The Governance of Policing and
Security – Ironies, Myths and
Paradoxes
Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam
Criminologie 2026/2027
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 - Within Public Policing: Gradual Centralisation 2
Chapter 2 - Within Public Policing: Fictional and Factual policing 4
Chapter 3 - Blurring Boundaries and the Unbearable Lightness of Criminological Discourse
12
Chapter 4 - On Old Folks and Things That Pass Away: Criminology in 2018 17
Chapter 5 - The Governance of Policing and Security 20
Chapter 6 - ‘Grey Intelligence’: The Private and Informal Future 23
Chapter 7 - The Sopranos: Narrative Knowledge to Disrupt Academic Language 26
Chapter 8 - Ironies, Paradoxes and the Seven Plagues of Policing and Security 29
Chapter 9 - Technopoly 35
Chapter 11 - Unsafe and Unsound Practices 41
Chapter 12 - Myths in Policing and Security 48
,Introduction
strongly recommend reading the introduction for yourself as this gives you a lot of context for
the rest of the book
Author wishes to explore issues and themes related to the growing process of
interweaving taking place in the field of policing between regulators, military forces, private
security and security and intelligence agencies. Sometimes called ‘hybrid’ policing and
security arrangements, these grey areas raise fundamental questions with regard to the rule
of law, democracy, human rights, privacy and basic societal norms and values in an
advanced, Western democracy.
The question concerned here is a seemingly technical one: what do we actually know,
what is it that we do not know and how can we get to know about it? This in turn raises
issues about the perspectives adopted throughout police research and criminological
discourse. In the author's view, these are too limited to tackle the issues raised: it is
necessary to return to the notion of social science as penetrating façades and exposing
hidden realities.
Conventional wisdom = ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the
public or by experts in a field.
→ implies that the ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined and, hence,
may be re-evaluated upon further examination or as events unfold
→ applies to policing
It is assumed that, without legitimacy, there cannot be sound government, effective policing,
feelings of safety or a belief in a ‘just world’. Doubtlessly, there are many politicians and
officials who endeavour to abide by the ideals and precepts of legitimate, accountable
democracy, yet it is unavoidable that the scrutiny of undertows will reveal some grey areas of
cooperation, perversions of the truth, covert activities and efforts to evade accountability.
→ this is more than traditional Machiavellian manipulation: the stakes are higher as a result
of globalisation, increased complexity and the new and different threats facing us today
Plan of attack in this book:
1. challenge traditional science by stressing that the interweaving of social control and
policing systems requires a new perspective
→ chapter 1 and 2: first return to some of ‘the classics’ in policing and rethink and
reanalyse what the functions of policing are
2. trace undertows in other parts of the new security architecture; structures, functions,
cultures and the blurring of boundaries and accountability issues will be analysed on
a structural basis within the various security domains
3. introduce ironies, paradoxes, double-loop arguments and irrationalities within the
emerging new security architecture
4. to raise questions related to accountability and governance issues within this new
landscape that could have profound implications for human rights, privacy and civic
society
5. two valuable concepts addressed in the final parts of the book:
1
, a. myth system; the formal front that governments and corporations present to
the outside world
b. operational code; the actual information – and sometimes covert – rules of the
game: what really happens on the shop floor, in operations and in
implementation?
→ somehow the interface between the two ‘systems’ has to be managed, and only
when this has been exposed can we obtain a glimpse of the true lie of the land
2
, Chapter 1 - Within Public Policing: Gradual
Centralisation
Policing: Functions and historical dynamics
Van Reenen and Fijnaut both develop a theoretical framework to understand policing in
which the distinction between ‘the group of words, police, policy, polity, politics, politic,
political (and) politician is delicate’.
→ e.g. the subtitle of Fijnaut’s study is “the history of the police as a political institution”
Historical discussion of the police system takes place at 2 levels:
1. the political/administrative level
2. organisational level
→ both are inextricably linked
Political/administrative level
→ discussions have taken place concerning the degree of command and control
demonstrated by the police since the mid-nineteenth century
→ this discussion about command and control is closely linked to the (desired) level of police
care: locally, provincially, regionally or nationally
Various government committees formulated proposals not only to ensure uniformity, but
also to organise police care on a national level.
→ e.g. in 1852 it was proposed that a federal police force be set up under the responsibility
of the Ministry of Police
The 1993 Police Act: ceased to distinguish between municipality and the federal police.
→ today: police system consists of 25 regional police forces and a corps offering national
police services known in the Netherlands as the KLPD
Time and time again, supposedly decisive proposals were formulated to create a good and
effective police system once and for all and, in doing so, end all discussion and strife
→ was never successful, because the police system was not originally a rational
arrangement made by people with the help of certain resources and set up to achieve
particular predefined goals
→ rather, it was a system that developed over time
→ in addition, the police system was characterised by the existence of established interests:
the mayor’s, the state attorney’s and interests held by ministerial departments; the various
established interests entail ‘a powerfully conservative element in the discussion without it
generally being clear that it concerns the representation of general interests’
Three types of dynamics
Van Reenen → police system is subject to three types of dynamics:
1. Marginal change; Forms part of the normal dynamics within the existing political and
administrative order. Changes are called marginal because, from a political
perspective, they do not (or only barely) change the existing balance of power. They
are generally ‘technical’ adaptations, such as cooperative agreement between forces.
3
Security – Ironies, Myths and
Paradoxes
Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam
Criminologie 2026/2027
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 - Within Public Policing: Gradual Centralisation 2
Chapter 2 - Within Public Policing: Fictional and Factual policing 4
Chapter 3 - Blurring Boundaries and the Unbearable Lightness of Criminological Discourse
12
Chapter 4 - On Old Folks and Things That Pass Away: Criminology in 2018 17
Chapter 5 - The Governance of Policing and Security 20
Chapter 6 - ‘Grey Intelligence’: The Private and Informal Future 23
Chapter 7 - The Sopranos: Narrative Knowledge to Disrupt Academic Language 26
Chapter 8 - Ironies, Paradoxes and the Seven Plagues of Policing and Security 29
Chapter 9 - Technopoly 35
Chapter 11 - Unsafe and Unsound Practices 41
Chapter 12 - Myths in Policing and Security 48
,Introduction
strongly recommend reading the introduction for yourself as this gives you a lot of context for
the rest of the book
Author wishes to explore issues and themes related to the growing process of
interweaving taking place in the field of policing between regulators, military forces, private
security and security and intelligence agencies. Sometimes called ‘hybrid’ policing and
security arrangements, these grey areas raise fundamental questions with regard to the rule
of law, democracy, human rights, privacy and basic societal norms and values in an
advanced, Western democracy.
The question concerned here is a seemingly technical one: what do we actually know,
what is it that we do not know and how can we get to know about it? This in turn raises
issues about the perspectives adopted throughout police research and criminological
discourse. In the author's view, these are too limited to tackle the issues raised: it is
necessary to return to the notion of social science as penetrating façades and exposing
hidden realities.
Conventional wisdom = ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the
public or by experts in a field.
→ implies that the ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined and, hence,
may be re-evaluated upon further examination or as events unfold
→ applies to policing
It is assumed that, without legitimacy, there cannot be sound government, effective policing,
feelings of safety or a belief in a ‘just world’. Doubtlessly, there are many politicians and
officials who endeavour to abide by the ideals and precepts of legitimate, accountable
democracy, yet it is unavoidable that the scrutiny of undertows will reveal some grey areas of
cooperation, perversions of the truth, covert activities and efforts to evade accountability.
→ this is more than traditional Machiavellian manipulation: the stakes are higher as a result
of globalisation, increased complexity and the new and different threats facing us today
Plan of attack in this book:
1. challenge traditional science by stressing that the interweaving of social control and
policing systems requires a new perspective
→ chapter 1 and 2: first return to some of ‘the classics’ in policing and rethink and
reanalyse what the functions of policing are
2. trace undertows in other parts of the new security architecture; structures, functions,
cultures and the blurring of boundaries and accountability issues will be analysed on
a structural basis within the various security domains
3. introduce ironies, paradoxes, double-loop arguments and irrationalities within the
emerging new security architecture
4. to raise questions related to accountability and governance issues within this new
landscape that could have profound implications for human rights, privacy and civic
society
5. two valuable concepts addressed in the final parts of the book:
1
, a. myth system; the formal front that governments and corporations present to
the outside world
b. operational code; the actual information – and sometimes covert – rules of the
game: what really happens on the shop floor, in operations and in
implementation?
→ somehow the interface between the two ‘systems’ has to be managed, and only
when this has been exposed can we obtain a glimpse of the true lie of the land
2
, Chapter 1 - Within Public Policing: Gradual
Centralisation
Policing: Functions and historical dynamics
Van Reenen and Fijnaut both develop a theoretical framework to understand policing in
which the distinction between ‘the group of words, police, policy, polity, politics, politic,
political (and) politician is delicate’.
→ e.g. the subtitle of Fijnaut’s study is “the history of the police as a political institution”
Historical discussion of the police system takes place at 2 levels:
1. the political/administrative level
2. organisational level
→ both are inextricably linked
Political/administrative level
→ discussions have taken place concerning the degree of command and control
demonstrated by the police since the mid-nineteenth century
→ this discussion about command and control is closely linked to the (desired) level of police
care: locally, provincially, regionally or nationally
Various government committees formulated proposals not only to ensure uniformity, but
also to organise police care on a national level.
→ e.g. in 1852 it was proposed that a federal police force be set up under the responsibility
of the Ministry of Police
The 1993 Police Act: ceased to distinguish between municipality and the federal police.
→ today: police system consists of 25 regional police forces and a corps offering national
police services known in the Netherlands as the KLPD
Time and time again, supposedly decisive proposals were formulated to create a good and
effective police system once and for all and, in doing so, end all discussion and strife
→ was never successful, because the police system was not originally a rational
arrangement made by people with the help of certain resources and set up to achieve
particular predefined goals
→ rather, it was a system that developed over time
→ in addition, the police system was characterised by the existence of established interests:
the mayor’s, the state attorney’s and interests held by ministerial departments; the various
established interests entail ‘a powerfully conservative element in the discussion without it
generally being clear that it concerns the representation of general interests’
Three types of dynamics
Van Reenen → police system is subject to three types of dynamics:
1. Marginal change; Forms part of the normal dynamics within the existing political and
administrative order. Changes are called marginal because, from a political
perspective, they do not (or only barely) change the existing balance of power. They
are generally ‘technical’ adaptations, such as cooperative agreement between forces.
3
