Keeping a close eye on the police force

Policemen are also subject to new public management rules. They are now being assessed according to new, simple quantitative criteria which most people understand. Interaction on a local level between the population and the police is now judged to be dubious and inefficient. This form of management helps strengthen the division of social work on a local level and in this context makes it difficult to implement policies at the same time regarding prevention, control, clampdowns and so on, and therefore makes police work less efficient in the long-term. Close observation of practices shows how the professional identity of policemen is in crisis when one tries to reconcile obedience to orders with the interpretation or the infringement of objectives, in order to preserve the meaning they give to their work.