For example, can you recall the kinds of memories you had of police as a child, and describe how things have changed? Or can you identify high profile stories, or watershed events in society, that you think changed policing forever?
Here is a Guardian feature on 30 years after the miners' strike
Police are more accountable now, and abuses of power are more likely to become exposed. This is probably mostly down to information technology and social media, more than voluntary cultural change within the police. The cameras that some police officers wear, must be rolled out to everyone. All social interactions with the police must be on record. So this dimension has improved. I imagine that technology improvement is also helpful to solving crimes so this is a plus in that regard also.
Thank you - there is an article on body cameras here seting out potential benefits and concerns: http://www.juicefm.com/news/local/police-to-use-body-cams-to-interview-suspects/
One change that is likely to continue is the privatisation or part-privatisation of police services. Here is a piece I wrote in the Barrister on problems with privatisation:
http://www.barristermagazine.com/six-reasons-to-fear-the-creeping-privatisation-of-policing/
Policing has undoubtedly changed over the last 50 years. When I was a boy in the 1960s growing up in an urban environment, I don’t recall there being a local bobby but we did see ‘Panda Cars’ patrolling the streets and all reported crime, including burglary, seemed to be taken seriously and followed up. I would also suggest that policeman and women were respected. In the 50 years since, police presence on the street seems to have declined, minor crimes appear to be taken less seriously and the level of respect has deteriorated. While some of these changes reflect changes in the types of crime being committed and, especially in recent years, budgetary constraints, decline in the public’s respect for the police could be seen as a consequence of some high profile negative events such as the miners’ strike where the actions of the police were headline news for almost a year, the Hillsborough football disaster which is only now being fully investigated after over 25 years and the shooting of an unarmed Brazil national on the London underground.
Thank you for this comment, it is very helpful. There definitely seem to be 'watershed' moments in the history of policing, events that make people question fundamentals like (putting it simply) - what, or who, are the police 'for'. These moments can challenge what some North American scholars have described as an 'agency myth' - an espoused mission or vision that parts of the public no longer believe in. In policing in a British context that could refer to principles of impartiality and of the police as being public servants. I've interviewed officers who policed the miners' strike and spoken to people in communities affected. Both parties felt it was associated with the politicization of the police and perhaps challenging an 'agency myth' of impartiality. I have referred to this and more contemporary events in a recent paper on policing public disorder (names are changed):
Several officers explained that the agency myth of the police as politically impartial was frequently undermined and that they were seen collectively as representatives of the state rather than as servants of the public. Sometimes police presence or practice transformed and united otherwise heterogeneous elements of the crowd, as Jason, a commander, explained: “People turn up to a protest with very diff erent motives . . . forget their original protest and unite against the police . . . we become the embodiment of the government in the eyes of the protesters.” Offering a much longer, historical view, Andrew recalled policing the intensely political miners’ strike of 1984–85. He experienced how striking miners would “see me as the political engine of Maggie Thatcher . . . just a uniform, representative of [the state]—that was hard and nasty.
Unfortunately I can't share the final version of the paper as the copyright belongs to the journal. But you can access a version of it here https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kevin_Morrell2/publications
February 5th is the anniversary of Robert Peel's birth in 1788. Here is a feature from the Metropolitan Police on the origins of policing.
As in wider society, one aspect of policing that has changed in many people's lifetimes is a greater awareness and sensitivity to issues that affect people who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) such as discrimination, hate crime and the right to protest for equality and freedom. Ideally changes to police practice, and to changes in the wider criminal justice system, should afford the LGBT community the same rights, protections and consideration as other communities. One area where change has not been fast enough is in the formal recognition that crimes such as domestic violence can affect LGBT couples and families where parents are LGBT just as they can affect other households. No accurate statistics exist that are able to help charities like Broken Rainbow - dedicated to combating violence in LGBT relationships - keep track of the scale of the problem. Recently Greater Manchester Police became the first police force to introduce an official means of keeping track of incidences of domestic violence in LGBT households.
One clear aspect of policing practice that has changed is the development of forensic science. The following link includes a podcast discussing some of the latest developments in this field:
One significant change has been in the improved ability for the police to catch criminals through DNA testing. This is only possible where the original evidence has been carefully preserved and collected. The article on the link below (which requires registration to create an account and view) describes a new DNA technique that was used to convict a murderer who will serve almost 30 years:
