A sociological imagination: Simon Holdaway, police research pioneer

Abstract

This essay examines the career of leading British sociologist and policing scholar, Professor Simon Holdaway; who in the 1970s, whilst then serving as a Sergeant in the London Metropolitan Police Service, conducted one of the most ground-breaking (covert) ethnographic studies of police work ever undertaken. The article makes the case that along with the likes of Michael Banton and William Westley, Holdaway is a police research pioneer and draws on interviews with him as well as a review of his body of scholarship spanning nearly 40 years.

Keywords:

• pioneer
• sociology of policing
• methodology
• biography

Notes

1. Personal email correspondence with Otwin Marenin, General Editor of the Pioneers of Police Research series. The author thanks Professor Marenin for his insightful comments and suggestions that improved this essay.

2. Traditionally, from the age of 16, young people in the UK could apply to join a police force as a full-time and paid Police Cadet (if that force operated such a scheme). The Police Cadets were seen as a precursor to joining the Police at age 19, although there was no compulsion for any cadet to do so.

3. Interview with Simon Holdaway (hereafter in the footnotes SH).

4. Francis Davidson Fraser, better known as ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser is a former British criminal and member of the notorious ‘Richardson Gang’. Fraser served 42 years in various prisons in the UK (see, e.g. Fraser & Morton, 2000).

5. A (or Advanced) level qualifications are recognised as the standard for assessing the suitability for applicants for academic courses in English universities.

6. Interview with SH.

7. According to Kilminster (1998, chap. 8), approaches and theoretical developments within post-war British sociology can be categorised into three phases, namely: (i) ‘monopoly phase’: ca. 1945–1965, (ii) ‘conflict phase’: ca. 1965–1980 and (iii) ‘concentration phase’: ca. 1980 to the present.

8. Figures published in Young (1983, p. 32) show that the cost of one scholarship in the late 1970s was around £30,000 and by the late 1980s this had risen to well over £100,000.

9. Interview with SH.

10. According to Wells (2004) these methodological issues relate to: (1) necessity, (2) quality, (3) ethics and (4) informed consent. See also Bulmer (1982).

11. Interview with SH.

12. Interview with SH.

13. Ibid.

14. The esteemed Editor-in-chief of this journal, Dr Dilip K Das is one example.

15. Ibid.

16. SH had transferred his PhD candidature from the LSE to the University of Sheffield.

17. This finding also offers a striking contrast with the central conclusion of the 1999 Macpherson report on the Stephen Lawrence case.

18. Whilst following The Policeman in the Community (1964), Michael Banton is widely regarded as the British pioneer, his subsequent writings concerning the police were few and he is probably best known for his scholarship in the field of ethnic and racial studies see McLaughlin (2007, chap. 2). Robert Reiner had also published The Blue Coated Worker (1978) which was based on his PhD research and thesis (supervised by Michael Banton) into the Police Federation.

19. Interview with SH.

20. Interview with SH.

21. Interview with SH.

22. Interview with SH.

23. Interview with SH.