Week 7: Policing public order
Introduction
The maintenance of public order has always been a core police function. While rioting and violent disorder are uncommon, they attract enormous public and political scrutiny when they do occur. Riot policing is often traumatic for the officers involved and puts a spotlight on the efficacy of policing. Recent episodes of public disorder in the UK, including the ‘anti-immigration’ riots of July 2024 and the nationwide riots of 2011, put the police under intense strain and scrutiny.
Figure 1: Police carrying helmets prepare to tackle anti-immigrant protests and riots in July 2024 [Description: 10 police officers, each wearing fluorescent vests over their uniforms and with blue riot helmets clipped to their belts, line up in a city centre. A commanding officer, with a red helmet clipped to their belt, surveys the scene] Source: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/an-increased-and-high-profile-police-presence-to-offer-news-photo/2166178252?adppopup=true
In this week you will learn that periods of violent disorder are a regular challenge for the police, having occurred in every decade of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You’ll explore the social, economic and political reasons behind noted episodes of riot and disorder, and trace how police tactics have changed and improved in response.
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
- appreciate the different challenges facing the police when they grapple with serious public order problems
- discuss the historic policing of public order in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- analyse evidence to consider the extent to which this history provides perspectives valuable to contemporary public order policing.
You’ll start with an introductory video which outlines the issues the British police are grappling with and provides a brief overview of the history relevant to these complex present-day problems.
Video