An encounter with Egon Bittner

Abstract

This paper is the transcript of a 2-day interview with the influential police sociologist Egon Bittner. The interview was conducted in May 1999 by the author and takes the form of questions by the author and answers by Professor Bittner (then in retirement). The transcript was very lightly edited and was structured by the author around major themes in the work of Egon Bittner. Theses themes include the theory of policing and of various kinds of policing (political, rural and private policing), the concept of force in policing, collective violence, a review of police reforms since the 1970s and the role of academics in promoting them, the governance of policing and police unions, and police training and education. Prof. P.K. Manning wrote an introduction to this interview.