Public order policing in South Yorkshire, 1984–2011
The case for a permissive approach to crowd control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13041353 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David P Waddington (Sheffield Hallam University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 309-324 |
| Publication date | 2011-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contemporary Social Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2158-2041 • E-ISSN: 2158-205X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/21582041.2011.619878 |
| OpenAlex | W1986159949 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 15 |
The Metropolitan Police Service's handling of the anti-G20 demonstration on 1 April 2009 attracted widespread public criticism and indignation. Mass media coverage of the event emphasised how police officers had reacted to protesters in a sometimes violent and allegedly indiscriminate manner, and had resorted to the now familiar and controversial tactic of ‘kettling’ demonstrators into a confined space before detaining them for several hours. Media reports initially echoed police briefings in disclosing that the death of a male passer-by, unintentionally caught up in the event, was due to natural causes. Video footage of the incident subsequently contradicted this account, suggesting that the fatality resulted from an unprovoked attack by a police officer. Reports prepared by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary have since called on the police to adopt a more permissive approach to managing political protest, predicated on a commitment to facilitating the right to protest. This paper lends weight to arguments in favour of such an approach by highlighting the experience during the last 28 years of South Yorkshire Police, a force which has not only revised its practical and philosophical approach to handling public dissent, but also developed a more open attitude in its dealings with the media in a bid to restore public confidence and staff morale, following nationwide controversy around the Orgreave mass picket of 1984 and the Hillsborough stadium tragedy of 1989
Criminology · Criticism · Dissent · Indignation · Mass media · Metropolitan police · Officer · Political science · Politics · Scapegoating · Sociology · Tragedy (event · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Policing Practices and Perceptions
Contemporary Issues in Public Disorder
Death on the Terraces
Surviving the Media
The Enemy without
The Death of Mass Picketing
Policing with Contempt
We Predict a Riot
The Impact of the Local
States of Emergency
The Militancy of British Miners
States of Emergency. British Governments and Strike Breaking since 1919
What a Difference a Death Makes
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2019 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |