Chief Police Officers{u2019} Stories of Legitimacy Power, Protection, Consent and Control

"An important assessment of how chief police officers understand and use power and what this might mean for the maintenance of legitimacy. From an academic and practitioner perspective, Shannon paints a disconcerting picture of the conflict that arises when chief police officers consider policing by consent and the need to need to exercise power based on the law." {u2013}Jenny Fleming, Professor, Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK This book adds to knowledge about chief police officers in England and Wales by exploring their understandings of the right of police to exercise power. Their beliefs, motivations, backgrounds, and cultures are examined. Light is cast on how they perceive power, coercion, control, policing purpose, gendered understandings, protecting people, vulnerability, policing by consent, discretion, operational independence, law and the oversight and political direction (or governance), and accountability of police. Chief officers used three legitimating narratives based on: protecting people {u2014} particularly the most vulnerable {u2014} policing by consent, and law and the oversight and political direction of police. These accounts are assessed. Damaged processes of police governance that risk undermining police leadership and legitimacy are revealed. Critically, chief officers{u2019} understandings of legitimacy are found to be confused, conflicted, and, above all, convenient in supporting them in asserting a privileged position from which they can pursue their preferences for the use of power. Ian Shannon is a fellow at the University of Leeds, UK, and completed his PhD at the University of Liverpool in 2018. From 1981 to 2013, he served as a police officer in three forces and he retired as a deputy chief constable. He was awarded the Queen{u2019}s Police Medal in 2013. Preface Acknowledgements Contents 1: Introduction Chief Police Officer Literature The Scholarly and Policing Terrain Covered and Contributed To Methodology Structure of the Book References 2: Legitimacy: A Contested Concept Hobbes Utilitarianism Weber Durkheim Beetham Perspectives That Challenge Claims to the Legitimacy of the State and Its Institutions Procedural Justice Conclusion References 3: Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds Chief Police Officers: A Liberal Elite? The Career Paths and Socialisation, Development and Training of Chief Police Officers Chief Police Officers’ Motivations A Power/Service Paradox? Gendered Understandings of Power How Chief Police Officers Reflect on the Use of Power and the Right to Use It Conclusion References 4: Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable Methodology Vulnerability, a Developing Discourse Vulnerability, a Complex Concept The Development of a Police Discourse of Vulnerability and Associated Policy Politically Privileged Threats Protecting the Vulnerable as a Response to Police Failures Divergent Police Responses to Vulnerability Policing Purpose and Vulnerability Ambiguous and Hidden Vulnerability Vulnerability and Prioritisation Threat, Harm and Risk: Identifying and Responding to Vulnerability Conclusion References 5: Policing by Consent The Endurance and Meaning of ‘Policing by Consent’ Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Policing by Consent Hazy Consent Communicating, Conversations and Accountability Neighbourhood/Community Policing Gauging and Building Consent Informed Consent or Coerced Compliance? Listening to People with Little Power Procedural Justice Withdrawn Consent Police Performance Management and Consent Conclusion References 6: Law and Governance A Right to Exercise Power Based on Law Legality and Legitimacy Contemporary Police Governance Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Governance Operational Independence After the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 Chief Police Officers’ Concerns About Career Security and Progression Discussion of Police Governance Conclusion References 7: Conclusion Overview Legitimacy: A Contested Concept Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable Policing by Consent Law and Governance How an Archetypal Chief Police Officer Understands the Right to Exercise Power Confused Conflicted Convenient Implications for the Current and Future State of Policing Areas for Further Research Conclusion and Recommendations References Index "This book adds to knowledge about chief police officers in England and Wales by exploring their understandings of the right of police to exercise power. Their beliefs, motivations, backgrounds, and cultures are examined. Light is cast on how they perceive power, coercion, control, policing purpose, gendered understandings, protecting people, vulnerability, policing by consent, discretion, operational independence, law and the oversight and political direction (or governance), and accountability of police. Chief officers used three legitimating narratives based on: protecting people particularly the most vulnerable policing by consent, and law and the oversight and political direction of police. These accounts are assessed. Damaged processes of police governance that risk undermining police leadership and legitimacy are revealed. Critically, chief officers understandings of legitimacy are found to be confused, conflicted, and, above all, convenient in supporting them in asserting a privileged position from which they can pursue their preferences for the use of power."-- Provided by publisher