The events of September 11, 2001, combined with a pattern of increased crime and violence in the 1980s and mid-1990s in the Americas, has crystallized the need to reform government policies and police procedures to combat these threats. Public Security and Police Reform in the Americas examines the problems of security and how they are addressed in Latin America and the United States. Bailey and Dammert detail the wide variation in police tactics and efforts by individual nations to assess their effectiveness and ethical accountability. Policies on this issue can take the form of authoritarianism, which threatens the democratic process itself, or can, instead, work to "demilitarize" the police force. Bailey and Dammert argue that although attempts to apply generic models such as the successful "zero tolerance" created in the United States to the emerging democracies of Latin America—where institutional and economic instabilities exist—may be inappropriate, it is both possible and profitable to consider these issues from a common framework across national boundaries. Public Security and Police Reform in the Americas lays the foundation for a greater understanding of policies between nations by examining their successes and failures and opens a dialogue about the common goal of public security.

The Handbook of Latin American and Caribbean Intelligence Cultures explores the contemporary efforts of Latin American and Caribbean nations to develop an intelligence culture. Specifically, it analyzes these countries’ efforts to democratize their intelligence agencies (i.e. to develop intelligence services that are both transparent and effective) to convert the former military regimes’ repressive security apparatuses into democratic intelligence communities—a rather paradoxical task, considering that democracy calls for political neutrality, transparency, and accountability, while effective intelligence services must operate in secrecy. Indeed, even the most successful democracies face this conundrum of democracy and intelligence; Latin America and the Caribbean region is not alone in facing this challenge. The legacy of the repressive military regimes or brutal civil wars—which have inspired in the public a general disdain toward intelligence services due to the grave human rights abuses—coupled with politicians’ persistent lack of interest or expertise in intelligence matters complicate the region’s quest for a proper balance between the competing demands of democracy and intelligence. This volume details the attempts of the region’s countries to overcome these obstacles and pursue democratic intelligence institution building—transforming the legal basis for intelligence; establishing democratic control and oversight mechanisms; and fostering intelligence openness, transparency, and outreach.

In particular, marginal citizenship adopted patriarchy as a model to regulate social relations at home, failing to address gender inequalities and perpetuating class differences."--BOOK JACKET.

This Handbook discusses the use of public-private partnerships in law enforcement and security. Written by international experts across multiple disciplines, chapters include case studies and cross-sectional industry-wide studies of private security performance in comparison with public police and collaborated experiences of the two sectors. The Handbook uses existing experiences and public economics to suggest how to improve security and social welfare through greater competition and cooperation between public and private security. This volume provides an integrated framework to assist policymakers in both public and private agencies. This Handbook will be an important reference for scholars in public economics, public administration, criminology, and criminal justice, as well as professionals and policymakers in the public and private sectors.

Zusammenfassung: This book advances a much-needed "postcolonial" framework in analyzing the police. It seeks to deepen our understanding of the police's role in maintaining Western global domination throughout the American region despite the violent end of colonial rule. Building on Chevigny's (1995) classic study, this book seeks to draw renewed attention to the role of police in perpetrating state violence and serving as the tip of the spear of state power. It seeks to understand the construction of marginality and the multiple and intersecting structures of colonial domination, before shining a light directly on the crimes of the state, in an attempt to hold criminal state organizations to account. It draws on interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies that center marginalized and colonized experiences and allows for the development of counter colonial knowledge. It speaks to academics and students in criminology, sociology, political science, and law, as well as to ethnic and area studies programs, such as Chicano/Latino and Latin American Studies, and to police administrators and policymakers. Daniel Gascón is Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts Boston, USA. Sebastian Sclofsky is Assistant Professor at California State University, Stanislaus, USA. Analicia Mejia Mesinas is Assistant Professor at Azusa Pacific University, USA. Xavier Perez is Co-Founder of the Criminology Department at DePaul University, USA. Jhon Sanabria is Executive Director Institute of Public Safety at Universidad Ana G. Méndez (UAGM), Puerto Rico

Police citizen encounters do not occur in a vacuum. Police systems globally have similarities and/or differences which remain largely understudied and therefore underexplained. Comparative policing is a new frontier for policing research as it aims at integrating the institutional and/or macro determinants of police strategy and provides important insights into the context in which such strategies emerge. This volume shows how lessons and insights emerge from a comparative approach to policing research in various regions of the world. It demonstrates the explanatory power of cross-national studies, with a particular focus on politics, policies, and for what concerns the nature of police work and the legitimacy of policing. The book presents comparative studies from different geographical locations such as Latin and Central America, Africa, India, and Europe, and offers insights on: Police worker politics in India and Brazil Police, non-state security actors, and political legitimacy in central America Trust in the police and the militarization of law enforcement in Latin America The origins of police legitimacy in Europe How organizational contexts matter by analyzing police-adolescent encounters in France and Germany Legitimacy and cooperation with the police in two African states. Cross-state and cross-society research is desirable to increase our understanding of variations of the macro context in which police forces operate, what policing means for citizens and for police officers as professional workers. This insightful volume is a key resource for scholars and researchers of policing, criminology, sociology, and law. This book was originally published as the inaugural volume of Comparative Policing Review / Policing and Society.

En esta obra se pretende un primer acercamiento a la función policial, desde una perspectiva basada en los aspectos jurídicos y su incardinación con la operativa funcional. El propósito es proporcionar a los funcionarios de la seguridad pública una comprensión más fácil, rápida y eficaz de aspectos normativos y procedimentales que tanto tienen que ver con la intervención policial. En el texto, primeramente, se propone una conceptualización de la protección ciudadana y de los agentes de la seguridad pública en la perspectiva política y social actual, siguiendo con la descripción y detalle de las figuras procesales-penales más importantes en la actuación de los agentes del orden. Junto a las propuestas teóricas y de normativa procesal relacionada, se adjuntan infinidad de circulares, consultas, informes, acuerdos y protocolos que pueden proporcionar una comprensión adaptable a las necesidades que se requieren. Asimismo, se proporciona un resumen, de fácil comprensión, de aquellas figuras delictivas que resultan más asiduas en la labor policial. Se trata de un trabajo práctico que constituye una herramienta básica para los profesionales policiales, postulando una aproximación, cada vez más intensiva por parte de estos servidores públicos, al conocimiento pausado e instructivo dirigido a fijar el desarrollo intervencional que cada día requiere unas cuotas de mayor profesionalidad. El policía se debe sentir seguro ante lo que se puede encontrar en su quehacer diario, teniendo la seguridad del «saber hacer» en todo momento. La prestación de este servicio público impregnada de los valores de autonomía moral, honestidad intelectual y responsabilidad, redundara en una mejor calidad de oferta y en la garantía de un actuar ajustado a nuestro Estado de Derecho. Este libro reviste especial interés para los miembros de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad, para los componentes de la seguridad privada, academias y centros formativos, y para todos aquellos estudiosos de la seguridad pública que sienten la ventura de contemplar el por qué de las realizaciones y su ajuste normativo. Al final, como siempre, el trabajo bien hecho, es la mejor oportunidad de hacer más trabajo bien hecho.