Converging Corporatisation: The Transformation of Public Police

Abstract:     
Changes in policing over the past thirty years have led to recognition of the prominence of private policing. However, while private police are recognised as rivals to public police, the analysis of the private sector has understated the extent to which their corporate character has given rise to extensive diversification of their capacities. Conversely, as public police have been permeated by a 'new managerial' ethos, and are required by governments to exercise more enterprise - especially with respect to revenue streams and public relations - so they have begun to converge with the forms and functions of the private sector. One of the possible brakes on further convergence is 'police culture' and police unionism in the public sector, but at management levels convergence appears to be regarded with far less critical concerns.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25

Keywords: police, security, private police, police culture, police unions, police management, corporatisation

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K30

Accepted Paper Series