Policing in Smart Societies [electronic resource] : Reflections on the Abstract Police / edited by Antoinette Verhage, Marleen Easton, Sofie De Kimpe.

Chapter 1: Introducing Policing in Smart Cities: Reflections on the Abstract Police -- Chapter 2: Abstract police organisations: distantiation, decontextualisation and digitalisation -- Chapter 3: Reflections on the Abstract Police using the perspective of ideal-types -- Chapter 4: Technology and Police Legitimacy -- Chapter 5: Plural Policing and the Abstract Police -- Chapter 6: Do we need discretion? Police decisions and the limits of the law -- Chapter 7: The Abstract Police: An exploration of the concept in the Belgian local police.

Smart societies pose new challenges for police organizations. Demands for more efficiency and effectiveness test police organizations which are often resistant to change. This book uses the concept of the abstract police to describe the way in which police organizations have tried to adapt to these new evolutions and the consequences. The chapters stem from a conference called "Street Policing in a Smart Society" which sought to frame and analyse these developments in policing. In this book, the concept of the abstract police is introduced, analysed and then challenged from different angles, looking at the evolutions related to technology, plural policing, police discretion and police decision making. As such, the book is a reflection of current debates on policing and police organization, aiming to give input to the debate by providing new insights on police and police work. Antoinette Verhage is Professor of Criminology at Ghent University, Belgium, and a member of the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP). Her research and teaching activities focus on police and policing, integrity and deontology. She is a member of diverse international editorial boards and of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security. Marleen Easton is Professor and Head of the UGent research group 'Governing and Policing Security' (GaPS), Belgium, and Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Criminology Institute, Australia. She is President of the Belgian Innovation Network for Security (vzw Iungos) and is an active member of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security. Sofie De Kimpe is Professor of Criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, and a member of the Crime & Society research group (CRiS). Her main research expertise is qualitative and ethnographic research in police and policing. She is Chair of the EU COST ACTION POLICE STOPS and an active member of the Flemish Centre of Policing and Security.