Chief Police Officers’ Stories of Legitimacy: Power, Protection, Consent and Control

Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
1: Introduction
	Chief Police Officer Literature
	The Scholarly and Policing Terrain Covered and Contributed To
	Methodology
	Structure of the Book
	References
2: Legitimacy: A Contested Concept
	Hobbes
	Utilitarianism
	Weber
	Durkheim
	Beetham
	Perspectives That Challenge Claims to the Legitimacy of the State and Its Institutions
	Procedural Justice
	Conclusion
	References
3: Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations
	Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds
	Chief Police Officers: A Liberal Elite?
	The Career Paths and Socialisation, Development and Training of Chief Police Officers
	Chief Police Officers’ Motivations
	A Power/Service Paradox?
	Gendered Understandings of Power
	How Chief Police Officers Reflect on the Use of Power and the Right to Use It
	Conclusion
	References
4: Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable
	Methodology
	Vulnerability, a Developing Discourse
	Vulnerability, a Complex Concept
	The Development of a Police Discourse of Vulnerability and Associated Policy
	Politically Privileged Threats
	Protecting the Vulnerable as a Response to Police Failures
	Divergent Police Responses to Vulnerability
	Policing Purpose and Vulnerability
	Ambiguous and Hidden Vulnerability
	Vulnerability and Prioritisation
	Threat, Harm and Risk: Identifying and Responding to Vulnerability
	Conclusion
	References
5: Policing by Consent
	The Endurance and Meaning of ‘Policing by Consent’
	Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Policing by Consent
	Hazy Consent
	Communicating, Conversations and Accountability
	Neighbourhood/Community Policing
	Gauging and Building Consent
	Informed Consent or Coerced Compliance?
	Listening to People with Little Power
	Procedural Justice
	Withdrawn Consent
	Police Performance Management and Consent
	Conclusion
	References
6: Law and Governance
	A Right to Exercise Power Based on Law
	Legality and Legitimacy
	Contemporary Police Governance
	Chief Police Officers’ Accounts of Governance
	Operational Independence After the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
	Chief Police Officers’ Concerns About Career Security and Progression
	Discussion of Police Governance
	Conclusion
	References
7: Conclusion
	Overview
	Legitimacy: A Contested Concept
	Chief Police Officers’ Backgrounds and Motivations
	Protecting People, Particularly the Most Vulnerable
	Policing by Consent
	Law and Governance
	How an Archetypal Chief Police Officer Understands the Right to Exercise Power
	Confused
	Conflicted
	Convenient
	Implications for the Current and Future State of Policing
	Areas for Further Research
	Conclusion and Recommendations
	References
Index