Police-Public Relations:Interpretations of Policing and Democratic Governance

Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the meaning of “public-oriented policing” has changed, with great variations between countries. This essay critically analyzes the dichotomy that has often been established between police–public relations in Anglo-American contexts as the model of public-oriented “democratic policing” and police–public relations in continental Europe. Using examples from Britain, the United States, France, and Germany, this essay argues that interpretations by historians and police scholars of the nature of police–public relations have been fundamentally influenced by the political regime they served, and that the positive appreciation among scholars for the principles behind the Anglo-American ideal of police–public relations has often been accepted uncritically. Examples from France and Germany open wider questions about the impact of democratization on police–public relations, the effects of locally organized police on even-handed and responsive policing, and the influence of militarized policing on violence in police–public relations.</p

Imagining the Brain, Engaging the Body: Designing Visitor Engagement in Science Exhibition Experiments with Art

Science museums have increasingly experimented with bringing art into their exhibitions to attract and engage visitors. While the prevalence and popularity of such experiments is growing, research on the rationales for collaboration and their outcomes, as well as the challenges involved, remains scarce. This paper analyzes and discusses how art is used as part of engaging visitors in two contrasting exhibitions about the brain and neuroscience: one using art as illustration of ready-made science, the other inviting artists as co-curators in evoking a feeling of science in the making. Drawing on models of public engagement and art-science collaboration, it discusses how notions of science communication and visitor engagement are imagined and enacted in the two exhibitions, and how they relate to different ‘logics’, or rationales, of interdisciplinary collaboration

Philipp Müller, Auf der Suche nach dem Täter : die öffentliche Dramatisierung von Verbrechen im Berlin des Kaiserreichs

The present monograph is the published version of Müller’s PhD thesis from the European University Institute. The scope of the study is intellectually ambitious. In his introduction Müller describes his approach as a “historical-anthropological inquiry placed in the cross-road between several histories : of the police and the press, of the city of Berlin and its public sphere ; as well as the history of mass-culture” (p. 26). Müller’s study is part of a growing literature on the relationship ..

Policemen in the Dock:Criminal Prosecution of Police Personnel in Wilhelmine Prussia

Figures from the Prussian Justice Ministry from 1902-1905 show that Prussian criminal courts prosecuted and convicted police personnel at a surprisingly high rate, both compared to contemporary rates for London and for France, as well as compared to rates of prosecutions in many twenty-first century Western countries. These findings call for a revision of interpretations by historians as well as contemporary observers of Wilhelmine Prussia. This article has three main aims. First, to establish as much evidence as possible about the cases that led to prosecution, about the police officers who were prosecuted and convicted, as well as the punishments issued. Second, to examine the dynamics around the criminal justice process, as well as the institutional and cultural context in which Prussian prosecutors and judges operated. Third, to explore the wider implication of these court decisions in the context of public concerns about police malpractice and the pressure from the left-liberal and social democratic opposition for greater police accountability to the law.Les statistiques du ministère de la Justice prussien de 1902 à 1905 montrent que les tribunaux pénaux y ont beaucoup poursuivi et condamné des agents de police, à la fois par comparaison avec les données d’alors pour Londres et pour la France, ainsi que par rapport aux taux de poursuites dans de nombreux pays occidentaux du XXIe siècle. Ces conclusions appellent à réviser les interprétations des observateurs de l’époque, ainsi que des historiens de la Prusse de Guillaume II. Cet article a trois objectifs principaux. Premièrement, donner autant d’éléments que possible sur les affaires qui ont donné lieu à des poursuites, ainsi que sur les policiers qui ont été poursuivis et sur les peines prononcées. Deuxièmement, examiner les dynamiques du système de justice pénale, ainsi que le contexte institutionnel et culturel dans lequel les procureurs et les juges prussiens ont opéré. Troisièmement, explorer l’implication plus large de ces décisions de justice dans le contexte des préoccupations du public concernant les fautes professionnelles de la police, en particulier la pression de l’opposition des libéraux de gauche et des sociaux-démocrates, pour une plus grande responsabilité de la police devant la loi

Editorial

2014 saw the retirement from the editorial board of two of the founding members of Crime, histoire & sociétés/Crime, History & Societies. Pieter Spierenburg and Clive Emsley were both among the pioneers in the field of the history of crime and criminal justice. As many readers will know, their contributions to the field go well beyond their significance as prolific researchers and writers, Pieter with his ground breaking studies on the early modern carceral institutions : on violence, on masc..

Complain in vain? The development of a ‘police complaints culture’ in Wilhelmine Berlin

Cet article examine les relations entre la police et le public dans le Berlin de l’époque wilhelminienne du point de vue des citoyens qui déposèrent plainte auprès du Préfet de police entre 1892 et 1913 et les compare avec la situation de ceux qui s’en prenaient à la Metropolitan Police londonienne. Les plaintes des citoyens révèlent un rapport de force fortement assymétrique entre le plaignant et la police, dans lequel le droit des citoyens à contester les autorités publiques était sévèrement restreint par les pratiques bureaucratiques relatives au traitement des plaintes. En outre, l’engagement officiel de la police à n’opérer que dans les strictes limites du droit était largement miné par le flou des limitations légales des pouvoirs de police. Cela n’empêchait pas les Berlinois de se plaindre massivement. Les plaintes adressées au préfet de police de Berlin donnent ainsi un aperçu de la façon dont des citoyens ordinaires mettaient en cause les autorités policières. Elles montrent qui étaient les plaignants, l’objet de leurs plaintes et leurs résultats. Elles ­révèlent également comment ils s’y prenaient pour se poser en victime et argumentaient que le policier avait transgressé, sinon la loi, du moins les limites du comportement acceptable.This article assesses police-public relations in Wilhelmine Berlin from the perspective of those citizens who complained to the Berlin Polizeipräsident between 1892 and 1913. It also makes some comparisons with the position of complainants who challenged London’s Metropolitan Police. Citizens’ complaints reflect a highly asymmetrical power relationship between the complainant and the police, in which citizens’ legal rights to challenge public authorities were severely restricted by bureaucratic practices surrounding the handling complaints. Moreover, the official police commitment to operate strictly within the limits of the law was largely undermined by fluid legal boundaries around police powers. Even so, Berliners complained extensively. The complaints made to the Berlin Polizeipräsident provide insights into how ordinary members of the Berlin public challenged the police authorities. They illustrate who complained, about what and with what effect; and they show how complainants constructed their victimhood and made the case that the policeman had transgressed, if not the law, then at least some boundaries of acceptable behaviour

Jäger (Jens), Verfolgung durch Verwaltung: Internationales Verbrechen und internationale Polizeikooperation 1880-1933

Jens Jäger’s book derives from his Habilitationsschrift on the origins and development of international police co-operation on criminal investigation. It is an extremely erudite study on a fascinating topic with an abundance of details. Following Mathieu Deflem’s research on 19th and 20th century international police co-operation with focus on the US and Germany, Jäger provides a study which is firmly focused on Europe and which is historical rather than sociological in its approach. In these..

Keeping up appearances: Police Rhetoric, Public Trust and “Police Scandal” in London and Berlin, 1880-1914

Cet article s’intéresse à la confiance du public dans la police et à la manière de la renforcer ou de l’affaiblir. L’étude compare les réponses des autorités de Londres et de Berlin aux plaintes relatives à des fautes professionnelles policières entre 1880 et 1914. De quelle manière la police londonienne s’y prit-elle pour conserver sa bonne réputation et un haut niveau de confiance auprès du public, en dépit de la fréquence avérée de fautes professionnelles ? L’analyse permet de repérer un certain nombre de facteurs qui, dans le traitement des plaintes, contribuèrent à restaurer, voire dans certains cas à renforcer la confiance du public dans la Metropolitan Police. Par contraste, le cas berlinois montre comment l’insensibilité et le dédain pour les préoccupations légitimes du public face à l’inconduite policière minèrent les efforts pour renforcer la confiance de ce dernier dans la police. De sorte que la Schutzmannshaft se trouva beaucoup plus vulnérable que la Metropolitan Police aux efforts des critiques et de la presse pour susciter l’indignation du public et produire des « scandales policiers » dans leurs propres intérêts politiques et commerciaux.This article is about public trust in the police, how to maintain it and how to challenge it. The study compares responses by police and government authorities in London and Berlin to complaints over police malpractice from the 1880s to 1914. How did the London Metropolitan police manage to maintain a good reputation and high levels of public trust despite ample evidence of widespread police malpractice? The analysis identifies a number of factors in the handling of complaints and responses to allegations of malpractice that helped to re-establish and sometimes strengthen trust in the Metropolitan police. By contrast, the case of Berlin shows how insensitive and dismissive reactions to legitimate public concerns over police malpractice undermined attempts to improve public confidence in the police. This made the Schutzmannschaft far more vulnerable than the London Metropolitan police for the critics and the press to generate public outrage and construct “police scandals” for their own political and commercial ends