Researching inside police custody in the Anglophone world: ‘Getting in’, ‘getting on’, ‘getting your hands dirty’ and ‘getting out'

As a unique criminal justice organization, the police present challenges, but also opportunities for those who research them. These are examined, in terms of getting in, getting on, getting your hands dirty and getting through it, using data collected as part of a comparative multi-method study of police custody in large cities in Australia, England, Ireland and the US in 2007 and 2009. As this research took place on the cusp of the proliferation of research with the police, retrospective examination of field notes is used to reflect on how the research process is influenced not just by one’s social origins but also by the culture of academia and the politics of knowledge production. It is argued that whilst research with the police is becoming the norm, research on the police is still of value as part of a diverse police research agenda

"Come on mate, let’s make you a cup of tea”: theorising materiality and its impacts on detainee dignity inside police detention

In this paper, we examine detainee experiences of dignity in police detention through the lens of materiality. To do this, we draw on sociological and anthropological literature on the ‘material turn’ and its application to criminal justice settings, and a mixed-methods study of police custody in England and Wales. First, we conceptualise different dimensions of materiality in police custody. Second, we show how some forms of materiality, in conjunction with staff-detainee relationships, shape detainee dignity rooted in equal worth, privacy and autonomy. Third, we examine how the intertwining of the social and material in police custody opens up new possibilities for theorising police work. The materiality of police work is active, not just symbolic. Alongside social relations, it shapes citizen experiences of the police, including of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ forms of policing, and by implication pain and injustice. Materiality therefore provides a further way of theorising the production of social order inside and outside police detention

“Treat them as a human being” : dignity in police detention and its implications for ‘good’ police custody

Here, we examine the factors influencing whether those detained by the police feel treated with dignity. We develop a human rights-oriented conception of dignity rooted in the equal worth of human beings, encapsulated in detainees’ desire to be “treated like a human being”. The predictors of this are examined using multilevel modelling of survey data collected from 371 detainees in 27 custody facilities in 13 police forces in England and Wales in an ESRC-funded study of ‘good’ police custody. We found that perceptions of the material conditions predicted feelings of dignity, as did detainees’ reactions to being detained, their perceptions of the culture of police custody and the mechanisms used to hold the police to account. Feelings of dignity were also less likely for younger adults and for BAME detainees, with these experiences being mediated by less trust in accountability mechanisms. This paper concludes by examining the implications for ‘good’ police custody

Fragile alliances: culture, funding and sustainability in police–academic partnerships

Background: Police–academic partnerships have developed significantly over the past decade or so, spurred on by the expansion of the evidence-based policing movement, the increasing value attached to impactful research in the academy, the ascendance of the professionalisation agenda in the police, and the growing necessity of cross-sectoral collaborations under conditions of post-financial crisis austerity. This trend has given rise to a burgeoning literature in the discipline of criminology which is concerned with charting the progress of these partnerships and setting out the ideal conditions for their future expansion. Aims and objectives: we advance a sympathetic critique of this literature, adding a note of caution to its largely optimistic outlook. Methods: we do this by combining a narrative review of the literature on police–academic partnerships with insights from elsewhere in the social sciences and observations from our experience of running the International Strand of the N8 Policing Research Partnership. Findings and discussion: while we recognise that police–academic partnerships have certainly come a long way, and have the capacity to make important contributions to police work, we argue that they remain ‘fragile’ alliances, beset with fractious occupational cultures, unreliable funding streams and unsustainable inter-institutional relationships. We also reason that the structures underpinning this ‘fragility’ do not represent problems to be overcome, for they help to protect the integrity of the two professions. Conclusion: we conclude by offering pragmatic measures for sustaining police–academic partnerships during those difficult periods characterised by cultural dissonance, a paucity of funding and the turnover of key personnel. Key messages Over the past decade, police–academic partnerships have developed considerably in scope and size. This process has been spurred on by shifting attitudes towards research in the police and academy. However, these partnerships are largely confined to a select few countries in the Global North. They are also rendered ‘fragile’ by issues relating to culture, funding and sustainability

‘My best day will be my last day!’: appreciating appreciative inquiry in police research

Appreciative Inquiry is a methodology originating from organisational psychology, though it has since been used in criminal justice research including police studies. It is used to identify the actual and potential strengths of an individual or an institution, with a view to building on these strengths in the future. The primary purpose of this paper is to assess the value of Appreciative Inquiry for police research, where its use is potentially confounded by aspects of police culture. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study, the ‘good’ police custody study, we critically examine the role of Appreciative Inquiry in enabling access and data collection through appreciatively-informed interviews, examining this from the perspective of the police, the policed and police researchers. We also illustrate how Appreciative Inquiry contributed to the theorisation process and to the development of theoretically-informed recommendations and organisational reforms, matters that are neglected in other police and criminal justice research. We conclude that certain aspects of police culture hinder its use, for example, the cynicism of frontline police officers, whilst the storytelling features of police culture and growing collaboration between police and researchers help overcome these barriers. Appreciative Inquiry must still be used reflexively in police research, recognising for example the tendency towards naïve optimism and its impacts on vulnerable participants. Nonetheless, in light of Appreciative Inquiry dovetailing with growing expectations that the police and academics should work more closely together, there are grounds for appreciating Appreciative Inquiry as an important part of a diverse police research agenda in the future

Becoming a Prison Officer: An Analysis of the Early Development of Prison Officer Cultures

Despite the fact that over recent years, imprisonment in Scotland has adopted a bold and aspirational policy direction including proposed reforms to the role of the prison officer, there has been little research into prison officers in Scotland, and by extension, the Scottish Prison Service as an organisation. This paper offers a unique empirical insight into prison officer recruits and evolving prison officer cultures, by longitudinally tracking 31 prison officer recruits over training and early working experience. This paper provides an in-depth perspective on prison officer recruits’ views and experiences, and it also makes a contribution to the emerging area of research of the Scottish Prison Service through a focus on organisational change and reform. Finally, it incorporates and further develops a body of literature on penality and the penal state by interrogating the tensions between policy and practice within the context of the Scottish penal system

School Surveillance, Control, and Resistance in the United Kingdom

This chapter outlines the development of the current socio-political context within which U.K. schools experience surveillance and implement their security and disciplinary procedures. Schools are suggested to have developed their approaches to social control against a background of neoliberalism and audit culture. This involves the marketisation of much of the school system through an ‘academisation’ process; linked to this is an increased surveillance of teachers and students through datafication, CCTV and other digital means. Another form of surveillance- biopolitical control in schools- shows itself through the traditionalisation of gendered school uniform and the increasing pathologisation of the behaviour of ethnic minorities

Setting a new agenda: “appreciating” and improving Garda custody in Ireland

In this chapter, I take an “appreciative” and comparative approach to assessing police custody in Ireland, using this to map out an agenda for the future. It has two main aims. First, I critically assess key features of garda custody in Ireland, examining not only strengths but also weaknesses with reference to academic literature on police custody in Ireland, and in England and Wales, as well as the Garda Inspectorate’s Delivering Custody Services report published in 2022. These features include risk assessment, custodial legal advice, detainee dignity and vulnerability, and material conditions. Second, I map out an agenda for the future of garda custody in Ireland, examining some of the strengths that can be built on in order to instigate change. Here, I draw on evidence and recommendations from a five-year mixed-method ESRC-funded study which identified the importance of detainee dignity and favourable material conditions to “good” police custody