Every modern democracy in our increasingly complex world must confront a fundamental problem: how should politicians manage police, ensuring that they act in the public interest while avoiding the temptation to utilize them in a partisan manner? Drawing on first-hand experiences from six democracies, the authors describe how frequently disagreements arise between politicians and police commanders, what issues are involved, and how they are resolved.Governing the Police is organized into three parts: the intellectual and governmental context of democratic governance; the experience of chief officers in that relationship; and the reflections on lessons learned. Instead of describing practices within each individual country, it compares them across countries, developing generalizations about practices, explanations for differences, and assessments of success in managing the police/political relationship.Focusing mainly on the daily, informal interactions between politicians and police as they balance their respective duties, this book compares the experiences and opinions of chief police officers in Australia, Britain, Canada, India, New Zealand, and the United States. By examining the experiences of important officials, the authors explain how the balance between accountability and independence can be managed and what challenges leaders face. The authors conclude by posing well-informed recommendations for improving police governance.
The Law of the Police, Second Edition provides materials and analysis for law school classes on policing and the law. It offers a resource for students and others seeking to understand and evaluate how American law governs police interactions with the public. The book provides primary materials, including cases, statutes, and departmental policies, and commentary and questions designed to help readers explore policing practices; the law that governs them; and the law’s consequences for the costs, benefits, fairness, and accountability of policing. Among other issues, the notes and questions encourage readers to consider the form and content of the law; how it might change; who is making it; and how the law affects policing. Part I introduces local policing—its history, its goals, and its problems; Part II considers the law that regulates criminal investigations; Part III addresses the law that governs street policing; and Part IV looks at policing’s legal remedies and reforms. New to the Second Edition: New sections and materials on no-knock warrants, facial recognition technology, state regulation of pedestrian stops, alternatives to police-initiated traffic stops, state laws granting arrest authority, retaliatory arrest claims, state qualified immunity reform, private civil settlements for police reform, and community strategies to limit the scope of policing. New notes and materials on the role of prosecutors in shaping police conduct, the Second Amendment, the use of race in policing, policing homelessness, the impact of police unions and collective bargaining, and the Biden Administration’s pattern-or-practice suits. A recent federal indictment charging an officer with constitutionally excessive force. Updates to laws and notes to reflect new data, laws, and criminological and legal research. Additional examples of controversial police encounters to illustrate legal issues and concepts. Benefits for instructors and students: Chapters and notes designed to allow flexibility—allow professors to assign materials selectively according to the needs of the course. As a result, the casebook can serve as materials for a range of lecture and discussion-based courses on the law regulating police conduct; on legal remedies and reforms for problems in policing; or on more specific topics, such as the use of force or constitutional rules governing police conduct. Descriptions of controversial policing encounters and links to and discussion of videos of such incidents—help students practice applying the law, consider its policy implications, and gain awareness of contemporary controversies on policing. Diverse primary materials, including federal and state cases and statutes and police department policies—provide a broad exposure to the types of law that govern public policing. Photos, links to videos, protest art, and charts—pique student interest, enable richer discussions, and provide additional context for legal materials in the book. Integration of scholarly work on policing, on the law, and on the impact of police practices—enables students to make more sophisticated assessments of the law. Notes and questions—designed to (a) highlight alternative strategies lawyers might use to change the law, and (b) raise comparative institutional questions about who is best suited to regulate the police. Discussion of legal topics relevant to contemporary discussions of policing—studied nowhere else in the law school curriculum.
Every modern democracy in our increasingly complex world must confront a fundamental problem: how should politicians manage police, ensuring that they act in the public interest while avoiding the temptation to utilize them in a partisan manner? Drawing on first-hand experiences from six democracies, the authors describe how frequently disagreements arise between politicians and police commanders, what issues are involved, and how they are resolved.Governing the Police is organized into three parts: the intellectual and governmental context of democratic governance; the experience of chief officers in that relationship; and the reflections on lessons learned. Instead of describing practices within each individual country, it compares them across countries, developing generalizations about practices, explanations for differences, and assessments of success in managing the police/political relationship.Focusing mainly on the daily, informal interactions between politicians and police as they balance their respective duties, this book compares the experiences and opinions of chief police officers in Australia, Britain, Canada, India, New Zealand, and the United States. By examining the experiences of important officials, the authors explain how the balance between accountability and independence can be managed and what challenges leaders face. The authors conclude by posing well-informed recommendations for improving police governance.
Government has been radically transformed over the past few decades. These transformations have been mirrored in, and often prefigured by, changes in the governance of security - mentalities, institutions, technologies and practices used to promote secure environments. This book traces the nature of these governmental changes by looking at security. It examines a variety of related questions, including: * What significant changes have occurred in the governance of security? * What implications do these changes have for collective life? * What new imaginings may be needed to reshape security? * What ethical factors need to be considered in formulating such new imaginings? The authors conclude bringing together descriptive, explanatory and normative considerations to access how justice can be conceived within the governance of security.
Law Enforcement in the United States, Second Edition presents a unique balance of theory, history, and practice of American law enforcement. It provides readers with updated, important information ranging from the evolution and theory of social control to the training, function, and strategies involved in modern policing. The authors also examine the gray areas of law enforcement, ethics, forces in society that impact policing, and the laws governing police behavior.
"This paper suggests that the past model of police professionalism has been updated as a result of technology and federal funding. Sklansky explains that 1960s police professionalism was not about tactics, such as random patrol, but rather about the governing mindset behind policies. By the early 1980s, this professional policing model was discredited, giving birth to community policing, which also focused more on ideas and policy and less on tactics. Community policing was seen to have shortcomings, such as being vague and not reducing serious crime. Today, professional policing is mounting a comeback. Community policing, however, is still valuable. Although the community policing model is incomplete, a model of "advanced community policing" could address unanswered specifics about the nature of community policing that would help law enforcement agencies, police researchers, and the public resist the persistent pull of police professionalism. Governing Science is one of a series of papers that are being published as a result of the second "Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety," a collaboration of NIJ and Harvard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management."--Publisher's website.
