title: Organizational communication and the symbolic construction of police murder investigations.
abstract: This paper draws upon a range of empirical data to consider the ways in which police murder investigations are symbolically constructed, both within and outside of the police organization. It is argued that a range of communicative formats serve to produce the activities associated with police murder investigations in a way that serves to legitimate the police function to both members of the public and police officers alike. A particular emphasis is placed upon understanding the connections between informal and formal communications, and the instrumental and expressive objectives that variously underpin them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Surrey.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Innes
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004739:England; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D015279:Organizational Culture; D016134:Organizational Policy; D016495:Police