The Wire Episode 12 English Assignment Watch episode 12 cleaning up and read the reading attached. 350 woWe are very close to the end of the first season o

The Wire Episode 12 English Assignment Watch episode 12 cleaning up and read the reading attached. 350 woWe are very close to the end of the first season of The Wire. We have seen numerous instances of violence, corruption, and misconduct. Given what we have seen thus far and what you read in “Policing the City,” do you think the creator/writers of the show are offering us a commentary on twenty-first century policing? Earlier in the semester I asked you with whom your loyalties resided. Several of you chose specific officers, and others of you rooted for some of the drug-slingers. Where are your loyalties now? Did you shift sides? Do you see connections between the reading and the episode/s? Urban Studies, Vol. 32, Nos 4± 5, 1995 759±778
Policing the City
Nicholas R. Fyfe
1. Introduction
In City of Quartz, a fascinating narrative
about contemporary Los Angeles, Davis
(1990) describes an `epochal coalescence’
between urban design, architecture and the
police apparatus into a single, comprehensive
security effort. Af¯ uent neighbourhoods
protect themselves with walls and private
security police; shopping malls resemble
Bentham’ s Panoptican with their all-seeing
video-surveillance systems; and overhead helicopters of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) keep a watchful electronic eye
on the `hot spots’ of crime. `Fortress LA’ is,
of course, no more representative of urban
policing in the 1990s than Chicago was of
social disorganisation and juvenile delinquency in the 1920s. Nevertheless, Davis’ s
account of the variety of agencies and mechanisms now responsible for social control in
the city is indicative of important trends in
policing. As this review of research on contemporary policing in advanced capitalist societies will illustrate, urban areas are the sites
of increasingly sophisticated and complex
forms of social control. The public/state police remain a key part of that control apparatus and sections 2 and 3 on `The Police at
Work’ and `Policing the Social Spaces of the
City’ will highlight important ® ndings and
policy developments in these areas of traditional police activity. But other agencies
also have an important role in regulating
behaviour in the city. Private security police,
for example, play an increasingly important
role in patrolling many areas of the city, from
shopping malls to university campuses. Research on the growth of such private policing
is reviewed in section 4. In section 5, pioneering research on the specialist fraud
squads that police the multi-million dollar
transactions in the world’ s `global cities’ is
examined. Finally, section 6 reviews research
and policy developments relating to the politics of policing the city.
2. The Police at Work
The routine operations of urban police organisations have long been a central concern of
police studies and researchers have engaged
with this topic from a variety of methodological and theoretical positions. Nevertheless,
dif® culties in terms of research access to the
police often limited the scope of such studies
in the past. Today, however, the police are
open to unprecedented levels of research
scrutiny. In Britain, this largely re¯ ects the
impact of the inner-city riots of the 1980s.
The consequent social and political concern
about policing paved the way for greater
research access, in much the same way as the
riots in American cities in the 1960s had
opened up the police there to more research
(Reiner, 1989).
2.1 Urban Ethnography and `Cop Culture’
The theoretical framework for much of the
police research conducted in Britain and
North America is provided by sociological
liberalism and, in particular, `subcultural’ approaches (Grimshaw and Jefferson, 1987).
From this perspective, the operation of police
organisations is examined through detailed
Nicholas Fyfe is at the Department of Geography, University of Strathclyde, 50 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XN, UK.
0042-0980/95/050759-20
Urban Studies
760
N IC HO LA S R . FYFE
scrutiny of the beliefs and values of rankand-® le police personnel. Relying almost exclusively on participant observation, these
studies are an attempt to explain police behaviour in terms of the norms and values of
a distinctive `cop culture’ . The cumulative
evidence of this ethnographic research indicates that while this culture is neither monolithic nor universal, it does appear to have a
number of core attributes which re¯ ect the
similar experiences and expectations of
of® cers working in urban environments.
These core attributes (reviewed in Reiner,
1992a, pp. 109±129; but see, too, Fielding,
1989; Holdaway, 1989; Norris, 1989) include
a sense of mission (policing as the protection
of a valued way of life and the protection of
the weak against the predatory), a love of
action (Holdaway, 1983; Graef, 1989), and a
feeling of pessimistic cynicism (the police as
a thin blue line attempting to stem the inexorable erosion of morality in society).
Around these core attributes, several variations have been highlighted. Some of these
are place-speci® c. Foster (1989), for example, illustrates how of® cers at two police
stations in the same city can develop very
different perspectives on the policing of the
community under the in¯ uence of different
managerial styles. Other variations are associated with different ranks and/or specialisms
within police forces. The pioneering work of
Reuss-Ianni (1983) on the con¯ icts within
the New York City Police Department between the culture of `street cops’ and `management cops’ has now been supplemented
by studies in Britain by Grimshaw and Jefferson (1987) and Reiner (1991) of senior
of® cers. With regard to specialism, Hobbs’ s
(1988, 1991) ethnographic study of detectives in the East End of London provides an
interesting contrast with the more common
studies of uniformed of® cers. More recently,
the gender and race of police of® cers has
come under scrutiny from those interested in
cop culture. Studies by Heidensohn (1992)
and Belknap and Shelley (1993) of police
women in British and American cities have
emphasised the existence of a distinction between POLICEwomen (who tend to share
with male of® cers a primary interest in law
enforcement work) and policeWOMEN (who
emphasise their femininity and distinctive
contribution to the service functions of police
activity). In terms of race and cop culture,
Holdaway’ s (1991) work in Britain has emphasised the need for changes in the existing
cop culture in terms of its tendency to condone racism if police forces are to retain
Black and Asian of® cers.
One of the important implications of this
cop culture is that it provides a distinctive
lens through which police of® cers view urban society and space (Fyfe, 1991). In terms
of urban society, Norris (1989) has highlighted the construction by of® cers of social
categories based on the power of people to
cause problems for the police and their relevance to the police value-system. The basic
distinction is between the `rough’ and the
`respectable’ elements of urban society, between those who threaten and those who
accept essentially middle-class values (see
too Reiner, 1992a, pp. 118±121. In terms of
urban space, Brogden et al. (1988, p. 40)
summarise the conclusions of a number of
contemporary ethnographic studies when
they observe that:
From the occupational subculture the
of® cer learns who to expect to be doing
what, where and when. Such learning
equips the of® cer with sets of expectations
of what will be demanded of him or her in
different places at different times and what
members of the public might be doing in
those places at these times.
More details about the places of police work
appear in the covert study undertaken by a
police sergeant of rank- and-® le of® cers in a
UK force (Holdaway, 1983). This revealed
the strong territorial interests of of® cers and
the way in which superimposed on `the
ground’ (the geographical area for which
of® cers are responsible) were places which
stood out as relevant to the contingencies of
policing: `sites of danger’ (where there is the
threat of serious personal injury), `sites of
trouble’ (such as clubs with a history of
rowdyism), `sites of work’ (associated with
PO LIC ING TH E CITY
form-® lling) and `mumpholes’ (places where
there is opportunity for rest or refreshment
while on duty, but hidden from the scrutiny
of supervisory of® cers).
Although offering valuable insights into
what the police think, there are important
methodological and theoretical dif® culties
with these ethnographic studies (Brogden et
al., 1988, pp. 44±48). Methodologically, the
value of participant observation clearly depends on the degree to which the social
world of police of® cers can be revealed by
participant observation alone. Two types of
error are possible. First, those resulting from
the ability of those studied to conceal aspects
of their world from the researcher (see
Punch, 1979); and, secondly, those resulting
from not being able to take account of processes not directly observed, particularly the
work of senior of® cers. Theoretically,
Grimshaw and Jefferson (1987) have highlighted the partiality of what is studied, leaving key issues as unexamined categories
(such as `the law’ and the formal organisation of the police) and the way in which
there is often an over-reliance on the accounts of those studied to the neglect of the
wider political, social and legal environment
in which of® cers work.
2.2 What Kinds of Work Do the Police Do?
Complementing these qualitative studies of
policing, are a series of more quantitative
research projects which aim to establish the
relative importance of the speci® c activities
that constitute routine police work in urban
areas. The somewhat surprising conclusion
of many of the early studies of this type was
that, contrary to their popular image, the
police appear to spend relatively little time
on law enforcement and crime-related tasks.
Sherman’ s assessm ent that ª the vast majority
of police man-hours (sic) are expended in
activity having little to do with law enforcement, but much to do with social service and
peace keepingº (quoted in Reiner, 1992b)
was typical of Anglo-American studies of
police patrol work carried out in the early
1970s. Indeed, Punch’ s study of policing in
761
inner-city Amsterdam went as far as describing the police as a `secret social service’
(Punch, 1979). More recent research, however, has questioned this conclusion on both
theoretical and empirical grounds.
At a theoretical level, Reiner (1992b) has
cogently argued that although most calls
for police assistance do not unequivocally
refer to a crime, most incidents do involve an
element of latent con¯ ict and the possibility
of a criminal offence. At an empirical level,
many recent studies of police work have
also questioned the orthodox view that
police work is primarily not crime-related.
Drawing on a range of methodological
approaches, including time-budget analysis
(Policy Studies Institute, 1983; Tarling,
1988; Bennett and Lupton, 1992; Kinsey,
1993), time geography (Fyfe, 1992a), the
analysis of calls made by the public to the
police (Shapland and Vagg, 1988; Manning,
1989; Shapland and Hobbs, 1989; Waddington, 1993), local crime surveys (Kinsey,
1984; Jones et al., 1986; Crawford et al.,
1990) and direct observation (Grimshaw
and Jefferson, 1987; Shapland and Vagg,
1988; Shapland and Hobbs, 1989; Sherman,
1989), these studies have emphasised that
at least in urban (although not necessarily
rural) areas, potential crime-related work
predominates. Kinsey’ s (1993) recent study
of operational of® cers in Edinburgh, for
example, found in terms of public-initiated
contact with the police, reports of crime
(32 per cent) and disorder (19 per cent)
together substantially outnumber general
service calls (28 per cent). As Kinsey
concludes, this appears to challenge the
conventional view that members of the
public use the police predominantly as a
`service’ agency. Kinsey’ s work does,
however, con® rm earlier studies by highlighting just how little time is spent by
operational of® cers on general patrol. On
an 8-hour shift, of® cers can expect to spend
only 1±2 hours maintaining a visible presence on the street, given the time they spend
in the police station engaged in administration and paper work, and in private premises
making inquiries.
762
N IC HO LA S R . FYFE
2.3 The Police and the Control of Urban
Crime
Given the importance of crime-related tasks,
the effectiveness of the police in controlling
crime is an important research theme. The
® ndings of this work are, however, a source
of some pessimism. Studies of uniformed
patrols in cities across America, for example,
have come to the same broad conclusion:
increasing police coverage does not affect
crime control beyond a base-level police
presence (Kelling, 1983). Nor is this particularly surprising, as this oft-quoted observation from a British Home Of® ce study makes
clear:
Crimes are rare events and are committed
stealthilyÐ as often as not in places out of
reach of patrols. The chances of patrols
catching offenders red-handed are therefore small, and even if these are somewhat
increased, law-breakers may not notice or
may not care¼ a patrolling policeman [sic]
in London could expect to pass within 100
yards of a burglary in progress roughly
once every eight yearsÐ but not necessarily to catch the burglar or even realise
that the crime was taking place. (Clarke
and Hough, 1984, pp. 6±7)
This does not mean that routine patrols are
redundant. They may, for example, reduce
the fear of crime, increase feelings of community safety and encourage a more positive
image of the police (Pate, 1986; Bennett,
1991). But the limited ability of police patrols speci® cally to reduce crime and the
simple criminological fact that the causes of
street crime are far too complex for an
agency like the police to address (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) has led to a questioning of increased investment in police
crime-control efforts (see Sherman, 1992).
At the very least it suggests that to view the
primary task of the police as crime control is
dangerous because of the amount of evidence
suggesting not only that the police are not
effectively controlling crime but also that
they could not be effective (Reiner, 1992a,
pp. 146±156).
Recent research by Sherman (1989) on
crime and policing in Minneapolis, does provide more encouraging evidence. If police
resources are targeted on the relatively few
places which generate most callsÐ the `hot
spots of crime’ Ð it may be possible to reduce
the incidence of particular crimes. Hot spots
patrols in Minneapolis have had a modest
deterrent effect on `hard crimes’ , such as
robbery and drug dealing, and have reduced
`soft crimes’ such as car break-ins, drunkenness and noise. Controlling the latter types of
crime is not insigni® cant. In his analysis of
why urban neighbourhoods deteriorate into
crime-ridden slums, Skogan (1990) suggests
that the `war against crime’ is won or lost not
by tackling drug dealers and muggers, but by
controlling the minor `incivilities’ that occur
in public places before criminality becomes
endemic.
All research on crime control confronts
particular methodological dif® culties. Innovatory policing strategies introduced to reduce crime in one part of a city may, for
example, simply displace the crime problem
to another area, as Lowman’ s (1992) work
on prostitution illustrates. Moreover, a strategy which appears to work in one city may
not necessarily work in another. Sherman et
al. (1992) demonstrate this problem of programme replication in their work on policing
domestic violence.
2.4 Community Policing and Paramilitarism: The Velvet Glove and the Iron Fist?
Superimposed on the routine activities of
patrolling are a variety of specialist policing
strategies. Two of the most important are
community policing, with its emphasis on
enhanced police±public cooperation, and
paramilitarism, concerned with responding to
and containing incidents of public disorder.
While very different in orientation, commitment to these two strategies has common
roots. In both Britain and America, for example, urban riots prompted a concern both
with restoring public con® dence in policing
(through community policing programmes)
and with ensuring that the police were
PO LIC ING TH E CITY
equipped and trained to deal with any future
outbreaks of disorder through paramilitarism
(see Keith, 1989).
Nevertheless, it is important to recognise
that neither community policing nor paramilitarism provide easy answers to the problems
of policing cities. Despite the international
popularity of community policing (Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990; see too
Friedmann, 1992 and Rosenbaum, 1994) and
the wide range of activities which the phrase
now encompassesÐ from area-based and
team policing (Irving et al., 1989; Eck and
Spelman, 1987) to community crime prevention (Bennett, 1990; Rosenbaum, 1988a); and
from multi-agency partnerships (Liddle and
Bottoms, 1991) to police-community consultation (Morgan, 1989; Fyfe, 1989a, 1992b)Ð
there is still much debate both about the
desirability and effectiveness of community
policing. Bayley (1988), for example, has
warned of the possible dangers of bias in law
enforcement. If police operations are to be
closely informed by community concerns,
there is a danger that strategies will simply
re¯ ect the interests of the more powerful and
articulate groups in a neighbourhood. Furthermore, Waddington (1984) has expressed
concern that community policing can expand
the work of the police beyond law enforcement activities and into the more problematic
area of trying to engineer social harmony.
Bennett (1994) reinforces this point commenting on the dif® culties of attempting to
`bolt-on’ community policing to police systems which in Britain and elsewhere have
historically been primarily organised around
the effective provision of control. There is
often resistance among rank- and-® le of® cers
to efforts to implement policing programmes
which are different from traditional enforcement methods, a resistance that is linked to
the occupational culture of of® cers. Despite
these dif® culties, however, community policing remains popular in current police
rhetoric, providing a doctrine of legitimacy
for police departments experiencing loss of
public support (Crank, 1994).
Paramilitarism is also the source of controversy. On the one hand, commentators such
763
as Waddington (1991, 1993b) have argued
forcefully that a non-militaristic response
from the police to urban disorder (i.e. one
where they have inadequate training, personnel, equipment) may mean that injuries are
multiplied. Paramilitarism thus offers advantages in terms of the more effective control
of disorder. On the other hand, Jefferson
(1990, 1993) argues that paramilitarism may
actually lead to the ampli® cation of disorder.
The use of specially trained, usually male
of® cers, in large numbers, deployed in
groups, anticipating trouble, produces Jefferson suggests conditions which encourage
rather than diffuse violent con¯ ict. While
there is thus little agreement on the impact of
paramilitarism, what is clear is that combining community policing with paramilitarism
within the same organisation (as happens in
Britain) may cause dif® culties in terms of the
public image of the police (Stephens, 1988;
Stephens and Becker, 1994).
2.5 Images of the Police at Work: `The
Moral Street-sweepers of the Urban Jungle’
Questions of police image are not unimportant. Images of the police, both factual and
® ctional, have considerable political signi® cance in terms of legitimating the police
role by portraying them as a necessary and
effective institution (Reiner, 1992a, pp. 171±
203). But such images are, as Reiner also
emphasises, a `refraction of the reality’ (see
too Burgess, 1985; Ericson, 1991; Ericson et
al., 1987, 1989 and 1991; Schlesinger et al.,
1991). In the news media, for example, the
police are generally portrayed favourably,
the product of the organisational processes of
news production (focusing coverage of
crimes at the trial stage, for example, tends to
exaggerate police success in crime solving)
and the professional ideology of news reporters (the search for the `good story’ , leading to extended coverage of the dramatic rare
crimes which the police are generally successful at clearing up, and, by contrast, little
coverage of the more mundane, but common
crimes which the police are less successfu…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment