From Lawrence to Casey: Exploring the Lack of Police Organisational Change

A recent review by Baroness Casey investigating recent events and criminal acts by former Met Police officers sought to investigate the standards and culture of the police. As noted by the review this is not the first enquiry to unpick the culture and negative behaviour of police officer in the Met and their relationships with communities. So how despite numerous reviews and proposed reforms over the years are major concerns about the police to deliver a high-quality service are the same issues of culture, institutional racism and leadership continue to arise. This paper considers this in relation to organisational sociology and argues that the reason for little adaptation might relate to an inability of the police to embed organisational learning structures into their institutions. A failure to learn from errors and move beyond single-loop learning might be viewed as one potential reason for limited progression made between the Lawrence and Casey review. Additionally, expectations of quick solutions and limited opportunities to change due to external pressures and critique will also be examined. Drawing on organisational learning theory it is suggested that different frameworks and solutions are required to build resilience and initiate the change required to meets expectations laid out in the Casey Review.

This 40-minute talk will take place via Microsoft Teams, with 15 - 20 minutes afterwards for questions. Join us on Teams.