Markets in Policing: The Appetite for and Organisational, Cultural and Moral Limits to Markets in Public Policing

鉴于各国政府的财政紧缩、私营保安行业的日益成熟以及公众对在不安全时期提供警察的持续需求，警务工作正处于十字路口。在英国，就像在其他一些司法管辖区一样，紧缩措施促使人们考虑以前不受欢迎的提议，即将警务方面的工作外包给私营部门，并促进公私合作伙伴关系的创新。各国政府已被敦促重新评估警察任务和劳动力，寻找新的收入来源，考虑将服务外包给私人服务提供商，并以新的方式吸引公民和公民社会组织。英国政府比大多数国家走得更远、走得更快，明确了其意识形态承诺，即让私营部门更多地参与警察的提供。英国的发展特点是，没有就私营部门更多参与公共警察的影响和限制进行严格的辩论。许多评论人士一致认为，私营部门不应从警方手中夺走一些警务的“核心”领域。然而，对于这一核心的构成、它与警务其他方面的区别、对私营部门参与的限制应该是什么，以及外包应遵循的原则，各方几乎没有达成一致。明显缺乏公开讨论，对外包举措的审查有限，缺乏系统的学术、从业人员和政策审议，反映研究的见解以及全球各地的比较经验。外包在提供公共服务的其他领域的教训、公共产品的价值，以及关于市场限制和影响的更广泛的哲学辩论，都没有得到充分的重视。因此，存在明显的风险，即至少在英国，将警察工作的关键方面外包可能会以临时和无原则的方式展开。这一系列研讨会通过在政策制定者、高级从业者和学者之间就私营部门参与公共警务的意愿和限制展开循证和原则性的辩论，填补了这一空白。它将汇集不同利益集团和组织的主要代表，探讨市场在警务方面的参数和监管。整个系列的核心参与者包括：高级警务管理人员；警务和犯罪专员；国家警察机构；普通警官；私营保安公司；保安行业协会和监管者；政策智囊团；公认的警务学者；早期职业研究人员和博士生。它将引发一场以研究证据、规范原则和来自英国及其他国家实践的见解为基础的辩论。研讨会的结构将探讨市场改革的政治、创收计划的道德参数和原则、私营部门参与警察工作以及在警察工作中对市场的监管。它还将考虑一些特定治安领域的公私合作发展，包括公共秩序、群众活动、警察拘留、网络犯罪和互联网、夜间经济和邻里巡逻。虽然主要关注英国的政策创新，但该系列将寻求在更广泛的国际和跨文化背景下定位这些创新。它将受益于审议一些欧洲国家和北美的类似事态发展和辩论，并向主要的国际学者学习。作为回报，该系列将寻求增进国际理解。关键的讨论和辩论将通过视频链接和网络研讨会向更广泛的受众开放。该系列将积极与媒体接触，并通过带有建议的政策简报会传播其调查结果和结论，以鼓励公众讨论。

Policing stands at a crossroads in the light of fiscal restraint by governments, the growing maturity of the private security industry and persistent public demands for police provision in insecure times. In Britain, as in some other jurisdictions, austerity measures have prompted consideration of previously unpalatable proposals to outsource aspects of policing to the private sector and foster innovations in public-private partnerships. Governments have been prompted to reassess the police mission and workforce, look for new sources of revenue, consider outsourcing to private providers and engage citizens and civil society organisations in new ways. The British Government has moved further and faster than most, making clear its ideological commitment to greater private sector involvement in the delivery of policing.Developments in the UK have been marked by the absence of rigorous debate about the implications of and limits to greater private sector involvement in public policing. Many commentators agree that there are some 'core' areas of policing that the private sector should not take away from the police. However, here is little agreement about what this core constitutes, what differentiates it from other aspects of policing, what the limits to private sector involvement should be or the principles upon which outsourcing should operate. There has been a distinct lack of public discussion, limited scrutiny of outsourcing initiatives and an absence of systematic academic, practitioner and policy deliberation reflecting on insights from research, as well as comparative experiences across the globe. There has been insufficient engagement with the lessons of outsourcing in other areas of public service delivery, the value of public goods and the wider philosophical debates about the limits and effects of markets. Consequently, there are evident risks that, in Britain at least, outsourcing of key aspects of police work may unfold in an ad-hoc and unprincipled manner. This seminar series fills this void by stimulating an evidence-based and principled debate among policy-makers, senior practitioners and academics about the appetite for, and limits to, private sector involvement in public policing. It will bring together key representatives of different interests and organisations to explore the parameters and regulation of markets in policing. The core group of participants to the full series include: senior police managers; Police and Crime Commissioners; national police bodies; rank-and-file police officers; private security firms; security industry associations and regulators; policy think-tanks; established policing scholars; early career researchers and PhD students. It will stimulate a debate which is grounded in research evidence, normative principles and insights from practice in the UK and beyond.Seminars will be structured in such a way as to explore the politics of market reforms, the moral parameters and principles of income generation schemes and private sector involvement in police-work and the regulation of the markets in policing. It will also consider public-private developments in a number of specified areas of policing including public order, mass events, police custody, cyber-crime and the internet, the night-time economy and neighbourhood patrols. Whilst primarily focused on British policy innovations, the series will seek to locate these in a wider international and cross-cultural context. It will benefit from consideration of analogous developments and debates in a number of European countries as well as North America and learn from leading international scholars. Reciprocally, the series will seek to inform international understanding. Key deliberations and debates will be open to wider audiences via video-link and webinars. The series will actively engage the media and seek to encourage public discussion by disseminating its findings and conclusions via a policy briefing with recommendations.