NCJ Number
252540
Journal
Critical Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Dated: 2017 Pages: 539-558
Date Published
2017
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the importance of storytelling in the (re)production of contemporary police culture and the broader police power.
Abstract
Narrative theory and methods are gradually finding a place in the study of crime and its control; however, narrative scholars have somewhat ignored policing, both in terms of the language and grammar of individual officers and the cultural life of the institution itself. Although storytelling as cultural production is, of course, not the sole purview of police, they are uniquely positioned to shape the broad social, cultural and political imaginaries of crime and the realities of crime control and community interactions; therefore, in paying close attention to the narratives of police and the cultural work accomplished through storytelling, insight is gained into the production and maintenance of police authority and culture. (publisher abstract modified)