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eleven - Developments in police education in England and Wales: values, culture and ‘common-sense’ policing
- Edited by Malcolm Cowburn, Sheffield Hallam University, Marian Duggan, University of Kent, Anne Robinson, Sheffield Hallam University, Paul Senior, Sheffield Hallam University
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- Book:
- Values in Criminology and Community Justice
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 03 February 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 September 2013, pp 187-206
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The dominant reform agenda of the police service in England and Wales for the last three decades has revolved around the re-emergence of community policing and a languorous cultural shift from ‘rules’ to ‘values’ (Clark, 2005). At the heart of this shift is conflict between a reflective emphasis on the underpinning ‘values’ of policing and a pragmatic emphasis on the common-sense ‘craft’ of police work. This presents challenges for training and education and, for police officers, raises the question, ‘Whose side are we on?’. Attempts to inculcate more flexible thinking about values, bringing police officers closer to the communities they serve, has often met with resistance manifested through a myriad of police occupational cultures. Consequently, an implementation gap has appeared between the resurgence of a community policing philosophy, the training and development police officers receive to carry out this role, and the practice of street-level community policing.
A new model of police education and development has emerged in England and Wales, running from pre-entry recruitment, through career qualifications, to preparation for leadership and senior command (Flanagan, 2008; Neyroud, 2011; Sherman, 2011). A shift towards police education has long been advocated by international scholars as a mechanism for broader police reform (Bayley and Bittner, 1984; Chan, 1997; Roberg and Bonn, 2004), yet the community values that lie at the heart of this reform agenda have been met with sustained resistance by in-service police officers across a number of international jurisdictions and at all levels of the police hierarchy. This chapter identifies problems encountered when researching personal or professional values and outlines how changes to the provision of police training and education can address the cultural issues that have been subject to sustained public criticism. The chapter subsequently draws on evidence from training and education programmes in Europe and the US and puts forward an understanding of values that is able to envisage long-term change and reform within the police service.
Police education in England and Wales
The regionalised structure of the police in England and Wales makes it difficult to develop a coherent national strategy for police learning and development, resulting in fragmented training provision, little oversight of training delivery and the absence of a clear evidence base to support policy developments (Peace, 2006). Reform has also been inhibited by resistance from police officers to academic study in what is regarded as a practice-focused vocation.
twenty - Working with different values: extremism, hate and sex crimes
- Edited by Malcolm Cowburn, Sheffield Hallam University, Marian Duggan, University of Kent, Anne Robinson, Sheffield Hallam University, Paul Senior, Sheffield Hallam University
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- Book:
- Values in Criminology and Community Justice
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 03 February 2022
- Print publication:
- 18 September 2013, pp 343-358
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
This chapter addresses dilemmas and conflicts in research with people who hold different opinions and values to the researcher. The chapter draws on three research experiences: a female researcher directly and indirectly interacting with members of a recognised group targeted for identity-based victimisation who do not necessarily identify as ‘victims’; a male researcher indirectly interacting with people of undisclosed or ‘virtual’ identities demonstrating extremist ideologies; and a male researcher directly interacting with convicted male sexual offenders. There is a tension in each case between researcher standpoint (interpretive framework) and research participant standpoint. In each case, the viewpoint of the research participant presents problems for the researcher in acknowledging ‘whose side’ she or he is on, while also retaining a commitment to listen to and present data from participants in a way that respects their own ‘truth’.
Qualitative research with marginalised people can allow the expression of ‘difficult’ or sensitive issues; on occasions, this is problematic. According to the epistemological standpoint of the researcher, the purpose of empirical investigation may be to obtain the objective ‘truth’ about particular events or it may be to understand how researchers and research participants co-construct and interpret their stories (Franklin, 1997). Data from qualitative research may be construed as more or less accurately representing the experiences under examination, or as a current narrative of value in itself (Miller, 2000). Whatever standpoint is taken, presentation of data involves choices and is inevitably some form of interpretation. However, choices about presentation are not value-free.
‘Values’ is a problematic concept; Banks (2006, p 6) offers this working definition: ‘“values” can be regarded as particular types of belief that people hold about what is regarded worthy or valuable’. This brings together issues of both ethics and epistemology – ‘good’ conduct and ‘good’ knowledge underpin the values that orientate a researcher to her/his research task (of course, issues of what is ‘good’ in either case may be contested). ‘Values’, however, often initiate and drive qualitative research; in this chapter, feminist values influence the shape and conduct of the homophobia and sex offenders studies, and anti-racist values underpin the internet study. Moreover, all of the studies share values that consider interpersonal violence and the threat of interpersonal violence to be morally wrong.