Coping with disorder? the changing relationship between police public order strategy and practice—a critical analysis of the Burnley Riot

This article identifies significant recent public order policing strategy change on the part of the public police—first, in recognition of the dynamic relationship between disorder and policing, and second, concerning a more flexible conceptualization of the traditional “riot curve”. This would potentially move the policing of social disorder away from a situation of what Wright refers to in Policing: An Introduction to Concepts and Practice (2002) as “simply coping” with conflict towards one of “managing” it, being part of the process of transition for policing generally from modern to late‐modern. For a fundamental shift to occur in the public order policing arena though, such policies would need to be carried through in practice. Our critical analysis and “recontextualization” of a riot that took place in Burnley in 2001 suggests that in this instance, at least, this has not (yet) taken place.