Policing Legitimacy

• Chapter 1. Exposing police transgression from below.- Chapter 2. The rules of digital media engagement.- Chapter 3. Making meaning of police use of force.- Chapter 4. Negotiating police legitimacy in the digital society.- Chapter 5. The limits of exposure on police accountability.- Chapter 6. The social media test.- Chapter 7. An unpredictable digital future.

“Ellis frames Policing Legitimacy as a case study in ‘digiqueer criminology’. He situates the bystander footage of Jackson Reed’s assault as a threshold case of ‘sousveillance’ – ‘watching from below’ – and investigates the disruption this practice can make to the instituted relations between media, state and other organisations that typically mediate the accountability of the police to the public.” (Kane Race, Alternative Law Journal, August 13, 2023)“The book lays out the social, cultural, and political significance of sousveillance and its impact on the public’s demand that police justify their actions. Ellis’ major contribution here is detailing what he describes as the ‘social media test,’a ‘credibility test of police culture,’ where contestation of truth claims perpetually cycle through the multi-media landscape, demanding institutional response, and requiring constant renewal of legitimacy. … Given our heightened scrutiny of policing in a larger cultural context, Ellis’ study is particularly timely and worthwhile.” (Nickie D. Phillips, Crime Media Culture, February 22, 2022)“The major strength—and the core contribution of the book—is its theoretical developments— particularly in relation to police legitimacy … that emerges from its sophisticated analyses of its rich data. Another highlight is the book’s attention to key scholarship by notable international criminologists … . The book will also serve as a primer for future queer criminology research … as well as on its innovative ‘digiqueer’ approach, which will provide a benchmark for further queer scholarship in criminology and beyond.” (Christopher J. Schneider, Critical Criminology, January 25, 2022)“Ellis has produced an authoritative and sophisticated analysis of the play of the significance of new digital technologies for the negotiation of police legitimacy – and how legitimacy may be lost and regained. This is an important contribution to the literature on police/media/public relations as well as advancing theoretical debate through Ellis’ ‘digiqueer’ conceptual approach to explore the impact of digital technologies on public order policing and resistance by minority and marginalised groups, and it lays the foundations for further research in this field. It is a must read for all policing scholars and will be a valuable addition to reading lists for policing courses and modules on crime and the media internationally.” (Marianne P. Colbran, Policing and Society, Vol 31 (9), 2021)