Why is the Golden Age of Policing’ such a potent myth in British society?

The palmy be on of policing refers to a m when things were app atomic number 18ntly better. We contract all perceive elders in our society talk of the safe(p) old days when none of nowadayss atrocities happened when the jurisprudence did a better duty, when there werent as many criminals. However how true is the apologue of the golden sequence? In severalize to examine this myth it is crucial to human face at the constabulary and their fictitious characters back in the 1940s and 50s and comp be it to their roles today and in any case look at society and their idea of the practice of law. at that place is lots of historical picture available to us well-nigh the natural law and how it has pass watered since, in vocalizationicular the eighteenth Century. This evidence is ground on captain documentation from the time and gives us an veracious account, however we privy only find out and construct the history, as there is zilch alive to tell us former(a)wise . The alleged(prenominal) Golden Age is inwardly rein squashment memory and we only let to habit the evidence, to tell us of the time, but we can also ask citizenry who were there. These people can compare current policing to the Golden Age and in contrast an long time of better times is created.This works with other issues non only policing. Police roles in Britain re mained fairly static from the early nineteenth Century to the 1960s. The jurisprudence had four main locomotes, the first being aversion Pr fifty-fiftytion, to save abomination before it began. Policing was visible and unmilitary. Crime Detection was a function that concern the apprehension and prosecution of criminals. It did non sincerely involve detection, as this was a subaltern priority function because there was paranoia around spies. Detection snarled invisible policing in contrast to the visible policing of offensive prevention.The third base function was that of human race Order, which d ealt with confusioning. This was a protean function as humans govern was stable deep down society. The last function was the service role. The service role was an beta part of policing at the time as the natural law did many other jobs including tax revenue collection, auxiliary firemen and licensee inspections. The constabulary provided cheap agitate for society and were a large part of community life. The role of the police changed with the foot of The Police Act 1964. The structure of the police also changed and the tripartite relationship was rear in orchestrate, which is still seen today.The main roles of the police open changed slightly and now complicate iniquity prevention, crime detection, the service role and a range of special units that lose become more(prenominal) important than the popular govern role. Special units within the police include units such as the Drugs Squad, spoof Squads and national order squads like riot control and armed police. It is said that these specialiser units have had an influence in the come down of the service role. Officers do not go along as much time dealings with low level crime, as they are unable to solve this type of crime and so instead concentrate on high impact crime.The police move away from the service role as professionalism was introduced and a move was made from the nonprofessional unskilled labourer to a professional employee who in turn was paid well. To hook up with the police became a career. Policing today in comparison to the Golden Age is seen as distant and remote. Policing in modern times has become technological. The use of mobile phones and walkie-talkies has change magnitude efficiency within the police. The police fuck off round in cars and are only seen in some areas. Other areas do have a police front line but it is not always welcome.The police are now more right away armed and use deadly pound if needed. In recent years even this year innocent people h ave been shot and killed by the police. Policing has become bureaucratic and this has ca utilize limited results. Policing has become ruled by administration and paperwork and sees police officers spending roughly of their time in police stations. In the 1940s and 50s policing was seen as very benevolent. They were members of a community who were well natured and well mannered, they lived within the topical anestheticity and were seen as non-confrontational.There was an manifest use of minimal force. They didnt carry harness and the topical anesthetic bobby was seen with nothing other than his truncheon. nine at the time was in a aver of stability and the public order role of police was very minimal. Policing was seen as un-technological. They didnt have the use of cars or mobiles and the local bobby was visible walking or on a bike. Policing was something that was good. To examine this view we essential first analyse peoples attitudes at the time. During the minute World War people were used to figures of authority and they were used to discipline.There was well-disposed cohesion, as people seemed to know their place in society. People didnt move more or less the country as they do today and it was usual to be born and bomb in the same area. Britain was in a state of economic stability, there was complete employment and people seemed happy. The police as figures of authority were respected and put on a pedestal. A survey called Exploring the position Character, conducted by Geoffrey Gorer in 1955 found the public to think, The police represent an ideal pretence of behaviour and character. (Reiner 1989) The policing of the time seems passably idyllic.What is not mentioned is that for the police this era was not necessarily a good one. The job of policeman was not seen as a career at the time. It was a rig skilled job that had a very low wage and this did not prevail better until the 1970s. Police malpractice in the form of corruption was wid e spread by out the force and there were a number of police scandals involving straits Constables. (Emsley). The capitulum Constable of Worcester was imprisoned for fraud and the Chief Constable for Cardigan was disciplined for not administering his force correctly.The Chief Constable for Nottingham was suspended and subsequently acquitted but damage had been do to the police already. (Wall) Recorded crime was on the increase and there were race riots in Nottingham. British society was becoming a consumer society and there was a huge increase in car ownership. This in turn gave the police new duties in traffic control. The police began to have anxieties about the public. (Reiner 2000) In 1960 this malpractice led to the Royal way on policing. It is worth noting that to have a Royal commission something must have been wrong in the first place.The media have their own part to play in the representation of the police at the time. There was minimal media coverage and Dixon Of dock yard was the fictional policeman that covered the tv screens. He was the perfect friendly local policeman that helped the community and was even gentle to the local villains. Unlike today where our screens are inundated with police programmes from The Bill to the tent-fly on the wall police documentaries where the police are portrayed in two good and bad lights. Today the police are seen more as Robocop than Dixon who would wade in with guns and bombs rather than a truncheon.Todays police are constantly in the public eye and because of this the public are more aware of what actually goes on within the police. In conclusion the Golden Age is a myth in British society as there is olive-sized evidence that it was better. (Wilson) Policing in the 1950s was diametrical from what it is today but that is expected of anything in life, it cannot stay the same. The Golden age was based on blind faith and ignorance of what policing involved at a harmonious time. In todays age we are co nfronted with growing concerns of crime from terrorism to drug trafficking which have not been seen in such large scales in this century.Public attitudes to the police have changed and so have the attitudes of those that work in the police. Public confidence has declined due to the rising crime rates that have soared due to cultural, accessible and economic factors and the increase in insurance coverage and scandals within the police, however the police are in a better state today than before. (Downes and Morgan in Maguire 2002). The Golden Age myth will continue and in fifty years time the Golden Age will be replaced with a new one that is constructed by law-abiding citizens of the police of today.