Coping with disorder? : the changing relationship between police public order strategy and practice—a critical analysis of the Burnley Riot

This article identifies significant recent public order policing strategy change on the part of the public police—first, in recognition of the dynamic relationship between disorder and policing, and second, concerning a more flexible conceptualization of the traditional “riot curve”. This would potentially move the policing of social disorder away from a situation of what Wright refers to in Policing: An Introduction to Concepts and Practice (2002) as “simply coping” with conflict towards one of “managing” it, being part of the process of transition for policing generally from modern to late‐modern. For a fundamental shift to occur in the public order policing arena though, such policies would need to be carried through in practice. Our critical analysis and “recontextualization” of a riot that took place in Burnley in 2001 suggests that in this instance, at least, this has not (yet) taken place

In the heat of the moment: Bringing ‘Je suis Charlie’ into focus

In the immediate aftermath of the murderous attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, millions of people rallied round the slogan ‘Je suis Charlie’. The slogan conveyed a simple message: either you are in favour of free speech and the right to offend or you are against. This essay offers a critique of the slogan and its message. The first part raises and discusses the problem of framing: what, fundamentally, was the Paris attack about? The middle section discusses a blog that the author posted at the time, also written in the heat of the moment. This segues into the third and final part, which examines the language of rights, freedom of expression, and the meaning of the word ‘offend’. The conclusion drawn is that the slogan ‘Je suis Charlie’ is an obstacle to thinking through the issues raised by the Paris attack