Thematic Focus: Police: Trust or Legitimacy?

Trust in the police? A question of legitimacy
by Volker Eick, Jenny Künkel, and Marie-Theres Piening

In public discourse about the police, the ‚trust‘ that they deserve plays a central role. Trust is supposed to replace legitimacy in a mixture of incantation and appeal. Various strategies employed by the police and politicians nurture the belief that the police are acting in accordance with the law and pursuing goals that are recognized as just and right. This ‚legitimization work‘ is an ongoing and precarious task. The negative effects of this work can only be limited by expanding external controls and reducing police powers and responsibilities.

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Thematic Focus: (In)Security and the shift to the right in Europe

EU home affairs policy at the “turning point”: an introduction
by Dirk Burczyk

For decades, the EU’s “internal security” policy has been shaped by changing enemy stereotypes. The most enduring of these is “irregular” migration. Migration is also a key issue for the extreme and conservative right, which is rushing from one election victory to another at national and European level. The current ring-wing shift in all EU institutions — the Commission, Council, and Parliament — coincides with the emergence of “hybrid threat” as the new enemy stereotype and the internal mobilization for an EU/NATO war with Russia. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: Police in pyschosocial crisis

People in psychosocial crises. Police intervention instead of support
by Norbert Pütter and Sonja John

The way police deal with people who are in psychosocial crises, who have mental health problems or who have been labelled as such, is currently receiving a lot of attention. Obvious deficits in the use of force are to be eliminated through improved training and further education, without institutional reforms. In the fight against crime, mentally vulnerable individuals are being declared a new risk group against whom preventive intervention is to be taken. With their criminalistic scrutiny, the stigmatization of those affected and their distance from the support system are increasing.

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Thematic focus: Police and colononialism

Police and Colonialism: An Introduction
by Dirk Burczyk

The history of police in the colonies of the 19th and 20th centuries is closely tied to the development of police as a central institution of „security and order“ in general. Colonial police forces were not simply copies of individual police models, such as the gendarmerie. As with colonialism in general, police work was characterized by racist attributions, disciplinary techniques and the enforcement of geostrategic interests..

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Thmetaic focus: Police and technical innovations

Hopes and dangers of the „police of the future“
by Norbert Pütter and Eric Töpfer

The modernisation of police forces also includes the instruments and procedures they use, which are the result of scientific and technological progress. Although little is known about the details, new technologies are used in all areas of police work and their expansion is a declared aim of the responsible bodies. Digitalisation in particular is seen as an opportunity for more effective police work. With the expansion of their technical capacities, the police’s options to define suspicious behavior, for monitoring and taking action are increasing; the new technologies make it even more difficult to control police work. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic Focus: Police and protest

Protest as a police problem. Granting and damaging a fundamental right
by Norbert Pütter

Demonstrations and political actions in public spaces regularly lead to police operations. According to the prevailing legal doctrine, the police must protect the fundamental right to freedom of assembly, ward off threats to public safety or order and prosecute criminal offences. These different objectives result in considerable scope for police action, which can determine the forms, effects and consequences of the protest. A number of major events are used as examples to illustrate how the police, involved in political processes and the threat of criminal sanctions, curtail the freedom of assembly. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic Focus: Technology against migration

Sensors and Data of Fortress Europe
by Dirk Burczyk, Christian Meyer, Matthias Monroy and Stephanie Schmidt

In order to detect and prevent uncontrolled migration, the European Union is increasingly using advanced technologies. These can be divided into sensor-based and data-based applications. The commercial interests of the providers go hand in hand with the technological development of Europe’s external borders. However, there are also approaches by non-governmental organizations to use the observation technologies for the purpose of sousveillance. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic Focus: Controlling the Police?

Police Accountability
by Hannah Espín Grau and Marie-Theres Piening

Parallel to the expansion of the powers of the German police, a critical public debate on the role of the police is increasing. The existing mecha­nisms to control the police are of limited efficacy and can only counteract the expansion of power in a piecemeal fashion. Therefore, it seems necessary to build on the momentum of the growing debate, to reconceptualize police control, and to consider how society can be empowered vis-à-vis the police. To this end, the article introduces the concept of “police accountability” and discusses its opportunities and limits regarding a stronger democratic containment of the police. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic Focus: The Myth of “Clan Crime”

The Myth of “Clan Crime“
by Tom Jennissen und Louisa Zech

The article provides an introduction to the current main topic “clan crime“. The discourse on “clan crime“ leads to racist control practices and the weakening of constitutional principles. It serves to project crime onto the supposedly “foreign” and is politically exploited. Summaries weiterlesen →