Blue shift: "policing" metaphors for professional ecologies

Abstract

Communication scholars employ metaphors to illustrate the ways that knowledge is produced in professional contexts. This poster argues that current metaphors casting professional texts in ecological and economical terms deserve reevaluation. To do this, it uses a content analysis of ethnographic notes from "ride-along" sessions and interviews with police officers in a mid-sized Midwestern town to construct a model of how law enforcement officers use technology to generate criminal evidence while on patrol. The model, which emphasizes the importance of "space" and "authority" in addition to traditional ecological metaphors of scope and time, is displayed in a graphical flow-chart that illustrates the capture, transmittal, and storage of this evidence. By illuminating these processes, it not only provides a clearer understanding of the role that these concepts play in genre ecologies, but also points to the complex ways that professional ecologies impart meaning to professional texts in the criminal justice system --- for better and for worse.