Westminsterresearch Regulating Nightlife
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WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Regulating nightlife, policing race: a critical exploration of public and private policing in a non-metropolitan setting Wicks, N. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Miss Nikhaela Wicks, 2021. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Regulating nightlife, policing race: a critical exploration of public and private policing in a non-metropolitan setting. Nikhaela Wicks Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Awarded by Westminster University, UK April 2021 Abstract This thesis draws attention to the ways in which nightlife is constructed along white, local norms by those who have a responsibility for governing and managing nightlife. Situated within ‘Greenshire’, one of London’s home counties, this thesis draws upon direct observations and interviews with police officers, door staff, venue managers, police and local authority licensing officers and street pastors. The research contextualises understandings of race within the broader move from race to diversity, as exemplified by the Equality Act (2010), and supplemented by diversity training programmes and agendas put in place by many police forces across the UK. This thesis identifies several key findings. The language of diversity, and not race, operates to deny racism in the present and place racism in the past. Narrow understandings of racism as language, defined by what is said rather than what is done, and as a negative character trait, serve to reconstruct the police organisation as not institutionally racist. Despite this, this thesis reveals how stereotypes of the Black ‘gang’ member and the Gypsy and Traveller permeate the police’s attitudes and behaviours. Amongst both the official (‘public’) police and devolved (‘private’) policers of nightlife, understandings of racialized Others are informed by ideas of place and belonging. Black night-time participants from London are confined to attending ‘urban’ nights which are intensively governed and segregated to a small number of nightclubs across the county. Gypsy and Travellers also remain excluded from the main night-time high streets through historical policing practices referred to as ‘no no-ing’. This thesis uncovers how the night is constructed around the ideals of ‘acceptable whiteness’ (Bhopal, 2018, p. 29) in Greenshire, defined by forms of embodiment, practices, behaviours and temporal rhythms which are characteristically white and are deemed appropriate by the public and private police. These ideals inform licensing decisions, the policing of ‘the door’ and dancefloor, as well as the information shared between the public and private police. This thesis extends the literature on licensing practices (Talbot, 2004, Talbot 2006, Talbot, 2009, Talbot 2011) by drawing attention to how informal investigations into Temporary Event Notices are conducted by police and local authority licensing officers to determine the racialized nature of the night-time event which has been applied for. I reveal how the public police and some licence holders work together to assess the risk of night-time events, audiences and performers through a white lens which problematises Black performers, large Black crowds and Gypsy and Traveller clientele. Finally, this thesis argues that the public and private police draw upon a victim discourse to reframe themselves as the victims of accusations of racism at night, whilst Black and minority ethnic individuals are framed as problematic, illegitimate complainants. Contents Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. Literature Review 18 Chapter 3. Methodology 56 Chapter 4. Policing diversity: the police diversity training room and Greenshire’s 83 Diversity Agenda Chapter 5. Policing race through licensing practices 113 Chapter 6. Policing ‘urban’ nights 140 Chapter 7. ‘They just are a problem’: the exclusion of Gypsy and Travellers at night 169 Chapter 8. Conclusion 195 Appendix a: Participant information sheet and consent form 217 Appendix b: Interview schedule 220 Reference List 222 Acknowledgements This is my opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who has made this PhD possible. Thank you to all of my research participants who were kind enough to let me observe them at night and interview them by day. Your insights and your time made the research possible… I’ll miss nights observing but I’m happy that I’m back to a normal bed time. Thank you to DC for always supporting me and for being a key source in helping me gain access to Greenshire Police Force. I am indebted to my supervisors, Dr Ben Pitcher and Dr Adam Eldridge, for their unwavering support and gentle encouragement from day one. Thank you in particular for your patience whilst I was thinking and learning. Since I started my first academic post it has really come to light just how much you have both supported me so a sincere thank you. Apologies if I didn’t say that enough (I blame the pain of the PhD). Thanks also to the amazing criminologists that inspired me as an undergrad student at the University of Kent, in particular Dr Kate O’Brien, who has always believed in me and has made me believe in myself. I am thankful to the University of Westminster for the studentship award, which without, the research would not have been possible. Thank you to the Westminster 152 fund which allowed me to buy an epic Dictaphone, offer my participants coffee and cake and drive around Greenshire for the fieldwork. Thank you to those I connected with along the way- Emily, Elvan, Nicole, Omar and Simona. Thank you in particular to my parents - your belief in my ability to complete the thesis was at times the only thing that kept me from giving up. A huge thank you to my mum for supporting me in ways that I never knew would be needed at the start. I think you have passed some of your resilience onto me. A huge thank you to Becci for calling me out on the self-doubt. You are one of life’s true gems. Finally, thank you to Iain - for reading some of the thesis and pretending that he understood. Thanks for loving me during the final year of my PhD. You’ve rooted for me since the early days! Author’s declaration I declare that all the material contained in this thesis is my own work. Chapter 1. Introduction Introduction The thesis presents the findings of an ethnographic study which uncovers the ways in which nightlife is policed along racial lines in Greenshire. Specifically, this project draws upon observations of, and interviews with police officers, police and local authority licensing officers, door staff, venue managers, licence holders and street pastors. I also draw upon two night-time economy meetings which were attended by a mixture of police officers, door staff, venue managers, bar staff, street pastors and others with a responsibility for overseeing nightlife, as well as informal conversations with paramedics and taxi drivers. As such, the thesis interrogates the policing of nightlife through a top-down approach, informed by observations of night-time economy meetings and an interrogation of police and local authority licensing decisions, as well as being attentive to the types of night-time events hosted by licence holders. The thesis also takes a bottom-up approach, drawing upon observations and interviews with those who have a responsibility for policing nightlife ‘on the ground’. This project draws attention to the ways in which nightlife in Greenshire is constructed along the norms of ‘acceptable whiteness’ (Bhopal, 2018, pp. 29-30), arguing that the access and experiences of white local night-time participants is privileged in Greenshire. Initially, this chapter outlines the aims of the study and the research objectives. I then provide a background to Greenshire and the two nightlife areas which were observed throughout the fieldwork. I provide specific details on the nightclubs, bars and pubs which informed the thesis, through observations in these spaces or via interviews with staff, and then provide a background of Greenshire Police Force. Finally, I finish by outlining the structure that the thesis will take. Background to the research 1. Postrace sensibilities and contextualising police race relations in the UK The discourse surrounding race has changed in recent years in the UK, with postrace arguments drawn upon as evidence that ‘race’ no longer matters and racism no longer exists (Nayak, 2006, Tate, 2016, Tate and Bagguley, 2017). The language of ‘diversity’ has in fact erased ‘race’, with an increase in institutions with equality and diversity policies, documents 1 and agendas in the UK. This can be seen in numerous contexts, from Higher Education (Ahmed, 2007a, Ahmed, 2007b, Bhopal and Rhamie, 2013), to healthcare (National Health Service, 2018) as well as the public police (National Police Chiefs Council, 2018) to name a few. Within the public policing context specifically, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) (2018) recently launched the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy for 2018- 2025 which states that their vision is to create a more representative workforce by 2025 (NPCC, 2018, np). Local police forces set their own Diversity Agendas, training and targets for the recruitment of Black and minority ethnic police officers and staff (NPCC, 2018). Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) are responsible for scrutinising the progression of a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy in each local police force. Interestingly, at the time of the research, not every police force had a Diversity Agenda or strategy available on their website which uncovers the ways in which this front-facing engagement with diversity is localised. The Stephen Lawrence murder in 1993 and the resulting Macpherson Inquiry (Macpherson, 1999) was a catalyst which drove much change in the policing discourse and a respect for diversity and recognition of cultural and gendered identities became normative (Loftus, 2007, p.