Central vs Local: Civilian vs Military.  Some Comparative Aspects of Policing

Clive Emsley, Emeritus Professor, Department of History, Open University,

Milton Keynes

Civilian and Military

France

Police nationale

Italy

Polizia di Stato

France

Gendarmerie nationale

Italy

Carabinieri

‘British Police’‘UK Police’?

• 43 English and Welsh Forces

• 8 Scottish forces

• PSNI

• British Transport Police

• Ministry of Defence Police

• Etc

But IPAB markets the “UK Police Brand”

UK Models?

• English Police – Charles Reith‘Kin police’ for a consensual society

• Irish/Colonial Model – Sir Charles Jeffries1. Securing territory2. Suppression of violence3. Prevention of crime

(Gendarmeries in all but name?)

A typology for the 19th century

• State military (gendarmeries)

• State civilian

• Municipal

Twentieth-Century Changes 1Europe

Centralisation

France 1941

Germany c.1936

Militarisation

France – maintained division

Germany – late 1940s to 1950s

Twentieth-Century Changes 2Centralisation

England•Amalgamations•End of Watch Committees and SJCs•Home Secretary’s role in committee appointments

France•Paris incorporated into Police nationale (1967)•Police nationale and Gendarmerie under Ministry of Interior (2009)

Federal Systems

Germany•Federal forces:Bundespolizei (from old BGS)BundeskriminalamtParliamentary Police•Lander forces (15)LandespolizeiKripo

USA•Federal forces:FBIDEA

•States (49) and MunicipalThousands of them