NCJ Number
239489
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2012 Pages: 361-380
Date Published
March 2012
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This paper explores police officers as they adjudicate on disputes and crimes reported to them.
Abstract
This paper explores the rhetorical skills or witcraft of police officers as they adjudicate on disputes and crimes reported to them. The first author accompanied officers 'on the beat' to record these interactions with members of the public. A discourse analysis of the data revealed officers regularly use a discursive strategy that the authors' term the that's civil device. Exploiting an epistemological imbalance that exists in police/public interactions, the device not only allows officers to externalize their judgments as matters of law; it also assists them to manage the conversationally and operationally difficult task of refusing. Moreover, it allows officers to resist claims of disinterestedness or neglect of duty as they limit or disbar their involvement in potentially insoluble disputes. (Published Abstract)