This book of original essays presents controversial topics, then encourages the readers to consider what they think ought to be done. The selections identify several of the existing issues in policing about which something needs to be done; then, they present various viewpoints on possible solutions. This is done against the backdrop of an era of significant change in worldwide security, post-9/11, that has caused major changes in the manner in which the U.S. conducts its political, social and economic affairs.
Police Innovation and Control of the Police: Problems of Law, Order and Community brings together an impressive array of scholars and analysts to examine the impact of the development of crime control strategies on problems of police corruption and abuse. The text provides an historical overview of the development of legal control of the police, and examines the challenges that recent innovations, such as community or problem oriented policing present to the traditional, historical mechanisms for maintaining control of the police. Additionally, a comparative perspective is featured that draws upon the experiences of the Gorbachev era in the Soviet Union as well as on the history of European law enforcement over the last century. This book is instrumental for encouraging discussion and debate of police innovation and its impact on the ability of society to control the police abuse. In light of the Los Angeles riots of the Spring of 1992, scholars, practitioners, and students of crime prevention studies, criminology, and psychology will find this volume timely, topical, and provocative.
Developments and problems associated with police power are at the very front of current public debate. This volume addresses contemporary issues of policing with a focus on the characteristics of police power as a coercive force in society and its continued need for legitimacy in a democratic social order.
Providing a timely and much-needed investigation of how U.S. law enforcement carries out its public safety and crime fighting mandates, this book is an invaluable resource for students, educators, and concerned citizens. Does America face an epidemic of police officers abusing their powers and disregarding constitutional rights, especially in communities of color? Or are such accusations unfair, especially given the enormous challenges of enforcing the law in 21st-century America? This book provides a unique frame of reference for understanding how some of the issues between the police and the public emerged, identifying events that have shaped current relationships between the police and the public, as well as the public's expectations and perceptions of the police. An authoritative resource for understanding modern law enforcement and its relationship with American communities, this volume addresses subjects including the legal underpinnings of various law enforcement actions and practices; the so-called militarization of police departments; the increased use of force and surveillance to combat crime and terrorism, and to generally "keep the peace"; and the perspectives of Black Lives Matter activists and other critics of American law enforcement. The entries provide readers with expert analysis of current topics related to the intensifying debate about the American police state; examine the scope of law enforcement issues that have existed for centuries, and explain why they continue to exist; and cover new mandates for exercising police power, enabling readers to critically analyze what is presented to them in the media. Included throughout the book are excerpts from important laws, speeches, reports, and studies pertaining to the subject of the use and abuse of police power in the United States
The traditional view of the role of the police had come under increasing attacks in the early 1980s. The riots of 1981 and the Scarman Inquiry stimulated a widespread public debate about policing, police powers and accountability. It had become clear that the police did not simply enforce the law. They also made policy about what law to enforce, when to enforce it and against whom to enforce it. It was the control of this discretionary power which was at the heart of the debate at the time. Originally published in 1986, this book considers these critical issues in contemporary policing. It concentrates on those aspects of policing that were usually covered in law and law related courses. It deals with the constitutional framework within which the police operates. It examines the police complaints procedure and the full range of police powers against the background of the political debate at the time. Throughout the book the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act is discussed in detail and its impact upon police and public alike is analysed.
"Turkey's well documented endemic problems of torture and its notoriously violent policing culture ought to be a thing of the past. Motivated to meet conditions attached to its prospective European Union accession, within the past five years Turkey has made important changes in law and in detention regulations, providing better safeguards for those held in places of detention. Over that period there was a recorded decrease in allegations of torture or ill-treatment of detainees held in the anti-terror departments of police stations. There are, however, signs of continuing problems of police violence, and a reported rise in overall complaints of torture and police violence since the beginning of 2007. At the core of the persistence of these phenomena is the culture of impunity. Historically, law enforcement officials were rarely if ever held to account, and still less often in a manner that reflected the gravity of the violations committed. Today, despite increased legal safeguards, law enforcement officers who flout them can still enjoy effective impunity when they are alleged to have abused or even unlawfully killed victims"--P. 1.
This book is a study of urban police and their interest in obtaining power as individuals within the organization and collectively within the community. Urban society, beset by increases in crime and violence and the growing irrelevancy of primary socializing agents, must look to the police, the institutionalized control agency, for the preservation of peace, order, and tranquility in the community. The dilemma of a democratic society is how to give the police sufficient power to perform their role effectively, while at the same time maintaining restraints on the police in order to prevent abuses to democratic principles. This book looks at the discretionary conduct of policemen and whether adequate accountability measures exist -- and, if not, whether they can be realized, while allowing for the necessary development of police capabilities in the performance of requisite functions. In its focus on the behavior of police officials and the relationship of the police bureaucracy to the urban political system, the work strives to be both descriptive and prescriptive. The author uses examples from a cross-section of American cities and focuses on Memphis, Tennessee to illustrate the political events and social factors which effect policing. Collective police power is measured by the extent of their discretionary authority and freedom from external controls, individual power is perceived by the rational strategies on the part of police officials striving to attain or consolidate their personal power positions in the organization. Implicit in the police's struggle for power -- both personal and collective -- is the existence of conflict with challenging institutional and environmental forces and actors.
Policing remains one of the most controversial areas of criminal justice. Recent years have seen major changes in every aspect of policing: new constructions of the police mission, new ways of delivering police services and new arrangements for police accountability. The police have had to respond to international terrorism, international organized crime, the new faces of migration and asylum, globalization and the reconstitution of societies in the post-Communist and Islamic world. This completely revised second edition argues that through these changes enduring and fundamental divisions can be traced. The book is relevant to those studying criminology, police studies, sociology, social policy and law, wherever their interests touch on the police.
