Commentary: “Impossibility” and Realpolitik in Public Order: A Commander's Perspective

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12329
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Author: Paula Hennighan‐Finlay
• Date: 01 March 2015

“Impossibility” and Realpolitik in Public Order: A Commander’s Perspective 275

Commentary

Chief Inspector Paula Hennighan-

Finlay has experienced protests, disorder,

and riots both as a frontline police off‌i cer

and as a commander spanning 22 years

service. The dissertation for her master of

science (merit) concentrated on public order

policing at football events.

E-mail: phennighan@icloud.com

Paula Hennighan-Finlay

United Kingdom

 ere is much food for thought in Kevin Morrell and

Graeme Currie’s article “Impossible Jobs or Impossible

Tasks? Client Volatility and Frontline Policing Practice

in Urban Riots.” In the space available, I will ref‌l ect

on two points on the spectrum in this commentary—

the events of August 2011 and the policing of football

(soccer)—and conclude with more general thoughts

on impossibility.

In August 2011, I witnessed the “riots” from

Hampshire Constabulary’s Force Control Room as

critical incident commander—the most senior person

on duty. Watching the events unfold, colleagues and

I waited for “copycatting” in our communities. We

were fortunate to be able to improvise and imple-

ment a comparatively sophisticated media response

strategy, overseen by one very capable colleague who

took control of our Twitter and Facebook feeds and

monitored social media.  is enhanced our response,

although the major dif‌f‌i culty was indeed a volatile,

ballooning “client base.” Many responsible were not

previously known to us and instead seemed swept up

in events.  ey were cloaked in anonymity, empow-

ered by contemporary technology, and emboldened by

an unprecedented opportunity to loot stores (seen as

a victimless crime) apparently without consequence.

“Impossibility” and Realpolitik in Public Order:

A Commander’s Perspective

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 75, Iss. 2, pp. 275–276. © 2015 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12329.