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  • Symbolic policing: situating targeted police operations/'crackdowns' on street-level drug markets

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    MoylePUB2246.pdf (1.431Mb)
    Author(s)
    Coomber, Ross
    Moyle, Leah
    Mahoney, Myesa Knox
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Mahoney, Myesa
    Coomber, Ross
    Moyle, Leah
    Year published
    2019
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    Abstract
    The policing of local drug markets in England often takes the form of specific, high-profile, crackdown operations which themselves are mostly a generic, periodic response to particular criminality. Drawing on Innes’ (2004) concept of ‘control signals’ and Edelman’s (1985 Edelman, M., 1985. The symbolic uses of politics. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. [Google Scholar] ) notion of ‘symbolic policy’, we argue that ‘symbolic policing’ relates to activity that is principally about achieving symbolic aims – ‘being seen to be doing something’ rather than preventing or solving crime. This article, focusing on police ...
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    The policing of local drug markets in England often takes the form of specific, high-profile, crackdown operations which themselves are mostly a generic, periodic response to particular criminality. Drawing on Innes’ (2004) concept of ‘control signals’ and Edelman’s (1985 Edelman, M., 1985. The symbolic uses of politics. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. [Google Scholar] ) notion of ‘symbolic policy’, we argue that ‘symbolic policing’ relates to activity that is principally about achieving symbolic aims – ‘being seen to be doing something’ rather than preventing or solving crime. This article, focusing on police crackdown operations on heroin and crack cocaine ‘dealers‘ in three English urban areas, considers the meanings of such operations, how they work, and in relation to local suppliers suggests they may in fact have counterproductive enforcement outcomes whilst still achieving symbolic objectives. It is concluded that generic crackdown operations at the level of local drug markets are unhelpfully insensitive to local conditions and that, in certain circumstances, they can be antithetical to more considered enforcement and public health aims.
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    Journal Title
    Policing and Society
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2017.1323893
    Copyright Statement
    © 2017 Taylor & Francis (Routledge). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Policing and Society on 09 May 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10439463.2017.1323893
    Note
    This publication has been entered into Griffith Research Online as an Advanced Online Version.
    Subject
    Criminology not elsewhere classified
    Criminology
    Policy and Administration
    Social Work
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/345142
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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