ABSTRACT
The analysis in Chapters 2–6 emphasises the transition from policing as the activity of a single institution (the police) to a more fragmented and diversified model of policing practice. In one sense, these changes serve to confirm the linkage between policing and politics that is implied throughout this book. There is a conceptual link between them at the level of meaning and discourse. There is a practical link in the relationship between policing institutions and the state. Where these factors are subject to change, policing will also change. The changes, however, are not simply matters of theoretical interest. Changes in the meaning and role of public sector institutions such as the police reflect deeper disturbances in the meaning and role of the state itself. In particular, they raise the question whether we should regard the institutions of state or the associations of civil society as primary providers of certain public goods. Of course, these matters are not uncontroversial. The extent to which state intervention is desirable still characterises some of the differences between the main political parties. For policing, however, this realpolitik reflects a yet unresolved question. That is the question of the future of the public police in the light of a redistribution of responsibility for social control to other policing agencies. This chapter examines the politics of policing in terms of the influences that are moulding its character. These include government policy and the influence of so-called ‘new public management’. It also explores changes to the social, economic, political and technological contexts of policing and the increasing importance of communication.
