The Role of Police in American Society A Documentary History

Subjects:

• Crime & Justice » Crime & Security
• Law » Criminal Law
• Political Science » Public Policy
• History » American History (General)

Reviews:

• Criminal justice practitioners and professionals can use this to identify key trends, and the general public will gain an understanding of changing police roles in American society.
  —Library Journal
• A wealth of useful and often interesting information for students of American policing can be found here.
  —American Reference Books Annual
• 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.
  —The Literature of Criminal Justice

• Endorsement From Geoffrey P. Alpert
  Professor, College of Criminal Justice
  University of South Carolina: The editors have done an excellent job of locating and incorporating a tremendous amount of information. I learned a great deal reading the manuscript. This volume will become an invaluable reference work for students of police work.
• Endorsement From Otwin Marenin
  Professor
  Washington State University: Fascinating stuff, well chosen, clearly edited, and comprehensive in its overview of what mattered in the creation of the American police.

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