Social values and managerial goals: Police and probation officers’ experiences and views of inter‐agency co‐operation1

Abstract

Recently an ‘inter‐agency’ approach has assumed the status of a panacea to the ills of contemporary criminal justice and crime prevention in Britain. This article reports on a survey of police and probation officers in one English county. The survey examines the views and experiences of rank‐and‐file officers to the enhanced role of inter‐agency co‐operation, in general, and in relation to community‐based crime prevention, in particular. It considers the varying degrees of resistance to, and support for, inter‐agency work both within and between police and probation organisations. The survey identifies a number of shared anxieties which transcend organisational boundaries and their implications for inter‐agency work. It reveals a further ideological divide among both police and probation officers between those who reference their views on inter‐agency co‐operation in relation to the objectives of smooth management and those who see it as informing and/or facilitating a fundamental moral or social aspect of their work. Finally, the need for the clarification of organisational objectives and sites of conflict, in order to mitigate differentials in power relations between agencies, is considered.

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