Gender and police leadership: time for a paradigm shift?

Despite a number of initiatives aimed at improving the representation and progression of women in the police service in England and Wales, the number of women in leadership ranks remains low. At the same time, concern over the quality of police leadership has been at the forefront of much public debate in recent years. This article focuses on recent proposals to reform the way in which senior officers are recruited through a discussion of the appointment of non-sworn/'outsider' officers through the adoption of direct and multiple entry models of recruitment as outlined by the Winsor Review (2012, Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions. Part 2. http://review.police.uk/part-two-report/). Hailed as an opportunity to secure an alternative face to police leadership, we reflect on the growing disquiet over police leaders and leadership and consider the possibilities of such a reform agenda for the representation and progression of women in policing. We propose that although a multipoint system of entry for specialisation or leadership roles may offer a number of opportunities to a service in crisis, such a reform agenda may ultimately serve to threaten and further undermine women's participation and status in policing as 'outsiders'

Police liaison officers at football: Challenging orthodoxy through communication and engagement

AbstractThis paper expands upon research on the use of Police Liaison Teams’ (PLTs) within public order policing operations surrounding football fixtures. Using a Participant Action Research approach, the paper reports on PLT use across multiple events and locations with different police forces, different personnel and fans and divergent command perspectives as well as comparative data from PLT and non - PLT events. It identifies how accountability dynamics associated with the classification and management of risk in the policing of football may explain the continued reliance on more coercive policing tactics, as well as a number of other barriers that hinder the development of PLT use at football. Despite this, the paper provides evidence that PLTs can offer similar benefits to the policing of football as they do to the policing of protest. In particular we argue that developing such approaches will make the policing of football more human rights complaint. Key words: Police Liaison Teams, Public Order, Risk Classification, Human Rights, Football