Police and Law Enforcement Books

Miller's book is well written and easy to read. The examples and explanations are especially useful when training new or soon to be new police recruits. One of the the best books I've found on the subject.

The book is very well organized, covers several aspects of the police patrol division, and community policing issues.It is easy to understand the concepts discussed - as simple words are used. A very good reference book to have on hand.

I bought this book about two months prior to taking the Sergeants test and read it cover to cover. It is very well written and easy to read. There is a test at the beginning of the book that helps you identify your weak areas so you can concentrate on them. Each section has a test after it to help drive home all the points. Not only did this book help me with the written, but the information inside also helped me prepare for the oral exam.

I ended up ranking #1 in the testing process!!!! If your department uses the state written exam for Sergeant then this book is a MUST! WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD!!!

This book is currently being used for the Lt's promotional exam in Houston, Texas. As promotional books, it is pretty useful. The text covers all of the topics that a supervisor/ manager should know (Management Styles/Leadership Theory/Communications, etc..) without going into too much depth as some texts do. There is enough material to make it challenging, but what is important to me is that after the test is over, there still is worth to this book. They list resources, ideas, and plans that can be converted to your departments use. If your studying, good luck. If you just want to pick up some ideas on the latest in police management theory, this is still a good book to study!

I do have one question for the authors if they ever read their reviews. Page 207... Sources of Organizational Stress... what happened to sources three and four???? I am hoping it is an editing error, cuz while I can stretch officers'views to fit #3, I cannot find #4 to save my life (or test score)... :)

Readable book that tells just how sexual assault (and related sex crimes) are dealt with by the police. Both fascinating and somewhat scary revelations about the treatment of female victims at the hands of the criminal justice system. Guaranteed to evoke strong emotions.

In facing the past, this book helps us prepare for a future where we recognize and appreciate the great strengths women bring to law enforcement. By understanding the history of women in law enforcement, we can begin to eliminate the stereotypes and encourage the entry and success of more women in this noble profession.

Julia Buxton deconstructs the prohibitionist apparatus, which she argues, does more harm than good. The crux of her argument is that not only has the "war on drugs" been a miserable failure, it has actually made the problems associated with drugs worse. Furthermore, the supply-side eradication approach has resulted in loss of national sovereignty, undermined democracy and has led to increased militarization. The U.S sponsored "war on drugs" has made the illicit market for narcotics a more profitable venture and its proliferation has resulted in an increase in violence and murder. Particularly disturbing is the "ghettoization" of communities, which perpetuates a vicious cycle of underdevelopment. Buxton gives the example of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, where 3,937 minors under the age of eighteen were killed between 1987 and 2001. This astronomical figure is more than 8 times higher than the number of minors who were killed in gun-related violence as a consequence of the occupation of Palestine. The U.N considers violence in Rio a "low-scale civil-war" and it is no surprise that much of the violence is narcotics related.

While growing violence should prompt better law enforcement by the state, Buxton argues that states either do not have the capacity to get involved, are unwilling to act because the threat is not posed against the dominant class or the more virulent cause, the law enforcement of the state is complicit or even involved (though not always by choice) in the industry. The lack of political legitimacy in the main cultivating states, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Colombia and Myanmar and Peru, shows the insidious effect of narcotics on the society. Afghanistan and Colombia are acute example of narco-states, which she defines as "those countries where criminal organizations connected to the drug trade acquire an institutionalized presence in the state." Furthermore, narco-states are the "antithesis of democracy" primarily because the "rule of law is eroded." Buxton also explores different conflicts associated with narcotics. She does a good job in explaining the conflict and how the main actors involved have used the illicit narcotic market to expand their violence. Particularly disturbing to Buxton is the militarization of the drug strategy, which she blames on the U.N's unrealistic goal of significantly reducing the narcotics market by 2008.

Above all else, Buxton places the blame on the United States because of its insistence of forcing other states to fight their problems under the American rubric. This includes massive military aid to Latin America, which as she notes, has resulted in attacks against civilian populations. Particularly insightful are the examples given of Bolivia, where security forces have repeatedly used violence against peaceful protesters. When nations attempt the draw their own course, such as when Bolivia almost elected the leader of the cocaleros, Evo Morales as president in 2002, the United States threatened to cut off aid to the poor Andean state. Here is the disconnect: while the United States is adamant about stopping the flow of drugs into its streets, Buxton (and many others) argue that the CIA and other government agencies are complicit in the market when it serves vital U.S interests. Infact, Buxton argues that the whole concept of the "war on drugs" is a means of securing American hegemony in the region, drugs simply being the pretext for U.S involvement. Although there are serious environmental consequences of drug cultivation and production, U.S insistence on fumigation and bio-control solution, which she calls the "new magic bullet" make environmental degradation worse. Perhaps most counterproductive is the unilateral pressure the U.S has placed on other states to curtail their harm reduction strategies, which she blames on the American perception that this issue can only be tackled in one way.

Although she is meticulous in her argument, I believe there is a structural flaw in her idea of how best to deal with the issue. While it is certainly true that there needs to be an "overhaul of founding principles, institutions and vested interests" that are following the current eradication approach, the demand side approach should still be considered a viable mechanism if utilized properly. While demand does create supply, supply also creates demand and to argue that fighting the problem only on the demand side is shortsighted. I believe Buxton's argument could be strengthened if she admits that while the current apparatus needs considerable alteration, there must be equal pressure on both the demand and supply side of the problems. When expedient, deal with the supply, and when unable to, deal with the demand. Strictly following a single course of action is invariably counterproductive.

Lyons probes deeply into the various and overlapping political struggles behind efforts to reinvent policing in the United States. The analysis focuses on the community side of policing reform, which is a welcome antidote to the overwhelmingly police-centered literature most often found in this field.

In Lyon's study, it was community groups that first mobilized to pressure the police to do things differently. These communities wanted geographic integrity, police-community partnerships to jointly target criminal activity, and more attention to order maintenance and police accountability. These citizens, for reasons that are thoroughly documented in this marvelous study, succeeded in pressuring a reluctant police department to create partnerships and experiment with innovative patrol strategies. They persuaded the city to hire a new police chief, known nationally for his leadership in community policing. These efforts initially paid off: crime declined.

Lyons skillfully explains the interactions among the loose coalitions of citizen groups and between these groups and police officers or administrators. He then draws valuable lessons about effective policing from the kinds of reciprocal partnerships that community mobilization created. This book is a must read for anyone, citizen or officer, interested in the promise of community policing and the political forces that can undermine this promise. At the same time, the failures documented in this study are the most impressive and insightful contributions of this book. While citizens did succeed in the ways noted, their success was short lived and, Lyons argues, the atrophy of their initial partnerships and patrol innovations now stand as significant obstacles to the advancement of community policing. Instead of reciprocal partnerships that improve the effectiveness and accountability of policing these partnerships have evolved into organizations dominated by the police department that serve to make it more difficult for communities, especially those critical of police practices, to be heard. The marginalization of those communities already most victimized by crime is the most important finding in this study.

Every line officer and every police manager can benefit from this book. Anyone involved in hiring new police officers should have this book on the short list of required reading. This country has a need for improving ethics and morality in police work. Now more than ever the very best police officers must be hired and serve the public fairly and objectively. This book articulates the ideal. It is not theoretical, but practical. The book explains how and why police decisions should be made.

I am the author. I am unwilling to rate the book, but thought less than 5 stars would show a lack of self-confidence. The book is out as of 13 June, 1999 from Georgetown University Press.