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Palgrave Macmillan

Policing in Smart Societies

Reflections on the Abstract Police

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Editors:
  1. Antoinette Verhage

    1. Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP), Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Faculty of Law & Criminology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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  2. Marleen Easton

    1. Department of Public Governance and Management, Chair Research Group ‘Governing and Policing Security’ Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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  3. Sofie De Kimpe

    1. Research Group Crime and Society (CriS), Faculty of Law and Criminology, Department of Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussel, Belgium

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  • Examines developments in contemporary policing
  • Explores cultural changes within police organizations and practice due to technological developments
  • Speaks to academics, policing scholars and informed practitioners across Europe and beyond

Part of the book series: Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies (PCPS)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introducing Policing in Smart Cities: Reflections on the Abstract Police

    • Sofie De Kimpe, Marleen Easton, Antoinette Verhage
    Pages 1-7

  3. Abstract Police Organisations: Distantiation, Decontextualisation and Digitalisation

    • Jan Terpstra, Renze Salet, Nicholas R. Fyfe
    Pages 9-26

  4. Reflections on the Abstract Police Using the Perspective of Ideal-Types

    • Marleen Easton
    Pages 27-42

  5. Technology and Police Legitimacy

    • Elizabeth Aston, Helen Wells, Ben Bradford, Megan O’Neill
    Pages 43-68

  6. Plural Policing and the Abstract Police

    • Megan O’Neill
    Pages 69-85

  7. Do We Need Discretion? Police Decisions and the Limits of the Law

    • Antoinette Verhage
    Pages 87-107

  8. The Abstract Police: An Exploration of the Concept in the Belgian Local Police

    • Yinthe Feys
    Pages 109-132

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 133-138
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Keywords

About this book

Smart societies pose new challenges for police organizations. Demands for more efficiency and effectiveness test police organizations which are often resistant to change. This book uses the concept of the abstract police to describe the way in which police organizations have tried to adapt to these new evolutions and the consequences. The chapters stem from a conference called “Street Policing in a Smart Society” which sought to frame and analyse these developments in policing. In this book, the concept of the abstract police is introduced, analysed and then challenged from different angles, looking at the evolutions related to technology, plural policing, police discretion and police decision making. As such, the book is a reflection of current debates on policing and police organization, aiming to give input to the debate by providing new insights on police and police work.



Editors and Affiliations

  • Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP), Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Faculty of Law & Criminology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Antoinette Verhage

  • Department of Public Governance and Management, Chair Research Group ‘Governing and Policing Security’ Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Marleen Easton

  • Research Group Crime and Society (CriS), Faculty of Law and Criminology, Department of Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussel, Belgium

    Sofie De Kimpe

About the editors

Antoinette Verhage is Professor of Criminology at Ghent University, Belgium, and a member of the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP). Her research and teaching activities focus on police and policing, integrity and deontology. She is a member of diverse international editorial boards and of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security. 

Marleen Easton is Professor and Head of the UGent research group ‘Governing and Policing Security’ (GaPS), Belgium, and Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Criminology Institute, Australia. She is President of the Belgian Innovation Network for Security (vzw Iungos) and is an active member of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security. 

Sofie De Kimpe is Professor of Criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, and a member of the Crime & Society research group (CRiS). Her main research expertise is qualitative and ethnographic research in police and policing. She is Chair of the EU COST ACTION POLICE STOPS and an active member of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security.

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