Patterns of Policing: A Comparative International Analysis

This book examines the historical development of modern policing in a variety of countries -- France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, India, Japan, China, Canada, and the United States -- to construct general propositions about the development of modern police systems, police functions, and the politics of policing. It traces the emergence of public, specialized, and professional police organizations and describes the varied structures of modern police force. Today, police forces world-wide tend to be public rather than private, to concentrate on crime fighting rather than services, and to be professionally trained and recruited. There is, however a great variation in the degree of centralization. This difference is determined to a great extent by the government's perceived need to control rebellious divisions within the country. Increases in the numbers of police may relate more to internal security requirements than to increases in crime. The behaviour of police toward their constituents is also examined. As urbanisation increases, the public finds itself in greater contact with the police, and rely on them more for protection as the primary groups such as the family lose their supportive role. Methods of making police accountable and the police role in politics are also examined. In his conclusions, the author predicts that the private police forces will expand, that the size of all forces will expand in relation to territory, that the direct intervention of police in politics will increase, and that the police will become aware of the need to mobilize the public against crime.