Do You Agree with Button’s Claim That ‘the Growing Pluralisation and Fragmentation of Policing...Has Challenged the Public Police’s Claim That to Be the Primary Policing Force’?
This essay aims to explore Button’s (1996) claim that ‘the growing pluralisation and fragmentation of policing...has challenged the public police’s claim that to be the primary policing force’. In order to do so, it will provide a general definition of both the public and private policing bodies within the United Kingdom, followed by a brief look at the history of the public Police, their progression and integration with private agencies. The essay will go on to discuss pluralisation and fragmentation, and how these are reflected within the context of the topic. Finally it will identify how various financial constraints have resulted in cutbacks and forced ‘hybrid’ policing in many areas. It will conclude with a reiteration of the main points, supporting Buttons claim that the public Police are not the primary policing force.
Within this essay it is not possible to draw a definitive distinction between public Police and private policing bodies or indeed the perimeters in which each work, it is however important to understand the difference between the Police and ‘policing’ - a social function that Reiner (ibid:722 in Button 1996) describes as:
‘An aspect of social control processes which occurs universally in all social situations in which there is at least the potential for conflict, deviance, or disorder.’
Today the word ‘Police’ is used in many civilised countries to describe an organisation whom uphold the law and order in society (Met Police, 2012). Button (1996) describes the Police as:
‘The body of men and women employed by the state who patrol the streets, deal with crime, and ensure order and who undertake a range of other social type functions’.
It could it be reasonably argued that the primary difference between public and private police is legislative powers i.e. public police have powers of arrest for arrestable offences not committed within their view where there are reasonable grounds for suspicion (private police can`t make these
Within this essay it is not possible to draw a definitive distinction between public Police and private policing bodies or indeed the perimeters in which each work, it is however important to understand the difference between the Police and ‘policing’ - a social function that Reiner (ibid:722 in Button 1996) describes as:
‘An aspect of social control processes which occurs universally in all social situations in which there is at least the potential for conflict, deviance, or disorder.’
Today the word ‘Police’ is used in many civilised countries to describe an organisation whom uphold the law and order in society (Met Police, 2012). Button (1996) describes the Police as:
‘The body of men and women employed by the state who patrol the streets, deal with crime, and ensure order and who undertake a range of other social type functions’.
It could it be reasonably argued that the primary difference between public and private police is legislative powers i.e. public police have powers of arrest for arrestable offences not committed within their view where there are reasonable grounds for suspicion (private police can`t make these
References: AAB Training, (2012), ‘CCTV Training Courses’, http://www.aabtraining.co.uk/security_training/cctv_training.php, (Accessed 30th October 2012) Button, M John Houghton, (2012) "The “not so new” plans to privatise policing", Safer Communities, Vol. 11 Iss: 4, 191 – 194 Les Johnston (1992) in David J Treveor Jones and Tim Newburn, (2006), Plural Policing: A Comparative Study. Routledge, 1 Trevor Jones and Tim Newburn (1994), ‘The Transformation of Policing’, understanding current trends in policing, The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD), 138 Victorian Crime and Punishment, (2006), ‘Catching the criminal’, http://vcp.e2bn.org/justice/section2198-catching-the-criminal.html, (Accessed 17th October 2012)