Policing Space is a fascinating firsthand account of how the Los Angeles Police Department attempts to control its vast, heterogeneous territory. As such, the book offers a rare, ground-level look at the relationship between the control of space and the exercise of power. Author Steve Herbert spent eight months observing one patrol division of the LAPD on the job. A compelling story in itself, his fieldwork with the officers in the Wilshire Division affords readers a close view of the complex factors at play in how the police define and control territory, how they make and mark space. A remarkable ethnography of a powerful police department, underscored throughout with telling on-the-scene vignettes, this book is also an unusually intensive analysis of the exercise of territorial power-and of territoriality as a key component of police power. Unique in its application of fieldwork and theory to this complex subject, it should prove valuable to readers in urban and political geography, urban and political sociology, and criminology, as well as those who wonder about the workings of the LAPD.

Policing Space is a fascinating firsthand account of how the Los Angeles Police Department attempts to control its vast, heterogeneous territory. As such, the book offers a rare, ground-level look at the relationship between the control of space and the exercise of power. Author Steve Herbert spent eight months observing one patrol division of the LAPD on the job. A compelling story in itself, his fieldwork with the officers in the Wilshire Division affords readers a close view of the complex factors at play in how the police define and control territory, how they make and mark space. A remarkable ethnography of a powerful police department, underscored throughout with telling on-the-scene vignettes, this book is also an unusually intensive analysis of the exercise of territorial power-and of territoriality as a key component of police power. Unique in its application of fieldwork and theory to this complex subject, it should prove valuable to readers in urban and political geography, urban and political sociology, and criminology, as well as those who wonder about the workings of the LAPD.

The police are perhaps the most visible representation of government. They are charged with what has been characterized as an "impossible" mandate -- control and prevent crime, keep the peace, provide public services -- and do so within the constraints of democratic principles. The police are trusted to use deadly force when it is called for and are allowed access to our homes in cases of emergency. In fact, police departments are one of the few government agencies that can be mobilized by a simple phone call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are ubiquitous within our society, but their actions are often not well understood. The Oxford Handbook of Police and Policing brings together research on the development and operation of policing in the United States and elsewhere. Accomplished policing researchers Michael D. Reisig and Robert J. Kane have assembled a cast of renowned scholars to provide an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the institution of policing. The different sections of the Handbook explore policing contexts, strategies, authority, and issues relating to race and ethnicity. The Handbook also includes reviews of the research methodologies used by policing scholars and considerations of the factors that will ultimately shape the future of policing, thus providing persuasive insights into why and how policing has developed, what it is today, and what to expect in the future. Aimed at a wide audience of scholars and students in criminology and criminal justice, as well as police professionals, the Handbook serves as the definitive resource for information on this important institution.

The ghetto, the block, neighborhood, community, and hot spot are all terms that capture a particular space or a familiar location for citizens and law enforcement officers. These spaces may appear welcoming to some, or send waves of fear into others who have to enter. What is it about an area of the city that makes it a hot spot for crime at night? Why do the police act, speak, and patrol so differently across segments of the city? At their core these questions all show an awareness of the power of space. Spatial Policing is a fascinating look at how the contexts of space, location, and time influence law enforcement, which can result in differential treatment and controversial patrol practices. Each chapter in Spatial Policing, written by leading experts in law enforcement, spatial, and cultural issues in criminal justice provides a highly readable text, and offers an in depth discussion of theory, research findings, as well as real world examples of the most important spatial contexts for police actions. Spatial Policing explores in rich detail the numerous contexts of space, from urban settings, to rural, to the space of minorities, and international borders to examine how each represents a unique challenge for individual officers, departments, and their patrol efforts in our society. Recognizing how space is used and defined as well as how it conditions the interactions between citizens and the police is at the heart of Spatial Policing. Ultimately, for law enforcement, space matters. "Police officers are all too aware of the 'spaces' in which they work, but police researchers have been slow to catch on. Environmental criminology has made its mark on policing, but the literature has been lacking a thorough treatment of this progression. Spatial Policing addresses both shortcomings--authoritatively and comprehensively." -- John L. Worrall, The University of Texas at Dallas, and Editor, Police Quarterly "This is a wonderful book. It goes far beyond what most books on the geography of crime consider in that it provides both a substantial theoretical underpinning to the field as well as interesting and cutting-edge articles that apply the most current thinking on the spatial dimensions of crime. Charles Crawford has put together a text that is destined to become a leading authority in an important and emerging segment of criminology." -- John Fuller, University of West Georgia "Spatial Policing aids readers in developing critical thinking skills in spatial terms, which in turn will be an invaluable tool for policing in the real world and researching crimes ... [and an] asset to students and practitioners in critically assessing the root causes of crime in spatial terms." -- Criminal Justice Review

Policing Cities brings together international scholars from numerous disciplines to examine urban policing, securitization, and regulation in nine countries and the conceptual issues these practices raise. Chapters cover many of the world’s major cities, including New York, Beijing, Paris, London, Berlin, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Melbourne, and Toronto, as well as other urban areas in Britain, United States, South Africa, Germany, Australia and Georgia. The collection examines the activities and reforms of the traditional public police, but also those of emerging public and private policing agents and spaces that fall outside the public police’s purview and which previously have received little attention. It explores dramatic changes in public policing arrangements and strategies, exclusion of urban homeless people, new forms of urban surveillance and legal regulation, and securitization and militarization of urban spaces. The core argument in the volume is that cities are more than mere background for policing, securitization and regulation. Policing and the city are intimately intertwined. This collection also reveals commonalities in the empirical interests, methodological preferences, and theoretical concerns of scholars working in these various disciplines and breaks down barriers among them. This is the first collection on urban policing, regulation, and securitization with such a multi-disciplinary and international character. This collection will have a wide readership among upper level undergraduate and graduate level students in several disciplines and countries and can be used in geography/urban studies, legal and socio-legal studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, and criminology courses.

Although racism has plagued the American justice system since the nation's colonial beginnings, private White Americans are taking matters into their own hands. From racist 911 calls and hoaxes to grassroots voter suppression and vigilante 'self-defense,' concerted efforts are made every day by private citizens to exclude Black Americans from schools, neighborhoods, and positions of power. Neighborhood Watch examines the specific ways people police America's color line to protect 'White spaces.' The book charts how these actions too often result in harassment, arrest, injury, or death, yet typically go unchecked. Instead, these actions are promoted and encouraged by legislatures looking to expand racially discriminatory laws, a police system designed to respond with force to any frivolous report of Black 'mischief,' and a Supreme Court that has abdicated its role in rejecting police abuse. To combat these realities, Neighborhood Watch offers preliminary recommendations for reform, including changes to the 'maximum policing' state, increased accountability for civilians who abuse emergency response systems, and proposals to demilitarize the color line.

“A well-supported critique of therapeutic policing and, by extension, of similar paternalistic efforts to help the poor by hassling them into good behavior.” —Los Angeles Times In his first year working in Los Angeles’s Skid Row, Forrest Stuart was stopped on the street by police fourteen times. Usually for doing little more than standing there. Juliette, a woman he met during that time, has been stopped by police well over one hundred times, arrested upward of sixty times, and has given up more than a year of her life serving week-long jail sentences. Her most common crime? Simply sitting on the sidewalk—an arrestable offense in LA. Why? What purpose did those arrests serve, for society or for Juliette? How did we reach a point where we’ve cut support for our poorest citizens, yet are spending ever more on policing and prisons? That’s the complicated, maddening story that Stuart tells in Down, Out & Under Arrest, a close-up look at the hows and whys of policing poverty in the contemporary United States. What emerges from Stuart’s years of fieldwork—not only with Skid Row residents, but with the police charged with managing them—is a tragedy built on mistakes and misplaced priorities more than on heroes and villains. At a time when distrust between police and the residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods has never been higher, Stuart’s book helps us see where we’ve gone wrong, and what steps we could take to begin to change the lives of our poorest citizens—and ultimately our society itself—for the better.

A radical guide to the language of policing This field guide arms activists—and indeed anyone concerned about police abuse—with critical insights that ultimately redefine the very idea of policing. When we talk about police and police reform, we speak the language of police legitimation through euphemism. So state sexual assault becomes “body-cavity search,” and ruthless beatings “non-compliance deterrence.” In entries such as “police dog,” “stop and frisk,” and “rough ride,” the authors expose the way “copspeak” suppresses the true meaning and history of law enforcement. In field guide fashion, they reveal a world hidden in plain view. The book argues that a redefined language of policing might help us chart a future that’s free. Including explanations of newsmaking terms such as “deadname,” “kettling,” and “qualified immunity,” and a foreword by leading justice advocate Craig Gilmore.

"Relying on compelling interviews from the Meacham Park neighborhood--a marginalized Black enclave located in a predominately white affluent St. Louis suburb, this book brings to life the everyday interactions of disadvantaged suburban Blacks as they faced annexation, aggressive policing, two nationally profiled shootings, and intervention from the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ)"--Provided by publisher.

Interest in the spatial distribution of crime and criminals has experienced a virtual explosion over the past several years. In Space, Time, and Crime, the authors provide an overview of the various theoretical explanations, crime control policies, and practical investigative tools used to identify high crime places, spaces, and times. Throughout the text, Lersch and Hart strive to provide a highly readable, informative discussion of the important issues surrounding the geography of crime, providing real world examples as well as illustrations from previously published research. Space, Time, and Crime provides a basic overview of the more popular theories that have been used to explain the concentration of crime in certain places and times. Each theory is carefully and clearly developed from its historical roots to contemporary applications, with solid research cited throughout the discussions. The reader is then moved from theory into practice, where a summary and critique of a number of various theoretically-driven practical policy applications are presented. The basic elements of crime analysis and crime mapping, both very popular crime fighting tools for police agencies and place managers, are presented. Finally, the book closes with a strong Marxist-based critique of the various theories, policies, and tools, leaving the reader with some troubling questions to ponder. This fourth edition updates and expands the third edition by including dozens of figures and images that help visualize criminological research, essentially bringing the real-world of research to the reader and into the classroom. This new edition also incorporates new sections on some of the most recent advancements in the study of space, time, and crime, including a review of Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) and Situational Action Theory (SAT). Finally, this new edition has incorporated empirical scholarship from over 50 new/updated sources, providing the reader with the most up-to-date topics discussed by the authors. PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full, 203-slide presentation are available to view here. Email [email protected] for more information. Praise for earlier editions: "One of the best features of this text is its readability, coupled with the logical development of theoretical interpretation. Space, Time, and Crime is crafted to encourage students to examine familiar concepts from a distinctive perspective -- one that frames theory logically to enhance students' understanding of the unique and powerful relationship between crime and place." -- Mary Ann Eastep, University of Central Florida "The authors provide broad coverage of topics addressing the understanding, analysis and response to the geographic patterns of crime. They include helpful historical coverage of many criminological theories pertinent to the understanding of crimes at places and variation of crime across space. Lersch and Hart also discuss crime data sources and introduce applied crime mapping and crime analysis techniques and topics, as well as applications and criminal justice responses to crime in hot spots. Of note is an unusual presentation of the complexities and conflicting evidence provided by geographic restrictions and mapping of sex offenders." -- Tammy Kochel, Southern Illinois University