoly of the central state ? besides being increasingly fragmented between various agencies ? on security has ended. Such a move must be related to the growing importance of local authorities in the elaboration and implementation of policies against insecurity, but equally to the role played by various other agencies. The present article seeks to understand interagency co-ordination and point up the existence of a complex array of networks governing safety. It also seeks to examine critically the claim made by some scholars of the turn to repressive policies that would affect local policies.France has been affected by various changes concerning safety policies during the last two decades, especially at the local level. Several features can be noticed: territorialization, the link between prevention and repression; and contractualization. In such a context, the traditional monopoly of the central state—besides being increasingly fragmented between various agencies—on security has ended. Such a move must be related to the growing importance of local authorities in the elaboration and implementation of policies against insecurity, but equally to the role played by various other agencies. The present article seeks to understand interagency co-ordination and point up the existence of a complex array of networks governing safety. It also seeks to examine critically the claim made by some scholars of the turn to repressive policies that would affect local policies.

Different styles of policing: discretionary power in street controls by the public police in France and Germany

ABSTRACT By analysing French and German police stop and search on the streets based on embedded observations in police patrols and findings of a large school survey, this article comparatively questions their determinants. Control practices diverge in their frequency: the German police officers control less proactively than their French counterparts. The targets of controls also differ: a concentration on visible minorities is much more pervasive among the French police officers. These divergences may be explained by contrasted professional orientations, especially the importance given to the crime control agenda, and state/society relations.

Studying policing comparatively: obstacles, preliminary results and promises

ABSTRACT Compared to the burgeoning literature on the determinants of penal policies in various Western countries, and compared to criminology in general, the comparative study of policing is an underdeveloped area of research. We acknowledge the practical and theoretical difficulties of such an approach, but we defend its main benefits. Studying policing comparatively allows for a better knowledge of national systems, an understanding of basic concepts such as centralisation, and a stronger recognition of the diverging and converging trends in policing policies at a global level. Traditional comparisons of national models considered policing systems in broad categories (Anglo-Saxon vs. continental European, for example). Here, we suggest rather that models need to be broken down into their elementary components and main organisational features (degree of centralisation, mechanisms of oversight and others).

Do Statistics Reinforce Administrative Centralisation? The Contradictory Influence of Quantified Indicators on French National Police

The introduction of new public management methods, combined with the growing use of new technologies, has turned quantified indicators into a crucial element of policing in France. Beyond the political/politician use that can be made of such quantitative data, the issue of how they actually influence everyday policing practices and priorities as well as the organisation itself and the relationships within it is a source of concern and should be explored. The growing impact of statistics has resulted in an ever-increasing reliance on databases and reporting tools such as the Main Courante Informatisee (MCI, the digital police station logbook), the introduction of performance-based bonuses, and a reinforcement of the data management teams. Because reporting and circulating information upwards through all levels of management (from police stations to the ministry of Interior) was deemed necessary, the hierarchical management pyramid ended up being buttressed while the level of autonomy of ground officers dwindled. The latter are feeling pressured and frustrated by increasing demands for information and results from management. This has sparked a number of adjustment, avoidance, and even cheating strategies designed to provide figures that will meet the quantitative goals assigned by the upper echelon of management, more often than not suspected of being interested in statistics only, instead of how adequately “real” policing is being implemented. In this respect, centralising effects can be said to be counterbalanced by centrifugal practices.

Police performance regimes and police activity: Compstat in Paris and London compared:

This paper analyses the implementation of Compstat-like processes in two large European police organizations: the Metropolitan Police Service in London and the Préfecture de police in Paris. Compstat-like processes are characterized by processes framed by performance indicators and targets, performance assessment sessions, units dedicated to the collection and analysis of performance data, and information processing requiring the use of crime data. Such processes raise two broad sets of questions. First, do these innovations lead to tighter or more encompassing crime control strategies? Second, does the old command-and-control organizational model of police departments emerge reinforced, or does innovation foster the emergence of a new, more deliberative, problem-solving style of management? The paper analyses the mix of common features (limited geographical decentralization, increasing internal accountability based on the centrality of quantitative data, the prioritizing of crime reduction, and the influence of new technologies on how data is used) and differences (the range of indicators used, broader in London, and the management styles, more in line with a neo-managerial impetus in London). Interpreting these contrasts requires an analytical framework combining both the administrative, political and cultural traditions in the two police forces and the intentional projects carried out by political and professional actors.This paper analyses the implementation of Compstat-like processes in two large European police organizations: the Metropolitan Police Service in London and the Prefecture de police in Paris. Compst...

Policing as a performing art? The contradictory nature of contemporary police performance management:

Performance management in criminal justice organizations has become a prominent issue in many countries and has faced increasing criticisms by scholars and practitioners. In this regard it is important to examine empirically how performance frameworks work concretely. We do so through the empirical examination of ‘performance regimes’, that is, the sets of performance indicators, internal procedures, instruments and processes of internal accountability through which performance is defined, assessed and monitored work in police organizations. By using the categories of traditional (target-based, top–down and short-term) and advanced (processes, more deliberative and creative and long-term) performance regimes, we have charted a process of evolution illustrated by the experience of two police forces in England. We argue that police performance management is a contradictory and hybrid process containing elements of both traditional and advanced regimes and in constant flux between them. Problem-solving and a focus on the quality of processes coexist with cascading pressures, an emphasis on numerical targets and other features of more traditional regimes.

Plural policing in Paris: variations and pitfalls of cooperation between national and municipal police forces

The city of Paris, which epitomises the French tendency towards centralisation, has not escaped the global trend towards a pluralisation of policing. Parisian streets, parks and gardens and social estates are now being patrolled by a variety of uniformed professionals. This article aims to analyse the issues raised by the process of coordinating multiple actors. First, these non-police officers patrolling the streets are mapped in order to define their identities. Next, cooperative relationships and rivalries between these various actors are analysed, highlighting the differentiated configurations of the Parisian plural policing complex. We stress the differentiated nature of the regulation of plural policing in Paris and the importance of interindividual relations as a driver for cooperation. We also emphasise the pitfalls of coordination, in a context marked by several layers of cooperation and conflicting professional priorities.

Projecting national preferences: police co-operation, organizations and polities

Policing policy in member states of the European Union (EU) increasingly overlaps with the latters laws and policies, but what causes how national actors set and ‘project’ their respective positions within EU decision-making? Based upon research into the French and British cases in this field over the 2000s and sociological public policy theory, our analysis reveals that while these states formally share strongly centralized systems of co-ordination based on specialized ministries and interministerial mediation, considerable differences exist over the type of inter-administrative competition within each civil service and the linkages to politics this entails. Although national administrations and police forces in both countries have reorganized to engage in EU negotiations, intra-policy community tensions are much greater in France than in Britain. Secondly, the piece shows why British preference formation and projection in this sector is more systematically shaped by parliamentary, media and interest group scrutiny than its French counterpart.