NCJ Number
148760
Journal
Policing and Society Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: (1994) Pages: 303-318
Date Published
1994
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This analysis of research asserting that policing is a function performed only by employees of traditional police agencies concludes that widely accepted definitions of policing easily cover the activities, functions, and duties of many other personnel who are not considered police in traditional criminological literature but who can be considered to be white-collar police.
Abstract
Prior research has focused entirely on traditional law enforcement agencies and lower-class policing activities, almost to the exclusion of what can be called policing in white-collar environments. However, other forms of policing used by various government agencies in their regulatory activities are similar in many respects to those of traditional police agencies. These forms of enforcement include the basic police responsibilities of regulating individual behavior, using deadly force in carrying out their duties, being considered a service, enforcing criminal laws, using surveillance and recordkeeping to detect crimes, and discriminating on the basis of social class. In addition, the white-collar police have the potential for virtually unlimited control if they choose to use it. This analysis suggests that the meaning of the term policing may have changed over time and that both radical and conservative researchers should recognize that the terms police and regulation are ideologically tainted. Notes and 108 references (Author abstract modified)