Policing the discourse: the discursive anatomy of a national police strategy report

Police reporting has become subject to similar practices found in the corporate and commercial world. A key aspect of this is the strategic report which lays out the future of the organization in terms of the vision of senior executives. This paper considers the discursive construction of a police strategy report. Police reports in general belong to a wider reporting genre while strategic plans can be considered as part of a colony of planning genres. The discursive anatomy of this kind of report can be considered in terms of communicative purpose and the set of discursive moves involved that reflect normative expectations associated of the intended audience. These features are examined by way of a discursive analysis of a contemporary Police Scotland strategy report.