Driving culture change in policing, with Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon
(Ended 21st Feb 2022)
Online
21st Feb 2022 to 21st Feb 2022
Mon, February 21, 2022 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM GMT
Maynooth School of Law and Criminology presents: Driving Culture Change in Policing (Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon, An Garda Síochána)
*ZOOM LINK CAN BE FOUND IN EMAIL TO PARTICIPANTS*
Abstract – Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon, An Garda Síochána
Acculturation is a powerful driver for how people behave. It’s why organisational culture is a significant lever in driving effectiveness. Corporations design enterprise-wide programmes to build and enhance a positive culture because it gives them a competitive edge. What can policing and other public sector organisations learn from this?
Policing culture is unique and is often approached by two divergent perspectives. Mainstream media is enthralled with police stories. Think about the many movies and television shows you’ve watched that are framed around policing stories. Conversely, many academics have analysed police culture from a critical perspective. The reality is far more complex and nuanced.
In the face of challenges to legitimacy, police leaders around the world have been given a change agenda which includes developing and maintaining a culture of professionalism. Acculturation in any organisation is so powerful that strategy is never enough. There needs to be a broad, specific and ongoing programme that leverages the best of police culture and eradicates the worst. This different from other large corporations and public sector organisations because policing comes with extraordinary powers and responsibilities.
It is within this context that An Garda Síochána is embarking on its largest change programme in its 100-year history. Central to this programme is a focus on strategically influencing culture to drive professionalism. Learn about how the Gardai have been implementing key initiatives to leverage the most powerful asset in their remit – their people.
Introduced by Prof. Claire Hamilton, Professor of Criminology, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology
Respondents
Dr. Aogán Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Sociology, University College Dublin School of Sociology
Dr. Holly Campeau, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of Alberta, Sociology Department
Chaired by Dr. Ian Marder, Assistant Professor in Criminology, Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology
Biographies
Shawna Coxon is a senior criminal justice leader with 26 years of policing experience, and Deputy Commissioner of Strategy, Governance and Performance of An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s National Police and Security Service. Deputy Commissioner Coxon is responsible for overseeing An Garda Síochána’s corporate planning process, establishing change, leadership programmes and ensuring that strategy implementation is achieved in a co-ordinated and integrated fashion across the organisation. Prior to this appointment, Shawna Coxon was a Deputy Chief of Police with the Toronto Police Service, responsible for policing in the fourth largest city in North America. As a Deputy Chief of Police, she led three different Commands at different times, specifically the Human Resources Command, the Priority Response Command, and the Communities and Neighbourhoods’ Command. Deputy Commissioner Coxon has her MA in Criminology from the University of Toronto and her PhD in Criminal Law from the University of Leicester. She has both published and spoken internationally. She has a passion for policing, innovation, technology and futurism.
Aogán Mulcahy teaches in the School of Sociology at University College Dublin. His main research interests are in the field of criminology, and his work focuses on issues of police legitimacy and police reform. His publications include Policing and the Condition of England (with Ian Loader) and Policing Northern Ireland.
Holly Campeau is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Alberta, specializing in the challenges and constraints faced by police organizations, change over time in the occupational field of policing, and in the lived experience of justice-involved persons. She is also Senior Researcher with the Global Justice Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, focusing on justice reform strategies worldwide. Holly’s research is published in the British Journal of Criminology, Social Problems, Policing & Society, The Sociological Quarterly, and the American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Her recent work involves interviews with recently arrested individuals as well as police officers to examine the “dual perspective” of police-resident interactions.
Claire Hamilton is Professor of Criminology at Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology. She is the author/co-editor of five books and has published widely in various national and international journals, among them the British Journal of Criminology, the European Journal of Criminology and Theoretical Criminology. She is currently editing (with David Nelken) a Research Handbook of Comparative Criminal Justice for Edward Elgar due to be published in 2022.
Ian Marder is Assistant Professor of Criminology at Maynooth University School of Law and Criminology. Before joining Maynooth in May 2018, he was Research Associate at the University of Liverpool working with the N8 Policing Research Partnership, and Scientific Expert at the Council of Europe, drafting the 2018 Recommendation concerning restorative justice in criminal matters. His research interests include implementing restorative justice in policing, using restorative practices to build relationships between the police and the community, and restorative approaches to changing police culture more widely.