ABSTRACT
Almost two decades prior to their introduction in 2002 the Home Office proposed that public sector organisations should be working towards ‘economy, efficiency and effectiveness’ (Home Office 1983). This new emphasis was associated with a reduction in autonomy and local accountability and focused on the crime-fighting role of the police (which included the suppression of possible civil unrest). The Police and Magistrates Courts Act 1994 strengthened government control of local police authorities, while espousing rhetoric to the contrary. The Sheehy Report (1993) and the Posen Inquiry (1995) challenged the hitherto unquestioned job-for-life culture, which had underpinned thinking about British policing indicating previously sacred matters were now legitimate topics of debate. Supplementary tensions and events led to debates about other important policing areas (Shearing and Wood 2003; Wood 2004).
