NCJ Number
203173
Date Published
2003
Length
398 pages
Annotation
This book discusses policing as an activity in which many agencies are taking part.
Abstract
The first part of the book presents a critique of Bittner’s definition of the police by their use of force in contexts that justify having recourse to physical coercion. The second part addresses various aspects of public policing, emphasizing the various stages of the reform of policing undertaken under the label of community policing. It also emphasizes the misunderstandings generated by the fact that this label is applied to disparate forms of policing. The third part has chapters devoted to the concept of “high policing” which is policing with an explicit political purpose. The theory of high policing is first presented regarding its origins and revisited in the light of developments that occurred at the end of the 20th century. The fourth part of the book is devoted to private security, which is described as increasingly techno-intensive, in contrast to the first private agencies that were labor-intensive and were staffed by vast numbers of security guards. The conclusion of the book attempts to provide a map of all agencies and other non-institutional participants involved in policing. It also attempts to explain the conditions that should be met by a comprehensive theory of policing.