The police function and the future of policing

• In Event: The interplay of Police and Science: what can we learn from each other?

Abstract

Even before the introduction of the concept of plural policing (Loader 2000), showing that the police is not the only actor involved in policing, questions have been raised about what the core functions of the police are, or perhaps even more what makes the police distinct from all the other policing actors. Often, the possibility to use violence has been put forward as an answer to this question (Bittner 1972; Brodeur 2010). However, this paper posits that this claim is the result of a confusion of two distinct academic concepts, that of policing and that of the police function. While policing actors, of which the police if one, do distinguish themselves from other actors with the potential use of violence, the core police function in a democratic society seems to lie in the ability of the police to be the first point of contact with the citizen and therefore be involved in a whole range of societal issues, from low to high policing. It is what sets it apart from other actors. This is an important conclusion, since police reforms searching for the distinguishing element of the police and finding it in its ability to use force, can be counterproductive by limiting the ability of the police to connect with citizens and address general issues.

Author

• Joery Matthys, Leiden University