Leaving ‘home?’ Belonging, break-up and becoming in the police family

This article considers the impact of police merger processes on officers and staff. The Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 legislated that the Scottish functions and personnel of the British Transport Police (BTP) would be integrated into Scotland’s national police force. The journey towards this...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Atkinson, Colin (Author) ; Murray, Kath (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2021, Volume: 61, Issue: 2, Pages: 345-363
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (Resolving-System)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
railway policing
police merger
police family
Culture
Scottish policing
Description
Summary:This article considers the impact of police merger processes on officers and staff. The Railway Policing (Scotland) Act 2017 legislated that the Scottish functions and personnel of the British Transport Police (BTP) would be integrated into Scotland’s national police force. The journey towards this destination, however, has been protracted, problematic and now appears to be indefinitely postponed. Demonstrating the limits of the ‘police family’, our research provides important policy insights, demonstrating how a failure to account for distinct organizational cultures and occupational identities can damage the legitimacy of police mergers. Using data from a survey of BTP officers and staff in Scotland, we present our findings across three themes: belonging; break-up and becoming. We refract these findings through Bourdieusian theory.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azaa066