Chief Constables of England and Wales: The Socio-Legal History of a Criminal Justice Elite

• NCJ Number: 177721
• Author(s): D. S. Wall
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 352 pages
• Sale Source: Dartmouth Publishing Co
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This book analytically examines the social and professional origins of the chief constables of the police forces of England and Wales.

Abstract

The book is based on a study of all chief officers that are known to have held office in the provincial forces in England and Wales between 1836 and 1996. The six main data sources were contemporary records, autobiographical accounts, biographical accounts, contemporary historical accounts, analytical narrative, and interviews with past and present chief constables. The book's structure follows three main premises. The first is the historical premise that in order to understand any changes in the recruitment, selection, and appointment of chief constables, an historical understanding of the organizational context within which they occurred is necessary. Based on this premise, one chapter looks at the origins of both the idea of police and the police organization, followed by a chapter that illustrates how the role of the chief constable has been shaped by wider changes in police organization since the early 19th century, as well as demands made upon the police. The second premise is that changes in policy do not just happen, and they also do not have to be the result of primary legislation. In this case, they were the result of policy initiatives that sought to influence the formal and informal processes that governed the recruitment, selection, and appointment of chief constables. Chapters thus explore the policy history and debates that dominated the recruitment, selection, and appointment processes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The third premise is that the policy initiatives will have a sociological impact upon the profile of the individuals it sought to affect. A number of chapters thus examine the nature of the changes in the recruitment, selection, and appointment processes and their impact on the characteristics of the chief constables themselves. The concluding chapter draws together the findings of the previous chapters to explore the development of the ideology of internal recruitment and police management. A 171-item bibliography and a subject index