Putting the voluntary sector in its place : geographical perspectives on voluntary activity and social welfare in Glasgow.

The growing political and social significance of the voluntary sector in contemporary welfare reform is reflected in a wide body of research that has emerged in the political and social policy literature since the mid-1980s. While this work adds considerably to our understanding of the changing role of the voluntary welfare sector, these accounts are largely aspatial. Yet, geographical perspectives offer important insights into the development of the voluntary sector at both micro-and macro-levels. The purpose of this paper is thus twofold: first we wish to draw attention to what it is that geographers do that may be of interest to those working in the field of social policy; and second, we illustrate why such perspectives are important. Drawing on recently completed work in Glasgow, we demonstrate how geographical approaches can contribute to a greater understanding of the uneven development of the voluntary sector across space and how voluntary organisations become embedded in particular places. By unravelling some of the complex webs of inter-relationships that operate across the geographical and political spaces that extend from national to local we reveal some unique insights into those factors that act to facilitate or constrain the development of voluntary activity across the city with implications for access, service delivery and policy development. Hence, we maintain, that geographical approaches to voluntarism are important for social policy as such approaches argue that where events occur matter to both their form and outcome

Living absence:the strange geographies of missing people

In this paper ‘missing people’ gain an unstable presence through their (restaged) testimonies recounting individual occupations of material urban public space during the lived practice of absence. We explore ‘missing experience’ with reference to homeless geographies, and as constituted by paradoxical spatialities in which people are both absent and present. We seek to understand such urban geographies of absence through diverse voices of missing people, who discuss their embodiment of unusual rhythmic occupations of the city. We conclude by considering how a new politics of missing people might take account of such voices in ways to think further about rights-to-be-absent in the city

The Abstract Police:a conceptual exploration of unintended changes of police organizations

Contains fulltext : 208720.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)21 p

Missing persons:the processes and challenges of police investigation

Responding to reports of missing persons represents one of the biggest demands on the resources of police organisations. In the UK, for example, it is estimated that over 300,000 missing persons incidents are recorded by the police each year which means that a person in the UK is recorded missing by the police approximately every two minutes. However, there is a complex web of behaviours that surround the phenomenon of missing persons which can make it difficult to establish whether someone's disappearance is ‘intentional’ or ‘unintentional’ or whether they might be at risk of harm from themselves or others. Drawing on a set of missing person case reconstructions and interviews with the officers involved with these cases, this paper provides insights into the different stages of the investigative process and some of the key influences which shape the trajectory of a missing person's investigation. In particular, it highlights the complex interplay between actions which are ‘ordered and conditioned’ by a procedural discourse around how missing persons investigations should be conducted, and the narratives that officers construct about how they approach investigations which are often shaped by a mix of police craft, ‘science’ and ‘reputational’ issues

Police Leadership in Times of Transition

Large-scale police reforms in the Netherlands and Scotland were accompanied by transitions in police leadership. For the purpose of comparative research, unique interview data were collected among the Dutch and Scottish strategic police chiefs who were in charge prior to the completion of the reform process. It was found that police reform trajectories in the Netherlands and Scotland were both political projects aimed at generating more efficiency and cost-effectiveness through the centralization of police governance. Police leaders who were involved in the police reform trajectories expressed that their professional voice was largely neglected or immobilized through exclusionary practices. Moreover, it was found that deadlines prevailed over consensus and quality, impacting upon professional support for the restructuring process. The evidence-based insights help to identify critical success factors for large-scale organizational police reforms. A critical success factor is that police organizations adopt active learning and evaluation strategies before moving to a next transition

Unpacking preventive policing: towards a holistic framework.

Assuming that society is better off if the harm caused by crime – including the costs entailed by the investigation, prosecution and punishment – can be avoided, the proactive approach of preventive policing (PP) is generally promoted and understood as a good and effective solution. In this article, we unpack the concept of PP by analysing how it has been understood and practised across time and space, and find that the 'preventive turn' and current aspirations for a police service with a 'preventative mindset' seem to require a return to a police role that might be incompatible with the liberal and democratic ideals of today. We argue for the need for a holistic approach and outline six key elements for an overarching theoretical framework that is sensitive to the fundamental challenges of the 'preventive turn'. This includes arguing for the need for an awareness of how the problems that are to be prevented are defined; how preventative interventions are directed; what role the police and other actors should play; how underlying rationalities and logics may affect the understanding, implementation and outcome of PP; how effects and consequences can be measured; and the need for legal and ethical limitations and guidelines

The challenges of change:Exploring the dynamics of police reform in Scotland

Despite a long tradition of pessimism regarding the scope for meaningful change in police practices, recent structural reforms to police organizations in several European countries suggest that significant change in policing is possible. Drawing on recent research into the establishment and consequences of a national police force in Scotland, this article uses instrumental, cultural and myth perspectives taken from organization theory to examine how change happened and with what effects. It highlights how police reform involves a complex interplay between the strategic aims of government, the cultural norms of police organizations and the importance of alignment with wider views about the nature of the public sector. The article concludes by identifying a set of wider lessons from the experience of organizational change in policing

Plural policing in Europe:relationships and governance in contemporary security system

References to ‘plural policing’, ‘policing beyond the police’ and the ‘extended policing family’ are now commonplace in many discussions of policing in late modern societies. There is a danger that claims about the dynamic and changing nature of plural policing themselves become a new orthodoxy and begin to lose a sense of local nuance and recognition of the importance of place-based specificity and context in understanding the particularities of policing. It is this need to unpack the complex ways in which contemporary plural policing is now configured at a local level within different national political environments that provides the underpinning rationale for this Special Issue. Focussing on aspects of relationships and governance in six jurisdictions across northern and western Europe, it provides important insights into how the policies, practices and narratives around plural policing reflect the influence of particular histories and geographies. The first three articles are focused primarily on the relationships which have emerged in the public sector through its own processes of pluralisation, in particular, through the introduction of policing auxiliaries or municipal policing in Scotland, England and The Netherlands. The fourth article considers both relationships and governance in pluralised policing in Paris, France. A detailed analysis of the governance of safety and security is taken up in the final two articles, examining the cases of Austria and Belgium. These articles clearly demonstrate that experiences of pluralised policing vary widely within Europe and call into question the assumed dominance of neo-liberal forces in this area

From Placards to Partnership: the changing nature of community activism and infrastructure in Manchester, UK and Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

First paragraph: This report details the findings of a comprehensive cross-national analysis of how new sites of local governance, particularly partnerships, act to encourage or discourage voluntary activism. It is based upon findings from a two-year research project 'Placing Voluntary Activism' conducted in Manchester, UK and Auckland Aotearoa New Zealand between 2005  and 2007. The research design comprised a questionnaire survey of voluntary community organisations (VCOs) operating in the fields of mental health and community safety followed by 128 interviews with VCOs, key figures from the local, regional and national statutory sector and activists in these two fields of interest