police and security studies from an anthropological perspective
May 15, 2013 Leave a comment
Just happened to be looking this up today in the OED:
community policing n. policing at a local or community level; spec. a system of policing by officers who have personal knowledge of and involvement in the community they police.
1934 New Castle (Pa.) News 20 Feb. 16/3 Major Adams asserted that the modern principles of community policing are based on antiquated methods.
March 14, 2013 Leave a comment
This post is my first, personal, attempt at refiguring anthropological inquiry after the internet 2.0. I guess this is just a fancy way of saying that I'm beginning to try to come to terms with doing ethnography after the birth of social media. For context, my original fieldwork in France, way back between 2003-2005, coincided with Friendster, but that's about it (it's no coincidence that it was juring that time that I met my first "blogger").
February 12, 2013 Leave a comment
I've just uploaded a copy of the syllabus for a new class I'll be teaching the second half of this semester, "Ethnographies of Police". I'm pretty psyched about it. You can find a pdf version here, or go to the "Teaching" page of my blog and see it amongst the other syllabi uploaded there.
March 7, 2011 1 Comment
Just a note to let everyone know that our little seminar group in Hong Kong is slowly but surely growing a vibrant intellectual community around the interdisciplinary discussion of policing. We now have entered the 21st century with our own WEBSITE (yay!). The address is http://www.policingstudiesforum.com. Tell your friends and colleagues! And drop me a line if you want to get on the mailing list.
February 25, 2011 Leave a comment
TORONTO – A Toronto police officer recently apologized for suggesting that women could prevent sexual assault by not dressing “like sluts” during a campus safety information session at York University last month. Toronto police spokesman, Mark Pugash, stated that the officer’s remarks were “diametrically opposed to the way in which [they] train [their] people, the way in which [they] train [their] investigators and the way in which [they] write about sexual assault.” Although the officer has been disciplined, many -including Mila Guidorizzi, part of York University’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Support Line- believe that this cannot make up for the damage that may have been caused by the Toronto officer’s insinuation that women are to blame for sexual assault as it may decrease the likelihood that survivors of sexual assault will report their assaults or seek counseling. Others, such as the vice-president of campaigns and advocacy for the York Federation of Students Darshika Selvasivam, believes the Toronto police’s procedures for handling sexual assault cases should be evaluated by a third party as current police training “clearly isn’t sufficient enough because this officer clearly felt comfortable (making the comments) despite the training that he had received.” Toronto police asserted that they have worked with a number of outside organizations to create an adequate training program for sexual assault investigators and maintains that the officer in question does not represent the force.
SAN JOSE – Facing increasing numbers of racial profiling and other bias allegations, the San Jose police department has broadened its definition of profiling to include “any biased behavior at any time during an encounter with the public.” Prior to the change, San Jose’s Police Duty Manual stated that an officer must not “initiate a contact solely” based on factors including race, color, nationality and gender,” however, it is difficult to prove biased policing has taken place under this definition as officers could argue the person in question was stopped for a valid reason such as a broken taillight of failing to signal. While the new definition does not directly address this issue, the city’s independent police auditor believes the change is a “huge” move in the right direction, noting past attempts to get the previous police chief to address issues of biased policing. It is hoped that the new definition with help rebuild the “strained” relationship between San Jose’s minority communities and the police. This is just one change in a series of alterations to the department’s operation. Last year, the new police chief stopped his officers from impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers who were picked up for minor traffic violations, a practice many believed to target undocumented Latino immigrants.
January 26, 2011 2 Comments
This past weekend I visited Detroit’s 2011 North American International Auto Show, where Ford used the opportunity to show off its new police Interceptors (check out Ford’s site complete with siren loading graphic and nationwide tour dates). Seductively displayed in front of a slogan proclaiming, “Protecting Our Community. Securing Our Future,” and the message, “Ford salutes first responders. The heroes you depend on depend on Ford,” the cars were hard to miss. There was something rather striking about the Interceptors -fierce yet sleek- that seemed to draw a continuous crowd of all ages.
The name alone is alluring: Interceptor. It rolls off the tongue and brings forth images of blockbuster car chases complete with explosions and gritty, attractive male leads like Jason Statham or Daniel Craig. As I stood listening to the soft “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” of passersby and watched dozens of people whip out their cameraphones (yours truly included), I asked myself who Ford was trying to sell the Interceptor to -the police or us? Moreover, what was Ford really selling -the car itself, an “ideal” representation of the police, a car-chase fantasy, their own “Ford-tough” image, or all of the above?
Academic Cites We Like
beajauregui
jeffmartin00
kevinkarpiak
michellestewart1
mstalcup
smirmajl
socdeputy
