Procesos avanzados de oxidación

themselves, and that specifies the direction and distribution of energy flows”

(Wolf, 1999, p.5). This includes police accountability and engagement groups, the role of central and local government, police and crime commissioners and other empowered bodies.

(Wolf, 1999; Wolf, 2001)

British policing is portrayed as being of the people, for the people, by the people, regulated by the laws of the land and judicial oversight but given wide discretion as to how, why and when powers are utilised, as well as being imbued with a strong heritage of operational independence from the state (Blair, 2009; Emsley, 2009). British policing governance is dominated by the philosophy of “policing by consent”, which calls for public co-operation with the police, and is enshrined within Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing (Blair, 2009; Reith, 1956). These principles were set out in the

‘General Instructions’ for the MPS that were issued to every new police officer from 1829 (Appendix C). The Spanish approach is different as the police is identifiable as an agency of the state, established as a constitutional creation and directly overseen by the Executive in the name of the Spanish people.

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The operational governance of policing in both countries is distinctive and reflective of individual nation state cultures and societal expectations. In Britain policing governance is complex and confusing (Richards et al, 2014). Numerous powerful individuals (Chief Constables (Commissioner in MPS and City of London Police), Police and Crime Commissioners (Mayor of London for the MPS) and the Home Secretary) and organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service (as the final arbiter on whether to put cases referred by the police before the courts) and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (which is responsible for complaints against police in England and Wales) all have responsibilities, influence and governance responsibilities.²⁵ The British approach has been described as “a network of competing and interdependent sources of authority with a series of inbuilt checks and balances” (HMIC, 2010, p.11).

British policing is also built upon the concepts of discretion of action and operational independence (Blair, 2010; HMIC, 2010). Discretion has been described as the

“freedom of the individual officer to act according to his or her own judgement in particular situations” (Newburn & Neyroud, 2008, p.82). Lord Scarman argued that the exercise of discretion is at “the heart of the policing function” (Scarman, 1981, para 4.58). Although there is no statutory definition of operational independence the judgment of Lord Denning in the Court of Appeal in R v Metropolitan Commissioner, ex parte Blackburn [1968] 2 QB 118 is cited as the principal authority on providing

25 The introduction of police and crime commissioners in England and Wales, through the enactment of The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, abolished police authorities and replaced them with an elected official responsible for the police budget in their force area and the efficient running of the force through management of the chief constable. Their impact and effectiveness is subject to ongoing debate within politics and academia (Loveday, 2013; Mawby & Smith, 2013; Williams, 2015).

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workable guidance: “No Minister of the Crown can tell him that he must, or must not, keep observation on this place or that; or that he must, or must not, prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and to the law alone”. Several Commissioners of the Metropolis have sacrificed their careers on the altar of the principle of independence including Sir Charles Warren in 1888, who had written a magazine article without seeking permission from the Home Secretary, and Sir Ian Blair in 2008, who had lost the confidence of the Mayor of London (Blair, 2009).²⁶ It is relevant to note that over recent years British policing has been accused of moving ever closer to the Executive with chief officers “even lobbying MPs to support draconian attacks on civil liberties” (Jones, 2014, p.126).

The Spanish approach to governance of the CNP and Guardia Civil since 1978 is based upon Spanish constitutional law, judicial guidance and political accountability. Even complaints against police are investigated by the police themselves, without any external organisational oversight (Amnesty International, 2007, p.17). The senior command position in both national forces is a directly elected member of the political class, so there can be no confusion in terms of political involvement. This development reflects that in the past police and Guardia Civil generals were overtly political with disastrous consequences for wider social order. The strength of investment in a constitutional document demonstrates the importance placed in the power of legal

26 Warren’s view, in the letter written by Home Secretary Henry Matthews to Queen Victoria detailing the resignation, was that the Commissioner had been “in a position of independence which was wholly inconsistent with the authority and responsibility of the Secretary of State” (Buckle, 1930, p.448).

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legitimacy. The Constitution itself represents “the best imaginable use of the political elements which the great majority of States in modern Europe inherited from the medieval period” (Bagehot, 2009, p.6). Faith and confidence in the Constitution of 1978 is logical as it healed the fractures in the political and societal landscape left after the death of General Franco: “Constitutions do matter, but whether they matter as individual structures or because they have co-evolved with supportive partner institutions, such as political parties and exceptional leaders, still remains a crucial, unexplored question in political science and constitutional law” (Skatch, 2005, p.128).

Faith in a governance system based upon adherence to laws alone can be problematic, and does not guarantee an effective safeguard against abuses of power by agencies of the state. Throughout history there are numerous examples of where the law has been suborned, manipulated, altered and abused by the Executive, within democratic frameworks of governance. The violent activities of the National Socialist Party in 1930s Germany were often legal as the Party had successfully exploited the Weimar Constitution (Emsley & Knafla, 1996; Fest, 1974). Laws can be subjectively interpreted or enforced by the police (Graef, 1989). Furthermore the nature of laws does change in line with wider societal developments, which can see the police enforcing laws which are subsequently amended, repealed or withdrawn from use. Therefore a reliance on legal legitimacy is an issue as “the mandate which the police enjoy to preserve order through force often comes into conflict with the rule of law. This is particularly the case when the norms of the black-letter law contradict social norms” (Williams, 2011, p.50).

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Globalisation

Globalisation refers to “the consequence of greater mobility of capital…and new forms of international interconnections that have grown at the expense of national ones as nation states are incorporated into the world economical and informational cyberspace”

(Nelken, 2013, p.14). Policing is traditionally articulated as a state centred activity, closely aligned to the political institutions of the state and the use of state sanctioned force to exercise control (Blair, 2009; Reiner, 1991; Waddington, 1999). The impact of globalisation cannot be underestimated. Although tight national controls can be effective in containing globalisation they require the deployment of methods unacceptable in modern liberal western demonstrations. Football hooliganism occurred significantly later in Spain than other European nations because the controls of the Franco regime succeeded in keeping Spain isolated, restricted media coverage and

“delayed the diffusion of foreign youth subcultural styles” (Spaaij, 2006, p.105).

However once those controls were removed in the democracy, Spanish hooliganism flourished as participants began to travel and communicate with other groups in England, Germany and Holland.

Globalisation has increased the complexity and the threats to the nation state (Hoogenboom, 2010). The late 1960s saw large scale violent demonstrations against the Vietnam War around the world in countries which had no interest or involvement in the US led conflict. The subsequent rise in Western Europe of large scale, internationally coordinated, widely publicised global demonstrations, which are often

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violent and complex require a new approach to public order policing (Brain, 2010, Channing, 2015, HMIC, 2009). Globalisation has created challenges in both Spain and Britain, attracting activists to travel throughout Europe to participate in well organised, politically motivated, and internationally coordinated protests; the “Occupy Movement”

activities in London were influenced by the Indignados Movement in Spain seeking to challenge established order from within existing systems of governance (Mason, 2013).