The UK Policing Brand in Historical Context

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter considers UK policing history through the development of two policing models—English/civil and Irish/colonial—from the nineteenth century to the present day, and outlines key reforms and historical contexts that have contributed to a multifaceted UK policing brand. It explores the myths and realities of UK policing through Whig and revisionist histories, from the emergence of the ‘New Police’ in London and the Irish Constabulary in Ireland; the model for the British colonial policing. This chapter considers the cross-fertilization of both policing models through the case study of the Ceylon Police in the nineteenth century and, post-Second World War international policing advisors and UK support to missions including Germany, Italy, Greece, Columbia, and Vietnam, and looks at how the export of UK policing resulted in a ‘pick-and-mix’ approach for either English or Irish policing styles. While an English notion of policing with historical links to its pseudo-Peelian origins theoretically prevailed, the importance of an Irish tradition of policing grew and circulated across the British Isles, empire, and commonwealth and was reinforced by the history of policing in Northern Ireland. It further explores the cross-fertilization of both policing models that have become part of the UK policing offer internationally post 1989: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.