Research & Innovation
Newsletter
Volume 2 l Issue 3 - 2024
The ‘haves and have-nots’ of
social support during police
recruitment: why the playing field is
anything but level
Page 10
Full article published in: Policing and Society | 2024
To read more
Dr. Gareth Lee Stubbs
Assistant Professor
Policing and Security
Rabdan Academy
Stephen Tong
Kingston University
Current police recruitment research is often focused on
disproportionate outcomes based upon identity-based categories
such as race, ethnicity, or gender. National government statistics and
political discourse support this research agenda, indicating a
significant recruitment gap in representation in England and Wales.
This gap has resulted in the design and use of ‘in-house’ positive
action initiatives for police recruitment, with little examination of
their impact or otherwise. To understand this research gap, this paper
applies a labour market lens to police recruitment. This study
contributes to existing research by exploring how police recruits
navigate the recruitment process using their social resources. It
represents 27 in-depth, participant-led, long-form interviews within
an English Constabulary, informed by the theory of Social
Embeddedness. It explores how candidates who did not receive
positive action navigated and perceived their recruitment process,
whilst using their friends, family, and acquaintances for both
instrumental and pastoral support. This is contrasted against those
candidates that utilised positive action initiatives. The results
illustrate developed social embeddedness within police recruitment
in the researched constabulary.