The British model of policing in the first half of the 20th Century has been viewed as the epitome of police professional ideology. The model was characterized by eight elements: high internal discipline and standards of integrity, subordination to the rule of law, nonpartisanship, popular accountability, minimal force, a service role, emphasis on crime prevention by uniform patrol, and the effective safeguarding of public security. Police effectiveness and social order were viewed as the achievement of the police themselves. In reality, however, the apparent effectiveness of the police was made possible by structural and cultural factors in British society, namely, the integration of the working class into the dominant political and social order and the spread of the values of citizenship and civility. As these factors have deteriorated and inequality and conflict have increased since the early 1970's, the British police model has eroded. Since then, the British police have been plagued by corruption, perceptions of the abuse of power, charges of political partisanship, dissatisfaction with the system for handling citizen complaints against the police, the use of a militaristic strategy in handling riot control, a move away from community policing and preventive patrol, and apparent police ineffectiveness in stemming the crime increase. Current efforts to bring the British police back to a service model have failed to take into account the profound cultural and social changes that underlie the current problems facing the police. 35 references