Performance and Dialogue – An Ethnographic Study into Police Liaison Teams

Scholarly discussions on public-order policing often centre on the role of paramilitary policing tactics, only recently has the role of dialogue become more prominent within the field. This thesis primarily focuses upon a dialogue-focused public-order policing tactic – the Police Liaison Teams (PLTs) – operating within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London, England. The thesis draws on data collected over a 13-month ethnographic immersion in the MPS’ public-order unit. This data was gathered during a doctoral studentship within the MPS over the period of 2015-2017.

This thesis is fundamentally concerned with understanding how dialogue impacts social order within a public-order policing setting. From a micro-sociological perspective, the research seeks to understand the structures behind dialogic behaviours that Police Liaison Officers (PLOs) engage in when attempting to establish a form of ‘order’. The aim of the research is to consider the role dialogue plays during police-citizen interaction at public order policing events – specifically protests and a street-based carnival. This will be understood primarily through the perspective of uniformed officers and, more specifically, officers occupying the tactical role of PLO. Though reference will also be made to officers within other public order policing roles.

Applying a dramaturgical conceptual framework, this thesis provides new insights into a lesser studied area of public-order policing. Within PLT-citizen interaction the significance of performance when interpreting actions is central. Framing the interpretation of police work using Goffman’s theories facilitates a more nuanced investigation into the ‘everyday’ behaviours within policing. My research develops our conceptual understanding of the policing of crowds still further, exploring on a micro level police-citizen interaction and the communicative structures that govern this.