ABSTRACT

As with other parts of the public sector, policing has had to confront the principles and processes attached to new public management. This paper examines the impact of police performance management on the ‘occupational professionalism’ of British policing actors with a particular focus on organisational units concerned with criminal investigation. Based on qualitative empirical research on two major police forces in England and Wales, the paper arrives at three main conclusions. First, there appears to be a clear impact of police performance management, with its instruments of standardised operational procedures, performance monitoring and strengthened internal accountability, on the professional autonomy given to police actors. This takes the form of what others have seen as a shift from ‘occupational professionalism’ to ‘organisational professionalism’. Second, despite this overall trend, tensions and professional rivalries remain between police frontline officers, supervisors and middle managers around the perceived virtues and practices of performance management. In particular concerns are expressed at various levels over the dangers of ‘short-termism’ in police decision-making. Third, and building on this finding, varied modes of professional adaptation to the police performance regime have occurred in which some sectors, notably those involved with high profile serious criminal investigations, have worked to win professional space and exploit a hierarchy of prestige in order to actively interpret and shape agendas. We conclude that this situation is akin to the ‘managed professionalism’ found amongst many other public service professions.

摘要

与公共部门的其他部分一样，警务必须面对新公共管理的原则和流程。本文考察了警察绩效管理对英国警务人员“职业专业精神”的影响，特别关注与刑事调查有关的组织单位。基于对英格兰和威尔士两个主要警察部队的定性实证研究，本文得出三个主要结论。首先，警察绩效管理及其标准化操作程序、绩效监测和加强内部问责等工具似乎对赋予警察行为者的专业自主权产生了明显影响。这表现为其他人所认为的从“职业专业化”到“组织专业化”的转变。其次，尽管存在这种总体趋势，但警察前线警官、主管和中层管理人员之间围绕绩效管理的美德和实践仍然存在紧张和职业竞争。各个层面对警察决策中“短期主义”的危险表示了特别关注。第三，在这一发现的基础上，出现了多种专业适应警察绩效制度的模式，其中一些部门，特别是那些参与高调的严重刑事调查的部门，努力赢得专业空间并利用声望等级，以便积极解释和制定议程。