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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Torrible, Clare Title: How do civil actions against the police and police complaints interact and what does this interaction reveal about police legitimacy? 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. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. How do civil actions against the police and police complaints interact and what does this interaction reveal about police legitimacy? Clare Torrible 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. University of Bristol School of Law May 2018. Word count 87830 i ii Abstract The motivating concern of this thesis is the development of what Reiner has referred to as a ‘necessary evil discourse’ in relation to policing. Allegations of assault, false imprisonment or malicious prosecution by the police can be addressed via the civil legal process or by bringing a formal complaint. This thesis explores what the interaction between these two processes reveals about how police legitimacy is conceived. It delineates two ideal types of police legitimacy, organisational and constitutional, aligning the former with the police complaints process and the latter with the process of bringing civil claims against the police (police actions). The overarching analytical frame is formed by further alignments: one between constitutional legitimacy and Habermas’s conception of legitimacy as vesting in the structures in place to secure a “culturally established background consensus shared by the citizenry” and a second between organisational legitimacy and legitimation of the administration by processes of thick proceduralization as envisaged by Black. The thesis traces the legitimating features of the police from the original office of constable to the establishment of the new police in the 19th Century and the development of a police organisational identity from the 20th Century onwards. It uses the themes identified in that process in textual analysis of government documents generated during the passage of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and several judgments concerned with damages in police actions. This analysis is then extended to police actions claims data and interviews with police legal personnel and professional standards officers undertaken as part of this research. The thesis concludes that recent changes to the structures aimed at securing police legitimacy have resulted in a shift towards systemic approaches to police regulation which do indeed facilitate the necessary evil discourse that Reiner fears. iii iv Acknowledgements I would like to extend enormous thanks to my supervisors Professor Joanne Conaghan and Dr Judy Laing for all their support, encouragement and advice and in particular their extremely patient guidance on my writing. I am also extremely grateful to Professor Tony Prosser for his help in developing the theoretical frame and to Professor Richard Young for providing a grounding in policing in the early stages of this research. I am eternally indebted to Dr Foluke Adebisi and Dr Holly Powley for their kind and constant support throughout. v vi 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:.......................... vii viii Contents How do civil actions against the police and police complaints interact and what does this interaction reveal about police legitimacy? ...................................................................................... i Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... v Author’s declaration ................................................................................................................... vii Table of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... xv Table of Cases ................................................................................................................................ xvii Table of Statutes ............................................................................................................................. xix PART ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1. Police Complaints and Police Actions: Research Framework ...................................... 12 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 12 1.1 Police Complaints and Police Actions ....................................................................................... 13 1.1.1 Police Complaints .......................................................................................................... 13 1.1.2 Police Actions ................................................................................................................ 16 1. The Policing Function ......................................................................................................... 18 1.3 Legitimacy and Confidence in the Police .............................................................................. 23 1.4 Conceptualising Constitutional and Organisational Legitimacy ........................................... 28 1.4.1 Habermas and the Modern Democratic State .............................................................. 28 1. Black and the Proceduralisation of Administration ........................................................ 31 1.5 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 36 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 38 2.1 The Office of Constable ......................................................................................................... 39 2.2 The New Police 1829 – 1960 ................................................................................................ 43 2.2.1 Structural Development Within the New Police ........................................................... 43 2.2.2 The Development of a Police Organisational Identity .................................................. 46 2.2.3 Police Organisational Identity and the Emergence of Accountability .......................... 49 2.2.4 Matters leading to the 1960 Royal Commission ........................................................... 55 2.3 Garratt v Eastmond .............................................................................................................. 57 Conclusion and Themes .................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 3. Police Accountability Mechanisms 1960 – 2000 ......................................................... 65 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 65 3.1 The Royal Commission and the Police Act 1964 .................................................................. 65 3.2 Police Complaints and Civil Actions after the Police Act 1964 ............................................. 69 3.2.1 The Police Act 1976 ......................................................................................................