Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing

Because police are the most visible face of government power for most citizens, they are expected to deal effectively with crime and disorder and to be impartial. Producing justice through the fair, and restrained use of their authority. The standards by which the public judges police success have become more exacting and challenging.

Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing explores police work in the new century. It replaces myths with research findings and provides recommendations for updated policy and practices to guide it. The book provides answers to the most basic questions: What do police do? It reviews how police work is organized, explores the expanding responsibilities of police, examines the increasing diversity among police employees, and discusses the complex interactions between officers and citizens. It also addresses such topics as community policing, use of force, racial profiling, and evaluates the success of common police techniques, such as focusing on crime "hot spots." It goes on to look at the issue of legitimacy—how the public gets information about police work, and how police are viewed by different groups, and how police can gain community trust.

Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing will be important to anyone concerned about police work: policy makers, administrators, educators, police supervisors and officers, journalists, and interested citizens.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Criminal Justice Research on Police
• 3 The Nature of Policing in the United States
• 4 Explaining Police Behavior: People and Situations
• 5 Explaining Police Behavior: Organizations and Context
• 6 The Effectiveness of Police Activities in Reducing Crime, Disorder, and Fear
• 7 Lawful Policing
• 8 Police Fairness: Legitimacy as the Consent of the Public
• 9 The Future of Policing Research
• References
• Appendix: Biographical Sketches
• Index