Studies of policing tend to focus on effectiveness--on what works--rather than on the more important question of what matters, of why policing should be done in particular ways or reformed or restructured. This book explores that angle, looking at the implications of recent restructurings in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, with a special emphasis on the dilemmas faced by police leadership as they confront change.

Studies of policing tend to focus on effectiveness-on what works-rather than on the more important question of what matters, of why policing should be done in particular ways or reformed or restructured. This book explores that angle, looking at the implications of recent restructurings in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, with a special emphasis on the dilemmas faced by police leadership as they confront change.

This text provides an accessible, up-to-date and thought-provoking introduction to policing for all those undertaking degrees and foundation degrees. It aims not only to inform students and prepare them for their course, but also to expose them to some of the challenges they will face as they begin their studies and/or policing careers. This book is the essential foundation for the Policing Matters series, explaining what policing is, what the police do, the context for policing and what are the main issues it faces and challenges it poses.

This topical book compares the implications of restructuring in the UK and The Netherlands, also in the USA, regarding police systems, policing paradigms and research knowledge. The authors argue for developing confident leadership and also provide a comprehensive paradigm to chart policing in the future while retaining trust.

Equality and Diversity is a key theme on all policing degree courses. The book starts by contextualising equality and diversity within the legislative and policy framework. It then examines the recent historical context by outlining some of the difficulties and criticisms that the police have faced in dealing with matters of equality and diversity. It considers diversity, not only in terms of how the police relate to the general public, but also how diversity issues impact on police careers and occupational culture.

The massive uprising following the police killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020--by some estimates the largest protests in US history--thrust the argument to defund the police to the forefront of international politics. It also made The End of Policing a bestseller and Alex Vitale, its author, a leading figure in the urgent public discussion over police and racial justice. As the writer Rachel Kushner put it in an article called "Things I Can't Live Without", this book explains that "unfortunately, no increased diversity on police forces, nor body cameras, nor better training, has made any seeming difference" in reducing police killings and abuse. "We need to restructure our society and put resources into communities themselves, an argument Alex Vitale makes very persuasively." The problem, Vitale demonstrates, is policing itself-the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last forty years. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, The End of Policing describes how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice. This edition includes a new introduction that takes stock of the renewed movement to challenge police impunity and shows how we move forward, evaluating protest, policy, and the political situation.

Police Matters moves beyond the city to examine the intertwined nature of police and caste in the Tamil countryside. Radha Kumar argues that the colonial police deployed rigid notions of caste in their everyday tasks, refashioning rural identities in a process that has cast long postcolonial shadows. Kumar draws on previously unexplored police archives to enter the dusty streets and market squares where local constables walked, following their gaze and observing their actions towards potential subversives. Station records present a textured view of ordinary interactions between police and society, showing that state coercion was not only exceptional and spectacular; it was also subtle and continuous, woven into everyday life. The colonial police categorized Indian subjects based on caste to ensure the security of agriculture and trade, and thus the smooth running of the economy. Among policemen and among the objects of their coercive gaze, caste became a particularly salient form of identity in the politics of public spaces. Police Matters demonstrates that, without doubt, modern caste politics have both been shaped by, and shaped, state policing. Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.