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In Search of Civic Policing: Recasting the ‘Peelian’ Principles

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Abstract

For over a century the so-called ‘Peelian’ principles have been central to the self-understanding of Anglo-American policing. But these principles are the product of modern state-building and speak only partially to the challenges of urban policing today. In fact, they stand in the way of clear thinking and better practice. In this paper, I argue that these principles ought to be radically recast and put to work in new ways. The argument proceeds as follows. First, I recover and outline the current ‘Peelian’ principles and argue that they lack the specificity, sufficiency and status required in order to do real work in the governance of policing. Second, I make the case for principles both as a regulative ideal guiding our aspirations for what policing can become and as a means of regulating police work in the here-and-now. I then develop a revised set of principles and indicate, in conclusion, how they can guide the formation of trust-producing and democracy-enhancing practices of civic policing.

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Notes

  1. The recent explorations of this idea I have in mind include Sklansky (2008) and Manning (2010). My own efforts along these lines can be found in Loader (2000, 2006). The under-theorized relation between the police and democracy may be one symptom of the striking but nonetheless puzzling inattention of legal and political theorists towards policing, especially when compared with the long tradition, and recent upsurge, of normative work on other aspects of criminal justice and punishment. The favour has been returned by criminologists and police scholars who for the most part do not read legal and political theory. This state of affairs limits our normative understanding of certain key—and troubling—dimensions of police power: the fact that officers are empowered to perform acts that would be illegal if undertaken by citizens; the police’s role as ‘gatekeepers’ to the rest of the criminal justice process, and the fact that their monopoly of legitimate violence renders the police simultaneously guarantors of, and a threat to, the liberty and security of citizens (Walker 2000: ch. 1). One modest hope for this paper is that it might encourage closer conversation between policing specialists and legal and political theorists.

  2. For recent powerful explorations of this classic theme, see Rios (2011) and Fassin (2013).

  3. For empirical assessments of how police practices can undermine or strengthen civic identity, see Lerman and Weaver (2014) on the US, Bradford (2014) on England & Wales, and Bradford et al. (2014) on Australia.

  4. It is worth noting that this paper emerges from a practical police reform engagement—namely, my involvement as a member of the Independent Commission on the Future of Policing in England & Wales, which reported in November 2013; report available at: http://independentpolicecommission.org.uk/uploads/37d80308-be23-9684-054d-e4958bb9d518.pdf. The argument presented here was first developed within, and to some extent by, that Commission.

  5. Their pervasiveness in this regard makes examples rather superfluous; but see, Policing in the UK: A Brief Guide (London: Association of Chief Police Officers), available at: http://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/reports/2012/201210PolicingintheUKFinal.pdf and M. Lewis, ‘Peel’s Legacy’, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, December 2011, available at: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/december-2011/perspective.

  6. On the ‘civilizing effects’ of hypocrisy, see Elster (1997).

  7. Unger (1998). For an attempt to think about social and institutional change along cognate lines, see Olin Wright (2010).

  8. See, on principles-based regulation, Braithwaite (2002); on rules in police work, Ericson (2007), and on targets, McLaughlin et al. (2002).

  9. See, inter alia, Tyler (2011).

  10. See further, Loader and Walker (2007: ch. 6).

  11. One recent effort to translate these principles into a practical reform agenda can be found in the report of the Independent Commission on the Future of Policing in England & Wales (2013).

  12. Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, s. 32.

  13. One often touted case in point—especially in respect of public engagement—is the ‘Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy’. For an assessment of this strategy informed by the deliberative democratic perspective I am defending here, see Fung (2004). See also Skogan (2006).

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Acknowledgments

An earlier iteration of this paper was presented at the Third Annual Robina Conference on ‘The Future of Criminal Law,’ held at the Robina Institute of Criminal Justice in the Law School, University of Minnesota on 24th–26th April 2014. I am grateful to Antony Duff for organizing this event and to the participants for making it such a stimulating occasion. Particular thanks are due to Vanessa Barker, Cecilia Kingele, Matt Matravers, Alice Ristroph and Adam White for their constructive responses to the earlier draft.

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  1. Centre for Criminology and All Souls College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Ian Loader

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Correspondence to Ian Loader.

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Loader, I. In Search of Civic Policing: Recasting the ‘Peelian’ Principles. Criminal Law, Philosophy 10, 427–440 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-014-9318-1

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