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Chief Police Officers’ Stories of Legitimacy

Power, Protection, Consent and Control

Palgrave Macmillan

Authors:

  • Examines the concept of legitimacy through the accounts of chief police officers
  • Critically assesses their understanding of their right of police to exercise power
  • Complements the highly quantitative focus of the recent procedural justice literature

Part of the book series: Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies (PCPS)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • Ian Shannon
    Pages 1-28
  3. Legitimacy: A Contested Concept

    • Ian Shannon
    Pages 29-50
  4. Policing by Consent

    • Ian Shannon
    Pages 129-173
  5. Law and Governance

    • Ian Shannon
    Pages 175-207
  6. Conclusion

    • Ian Shannon
    Pages 209-245
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 247-254

About this book

This book adds to knowledge about chief police officers in England and Wales by exploring their understandings of the right of police to exercise power. Their beliefs, motivations, backgrounds, and cultures are examined. Light is cast on how they perceive power, coercion, control, policing purpose, gendered understandings, protecting people, vulnerability, policing by consent, discretion, operational independence, law and the oversight and political direction (or governance), and accountability of police. Chief officers used three legitimating narratives based on: protecting people — particularly the most vulnerable —  policing by consent, and law and the oversight and political direction of police. These accounts are assessed. Damaged processes of police governance that risk undermining police leadership and legitimacy are revealed. Critically, chief officers’ understandings of legitimacy are found to be confused, conflicted, and, above all, convenient in supporting them in asserting a privileged position from which they can pursue their preferences for the use of power. 


Reviews

“Ian Shannon’s book Chief Police Officers’ Stories of Legitimacy joins the list of ‘must-read’ books for those interested in police leadership and police leaders. … A carefully crafted and well written book provides readers with a comprehensive overview of what we already know about police leadership and police leaders. … The research will be of great interest to all police scholars and to those who care about the quality of policing and civil liberties.” (Marisa Silvestri, Policing and Society, May 29, 2022) "An important assessment of how chief police officers understand and use power and what this might mean for the maintenance of legitimacy. From an academic and practitioner perspective, Shannon paints a disconcerting picture of the conflict that arises when chief police officers consider policing by consent and the need to need to exercise power based on the law." (Jenny Fleming, Professor, Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Ian Shannon

About the author

Ian Shannon is a fellow at the University of Leeds, UK, and completed his PhD at the University of Liverpool in 2018. From 1981 to 2013, he served as a police officer in three forces and he retired as a deputy chief constable. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2013.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Chief Police Officers’ Stories of Legitimacy

  • Book Subtitle: Power, Protection, Consent and Control

  • Authors: Ian Shannon

  • Series Title: Palgrave's Critical Policing Studies

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85879-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-85878-0Published: 25 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-85881-0Published: 26 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-85879-7Published: 24 November 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2730-535X

  • Series E-ISSN: 2730-5368

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 254

  • Topics: Policing

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access