Policing the Risk Society'the most significant theoretical work on the police since Bittner's The Functions of the Police (1970).' -- Jerome H. Skolnick, Visiting Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York 'extends the risk theory literature into new and important areas, while offering a radical reconception of police work and organisation.' -- David Garland, Centre for Law and Society University of Edinburgh The Information Age Has Left Few of us Untouched; individuals and institutions have undergone radical transformations in the race to get the most out of new technologies. The police are no exception. Policing the Risk Society introduces us to a shocking new vision of police work where information gathered by the police with surveillance and data collection technologies is brokered to other institutions. Richard Ericson and Kevin Haggerty contend that the police have become information brokers to institutions such as insurance companies and health and fare organizations that operate based on a knowledge of risk. In turn, these institutions influence the ways that police officers think and act. A critical review of existing research reveals the need to study police interaction with institutions as well as individuals. These institutions are part of an emerging 'risk society' where knowledge of risk is used to control danger. The authors examine different aspects of police involvement: the use of surveillance technologies, and the collection of data on securities, careers, and different social, ethnic, age, and gender groups. They conclude by looking at how police organizations have been forced to bureaucratize and to perpetually develop newcommunications rules, formats and technologies to meet external demands for knowledge of risk. Ericson and Haggerty revolutionize the study of policing and are the first to provide concrete evidence of the central tenets of risk society theory. Their work will impact heavily on scholars in criminology, social theory, and communications as well as on policing and the public. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Policing as Risk Communications | 17 |
Policing Risk and Law | 39 |
Community Policing and Risk Communications | 67 |
Risk Discourse | 83 |
Risk Institutions | 100 |
Risk and Social Change | 111 |
Tracing Territories | 133 |
Health | 239 |
Identities | 256 |
Knowledge Risk Management | 295 |
Communication Rules | 321 |
Centralized Regulation of Access | 336 |
Policy Manuals | 345 |
Communication Formats | 357 |
Communication Technologies | 388 |
Mobilizing Territories | 156 |
Territorial Communities | 177 |
Securities | 197 |
Careers | 223 |
Credentials | 233 |
Summary and Conclusions | 426 |
453 | |
471 | |
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Policing the Risk Society Richard Victor Ericson,Richard V. Ericson,Kevin D. Haggerty Limited preview - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
accident activity administrative agencies auditing become biopower Canada careers checks communication formats communication rules communication technologies community policing computer terminals computerized court create Crime Stoppers criminal justice criminal law crown attorney culture deal develop discourse drug electronic Ericson example expert expertise external institutions forms going identities individual information systems institutionalized insurance companies investigation involved jurisdiction knowl knowledge of risk knowledge production knowledge system mass media ment moral occurrence report paper burden paperwork patrol officers person police interviewee police knowledge police officers police organization populations problem procedures produce provincial records reflexive regulation responsible risk communication systems risk institutions risk knowledge risk management risk profiling risk society risk technologies routine social statistics Statistics Canada Stinchcombe supervisor surveillance territories there's things tion Transport Canada unit University of Toronto vehicle victims