While a topic of considerable interest in the 1990s and early 2000s, there has been little literature on partnership working in the public sector in recent years. This is surprising given that the practice has been extended through the national roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing in England and Wales in 2008. This article presents a reassessment of how the police operate in partnership with other agencies. In contrast to the previous literature, our research suggests that police officers involved in partnerships find them effective, crucial to their work and, at times, enjoyable. Rather than conflicting with traditional police culture, partnership work is enhanced by, and enhances, the police orientation towards the pragmatic. We explore the implications of this for our understandings of police culture.
BrownJ (1998) Aspects of discriminatory treatment of women police officers serving in forces in England and Wales. British Journal of Criminology38(2): 265–282.
3.
BullockKErolRTilleyN (2006) Problem-Oriented Policing and Partnerships. Cullompton: Willan.
4.
ChanJ (1997) Changing Police Culture: Policing in a Multicultural Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
CleggSMcNultyK (2002) Partnership working in delivering social inclusion: Organizational and gender dynamics. Journal of Education Policy17(5): 587–601.
6.
CrawfordA (2002) The governance of crime and insecurity in an anxious age: The trans-European and the local. In: CrawfordA (ed.) Crime and Insecurity. Cullompton: Willian.
7.
CrawfordAJonesM (1995) Inter-agency co-operation and community-based crime prevention: Some reflections on the work of Pearson and colleagues. British Journal of Criminology35(1): 17–33.
8.
CrawfordAListerS (2004) The Extended Policing Family: Visible Patrols in Residential Areas. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
9.
EdwardsA (2002) Learning from diversity: The strategic dilemmas of community-based crime control. In: HughesGEdwardsA (eds) Crime Control and Community: The New Politics of Public Safety. Cullompton: Willan.
10.
FosterJ (2002) ‘People pieces’: The neglected but essential elements of community crime prevention. In: HughesGEdwardsA (eds) Crime Control and Community: The New Politics of Public Safety. Cullompton: Willan.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) (2012) Policing in Austerity: One Year On. London: HMIC.
15.
HoldawayS (1986) Police and social work relations: Problems and possibilities. British Journal of Social Work16: 137–160.
16.
Home Office (2010a) Policing in the 21st Century: Reconnecting Police and the People. London: HMSO (consultation document).
17.
Home Office (2010b) Safe and Confident Neighbourhood Strategy. London: HMSO.
18.
Home Office (2010c) Police funding settlement announced. Press release, 13December.
19.
HughesG (2007) The Politics of Crime and Community. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan.
20.
HughesGRoweM (2007) Neighbourhood policing and community safety: Researching the instabilities of the local governance of crime, disorder and security in contemporary UK. Criminology and Criminal Justice7(4): 317–346.
21.
InnesM (2003) Investigating Murder: Detective Work and Police Reponses to Criminal Homicide. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
22.
InnesM (2005) Why ‘soft’ policing is hard: On the curious development of Reassurance Policing, how it became Neighbourhood Policing and what this signifies about the politics of police reform. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology15(3): 156–169.
23.
InnesMFieldingN (2002) From community to communicative policing: ‘Signal crimes’ and the problem of public reassurance. Sociological Research Online7(2).
24.
JohnstonL (2003) From ‘pluralisation’ to ‘the police extended family’: Discourses on the governance of community policing in Britain. International Journal of the Sociology of Law31(3): 185–204.
25.
JohnstonL (2007) ‘Keeping the family together’: Police Community Support Officers and the ‘police extended family’ in London. Policing and Society17(2): 119–140.
26.
LiddleAMGelsthorpeLR (1994) Inter-Agency Crime Prevention: Organising Local Delivery. Crime Prevention Unit Paper 52. London: Home Office.
27.
LoftusB (2007) Policing the ‘irrelevant’: Class, diversity and contemporary police culture. In: O’NeillMMarksMSinghA-M (eds) Police Occupational Culture: New Debates and Directions. Oxford: Elsevier.
McCarthyDJ (2011) Classing early intervention: Social class, occupational moralities and criminalization. Critical Social Policy31(4): 1–22.
30.
McCarthyDJ (2013) Gendering ‘soft’ policing: Female cops, multi-agency working, and the fragilities of police culture/s. Policing and Society23(2): 261–278.
31.
MillerS (1999) Gender and Community Policing: Walking the Talk. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
32.
O’NeillM (2005) Policing Football: Social Interaction and Negotiated Disorder. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
33.
O’NeillM (2010) The police response to crime. In: ShohamSGKnepperPKettM (eds) The International Handbook of Criminology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
34.
O’NeillMMarksMSinghA-M (eds) (2007) Police Occupational Culture: New Debates and Directions. Oxford: Elsevier.
35.
PaolineE (2003) Taking stock: Towards a richer analysis of police culture. Journal of Criminal Justice31: 199–214.
36.
PearsonGBlaggHSmithDSampsonAStubbsP (1992) Crime, community and conflict: The multi-agency approach. In: DownesD (ed.) Unravelling Criminal Justice. London: Macmillan.
37.
ReinerR (2010) The Politics of the Police. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
38.
Reuss-IanniE (1993) Two Cultures of Policing: Street Cops and Management Cops. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
39.
SampsonASmithDPearsonGBlaggHStubbsP (1991) Gender issues in inter-agency relations: Police, probation and social services. In: AbbottPGrayJ (eds) Gender, Sexuality and Power. London: Macmillan.
40.
SampsonAStubbsPSmithDPearsonGBlaggH (1988) Crime, localities and the multi-agency approach. British Journal of Criminology28: 478–493.
41.
SkinnsL (2008) A prominent partner? The role of the state in police partnerships. Policing and Society18(3): 311–321.
