Les Johnston

‘Keeping the Family Together’. Police Community Support Officers and the ‘Police Extended Family’ in London

The Police Reform Act (2002) introduced police community support officers (PCSOs) into the service for the first time. PCSOs are uniformed staff who work under the direction and control of the chief officer, and who possess certain limited powers. The introduction of PCSOs has to be considered in the context of debates about security governance, since proponents see the initiative as a means of reconsolidating police sovereignty over policing. Obviously, in order for this sovereign project to be feasible, PCSOs have to be integrated successfully into their newly adopted ‘family’. This paper is concerned with a number of organisational issues relating to the Police Community Support Officers integration. It draws upon research into PCSOs carried out in two London boroughs (Westminster and Camden) between October 2002 and December 2003.

Justice in the Risk Society

Abstract The punishment paradigm is attractive because of the parsimonious way in which it integrates the instrumental and the symbolic features of ordering. This paper examines the relationship between these features in a context where risk and risk reduction are prioritised.The central question motivating the paper is a normative one: What opportunities, if any, does the explosion of risk-focused technologies present for minimising our reliance on punishment as a technology for governing security? Our contention is that the mentality of risk has promoted the exploration of alternative technologies that call into question the tight coupling of punishment with the governance of security. A key issue addressed in the paper is whether it is possible for subjects to experience a sense of justice that is not punishment-centred. Such a situation exists, we argue, in the case of an initiative in the governance of security that one of us has been facilitating in South Africa.

Nodal wars and network fallacies A genealogical analysis of global insecurities

In this article we examine three prominent discourses of security governance and suggest, through a critical review of organizational network theory, that the nodal model can offer theoretical, methodological and ethical benefits over alternative ones. These benefits, we argue, are especially pertinent to the analysis of contemporary global insecurities. The article closes by reflecting on two issues raised in the earlier analysis: how an awareness of discursive contiguity can help inform our understanding of nodal tendencies in global security governance; and how the methodological fallacy of ‘nodal-network equivalence’ plays out under conditions of the ‘war on terror’.

Challenges and Prospects for the Development of Inclusive Plural Policing in Britain: Overcoming Political and Conceptual Obstacles

Abstract Policing involves state and nonstate agencies. In this article, we focus upon recent government-led efforts to engage the new realities of ‘pluralised’ or ‘nodal’ policing in Britain. Rather than focus on the content and rationale underlying these initiatives, we centre our commentary on the principal obstacles so far exhibited, and likely to persist, for achieving inclusive nodal policing approaches. We then highlight some strategies for overcoming these difficulties.

Journal Introduction: From a 'dialogue of the deaf' to a 'dialogue of listening': towards a new methodology of policing research and practice

We celebrate this, the 10th Anniversary of Police Research and Practice, with a Special Issue that does what this remarkable journal has been doing since its inception. Accordingly, we bring together commentaries that reflect upon the state of police (and policing) across the globe and upon associated forms of policing scholarship. Given constraints of space we are only able to take a selective – albeit a discriminating – peek at the present range of policing scholarship and practice. In doing so, we offer contributions from Africa, Australia, South and Central America, China, Europe, and the USA. It is an honor for us, as guest editors, to bring together these thoughtful contributions as a way of celebrating this special anniversary and, of course, the vital work that its editors and Editorial Board have done over the past decade. We begin with an insightful review of the nature of the relationship between policing research and practice by Christine Nixon, arguably one of the most exciting and innovative contemporary police executives, and David Bradley, who has for a very long time been challenging police and scholars to engage with one another. They conclude that irrespective of whether policing scholars have adopted a critical or an intentionally supportive role of their research, their engagement with police has been very much a ‘Dialogue of the Deaf.’ This situation, they argue, is not one that we should be willing to accept either as scholars or as policing practitioners – and they make clear that it is certainly not a situation that the Victoria Police has been willing to accept. They describe the Victoria Police as an organization that has decided to take full advantage of what the academic world has to offer policing; and write of its intention to ‘put greater emphasis on the role of robust theory and evidence’ in formulating policy and operational practices. As a way out of the dialogue of the deaf, especially in relation to the intentionally supportive rather than critical research tradition, Bradley and Nixon argue for a new methodology of engagement between researchers and police practitioners – a methodology that is built on establishing ‘long-term partnerships between police and academics.’ It is precisely such partnerships that Bradley and Nixon have been actively developing in the state of Victoria. What they have sought to accomplish is nothing short of ‘full collaborative partnerships’ between police and researchers ‘throughout the whole process of knowledge generation, validation, diffusion, and use.’ In the 20 partnerships that the Victoria Police has established with university-based researchers the aim has not simply been the production of suitable research products, but the invention of a new methodology for scholarly/practitioner relations. What they have sought

The moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the reduction of corruption in the Nigerian Police

This study investigated the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the reduction of corruption in the Nigerian Police. Three hundred police officer participants (mean age, 35.4) purposively and randomly selected from three State Police Command areas participated in a six‐week quasi‐experiment in which two existential–phenomenological counselling techniques (focusing on locus of control and self‐efficacy) were used as interventions. Two instruments, the Police Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Police Ethical Behaviour Scale, were utilized in the study. The data collected were analysed using analysis of covariance and t‐test statistics treating emotional intelligence as a moderator at two levels (high and low). Findings showed that emotional intelligence could effectively moderate attitudinal measures on police corruption. These findings support the use of emotional intelligence as a catalyst in promoting integrity‐based policing in Nigeria.

Police, governance and the Private Finance Initiative

This paper, drawing on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, examines the impact of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) on police in England and Wales with the specific aim of subjecting recent debates about the alleged ‘dispersed’ or ‘distanciated’ nature of state rule to critical analysis. In order to do this we draw on Shearings (2005) distinction between ‘state anchored’ and ‘corporate-anchored’ pluralism to argue two points: that the ‘rule at a distance’ strategies, so central to ‘state-anchored’ pluralism, are sometimes difficult to achieve; and that the boundary between ‘state-anchored pluralism’ and ‘corporate-anchored pluralism’, far from being absolute, is permeable. Indeed, evidence from the application of the PFI to policing suggests that ‘state-anchored’ pluralism has the potential to mutate into ‘corporate-anchored’ pluralism thus indicating the potential instability of strategies of distanciated state rule.

The effect of locus of control in the reduction of corruption in the Nigerian police

Purpose – Locus of control is the perception of an individuals perception about events in his or her life. This paper aims to improve police ethical standards using a counselling approach, locus of control to reduce police corruption in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approach – A pre‐test, post‐test and control group quasi‐experimental approach using a 2 × 2×2 factorial matrix was employed in the study. Participants were 200 police personnel conveniently sampled from Oyo and Lagos State Police Commands, Nigeria. Quantitative data were collected with a 100 per cent success rate using a valid and reliable instrument, the police ethical behaviour scale (PEBS).Findings – Results of the study using analysis of covariance and t‐test statistics on three generated hypotheses indicated that locus of control as a counselling technique could significantly reduce police corruption. The moderating effect of gender and career status on the intervention (locus of control) showed that female participants and senior police o...

Locus of Control and Self-Efficacy as Means of Tackling Police Corruption in Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of two existential-phenomenological counselling techniques (locus of control and self-efficacy) on the reduction of police corruption-facilitating attitudes in Nigeria. Three hundred police personnel from three State Police Commands participated in the study. These participants who ranged in age between 26 and 53 (Mean = 35.4) were allocated into one of two experimental conditions or a non-treatment control groups and as well matched into commissioned and noncommissioned groups. Participants treated with locus of control and self-efficacy (both involved six weekly sessions) showed significant reduction in a post-test corruption measure. Participants in the self-efficacy condition demonstrated a higher level of change than their counterparts in the locus of control condition. These findings and their implications for integrity-based policing are discussed.

Therapeutic Effectiveness of Self-Efficacy in the Reduction of Police Attitude to Corruption in Nigeria

This study investigates the therapeutic effectiveness of self-efficacy as a counselling strategy in tackling the Nigeria Police Force attitude to corruption. Using a quasi-experimental approach, 200 police personnel were purposively and conveniently sampled from two State Police Commands, Ogun and Lagos States. With the aid of an instrument, the Police Attitude to Corruption Scale, administered twice (pre- and post-test), results showed that the self-efficacy counselling strategy positively influences corruption attitudes of the treated group. Gender was found to moderate significantly, with female police officers showing more positive change than their male counterparts. The results suggest the inclusion of self-efficacy counselling as a bottom-up approach strategy in tackling corruption in the Nigerian Police. The implications of this on police transformation, police practice and counselling practice were discussed.