Becoming Special Occupational Socialisation in Volunteer Police Officers
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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Tooth, Tom R Title: Becoming Special Occupational socialisation in volunteer police officers General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. 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Becoming Special Occupational socialisation in volunteer police officers A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law Tom Tooth School of Law May 2019 101,999 Author’s declaration I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ............................................................. DATE:.......................... Abstract This thesis takes as its site of interest the office of the Special Constabulary. Through this institution it is possible to volunteer to join the police and serve as a warranted officer, with the full range of legal authorities that are invested in those who work within the ‘regular’ ranks. The study applies its focus to the training and early career development of Special Constables, aiming to fill a significant gap in the contemporary literature. Utilising conceptual models from studies of regular officer training and development, the thesis will explore this field of interest as a process of socialisation, in which learning how to become a Special Constable requires engaging with formal and informal aspects of the organisation. Although Special Constables do not ‘belong’ to the occupational culture of policing in the same way that regular officers do, this study explores the extent to which the occupational culture is extended to them by those regular officers in charge of their induction. It also explores the extent to which that culture is accessible to volunteer officers, and the types of professional identity it allows them to sustain. It will be suggested that the socialisation experiences of Special Constables are helpfully explored and interrogated using a framework of needs fulfilment, which supplies the dynamic of their quest to achieve membership status. However, membership can be achieved in different degrees, relating to the trainee’s motivations and expectations for undertaking the role, and their levels of success at finding a fit with the occupational culture. This thesis was undertaken utilising a range of qualitative research methods, including the autoethnographic participation in the field by the author. The following exploration brings the voices of trainees to the fore and seeks to deliver grounded insight and analysis on this sheltered area of practice. Acknowledgements All research projects rely on numerous people for advice and support, and this thesis is no exception. I should start by thanking the Economic and Social Research Council who funded my doctoral studies, having already funded my M.Sc. Without them none of this would have been possible. I must also extend my deepest thanks to everyone at the University of Bristol (past and present) who has supported and encouraged me, extending patience and understanding as the years have passed and I have continued to keep you waiting. Chief among these have been Richard Young, who was instrumental in getting this project off the ground, coaxing my interest in criminal justice matters, and often providing much needed direction and inspiration. So too Morag McDermont, who has been present throughout this project and a huge source of advice and guidance. And Ollie Quick of course, who came on board half way through and has greatly helped to finally steer this ship into port. To everyone at the School of Law and Faculty level who indulged my suspensions and requests for extra time, thank you sincerely. And to Stephanie Dimberline, I couldn’t have done this without you either. Additionally, I am very grateful to both the Law School and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law research ethics committees, who were open to this somewhat unconventional project and provided much support and direction. Family and friends will no doubt be much relieved to (hopefully) see this thesis one day bound and laid to rest (of sorts). You never gave up, and neither did I, taking your lead. To my wonderful wife and darling daughter, I should have finished this long ago, I know. Thank you for waiting me out and keeping me going. This thesis could only have proceeded with the agreement of the force in question, ‘Westshire Constabulary’, to whom I am incredibly indebted, and much appreciative of their willingness to entertain this novel approach. Beyond the granting of access, immense gratitude is also owed and felt to all those officers, from the regular ranks and the Special Constabulary, who contributed to this project in myriad ways. But to Cheese and Ham, most of all. Finally, to the statistician from the policing conference on Teeside, whose name I forget, with the pony tail and the motorbike, who told me that no-one ever submits their thesis after going part- time and then suspending their studies: thank you for motivating me to be the outlier in your data set. TT For my two favourite ladies One who did everything to try and help me finish this, and one who did everything to try and distract me – in the best possible way. Table of contents Chapter 1 - Introduction 1 Chapter 2 – Conceptual resources 12 Organisational socialisation 13 Police culture 18 The content of police culture 24 A model for socialisation 34 Chapter 3 - Methodology 40 Accessing the field 41 Ethnographic epistemologies 50 Auto/ethnography in practice 57 Research ethics 65 Chapter 4 – Stage 1: Entry 79 Anticipatory socialisation and status elevation 80 Anticipatory socialisation and the Special Constabulary 84 Specialing as anticipatory socialisation 94 Chapter 5 – Stage 2: Introduction 97 The learning experience 98 The trainees 107 The trainers 114 Sources of socialisation 123 Discussion 135 Chapter 6 - Stage 3: Encounter 141 ‘Going live’ – the tutorship phase 143 Modes of learning (culture) 157 Discussion – needs fulfilment 185 Chapter 7 - Stage 4: Metamorphosis 198 Learning in the field – a Special case study 200 In joking 204 A special kind of metamorphosis 213 Discussion – needs fulfilled? 234 A Special police culture? 239 Chapter 8 - Conclusion 244 Bibliography 254 Glossary 263 On the ride back to custody, all of us in the van were subjected to repeated abuse from a drunken and antsy prisoner in the cage that had been arrested by another officer. One of his lines of thought was that we’d all lose our jobs because of our involvement in his illegal arrest. This was pressed upon us several times, interspersed with assurances that he would fuck us up when we opened the door at the other end, and regular proclamations that we were all fucking cunts. He can’t lose his job, one of the officers said (referring to me). He’s a volunteer. This instigated a volley of chuckles from all the officers in the van, including me. I don’t think our man in the back even twigged, but it didn’t matter. Later on, Ellis declared that it was the ‘best comment of the night’. [Fieldnotes] Becoming Special - 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Training and retaining a Special kind of volunteer This thesis is about people volunteering to undertake a unique position – a Special position – and about the ways in which they, with others, seek to develop competence in meeting its demands. It is a study about the experience and affects of a process of socialisation within a legal institution, and the construction of an inherently contested identity. The site of interest for this study is the office of the Special Constabulary; a national institution incorporated within the sanctioned policing response of the state. Through this organisation, it is possible to volunteer to be trained and deployed as a warranted, yet unpaid, police officer – to don a police uniform and enter the public domain, equipped with handcuffs, baton, and incapacitant spray, and invested with the same legal powers and authorities imparted upon ‘regular’ officer counterparts. In the contemporary climate of state retrenchment and budgetary restrictions, and subsequent requirements for operational reorganisation, the office has come to the fore as a potential means to strengthen the provision of policing services (Bullock and Leeney, 2016).