Colliding views of police reality - science vs. politics of policing

Abstract

Based mainly on the French case, this paper wants to shed some light on the persistence of mistrust and even fear of researchers among police forces, especially at the highest level. The purpose is not to judge police chiefs and politicians in charge of policing, it is to try to understand why this gap still remains whereas sociology for the police and sociology of the police have produced a lot of results for years. That leads the author to examine the idea of the police officer considered as a ‘knowledge worker’. This article offers a deep view inside the complicated structure of research knowledge and police leadership, wondering how constructive the cooperation between the police and police research, and between managers and intellectuals might be.