NCJ Number
159497
Date Published
1995
Length
18 pages
Annotation
In explaining what is happening to policing in British urban areas and in areas with a high concentration of ethnic minorities, this chapter contrasts "consensus policing" and "military policing."
Abstract
The harassment of the public, or sections of it, by the British police has become a major political issue. Lord Scarman characterized the Brixton riot of summer 1981 as "a spontaneous act of defiant aggression by young men who felt themselves hunted by a hostile police force." Consensus policing, as the name implies, involves community input and support for the police. The opposite pole to consensus policing is military policing. This involves a policing style linked to a certain type of relationship between the police and the community. It is primarily policing without the consent, and with the hostility, of the community. The community views the police as an oppressive force more interested in harassing community residents than in protecting them. If the police are enforcing a legal system that does not reflect the community's concepts of morality, then the "criminal" may be viewed by the community as a symbolic rebel. This chapter argues that there has been a drift toward military policing in areas such as Brixton, and this drift is self- reinforcing; it results in a vicious circle in which moves in the direction of military policing undermine whatever elements of consensus policing may remain and provide the conditions for further justification for military policing. The trend toward military policing is due to rising rates of street crime, racial prejudice within the police force, and changes in policing methods following the introduction of modern technology and communications. This chapter examines the impact of military policing on families, social-work agencies, and community relations. 1 figure