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Download fileAusterity policing, emotional labour and the boundaries of police work: an ethnography of a police force control room in England
journal contribution
posted on 04.08.2017, 13:20 authored by Karen Lumsden, Alex BlackThis article discusses the changing role of policing in an era of austerity from the perspective of frontline civilian police staff (call handlers and dispatchers) in a force control room (FCR). It draws on a symbolic interactionist framework and the concept of emotional labour (Hochschild 1979; 1983[2012]) in order to explore the emotional responses and strategies engaged in by staff when responding to 101 non-emergency calls and 999 emergency calls. The clash of public and police expectations, and the emotional labour expended when managing this clash, provide a valuable insight into the frontline staff perspective on the changing role of the police under austerity. Data is drawn from ethnographic fieldwork in the control room of a police force in England.
Funding
The study was funded via a College of Policing / HEFCE Policing Knowledge Fund (Grant No. J04).
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies