Through ethnographic research in South Africa, this book explores the lived experiences of police navigating danger and death.

This is the first course guide that has been developed for students of policing. It identifies the core themes and additional source material, providing an essential overview for students and a reference point for use throughout their studies. The Policing Course Companion is designed to complement and work alongside existing literature. It provides: " Easy access to the key themes in policing " Helpful summaries of the approach taken by the main course textbooks " Guidance on the essential study skills required to pass the course " Help with developing critical thinking " Taking it Further sections that suggest how readers can extent their thinking beyond the "received wisdom" " Pointers to success in course exams and written assessment exercises The SAGE Course Companion in Policing is much more than a revision guide for undergraduates; it is an essential tool that will help readers take their course understanding to new levels and help them achieve success in their undergraduate course. John Grieve is a former Director of Intelligence for the Metropolitan Police, where he also held a number of other senior roles. He is now Chair of the John Grieve Centre for Policing and Community Safety and Emeritus Professor at London Metropolitan University. Clive Harfield is a former police Inspector and is now the Deputy Director of the John Grieve Centre for Policing and Community Safety, London Metropolitan University. Allyson MacVean is Founder and Director of the John Grieve Centre for Policing and Community Safety, London Metropolitan University.

Police culture has been widely criticized as a source of resistance to change and reform, and is often misunderstood. This book seeks to capture the heart of police culture—including its tragedies and celebrations—and to understand its powerful themes of morality, solidarity, and common sense, by systematically integrating a broad literature on police culture into middle-range theory, and developing original perspectives about many aspects of police work.

An insider view of an urban subculture! While much of the literature on police analyzes critically what they do, few works address issues of how police officers feel about their chosen profession, their worldview, or their visions. This refreshingly original and unique ethnographic contribution by anthropologist Joan Barker exposes the human elementone rarely seen by non-policeof officers working for the often-controversial L.A.P.D. During her twenty years of fieldwork, Barker gathered valuable information through formal, in-depth interviews and firsthand experiences, distilling her findings into an illuminating, coherent account. She discovers that five phases of occupational socialization normatively mold officers experiences and perceptions. Fleshing out her discussion is the compelling narrative of Fred, a traditional officer whose authentic voice reveals feelings and attitudes that manifest the essence of the human who does the job of policing. An insider view of an urban subculture usually known only from its public presentation.

Police culture has been widely criticized as a source of resistance to change and reform, and is often misunderstood. This book seeks to capture the heart of police culture—including its tragedies and celebrations—and to understand its powerful themes of morality, solidarity, and common sense, by systematically integrating a broad literature on police culture into middle-range theory, and developing original perspectives about many aspects of police work.

A highly identifiable topic of discussion among scholars and practitioners alike is police culture. Unfortunately, a large degree of vagueness and confusion also comes with this concept, as a variety of definitions, perspectives, and levels of aggregation are used to describe the ways in which officers cope with the problems and conditions faced out on the street and inside the police department. Police Culture: Adapting to the Strains of the Job provides clarity to such discussions by comprehensively organizing the disparate conceptualizations of police culture based on key assumptions, foundational research, primary cultural explanation, and common research methodologies. Based on in-person surveys of patrol officers from seven agencies of varying size, structure, and geographic locale, the book also provides one of the most comprehensive empirical examinations of police culture to date. The findings point to features of the occupation where there is widespread agreement among officers, as well as elements that produce cultural heterogeneity. The implications of these findings for the "homogeneity versus heterogeneity" police culture debate are discussed. The book also uniquely traces the historical context of police culture across five primary policing eras spanning the past several hundred years. The "lessons from the field" section offers several helpful hints for those interested in police research (in general) and survey methodologies specifically. The book is intended for police researchers, students, and practitioners with various interests and knowledge levels. "This is probably one of the most comprehensive studies of what police culture actually entails, delving into the aspects of what officers routinely deal with out in the field on a daily basis...what is so refreshing about this book is that not only is it well written and the subject matter so well researched, it is surprisingly easy to follow about the intentions of the study and the outcome of the findings themselves on police culture." -- Frank Fuller, Criminal Justice Review 39(4)

This fascinating new title offers an ethnographical investigation of contemporary police culture based on extensive field work across a range of ranks and units in the UK's police force. By drawing on over 600 hours of direct observation of operational policing in urban and rural areas and interviews with over 60 officers, the author assesses what impact three decades of social, economic and political change have had on police culture. She offers new understandings of the policing of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and the ways in which reform initiatives are accommodated and resisted within the police. The author also explores the attempts of one force to effect cultural change both to improve the working conditions of staff and to deliver a more effective and equitable service to all groups in society. Beginning with a review of the literature on police culture from 30 years ago, the author goes on to outline the new social, economic and political field of contemporary British policing. Taking this as a starting point, the remaining chapters present the main findings of the empirical research in what is a a truly comprehensive analysis of present day policing culture.

Predict and Surveil offers an unprecedented, inside look at how police use big data and new surveillance technologies. Sarah Brayne conducted years of fieldwork with the LAPD--one of the largest and most technically advanced law enforcement agencies in the world-to reveal the unmet promises and very real perils of police use of data--driven surveillance and analytics.

This book brings together knowledge, debates and themes of police culture in one highly accessible resource to provide an overview of the key literature of the area.

Violence and policing are inevitably associated. Criminals use violence not only against innocent members of the public, but also against the police themselves. For our own protection and theirs, we have given police a licence to use force, sometimes with lethal consequences. But the exercise of this licence is fraught with risk to the community. The disturbing record of police shootings in Victoria, and irresponsible police violence elsewhere in recent years, vividly illustrate this risk. The public outcry against such events is understandable. To find a solution, we need to analyse the contexts and the cultural background of the use of police violence, and to think hard about its causes and proper limits. In Violence and Police Culture, eminent contributors offer valuable insights and experience to the growing debate. While Australian in origin and emphasis, the book addresses a public issue that resonates as far afield as London, New York, Tokyo and Belfast. Violence and Police Culture argues that there are features of police culture which foster abuse of the right to use violence. The book makes positive suggestions about institutional changes that might alleviate the problems bedevilling what the philosopher Thomas Hobbes called 'the right of the sword'.