Perceptions of Police Authority
| Date | 01 October 1982 |
| Published date | 01 October 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8205500405 |
| Author | Peter K. Manning,A. J. P. Butler |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PETER
K. MANNING
Professor
of
Sociology
and
Psychiatry,
Michigan State University, U.S.A.
A. J. P. BUTLER
Superintendent: Police
Staff
College, Bramshill.
PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE
AUTHORITY
Introduction
The police in the present period are under attack, and questions are
being raised about what the police are doing, what they ought to be
doing, and how they ought to be organized and made accountable.
Research, some of which we refer to below, shows rather
conclusively that we are not well appraised of what the police are
doing in terms of the tasks they undertake and in respect of their
effectiveness. The question of what they ought to be doing is a
political question, and there is considerable disagreementaboutthis.
Past practices are being re-examined by people bothin and outside of
the police, including Lord Scarman, the Police Federation and
Cabinet Ministers.
Given this context, the questions are, what should be the aims and
objectives of the police and how ought the police be be organized to
achieve these goals? In the absence of research, these questions can
only be answered in rhetorical or commonsense terms, as evaluation
and change based on clear and objective data is impossible. Such
questions about the police raise the more fundamental question
about the perception of the legitimacy of the police, i.e. their
authority. The police are in one sense "their own masters" under the
law and in another sense they are ultimately dependent upon the
acceptance of their role, duties and for theirmandate by their various
publics. Authority is in some sensea difficult concept, because it can
take on quite different guises - authority can be based upon
individual qualities such as those represented by a greater leader,
Jesus, Churchill, or Ghandi; upon tradition, amonarch, or because it
is believed that such authority has always existed; or on rational:'
legal rules such as law, administrative procedures and a structure of
offices and roles. Policing, as many have pointed out, is an admixture
of the three, but, most commonly, it tends to draw upon the sacred
aspects of
tradition
and in recent years increasingly on the legal-
rational bases in law and formal organization.
The police in modern Britain are faced with changes in public
perceptions of their legitimacy and authority and they are seeking to
understand and respond to these changes.
It
seems clear to us
that
the
October 1982 333
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