SOC 3750 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9.2: Administration Police, Public Knowledge, The Symbolic
4 Apr 2017
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Patrolling the facts: secrecy and publicity in police work. Police are usually conceived in material and physical terms o o. The goal of policing is something that we are supposed to see or experience. Also something we are supposed to be able to measure. Tend to forget that the police are out to patrol the facts, to reproduce various symbolic orders o. Shield, protect, and glossing of police work at both street-level and administrative-level. Policing is a major focus of news coverage o o. Steady stream of stories that are entertaining, but low-budget. Barometer by which citizens assess the state as a moral agent. The police have become a national political symbol: however, they are not passive they have become involved as an active political force. Both the news and the media claim to be operating in the public interest o. Both wish to acknowledge order, to appear as representatives and defenders of established institutions and consensus.
