The abstract police: critical reflections on contemporary change in police organisations.

Abstract

Over the past ten to fifteen years the police in many Western European countries have undergone a series of profound organisational changes. The police now appear to operate at a greater distance from citizens, they are more impersonal and decontextualized and have become more dependent on digitalised data systems. These changes are captured through the concept of the ‘abstract police’ and in this international collection of essays, leading policing scholars use this concept to make sense of contemporary changes to police organisations. Drawing on empirical evidence from a wide range of policing contexts, the individual chapters address major questions about current developments in policing: 1) How are police organisations being shaped by the social, cultural, technological and political contexts in which they operate? 2) How does the concept of the abstract police help understanding of the complex interplay between change and continuity in policing? 3) Is the emergence of an abstract police the unintended outcome of processes of rationalization or a deliberate response to the new complexities of late modernity?

Citation

TERPSTRA, J., SALET, R. and FYFE, N.R. (eds.) 2022. The abstract police: critical reflections on contemporary change in police organisations. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing [online]. Available from: https://www.boomdenhaag.nl/en/webshop/the-abstract-police

• Book Type: Edited Book
• Online Publication Date: Jan 27, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 10, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 27, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 28, 2022
• Publisher: Eleven International Publishing
• ISBN: 9789462362642
• Keywords: Police; Western Europe; Organisational changes; Decontextualized; Policing
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1254811
• Publisher URL: https://www.boomdenhaag.nl/en/webshop/the-abstract-police
• Additional Information: The file accompanying this record represents an example chapter extracted from the book, which can be purchased from the publishers website: https://www.boomdenhaag.nl/en/webshop/the-abstract-police.; In addition to editing the book as a whole Nicholas Fyfe also (co-)authored the following specific chapters: ; - TERPSTRA, J., FYFE, N.R. and SALET, R. "Introduction: abstract police, the concept and some main questions", pages 1-14.; - HENRY, A. and FYFE, N.R. "Reform and emergent police practice in Scotland: in search of situated policing", pages 57-80 (see accompanying file).