Author： Adlam Robert
Publisher： Routledge Ltd
ISSN： 1043-9463
Source： Policing and Society, Vol.12, Iss.1, 2002-01, pp. : 15-36
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Abstract
Police leaders have come to adopt an extensive range of management strategies that have been appropriated from private and public sector organisations. At first glance it might seem that a 'new' police has been created - wedded to both the demands of a performance culture and professional ethics, as well as commitments to providing 'best value' for its clients and customers. However, this image of police may well be a fiction. Building upon a Foucauldian framework and the notion of 'governmentality', a range of 'governmental rationalities' informing police leadership praxis is identified. In total six such rationalities are found in police leadership discourse. Based upon processes of culture audit the analysis suggests that a shadowy 'deep structure' socio-biological elitist rationality might pervade police leadership practices. This, allied to a postmodern rationality of image management, indicates that police leadership is often an elaborate set of manoeuvres designed to secure power and to extend the techniques of the disciplinary society.
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