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‘Vers une reconnaissance de la valeur de l’histoire orale de la police en criminologie’ (Towards a criminological appreciation of police oral histories)

Police oral histories have traditionally had an uncertain status. Oral histories remain peripheral to orthodox history and, equally, police oral histories have attracted little attention from the discipline of criminology. In this piece of work, three inter-related themes are identified that allow us to meaningfully assess the relationship between police oral history and criminology. These are a) police narrativity, b) determinism and c) policing as a cultural institution. In doing so, the author argues that oral history remains an important tool in providing accounts of the police world that reflect its inherent, yet often over-looked, complexity.