Constables for hire
The history of private ‘public’ policing in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12363889 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chris A Williams (0000-0003-1710-7210, Open University Arts Faculty, Open University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 190-205 |
| Publication date | 2008-05-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policing & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1043-9463 • E-ISSN: 1477-2728 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10439460802008710 |
| OpenAlex | W2004592519 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 15 |
Most currently accepted theoretical generalisations on the state of British policing conclude that there is an innovative and ongoing blurring of the boundaries between the public and the private sectors. Many make reference to the practice of the private purchase of police services from public police forces, and some explicitly claim that this is a relatively recent innovation, growing in frequency. Yet this practice is not new; it has been a feature of public policing throughout the period of the ‘criminal justice state’ (c. 1825–1975). The origin, extent, visibility and development of the practice is described here, suggesting that historically it comprised a significant aspect of the British system of policing in many areas, and has always been structured by legislation, although in the period between 1950 and 1970 it may have reached a relatively low point. Accounts of policing which stress the relationship between privatisation and ‘late modernity’ thus need to be questioned
Criminal justice · Criminology · Economic Justice · Legislation · Modernity · Period (music · Political science · Private sector · Public sector · Sociology · State (computer science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Public Administration
Repensando el monopolio de la violencia
Pluralisation of policing in England & Wales and the Netherlands
A historical perspective on crime control and private security
Managing Risk and Preempting Immorality in Private Employment of Public Police
Introduction
Diversity Policing–Policing Diversity
If we're wrong, take us to court”
Belle Epoque in Arms? Armed Associations and Processes of Democratization in Pre-1914 Europe
Défendons Notre Liberté par la Force”
The New Parapolice
Police Surveillance and the Emergence of CCTV in the 1960s
Plural Policing and Democratic Governance
The Relation between Public and Private Policing
Law, factory discipline and 'theft
Policing Before and After the Police
Before the Bobbies
The Plague of the Blue Locusts
Post-Keynesian policing
Risk, power and crime prevention
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.53 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2025 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |