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The Role of Police in American Society A Documentary History
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Bryan Vila, Cynthia Morris
ISBN: 0-313-30164-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-30164-3
360 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 5/30/1999
List Price: $65.00 (UK Sterling Price: £44.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: From the night watchmen of the 17th century to the highly publicized Rodney King hearings, the history and development of police policy and the role of police in American society are traced through this collection of 95 primary documents. Students, teachers, and interested readers can use this valuable resource to examine the development and role of the police in the United States through the words of the people who were involved in the struggle to enforce laws, uphold the Constitution, maintain safe and stable communities, and create efficient and effective police forces. An explanatory introduction precedes each document to aid the user in understanding the economic, political, social, and legislative forces that helped shape the role of the police in our society.

Riots, strikes, commission reports, innovations, groundbreaking studies, and major court cases from different time periods are presented in a balanced manner. This volume is divided into seven parts, each part representing a different time period in which the roles of the police were being redefined. Vila and Morris present the reader with theories from different professionals on what the role of the police should be and how to develop these roles, as well as presenting successful and unsuccessful models to help readers draw their own conclusions.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
    Introduction
    Night Watchmen, Constables, and Sheriffs: The Role of Early "Police" in Seventeenth-and Eighteenth- Century America
    Rangers, Marshals, and Municipal Police Forces: The Role of the Police in the Nineteenth Century
    Police Reform, and Social and Technological Advances in the Early Twentieth Century
    A Growing Emphasis on Police Training, Professionalism, Efficiency, and Ethics, 1939-1959
    Social Change and Conflicting Expectations of the Police Role, 1960-1978
    Reexamining and Redefining the Role of the Police, 1979-1989
    The Role of the Police in the 1990s
    Glossary
    Appendices
    Selected Bibliography
    Index
About the Author: BRYAN VILA is Associate Professor of Political Science and Administration of Justice at the University of Wyoming. Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Vila spent 17 years in local, national, and international law enforcement. He is co-editor of Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History (Greenwood, 1997).

CYNTHIA MORRIS is a freelance researcher, writer and editor living in Laramie, WY./e Morris spent 10 years working as a research writer at the University of California, and is co-editor of Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History (Greenwood, 1997).
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