£500 bursary for CCR Visiting Fellows

Dear Readers

In conjunction with colleagues, I have been in the process of re-developing the Visiting Fellow scheme for the Centre for Criminological Research (CCR), School of Law, University of Sheffield. The aim of the scheme is to foster knowledge exchange and research collaborations between CCR members and scholars from other Universities in the UK or abroad. Please see here for further details about the scheme and expectations of visitors.

 
Further to this, we are delighted to announce that from 2013/14 we will be offering an annual bursary of up to £500 for members of staff of any level of seniority who wish to spend time visiting myself or any other colleague in CCR.

 
CCR is one of the oldest criminology centres in the UK, with a world-leading reputation and including staff with a wide range of criminological interests. I have found it to be a wonderful place to work for the four years that I have been there thus far. Any visitor would be welcomed into its vibrant research community and its collegial atmosphere.

 
Please get in touch if you are interested to find out more on L.Skinns@sheffield.ac.uk

 
Layla

Police custody: plus ça change?

In a recent review of my 2011 book on police custody, the eminent policing scholar, Robert Reiner, noted how fascinating it was to learn about how much (or rather how little) had changed since his own study of police custody practices in the early years of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. This is in spite of the “seemingly massive changes in the policing world, not to speak of wider society, in the intervening decades”, he says. In this review, he later notes that “[t]he overall feeling conveyed by [the book] is that for all the superficial changes at the routine operational level, plus ça change is the main theme. For all the ceaseless fashion parade of new discourses and initiatives, the everyday practice of policing is structured by macro political-economic and cultural processes that have changed in ways that intensify the patterns observed by the classic police ethnographies of the 1960s and 1970s.”

His insightful comments about the overall direction of the book through the notion of plus ça change (i.e. the idea that everything changes, yet it all stays the same), was the focus of a talk that I gave on Friday 1 November 2014 as part of the Innocence Network UK annual conference. What I argued was that aspects of policing (of relevance to police custody) have fundamentally altered for the better through the improved regulation of police custody, particularly through the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the associated Codes of Practice, but also through ECHR/ECtHR and the UK’s signature of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (known as OPCAT), which as has led to a programme of inspections of police custody facilities by HMIP and HMIC. Improvements have also been made to the custody environment and to the kind of people who work there, which all have the potential to provide a more humane experience for suspect in the police station, through civilianization and privatization, as well as through technology such as CCTV.

However, various aspects of policing have remained unchanged including the existence of considerable amounts of police discretion which, in combination with the inherent permissibility of the law (McBarnet, 1979), enables the occupational cultures of the police to exert significant influence over police decision-making and actions. What has also remained unchanged is the role that the police occupy in society. In relatively consensual and peaceful democratic societies, this role concerns the exercise of authority backed up by the capacity (i.e. the possibility) of using force. That is, the police have at their disposal discretion about the deployment of legitimate force to control 'something-that-ought-not-to-be-happening-and-about-which-someone-had-better-do-something-now!' (Bittner, 1974).

These ‘new’ and the ‘old’ aspects of policing co-exist alongside and conflict with each other. Moreover, the clash between the new and the old has been intensified as a result of social, political and economic changes in the post-war period, which have left the police in a precarious position, as evidenced by declining trust in the police and as the police have struggled to adapt to the changing world around them.

Together this is what is meant by plus ça change and it is all manifest in police custody, a micro-cosm of policing. This was the main focus of my talk, evidenced with reference to the data that I collected in my ESRC-funded police custody study in 2006/7. In sum, custody environments are much improved, but they are still concerned with asserting power and control, as well as with the deprivation of liberty, meaning that suspects are still at risk from what I have called the ‘pains of police detention’ and are likely to experience police custody as like a ‘miniature prison’. Suspects generally have better access to rights and entitlements (such as to legal advice), but the conditions of police detention and the pressure put on them by the police and others can still lead them to waive these rights so as to ‘get it over with’ as quickly as possible. Suspects form positive relationships particularly with civilian police staff, but these can be undermined by the largely coercive relationships that they continue to have with police officers, backed up by their capacity to use force.

Job Opportunities on my 'good' police custody study

Very briefly, here is some information about the research positions that will be available on my new police custody study from February 2014.

 

I am looking to appoint two researchers on this ESRC-funded study, the aim of which is to conceptualize and theorize ‘good’ police custody practices. In brief, successful applicants will work as part of team collecting quantitative and qualitative data in police stations across England and Wales, analysing and writing up the data in a timely fashion, as well having opportunities to attend conferences overseas. For further details please click on the links below:

Research Associate (Grade 7)

Research Assistant (Grade 6)

 

The closing date for applications for both posts is 10 October 2013.

I am back!

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last year, but I have been rather occupied with all things baby. My well-intentioned plans to continue updating the blog whilst on maternity leave fell by the way side. Babies keep you very busy! However, I am now back at work - teaching, writing and researching - and it feels good.

Whilst on maternity leave I did manage a small amount of writing, well, finishing off of publications, which was great for keeping the brain ticking over. These are below, though only the first is published at the moment. This article on the role of the law in policing appears in a collection of articles by key policing scholars about theories of policing. This collection is a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in policing, given that theories of policing tend to be a neglected but essential topic in police studies. Happy reading.

Skinns, L. (2012) ‘The role of the law in policing’, Journal of Police Studies, 2012/4, no. 25.

 Skinns, L. (forthcoming in 2013) ‘The police in England: an institution in crisis?’, in M. Smith et al. (eds.) UK Institutions, crisis and response. Palgrave Macmillan.

Du Rose, N. and Skinns, L. (forthcoming in 2013) Challenging the punitive turn in criminal justice through restorative approaches in schools? In E. Sellman, H. Cremin and G. McCluskey (eds.) When Restorative Justice and Education meet. London: Routledge.

New research for 2013

I am very pleased and delighted to announce that I am the recipient of a major research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, one of the key funders of social science research in the UK.

The title of the research is 'Good' police custody: theorizing the 'is' and the 'ought'. It will commence in September 2013, taking in multiple sites in the UK over a three-year period.

Police custody is where an arrested person is taken whilst a decision is reached about what should be done with the case, for example whether to charge or bail them. It is therefore an important gateway to the criminal justice process, where much is at stake for suspects and staff. In recent years, there have been changes to the way that police custody areas are staffed and managed, in particular, civilianization of roles formerly done by police officers has given way to privatization through the use of public-finance initiatives (i.e. when a private security company owns and/or manages a police custody suite and the police let it from them).

Though there have been a few recent studies of police custody, including my own book, ‘Police Custody’ (Willan, 2011), there have been few attempts to rigorously examine ‘good’ police custody or to map out changes to police custody arrangements on a national basis. Information about how police custody is currently delivered can be used to theorize about 'good' police custody practices and 'good' policing, and explore how police custody should be delivered in the future.

Aims of the research

1. Describe and appraise variations in police custody arrangements across the UK.

2. Identify the key dimensions of police custody areas in operation. They might include occupational culture(s), power, fairness, justice, emotions and relationships, cost, governance and accountability.

3. Explore how police custody arrangements such as civilianisation and privatisation impact on these key dimensions of police custody.

4. Conceptualise and theorise the dimensions of 'good' police custody and the links between them, and examine the implications for 'good' policing.

5. Develop benchmarks and a survey tool to monitor and improve police custody facilities, complementing the inspections conducted by HMIP/HMIC.

Impact

Though the study will be of great interest to academics and researchers, it will also be of interest to key stakeholders such as the 52 police organisations in the UK, HMIC, HMIP, the IPCC, as well as private security companies contracted to manage/staff police custody areas. These key stakeholders will be provided with a better understanding of:

- How police custody operates in practice and also how it should operate. Much research in the past has focused on police malpractice, whereas the proposed research will examine what constitutes 'good' police custody practices. Such information could be used to enhance public confidence in the police and to increase the likelihood that the public continue to cooperate and engaged with the police in the future.

- Police custody in a local and national perspective. This will enable police organisations to compare themselves with other similar police organisations and help them to understand where they might improve or where they are already good enough.

- How to monitor and improve police custody practices on an ongoing and long-term basis. The research will lead to benchmarks and a survey tool which police organisations can use to measure their performance and which will be complementary to HMIC/HMIP inspections.

- How to balance the need for cost-effective public service delivery with the need for security, fairness, justice, legitimacy and accountability, under austere financial conditions.

Is it the end of the (policing) world as we know it?

I have been following with avid interest the hotting-up of the debate about the contracting-out of police functions, in the context of the Coalition Government’s wider plans to contract-out other parts of the public sector to the private sector, including the NHS and parts of local government. Hence, I was not entirely surprised to read the headlines in The Guardian over the weekend about the plans for the privatisation of policing. According to this report, the intention is to extend the contracting-out of police services beyond police custody (something which was civilianised in the 1990s, but began to be contracted-out to the private sector in the 2000s) to other police functions including patrol and investigation. In particular, it is looking likely that West Midlands Police and Surrey Police will lead the way in issuing multi-billion pound contracts to the private sector for providing some of these services, thanks to them having Chief Constables who are favourable to such developments.

This signals a new phase in the workforce modernization agenda in policing, though at the same time takes us ‘back to the future’, having parallels with the patterns of policing that existed prior to the birth of the ‘new police’ in 1829 when policing became more firmly located within the state. Whilst it signals a new phase in policing, it also appears to be a continuation of the project of privatization that began under the Conservative Government in the 1980s and 1990s when the private sector were delegated to run parts of the prison estate and when various nationalised industries including British Rail, British Coal, British Telecom and so on were privatized. Growing up in the 1980s in Doncaster  – a former pit town - I remember the disruption, devastation and deprivation that this caused all too well.

So what to make of these latest developments? Is it the end of the (policing) world as we know it? Or at least as I have known it in my lifetime? I think a few issues are worth flagging. We are entering into untested waters. Whilst contracting-out has slowly been emerging in police custody, there have been few studies to have systematically examined its consequences for police officers or citizens. Mine being one of them. Consequently, some key questions remain unanswered, particularly if contracting out is to be extended to other parts of the police organisation: Will it cost less? Will it lead to improved service delivery and who will benefit from these changes? Is it something that the public want? What about the consequences for police officers and the policed, for that matter? We simply do not know the answers to these questions. I have a research grant application pending for a study which will delve into the complex answers to some of these questions, in relation to police custody. (Fingers and toes crossed that my bid is successful). Surely, it is better to have addressed these questions in relation to all the relevant areas of policing where contracting-out is to be trialled, before contracting-out is rolled-out to West Midlands and Surrey Police and beyond?

There is also a more fundamental issue at stake in relation to the proposals to contract-out a wide variety of police functions to the private sector, which have traditionally been performed by police officers. What should policing look like in contemporary societies, where cuts to police budgets by up to 20 per cent is a reality? Should parts of the police role be handed over to the private sector? If so, which police functions? And where should the thin blue dividing line be drawn? The power of arrest seems to have emerged as one task that the police believe should remain with the police.  

Answering these questions requires an appreciation of the link between the police and society. Policing scholar, Robert Reiner, describes the police as like ‘litmus paper’ reflecting the unfolding exigencies of society. The social conditions of policing shape the kind of policing we have and we believe to be right, whilst the police in turn contribute to patterns of social ordering, as well as to societal norms and values. For instance, if the police – a key institution of the State, at least since 1829 – is to be privatised, what does that tell us about what we as value as a society? That saving money and cost effectiveness, the free-market, and private sector profit should be valued over a strong role for the state in bringing about justice and contributing to the security of society?

This alerts us to the fact that in fundamentally altering the way that policing is delivered through contracting-out, more is at stake than simply whether or not private security companies patrol neighbourhoods or lock someone up and take their fingerprints at the police station. What is at stake is how we see ourselves as a society and what we value as important. Widespread contracting-out of a variety of police functions spells not only the end of the policing world as we currently know it, but also, and more fundamentally, an end to a society which values the State in delivering justice and security.

Reasons to celebrate

I was delighted to see in the news yesterday that following a debate in the House of Lords, the plans in the Legal Aid and Sentencing Bill to introduce means-testing to determine suspects' eligibility for custodial legal advice have been dropped. This really is something to celebrate. Aside from the practical concerns about the police and suspects being hard-pressed to confirm a suspects financial status, within the confines of a police investigation, publicly-funded custodial legal advice is an absolute must in a jurisdiction such as England and Wales where suspects have only a qualified not an absolute right to silence. This means that negative inferences can be drawn from a suspects silence and that only a legal advisor can properly advise a suspect about whether remaining silent is in their best interests, bearing in mind that they are only suspects and may well be innocent.

It is only by looking at what happens elsewhere can we really appreciate the importance of the right to publicly-funded legal advice for all suspects in the police station in England and Wales. In my recent British-Academy funded comparative study of police custody in England and Wales, Ireland and a jurisdiction each in the U.S. and Australia, there were clear differences. In England and Ireland there was a qualified right to silence, meaning that adverse inferences could be drawn, for example, if they failed to reveal something in interview that they later relied on in court. By contrast, in the Australian and American jurisdictions there was an absolute right to silence. In theory, exercising this right to silence in the American jurisdiction means that the police have to terminate the interview and cannot ask the suspect to be interviewed again.

It was only in England and Wales that suspects had access both in theory and practice to publicly-funded legal advice in the police station. This right existed, in theory, for some suspects and some of the time in Ireland and the Australian jurisdiction, though some of the staff I spoke to were unclear about who was entitled to receive it and there appeared to be limited up-take of it. In the American jurisdiction whilst suspects were informed of their right to legal advice including from a public defender, in practice, this right was only available on arraignment. Overall, this meant that there were few lawyers at the police station in Ireland or in the jurisdictions in Australia and America, whilst lawyers are much more visible in police stations in England, if not in person over the telephone.

The variations between the four jurisdictions in terms of the right to silence is fundamental to understanding why the right to publicly-funded legal advice for all in the police station is so important in England. Without it, there is a greater risk that someone might be convicted partly because they remained silent. Kenneth Clarke may well be right that England has a generous legal aid system, but this is not only justified, but also necessary in view of the qualified right to silence.