Handcuffed: what holds policing back, and the keys to reform by
The current crisis in policing can be traced to failures of reform. "Sparrow surely is right to condemn policing directed only at crime rates rather than community satisfaction.” -The New York Times Book Review In the past two years, America has witnessed incendiary milestones in the poor relations between police and the African-American community: Ferguson, Baltimore, and more recently Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas. Malcolm Sparrow, who teaches at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is a former British police detective, argues that other factors in the development of police theory and practice over the last twenty-five years have also played a major role in contributing to these tragedies and to a great many other cases involving excessive police force and community alienation. Sparrow shows how the core ideas of community and problem-solving policing have failed to thrive. In many police departments these foundational ideas have been reduced to mere rhetoric. The result is heavy reliance on narrow quantitative metrics, where police define how well they are doing by tallying up traffic stops, or arrests made for petty crimes. Sparrow’s analysis shows what it will take for police departments to escape their narrow focus and perverse metrics and turn back to making public safety and public cooperation their primary goals. Police, according to Sparrow, are in the risk-control business and need to grasp the fundamental nature of that challenge and develop a much more sophisticated understanding of its implications for mission, methods, measurement, partnerships, and analysis.
Policing in America by
In the field of law enforcement in the United States, it is essential to know the contemporary problems being faced and combine that knowledge with empirical research and theoretical reasoning to arrive at best practices and an understanding of policing. Policing in America, Eighth Edition,provides a thorough analysis of the key issues in policing today, and offers an issues-oriented discussion focusing on critical concerns such as personnel systems, organization and management, operations, discretion, use of force, culture and behavior, ethics and deviance, civil liability, and police-community relations. A critical assessment of police history and the role politics played in the development of American police institutions is also addressed, as well as globalization, terrorism, and homeland security. This new edition not only offers updated research and examples, it also incorporates more ways for the reader to connect to the content through learning objectives, discussion questions, and "Myths and Realities of Policing" boxes. Video and Internet links provide additional coverage of important issues. With completely revised and updated chapters, Policing in America, Eighth Editionprovides an up-to-date examination of what to expect as a police officer in America.
Understanding violent criminals: insights from the front lines of law enforcement by
What causes people to commit violent crimes? The case studies in this book enable readers to evaluate the motivations behind crimes ranging from arson to rape to gang violence. * Provides compelling insight into criminals who commit the acts of robbery, rape, murder, crimes against children, human trafficking, gang violence, and arson * Presents case studies and unpublished studies to discuss issues such as victim selection, belief systems, motivations, and decision making * Brings to light the psychological trauma that the victims of crimes experience and the impact that these experiences have on their personal and professional lives * Allows readers to compare and contrast the typologies of each of the criminals discussed in the text as well as the associated theories in order to identify any commonalities * Ideally suited for criminal justice students, police officers and investigators, private investigators, criminal justice professors, forensic psychologists, criminologists, and anyone with an interest in criminal behavior
