Police Force Police Service

The contributors to this book examine the issues involved in what direction British policing should take. Should it promote itself as a police force, dedicated to the attack on crime and public disorder, or should it adopt the mantle of police service, devoted to providing reassurance?

British policing faces major decisions about its future direction. Should it promote itself as a police force, dedicated to the attack on crime and public disorder, or should it adopt the mantle of police service, devoted to providing reassurance, flexibility to community wishes, and care? These are the critical decisions that the police face. The choice made will have implications for all citizens in our society. Together, a panel of eminent contributors examine the issues involved in this choice. They push the debate forward and show how complex are the interconnections between care and control within British policing. The implications are far-reaching and will influence not only the quality of policing but also the quality of life for all of us.

This groundbreaking history of how American police forces have been militarized is now revised and updated. Newly added material brings the story through 2020, including analysis of the Ferguson protests, the Obama and Trump administrations, and the George Floyd protests. The last days of colonialism taught America’s revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. But over the last two centuries, America’s cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as enemies. In Rise of the Warrior Cop, Balko shows how politicians’ ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier. His fascinating, frightening narrative that spans from America’s earliest days through today shows how a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society.

"Project of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Standards Committee, Criminal Justice Section"--T.p. verso.

Provides a glimpse into the world of the individuals behind the badge and the tangled world they inhabit on the behalf of the public they serve

Essays by three specialists in different fields comprise this study of the role of the police in urban America. Bernard l. Garmire, Miami chief of police, starts with the theory that it is too much to expect the policeman to function effectively as both crime fighter and community relations expert. He recommends that police departments be divided into separate law enforcement and community service divisions. Psychiatrist Jesse Rubin discusses problems of the recruit who must form his adult identity while attempting to learn the techniques of his profession. Rubin suggests that men be recruited specifically for specialized roles, such as crime fighting or community relations in order to clarify the role expectations of each policeman. A pessimistic view of past community-relations programs is presented by James Q. Wilson, a political scientist. In lieu of community meetings, discussion groups or police human relations training, he offers several specific action proposals. He recommends increased patrol manpower, higher salaries, and the use of short-term recruits to serve on the police force as an alternative to military service. Like the other two authors, he recommends a community-relations unit but warns that such a unit should not be isolated from the rest of the force.

Contemporary police service delivery and performance are complex phenomena. Law enforcement, particularly at the local level, must therefore face the additional challenges of globalization, cybercrime, counter-terrorism and calls for reform, at a time when extreme budgetary constraints are being implemented. Policing operations encompass multiple critical tasks and responsibilities not routinely measured and evaluated, such as response to incidents involving medical assistance, homelessness, mental illness, community engagement, and neighborhood problem-solving endeavors. This volume aims to provide government, criminal justice and policing administrators, policy makers and criminal justice scholars and researchers with comprehensive analyses of the critical issues impacting the challenges inherent in providing effectual public safety, security and service, all from a global perspective. It takes into account popular criticism, extreme budgetary constraints, and the relatively novel and overwhelming challenges of terrorism and cybercrime. The book merges study and practice to identify avenues to best serve community interests, ensure organizational success, and enhance public confidence in policing and in rule of law.

This book offers a global history of civilian, military and gendarmerie-style policing around the First World War. Whilst many aspects of the Great War have been revisited in light of the centenary, and in spite of the recent growth of modern policing history, the role and fate of police forces in the conflict has been largely forgotten. Yet the war affected all European and extra-European police forces. Despite their diversity, all were confronted with transnational factors and forms of disorder, and suffered generally from mass-conscription. During the conflict, societies and states were faced with a crisis situation of unprecedented magnitude with mass mechanised killing on the battle field, and starvation, occupation, destruction, and in some cases even revolution, on the home front. Based on a wide geographical and chronological scope – from the late nineteenth century to the interwar years – this collection of essays explores the policing of European belligerent countries, alongside their empires, and neutral countries. The book’s approach crosses traditional boundaries between neutral and belligerent nations, centres and peripheries, and frontline and rear areas. It focuses on the involvement and wartime transformations of these law-enforcement forces, thus highlighting underlying changes in police organisation, identity and practices across this period.