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87 Police J. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/policejl87 and id is 1 raw text is: Police Iournal:Theory, Practice and Principles Volume 87 (2014) 1-2 Commentary Police Accountability in the Age of Austerity Colin Rogers Centre for Police Sciences University of South Wales, UK 'Everything flows, nothing stands still' is a quote credited to a dialogue by Plato entitled Cratylus, and reflects the very nature of life in general. It also reflects the journey of this journal as it flows into a new format and structure building on the excellent work of previous editors, their editorial teams and of course contributors. Welcome to the new Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, which aims to publish articles of interest nationally and internationally regarding all aspects of policing. It is also fortuitous that the journal should be published in its new format at this time, since the world of policing has been, is and will be subject to change and alteration as the increased drive for professionalisation is introduced by the College of Policing in the UK, mirrored by similar beliefs and institutions across the world. Indeed, one wonders just what police organisations will look like in five or ten years' time as changes that have been introduced over the past few years really take effect. Clearly, there is now an understanding that the landscape of policing in most countries across the world has altered, fuelled not just by the economic recession but also by other factors such as politics, technology and social change. Policing does not exist in a vacuum but is influenced by all of these things. For example, we live in a mainly consumerist society, where people expect to be treated as a customer when paying for services, be those services from retail outlets or public services, including the police.This is an important point to understand, especially for those senior police officers already in position, those who aspire to such positions and those who wish to study or work in some way for the police. Why is this so important? Well, it all revolves around the idea of police legitimacy. For police to operate in any so-called democratic policing model they have to have the support of the public they police (Sklansky, 2008).This support derives from the public's belief that the police have the legitimate right and authority to operate amongst them and exercise their powers. Without this legitimacy, the police would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to operate democratically. Indeed, they would perhaps become a state police, operating at the whim of their political masters rather than serving communities. A failure to understand that, in general, people expect to be treated as customers by the police can only help to undermine this legitimacy - not that the idea of legitimacy can be undermined purely by a lack of customer focus by the police. High-profile actions and cases such as the so-called Plebgate incident in the UK, coupled with reports of media improprieties, leaking of secret information and high-profile enquiries into historical allegations of wrongdoing, all contribute to a potential perfect storm of challenges to legitimacy. Additionally, the economic framework which has seen the reduction of police budgets in the UK by 25% since 2010, as well as similar reductions seen in other countries, means the future of policing continues and will continue to be formed by a major rationalisation process. In truth this may fit in with some governments' philosophy as far as the provision of public services, including the public police, is concerned. Consequently, we may see a concerted drive for policing for profit (or at least income-generation) and the interests of commerce, not necessarily underpinning policing for community.The increased use of private provision as witnessed in many countries recently opens up all 1 D01: 10.1350/pojo.2014.87.1.657

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