Image Work(s): The New Police (Popularity) Culture

Abstract

This chapter identifies emerging forms of police ‘image work’ (Mawby, 2002) that we argue also operate as a form of ‘simulated policing’ (O’Malley, 2010). This policing takes place not on the beat or in the patrol car or even at the police station. Rather, the policing we identify here occurs in virtual cyber-spaces, on tele-visual ‘observational documentaries’, and through the lens of the police digital video camera as reproduced on the daily news bulletin. Yet while these forms of simulated policing rely on a swathe of new technologies, they are traditional in nature. That is, they generally seek to achieve traditional goals of public policing such as the deterrence of crime, social control, compliance with the law, and seeking to secure public consent for policing.