Policing Crowds: Breaking News

Program: Urban Security Work Spaces: Policing the Crisis – Policing in Crisis

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:21:00 +0200

Conference Title: Urban Security Work Spaces Policing the Crisis – Policing in Crisis

Date: August 27^th-30^th, 2010

Organizers: Kendra Briken (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Universit�t, Institut f�r Gesellschafts- und Politikanalyse) & Volker Eick (Freie Universit�t Berlin, John F. Kennedy Institute, Department of Politics)

Most abstracts are online. Find them under: "Related news" below. The program is available as PDF under "Files" below

Speakers: Kirstie Ball: Brandscapes of Control? The co-construction of subjects and spaces in late capitalism Jenny K�nkel: Public-Private Security Provision in the Sex Industry Bernd Belina: Ending Public Spaces as We Know Them Luis Fernandez & Chris Scholl: The geography of global governance and the spatial dimension of controlling dissent Charles Woolfson: Suppressing the discourses of discontent: The spatial choreography of protest and passivity in post-communist society Nik Theodore: Razing Arizona - Policing and the Politics of Citizenship Massimiliano Mullone: When private and public policing merge: Thoughts on commercial policing James Sheptycki: The World Gun Crisis Alison Wakefield: Private policing in neoliberal societies Francois Bonnet: Obstacles to Community Policing Implementation: A comparative perspective Kendra Briken: The Urban Security Work Space in a Neoliberal Germany: Producing and selling security in times of crisis Oliver Arning: The Private Security Industry in Times of Financial and Economic Crisis Peter Bremme: Employees in the Private Security Industry in Times of Financial and Economic Crisis

Decommodification by Dispossession? (Non-)Volunteering Long-Term Unemployed on the Security Market

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:12:00 +0200

In turn, their benefits were substituted by a fixed monthly amount of €359 and the requirement to work for 30 hours per week in order to get an additional €1 per hour (called expense allowance). In 2009, more than 670,000 long-term unemployed worked under the Hartz IV legislation (workfare), out of them around 7 percent on duty in the fields of safety, order and security. Besides state police (270,000 officers) and rent-a-cops (180,000), thus a rapidly growing new security workforce emerges. The paper will discuss several consequences.

Eick, Volker (Freie Universit�t Berlin, John F. Kennedy Institute, Germany) Volker is a political scientist at the Department of Politics; he is also a board member of the Republikanischer Anw�ltinnen und Anw�lteverein e.V. (RAV), Berlin. Research endeavours: Security regimes; commercialization of security; workfare; urban development; new social movements; governance

Obstacles to Community Policing Implementation: A comparative perspective

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:59:00 +0200

Yet there is (always) a discrepancy between the design and objectives of a policy and its actual implementation. This paper is about the implementation of community policing in France and the United States and rests on 4 case studies in Paris, Lyon, New York and Los Angeles. The paper argues that police culture and the rise of managerial policies are not the only obstacles to the implementation of community policing. Institutional factors depending on national contexts such as modes of recruitment, career management and trade-union politics play a considerable role in shaping policy.

Bonnet, Francois (Center for European Studies, Sciences Po Paris, France).PostDoc at the Observatoire Fran�ais des Conjonctures �conomiques, Center for Urban Research and Policy ; Affiliated Visiting Scholar, Center for Urban Research and Policy, Columbia University, New York. Research interests: Poverty, welfare, social control, police

Urban Security Work Spaces: Policing the Crisis - Policing in Crisis

policing.crisis@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0200

State police has also undergone significant changes, including commercialization, new public management, and �police-private-partnerships� (Stober, 1997; cf. Henry & Smith, 2007). Alongside these developments, the police apparatus has trans-nationalized (Sheptycki, 2000) and violence, in particular against transnational protesters, has reemerged significantly since the early 1990s (della Porta et al., 2006). Phenomena such as nonprofit organizations deploying long-term unemployed as security forces (Eick, 2007); ›Community Wardens‹ or ›Ambassadors‹ overseen by the local municipalities (Helms, 2008); or unpaid volunteers policing sports events such as the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany (G�rke & Maroldt, 2006), thus extending the �policing family� (Crawford & Lister, 2004) into the realm of the ›civil society‹ have so far been less addressed in this process. The focus of our conference will be on rent-a-cops and their nonprofit counterparts – as these ›family members‹ are growing significantly in scope, scale and sway. Such growth might even be accelerated by the current financial and economic crisis and, as recent research has underlined, this expansion reshapes (the understanding of) security, public space, and work – and intensifies social exclusion. It is in particular the urban poor (Belina, 2006; Flint, 2006) as well as illegalized migrants (Nair, 2006; Bigo et al., 2007; Broeders, 2007; Vogel & Kovacheva, 2009) and youths (Breyvogel, 1998; Scott, 2004; O'Dougherty, 2006) who are the main targets of these new ›space patrols‹. Beginning with the German case, we can observe, in a first sighting, varied but, in our perspective, closely connected developments. Our hypothesis is that they are shaping a formation we propose to define as the ›urban security work space‹, new in both quality and quantity: When, in 2005, the so-called Hartz IV Laws came into operation in Germany, they did not only end the insurance-based type of protection against unemployment, but JobCenters and employment offices immediately hired rent-a-cops to protect their staff from the potential violence of long-term unemployed being forced to live of less than 500 Euros per month. The Bundesagentur f�r Arbeit, the German Public Employment Service, expects the number of the current 6.8 million long-term unemployed receiving Hartz IV benefits to grow. When, in the 1980s, (mainly in Berlin), nonprofits mobilized social welfare recipients as cleanliness and public order patrols, this was still the exception. Yet, from the mid- to late 1990s the deployment of long-term unemployed and (from 2005 onwards) of so-called Hartz IV beneficiaries became the rule rather than the exception. Therefore, as it turns out, policing the poor has become a task of the poor themselves. When, since the 1990s, the German state police started to retreat from rural and urban sites, private security companies stepped in as so-called ›City Patrols‹ to fill the gap and to patrol public spaces in inner-city areas and residential areas in the outskirts. Since 1993, the year the first and still existing ›City Patrol‹ was deployed, their number has grown from 80 in 1997 (Innenministerium Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1998) to about 200 in 2009. Whilst the managerial logic within the police apparatus proceeds (Lange & Schenck, 2003), further takeovers of state police tasks are to be expected especially in public spaces. When, in the winter of 2007/08, the Police Academy Hamburg started the first Studiengang Sicherheitsmanagement open to future police cops as well as to private security officers in order to �meet the complexities that come with the mastery of tasks of Homeland Defense�, professionalization and cooperation intensified. At that time, the Senate of Hamburg and the German Trade Association of Private Security Companies (BDWS) claimed that �cooperation between state police and the private security industry becomes more and more a necessity�, leading to better qualifications of ›security work‹ in the private sector in collaboration with state police as well as the emergence of a �cop culture� (Behr, 2000), this time commercial style. At the same time, it is the management of the organization that is �defining the concept of security embodied in the employee� (Briken, 2009), thus leading to the question what impact the crisis might have for the perception and practice of ›security as work‹. It is against this (national) background that we want to discuss the recent situation in Europe and North America in a broader perspective, focusing on rent-a-cops and nonprofits. Looking at urban security work spaces in North America and Europe, we can identify three moments of redefinition and rearrangement of the (meaning of) public space, security and work that are related in various ways. Our understanding of ›urban security work space‹ is, firstly, guided by the fact that, at the present time, more than 50 percent of the population on planet earth live in ›urban‹ environments (OECD, 2006; Deutscher Bundestag, 2009), a highly contested terrain. Even before 9/11, ›security‹ (Kaufmann, 1973) underwent a (re)definition and inclusion of literally everything into the realm of ›homeland security‹ (US) and ›homeland defence‹ (EU) – most visible within the current discourse of ›erweiterter Sicherheitsbegriff‹ (›extended security concept‹) introduced in 2000 (BAKS, 2001; cf. Loader & Walker, 2007). ›Work‹, in turn, currently is understood as a ›gift‹ and a ›duty‹ at the same time (L�demel & Trickey, 2000; Peck, 2001; Eick et al., 2004) and relates to ›security‹ in ways that lead to �the poor policing the poor� (Eick, 2003). Finally, in neoliberal times ›space‹ undergoes a transformation that shuffles, supersedes, and/or substitutes public space with semi-public and private space (Vera Institute, 2000), directly affecting ›urban security work‹. Public space: Our aim here is to discuss how and at which point security ›nodes‹ are strengthened, loosened, or rearranged (Wood et al., 2006) – and what might be the consequences for the ›private‹ policing of public space in particular. The current crisis might lead to the extension of privately managed urban space, and/or mixed forms, described as the extension of ›mass private property‹ (Kempa et al., 2004), such as Shopping Malls and Business Improvement Districts (Mitchell, 1999; Ward, 2006; T�pfer et al., 2007). By the same token, aggressive policing of (transnational) protest seems to grow in line with the intensification of the current crisis (Noakes & Gillham, 2006; Fernandez, 2008). Security: Competition is increasing and previously outsourced security might in part be again provided in-house by the former commercial customers while former state responsibilities might be supplied by rent-a-cops or in public private partnerships. The current crisis might create new opportunity structures for the security management strategies to fulfill their self-declared goal, the �peace keeping mission with regard to society�. Work: Our third question focuses on private policing in praxi. ›Security as work‹ obviously is not only related to the individual but also directly linked to labor relations. We want to explore the potentials for workers' resistance and union organizing with regard to the deepening pressures of competition in one of the classic low-wage sectors (Briken, 2010). Is there a chance for change, backed by European Union projects like the ›Social Dialogue‹ between employers' and employees' organizations within the private security industry (Eick, 2008) or organizing models (Bremme et al., 2008)? With all this, the conference intends to shed light on these heterogeneous situations in the field of ›urban security work spaces‹ by bringing together international experts to combine theoretical as well as empirical insights. In the following, you will find the program of the conference in detail and a list of the invited participants. Hoping, to see you soon, Kendra & Volker

The Urban Security Work Space in a Neoliberal Germany: Producing and selling security in times of crisis

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:09:00 +0200

Research on neoliberal welfare systems has underlined that work nowadays is framed as a gift and a duty by employers and politicians alike: While work should by understood as a gift for those in the job market, for those without jobs work turns into a duty. Studies on labor precarization processes stress that not only welfare recipients but a growing part of the low-wage workforce are affected by these framing patterns. The emerging workfare state in Germany annually creates around 1 million long-term unemployed forced to work part-time but only being paid an allowance (›Hartz IV‹ law). Based on empirical material from research in the German private security sector, I show how current models relevant to the interpretation of work, namely "actually existing neoliberalism" (Brenner & Theodore 2002), impact on employees working conditions, workload and self perceptions. In order to illustrate the impacts of neoliberalization for security workers, three examples will be given:

Firstly, Hartz IV as an external challenge to the workforce (working conditions);
secondly, negotiation processes between employers and customers creating intrapersonal challenges for private guards (workload);
and thirdly, management’s perception of the workforce as an internal challenge to the security workers (self perception).

Briken, Kendra (Goethe Universit�t Frankfurt/M., Germany) Kendra is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences (Institute for the Analysis of Society and Policy). Research interests: Labour process; workplace studies, public and private policing, labour conflicts and control

Phoenix from the Ashes? Urban CCTV Surveillance in Crisis

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:01:00 +0200

On the other hand, technology is promising to substitute security staff both in the privatized utilities struggling for cost-efficiency and competitive advantage but also in the public sector put under increasing pressure by rising debts and politics of austerity. Thus, rather than causing a sudden death of CCTV it is more likely that the economic crisis is accelerating economies of scale. Drawing on pieces of evidence from Britain and continental Europe the paper will outline how this is transforming the current landscape of urban surveillance, networking ever more systems and integrating ever more functions, and discuss some implications for the policing of urban space.

T�pfer, Eric (Technische Universit�t Berlin, Germany) Eric is a political scientist at the Centre for Technology and Society (ZTG). He is Editorial Board member of Surveillance & Society. Research interests: (informational) technology and society, surveillance and police studies, peace and conflict research, urban change, social control

Private policing in neoliberal societies

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:57:00 +0200

This study was carried out in the UK, one of the world�s most laissez-faire economies, and plural policing past and present in this country is discussed with the aim of helping to establish similarities with, and differences to, other developed political economies. Background themes that will be discussed in this paper will include the impact of neoliberal economic policies on policing, the nature of pluralization trends, and the professionalization of non-police alternatives to policing as these have become more socially accepted. The current status and future prospects of private policing in a period of fiscal crisis will be discussed, to inform the development of a normative framework for plural policing grounded in the �nodal governance� perspective of Johnston and Shearing (2003) and others.

Wakefield, Alison (University of Portsmouth, UK) Alison is Senior Lecturer Institute of Criminal Justice Studies. Research interests: policing and security, corporate and commercial security sectors, public and private policing; international security industry, community driven security initiatives

Policing the Crisis - a global look at public order policing

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:54:00 +0200

It will ask questions about the effects of weaponization on the quality of social order. It will explore how weaponization is affected by the principle of raison d' e'tat. It will demonstrate that, unless successfully resisted, the pistolization of everyday life is a stepping stone of crisis on the road to an unhappy future.

Sheptycki, James (York University, Toronto/ON, Canada) James is professor at the Department of Social Science, Faculty of LA & PS. Research interests: International policing; transnational policing

When private and public policing merge: Thoughts on commercial policing

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:51:00 +0200

Linked directly to these changes, many scholars have argued that the emergence of a private police could result in growing inequities in the provision of security. While the consumption of security has drawn massive attention on the private sector (the private security industry), less consideration has been given to a more discreet yet significant part of this shift: the growing number of police forces selling their services. Indeed, the police, through the commercialization of their services, have become an active and important member of the market of security. Drawing from a case study of the commercialization department of a North American municipal police organization as well as few international examples, we will show how the market-driven activities of the police are transforming the organization itself. Moreover, we will argue that there�s a reciprocal isomorphism at stake between the private sector and the police, which should lead to a reshape of the relations between them, in particular to a strengthening of the competition. Thus, the already blurred distinction between private and public policing is becoming even more theoretically unfit and we�ll propose the notion of commercial policing to try to think beyond the notions of private and public policing.

Mulone, Massimiliano (University of Montreal/QC, Canada) Massimiliano is Assistant Professor at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology Research interests: Surveillance, privatization of security, governance, police

Razing Arizona: Policing and the Politics of Citizenship

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:45:00 +0200

More insidiously, the law enables residents to sue law enforcement agencies if they believe authorities are not enforcing the law vigorously enough. The Arizona law has quickly become model legislation, with �copycat� bills introduced or being considered in 11 states. This paper traces the evolution of state- and local-level anti-immigrant legislation in the United States, from anti-solicitation ordinances targeted towards day laborers, to laws making it a crime to rent housing to unauthorized immigrants, to the new Arizona law which effectively criminalizes immigrants� very presence in the United States.

Theodore, Nik (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Policy; Center for Urban Economic Development (Director) Research interests: socioeconomic inequality arising from the restructuring of urban economies; conditions in low-wage labor markets; community-based responses to violations of basic labor standards; the informal economy; global social policy