Police leaders possess a plethora of rich experiences and practical and theoretical knowledge that provides fascinating insights into the current state of policing around the world. While observers opinions of ongoing developments in policing are well known, it is rare to get an insider s glimpse of how police leaders themselves assess these advances. Through in-depth and exceptionally thoughtful interviews with highly placed police leaders and administrators, Trends in Policing: Interviews with Police Leaders Across the Globe presents cross-cultural perspectives on the organizational structure, leadership, functions, public projects, training, culture, and societal context of police worldwide.

A broad spectrum of police philosophies from over a dozen countries

This elite group of leaders and the learned researchers who interview them address the fundamental contextual changes that add layers of complexity to police work. Covering an extensive range of topics, the interviews include the experiences, opinions, and preferences of men and women who individually and as a group possess a vast array of knowledge pertaining to the problems and prospects of policing. While examining current trends, they discuss the future role of police in a world in which policing issues transcend national borders.

A fruitful collaboration between practitioners and academics

Through discussions with those actively engaged in policing, this book bridges the gap between research and practice. While police leaders are not usually accustomed to reflecting and writing on their experiences, the thoughtful interview style of the researchers assists the practitioners in defining their views, forming a cohesive volume rich with the wisdom of experience and the context of analysis.

One of the four core phases of emergency management, hazard mitigation is essential for reducing disaster effects on human populations and making communities more resilient to the impacts of hazards. Presenting an up-to-date look at the changing nature of disasters, Natural Hazard Mitigation offers practical guidance on the implementation and selection of hazard mitigation programs and projects. Based on real-world applications, the book includes case studies that present a thorough explanation of the various issues involved. The contributors describe the value and potential of mitigation efforts and explain how to convince public officials and communities of that value. They also discuss how to better involve the community and uniquely tailor solutions to regional and local situations. The book begins with an overview of the history of hazard mitigation with a focus on the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. It examines where hazard mitigation fits into emergency management and addresses some of the challenges that can arise in navigating the various intergovernmental relationships involved in hazard mitigation. The remaining chapters explore: Public-private partnerships for hazard mitigation at the local level The role currently played by the private sector and how communities can best make use of contractors How to maximize the use of the National Flood Insurance Program and the Community Ratings System Risk communications as a key component of encouraging hazard mitigation Legal issues relevant to hazard mitigation Ways to actively engage the community and how to advocate for hazard mitigation policy How state and local governments can promote and fund mitigation without utilizing federal dollars The challenges associated with volunteers and how to best make use of this resource The area analysis as an innovative means of addressing flood risk at the block or neighborhood level The book includes learning objectives, key terms, and end-of-chapter questions to enhance comprehension. It concludes with a discussion of tools that local practitioners can use and provides an appendix with additional links and resources. This volume is an essential reference for both students and professionals in the ongoing effort to better prepare communities against the effects of natural hazards.

Many racial minority communities claim profiling occurs frequently in their neighborhoods. Police authorities, for the most part, deny that they engage in racially biased police tactics. A handful of books have been published on the topic, but they tend to offer only anecdotal reports offering little reliable insight. Few use a qualitative methodological lens to provide the context of how minority citizens experience racial profiling. Racial Profiling: They Stopped Me Because I'm ---! places minority citizens who believe they have been racially profiled by police authorities at the center of the data. Using primary empirical studies and extensive, in-depth interviews, the book draws on nearly two years of field research into how minorities experience racial profiling by police authorities. The author interviewed more than 100 racial and ethnic minority citizens. Citing 87 of these cases, the book examines each individual case and employs a rigorous qualitative phenomenological method to develop dominant themes and determine their associated meaning. Through an exploration of these themes, we can learn: What racial profiling is, its historical context, and how formal legal codes and public policy generally define it The best methods of data collection and the advantages of collecting racial profiling data How certain challenges can prevent data collection from properly identifying racial profiling or bias-based policing practices Data analysis and methods of determining the validity of the data The impact of pretextual stops and the effect of Whren v. United States A compelling account of how minority citizens experience racial profiling and how they ascribe and give meaning to these experiences, the book provides a candid discussion of what the findings of the research mean for the police, racial minority citizens, and future racial profiling research. Michael L. Birzer was recently interviewed on public radio about his book, Racial Profiling: They Stopped Me Because I'm ---!

Compellingly argued and lyrically charged, A World without Police offers concrete strategies for confronting and breaking police power, as a first step toward building community alternatives that make the police obsolete. Surveying the post-protest landscape in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Oakland, as well as the people who have experimented with policing alternatives at a mass scale in Latin America, Maher details the institutions we can count on to deliver security without the disorganizing interventions of cops: neighborhood response networks, community-based restorative justice practices, democratically organized self-defense projects, and well-resourced social services. Tens of millions of people poured onto the streets for Black Lives Matter, bringing with them a wholly new idea of public safety, common security, and the delivery of justice, communicating that vision in the fiery vernacular of riot, rebellion, and protest. A World without Police transcribes these new ideas-written in slogans and chants, over occupied bridges and hastily assembled barricades-into a compelling, must-read manifesto for police abolition. A World without Police argues that abolition is not a distant dream or an unreachable horizon but an attainable reality. In communities around the world, we are beginning to glimpse a real, lasting justice in which we keep us safe.

In 1845 women entered the career of policing, and ever since it's been an evolving history for them. There are countless stories of women shaping this career, adding particular gifts and abilities to the profession. There are, also, countless stories of their struggles to fit in and survive in this "all-boys club." Thriving in an All Boys Club: Female Police and Their Fight for Equality examines one of the most debated issues surrounding female police officers - their ability to find acceptance in the male subculture. Through the stories of women who joined policing in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, readers learn that women's acceptance in policing is complex and officer's experiences are wide-ranging. Stories of resistance and harassment by colleagues, the glass ceiling in promotion, and gender specific obstacles related to pregnancy and childcare are common. Their stories show a strong sense of determination and perseverance to perform the duties of police officer. The potential for enduring change in the field of policing is growing as women continue to make strides in achieving high ranks, breaking down assignments barriers, and ensuring just opportunities for future generations of female police officers. Despite the struggles that women face to survive in the "all-boys club" of policing, women not only survive, most thrive in this almost exclusively male occupation.

Equipment developed for wartime is now being seen more often in everyday institutions, and even our schools have become sites of high-tech security and, some would say, paranoia. The justification for the presence of this network of surveillance, screening, detection and tracking systems is that it is the only sensible reaction to the fears for personal safety brought about by the school shootings and terrorist attacks of recent years - we must protect our children, perhaps even from their school friends. Casella here questions this assumption, shining an investigative light on the political and commercial forces that have led to the present climate of fear. He shows how expensive security equipment is sold in the same slick business-like way as any other commodity, and highlights the trend of turning schools into corporatized and militarized zones that prepare young people for a life spent accepting limitations of certain freedoms in return for an ill-defined and problematic concept of safety.

* Offers a comprehensive picture of the stresses experienced within the police organization, with an eye toward implementing structural reform * Provides recommendations for reform models at both the national and local levels * Combines empirical evidence gleaned from research with anecdotal accounts to provide a meaningful description of police stress

Community policing has been a buzzword in Anglo-American policing for the last two decades, somewhat vague in its definition but generally considered to be a good thing. In the UK the notion of community policing conveys a consensual policing style, offering an alternative to past public order and crimefighting styles. In the US community policing represents the dominant ideology of policing as reflected in a myriad of urban schemes and funding practices, the new orthodoxy in North American policing policy-making, strategies and tactic. But it has also become a massive export to non-western societies where it has been adopted in many countries, in the face of scant evidence of its appropriateness in very different contexts and surroundings.

• critical analysis of concept of community policing worldwide
• assesses evidence for its effectiveness, especially in the USA and UK
• highlights often inappropriate export of community policing models to failed and transitional societies.

Security Operations: An Introduction to Planning and Conducting Private Security Details for High-Risk Areas, Second Edition was written for one primary purpose: to keep people alive by introducing them to private security detail tactics and techniques. The book provides an understanding of the basic concepts and rules that need to be followed in protective services, including what comprises good security practice. This second edition is fully updated to include new case scenarios, threat vectors, and new ambush ploys and attack tactics used by opportunistic predators and seasoned threat actors with ever-advanced, sophisticated schemes. Security has always been a necessity for conducting business operations in both low- and high-risk situations, regardless of the threat level in the operating environment. Overseas, those with new ideas or businesses can frequently be targets for both political and criminal threat agents intent on doing harm. Even in the United States, people become targets because of positions held, publicity, politics, economics, or other issues that cause unwanted attention to a person, their family, or business operations. Security Operations, Second Edition provides an introduction to what duties a security detail should perform and how to effectively carry out those duties. The book can be used by a person traveling with a single bodyguard or someone being moved by a full security detail. FEATURES * Identifies what can pose a threat, how to recognize threats, and where threats are most likely to be encountered * Presents individuals and companies with the security and preparedness tools to protect themselves when operating in various environments, especially in high-risk regions * Provides an understanding of operational security when in transit: to vary route selection and keep destinations and movement plans out of the public view * Outlines the tools and techniques needed for people to become security conscious and situationally aware for their own safety and the safety of those close to them An equal help to those just entering the protection business or people and companies that are considering hiring a security detail, Security Operations is a thorough, detailed, and responsible approach to this serious and often high-risk field. Robert H. Deatherage Jr. is a veteran Special Forces Soldier and private security consultant with thirty years' experience in military and private security operations. His various writings on security topics cover security operations, threat assessment, risk management, client relations, surveillance detection, counter surveillance operations, foot and vehicle movements, and building security-blending solid operational theory with practical field experience.

Forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) has grown into a specialization informed by research and professional guidelines. This series presents up-to-date information on the most important and frequently conducted forms of FMHA. The 20 topical volumes address best approaches to practice for particular types of evaluation in the criminal, civil and juvenile/family areas. Each volume contains a thorough discussion of the relevant legal and psychological concepts, followed by a step-by-step description of the assessment process from preparing for the evaluation to writing the report and testifying in court. Volumes include the following helpful features: - Boxes that zero in on important information for use in evaluations - Tips for best practice and cautions against common pitfalls - Highlighting of relevant case law and statutes - Separate list of assessment tools for easy reference - Helpful glossary of key terms for the particular topic In making recommendations for best practice, authors consider empirical support, legal relevance, and consistency with ethical and professional standards. These volumes offer invaluable guidance for anyone involved in conducting or using forensic evaluations. A majority of police departments across the country conduct psychological evaluations of their police applicants and many also conduct periodic evaluations of incumbent police officers. With a small percentage of psychologists conducting these evaluations, and an even smaller number who have passed through board certification in forensic psychology or police and public safety psychology, there is a pressing need for education and training resources for practitioners seeking to develop competency in this area of practice. Evaluations of Police Suitability and Fitness for Duty, fills a gap in the literature, and explains the legal, procedural, ethical, and clinical foundations for these types of evaluations untethered to any single assessment instrument. Throughout the text, authors David M. Corey and Mark Zelig distinguish between enforceable, standards-based requirements and aspirational best practices. The book starts with a review of the most prominent federal laws and regulations, professional practice guidelines, and ethical standards pertinent to these evaluations. From there, applied chapters provide detailed procedural guidance, including advice for obtaining informed consent, providing disclosure to the involved parties, conducting clinical and collateral interviews, selecting written assessment instruments, integrating assessment findings to reach determinations of suitability and fitness, and preparing written reports and testimony for various audiences and uses.

Introduction to Fire Prevention, Eighth Edition, presents a broad-based look at fire prevention, including arson suppression, fire safety education, and code enforcement. For information on teaching and learning resources available with this text, please contact your Brady representative. Teaching and Learning Experience: Meets the FESHE curriculum learning objectives and includes color photographs, key terms, and a list of objectives for each chapter Provides strong coverage of fire prevention history, along with the latest information on fire prevention research, statistics, and more

This volume is a collection of interviews with policing leaders that explores their understanding of policing developments and current challenges in their own countries and internationally, and examines how they evaluate or interpret these developments. The book is based on the premise that police officials have a wealth of experience that can make significant contributions to our understanding of the prospects and problems of policing today. In this book, ten police leaders from the continents of North America, Asia, Australasia, Africa, and Europe offer their combined experiences in policing. The interviews, conducted by experienced policing academics, capture how these officers personally, as well as through their organizations, have confronted many waves of change - political, social, and institutional. Interviews examine each professional's assessment of their career path; changes experienced during their career; their personal policing philosophy; problems and successes experienced in leadership; their views on the contribution of theory to practice; their experience of transnational relations; their understanding of nature of democratic policing; and their assessment of how policing will change in the future. As police and policing across the world face a turning point, this book offers ideas and best practices from the front lines on ways to respond with vigor, creativity, and sensitivity to the challenges of repositioning police in the twenty-first century.

In one enquiry after another, there has been a call for an increase in the proportion of qualified staff in residential child care services, as one of a range of solutions to the difficulties that have beset the service. Leadership in Residential Child Care compares and assesses courses available for professional social work training and explores the ways that training contributes to the quality of care in the sector. Drawing on an evaluation of the Residential Child Care Initiative, the authors examine the dilemmas concerning the provision of qualification training for residential care staff today. They address issues such as:

• the loss of qualified staff from the sector
• different models of ‘professional competence’ that qualification seeks to achieve
• the role qualification and training can play in enhancing the status of what is sometimes seen as the ‘Cinderella’ element in child care provision

Reductions in police department funding have raised the importance of volunteers in enhancing organizational performance, improving community trust and confidence, and at times accomplishing basic tasks to maintain public safety and security. During a period when police administrators are asked to do more with less, and to engage in smarter, community-oriented policing, citizen volunteers are an invaluable resource. Police Reserves and Volunteers is an invaluable primer for those looking to understand the benefits and challenges involved in the use of the volunteers within global law enforcement agencies. Using cases from a range of specialists and precincts, this edited volume provides a rare window into police administration from the state legislation that regulates police reserves in California to the local models observed in many counties and cities across the United States. Police Reserves and Volunteers offers volunteers, local elected officials, and law enforcement straightforward guidelines to enhance police goals and build public trust in local communities.

If you are embarking on a university criminology, policing or other law enforcement professional degree, the books in this series will help you acquire and develop the knowledge, skills and strategies you need to achieve your goals. They provide support in all areas important for university study, including institutional and disciplinary policy and practice, self-management, and research and communication. Tasks and activities are designed to foster aspects of learning which are valued in higher education, including learner autonomy and critical thinking, and to guide you towards reflective practice in your study and work life. Communication Skills for your Policing Degree provides you with a sound knowledge and understanding of: how to improve your oral and written communication skills in a range of academic and professional settings a range of strategies for improving your public speaking, including academic presentations a range of techniques for improving your practical writing and speaking skills.

While considerable attention has been given to encounters between black citizens and police in urban communities, there have been limited analyses of such encounters in suburban settings. Race, Place, and Suburban Policing tells the full story of social injustice, racialized policing, nationally profiled shootings, and the ambiguousness of black life in a suburban context. Through compelling interviews, participant observation, and field notes from a marginalized black enclave located in a predominately white suburb, Andrea S Boyles examines a fraught police-citizen interface, where blacks are segregated and yet forced to negotiate overlapping spaces with their more affluent white counterparts.

This book draws together the insights of eminent academics and specialists to present an overview of past and present approaches to transnational policing throughout the Anglophone world. It aims to revitalize the study of transnational policing by showing that past and present developments in this field remain poorly understood, while also suggesting future avenues of research. Containing chapters on police history, police accountability, gendered hate crime in an increasingly online world, counter-radicalisation strategies being pursued around the world, internet-facilitated sex trafficking and changes in organised crime, amongst others, the authors adopt revisionist, orthodox and progressive views in order to challenge our understanding and appreciation of developments in transnational policing. All of the chapters in the book use policing models employed within the UK as either their focal point or as a point of comparison so that direct comparisons and contrasts can be examined. The Development of Transnational Policing illustrates distinctive and separate aspects of what remains an undoubtedly complex and dynamic field, but also forms an overview of developments and the dearth of academic research which surround them, in order hopefully to inspire researchers, policymakers and practitioners alike.

Community-oriented policing (COP) is the ideology and policy model espoused in the mission statements of nearly all policing forces throughout the world. However, the COP philosophy is interpreted differently by different countries and police forces, resulting in practices that may in fact run far afield of the community-based themes of partnership, responsiveness, and transparency. Community Policing: International Patterns and Comparative Perspectives provides a comprehensive survey of purported practices of COP, clarifying the concept and differentiating true COP from other models which follow the ideology in name only. International contributors profile practices in five continents Using a case study approach, this eye-opening discourse reveals and examines contemporary patterns of alleged community policing across five continents. Providing insiders' insight into the myriad practices in a variety of communities, the authors highlight the fact that policing in the countries profiled is heavily influenced by several factors. No matter how strongly the vision of COP permeates a police force's mission, the significant factors that influence the policing culture are existing social and cultural traditions and structures, conventional methods already in place, the cultural and ideological language that sustains these practices, the efforts of entrepreneurs to argue for or against new ways of policing, and the social capital base found in the society. Arriving at the conclusion that there is no consensual model of community policing, the detailed analysis in this volume makes this absence of agreement abundantly clear. Separating rhetoric from reality, this illuminating study is a practical, realistic contribution to the expanding literature on community-oriented policing.

Trends in Policing: Interviews with Police Leaders Across the Globe, Volume Four, is the latest installment in a series of insightful interviews with senior police executives worldwide. The book offers readers an unparalleled insider’s perspective on police goals, practices, and management in nationwide, regional, and city environments. Conducted by a team of academic and practitioner experts following the same schema of topics, the interviews explore the executives’ backgrounds, education, and careers and provide insight on a number of topics relevant to their work, including:

Conception of the police mission and police role

Views on strategy and tactics

Experience with democratic policing

Major changes in policies and procedures

The relationship between police theory and practice

The impact of globalization

The interview participants are drawn from four continents and from a broad variety of policing contexts—from metropolitan to largely rural areas, developed and developing countries, from emerging democracies to stable democracies. They are diverse in age, ethnicity, education, background, and career trajectories.

This volume constitutes a resource of immense value to academic analysts of policing philosophies and leadership, as well as to policymakers and practitioners who wish to have a sense of where the leaders in their field have come from and where they are going. The book and its predecessors are a major contribution to the study and practice of policing around the world.

Table of Contents

Carlos Mauricio Escobar, Special Prosecutor, Colombia. Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable, West Yorkshire Police, United Kingdom. Brigadier General Dr. József Boda, Director General, Special Service for National Security (SSNS), Hungary. Charles H. Ramsey, Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, United States. Stephen Williams, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Vernon White, Chief Constable, Ottawa Police Service, Canada. Ogbonnaya Onovo, Inspector General of Police, Nigeria. Todd Wuestewald, Chief, Broken Arrow Police Department, Oklahoma, United States. John Rizzo, Malta Police Commissioner. Tapio Huttunen, Chief of the Varsinais-Suomi Police Department, Finland. Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros, Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Lothar Bergmann, Commissioner [Leitender Polizeidirektor], Home Office, Inspectorate of Constabulary, Hamburg, Germany. Conclusion. International Police Executive Symposium (IPES). Suggested Guidelines for Interviewers. Index.

This book armed activists on the streets-as well as the many who have become concerned about police abuse-with a critical analysis and ultimately a redefinition of the very idea of policing. The book contends that when we talk about police and police reform, we speak the language of police legitimation through the art of euphemism. So state sexual assault become "body-cavity search," and ruthless beatings become "non-compliance deterrence." A Field Guide to the Police is a study of the indirect and taken-for granted language of policing, a language we're all forced to speak when we talk about law enforcement. In entries like "Police dog," "Stop and frisk," and "Rough ride," the authors expose the way "copspeak" suppresses the true meaning and history of policing. Like any other field guide, it reveals a world that is hidden in plain view. The book argues that a redefined language of policing might help chart a future free society. Now in an expanded and updated edition, including explanations of newsmaking new terms, like "dead names", "kettling", and "qualified immunity", as well as a new foreword by leading criminal justice advocate Craig Gilmore

The expanding remit of policing as a fundamental part of the public health continuum is increasingly acknowledged on the international scene. Similarly the growing role of health professionals as brokers of public safety means that the need for scholarly resources for developing knowledge and broadening theoretical positioning and questioning is becoming urgent and crucial. The fields of law enforcement and public health are beginning to understand the inextricable links between public safety and public health and the need to shift policies and practices towards more integrated practices. This book comes as a first, an utterly timely scholarly collection that brings together the views of multidisciplinary commentators on a wide range of issues and disciplines within the law enforcement and public health (LEPH) arena. The book addresses the more conceptual aspects of the relationship as well as more applied fields of collaboration, and the authors describe and analyze a range of service delivery examples taken from real-life instances of partnerships in action. Among the topics covered: Defund, Dismantle or Define Law Enforcement, Public Health, and Vulnerability Law Enforcement and Mental Health: The Missing Middle The Challenges of Sustaining Partnerships and the Diversification of Cultures Using Public Health Concepts and Metrics to Guide Policing Strategy and Practice Policing Pandemics Law Enforcement and Public Health: Partners for Community Safety and Wellbeing is essential reading for a wide array of professions and areas of expertise in the intersectoral field of LEPH. It is an indispensable resource for public health and law enforcement specialists (practitioners, educators, scholars, and researchers) and training programs across the world, as well as individuals interested in developing their knowledge and capacity to respond to complex LEPH issues in the field, including public prosecutors, coroners, and the judiciary. The text also can be used for undergraduate and postgraduate university policing, criminology, sociology, psychology, social work, public health, and medicine programs.

This book discusses privatization of law enforcement in relation to suspected corporate crime and recommends guidelines for successful fraud examinations. There is a growing business for global auditing and local law firms to conduct internal investigations at client organizations when there is suspicion of white-collar misconduct and crime. This book reflects on the work by these private fraud examiners in terms of an evaluation of their investigation reports. The book brings an original theoretical and methodological approach to investigations of white-collar crime. It develops the theory of convenience as an explanation for motive, opportunity, and willingness to commit and conceal white-collar crime. This theory is then related to the case studies. Structured in such a way as to allow the reader to use the text as a nonsequential reference source or guide to a set of connected issues, the book illustrates the practice of privatization by cases and presents guidelines for successful fraud examination. As an investigation can lead to conviction and incarceration, this privatization of crime investigation feeds into the larger issue of privatization of policing. The work will be a valuable resource for students, academics, and practitioners working in the areas of Criminal Justice, Corporate Law, and Business.

Crime analysis has become an increasingly important part of policing and crime prevention, and thousands of specialist crime analysts are now employed by police forces worldwide. This work sets out the principles and practice of crime analysis, and is designed to be used both by crime analysts themselves, by those responsible for the training of crime analysts and teaching its principles, and those teaching this subject as part of broader policing and criminal justice courses. approach, showing how crime analysis can be used and developed to support a problem oriented policing approach based on the idea that the police should concentrate on identifying patterns of crime and anticipating crimes rather than just reacting to crimes once they have been committed. In his foreword to this book, Nick Ross, presenter of BBC Crime Watch, argues that crime analysts are the new face of policing, and have a crucial part to play in the increasingly sophisticated police response to crime and its approach to crime prevention.

Dublin during the nineteenth century could be an unforgiving city, especially for the unwary. Established in 1836, the Metropolitan Police who patrolled its dark alleys and streets fought running battles with violent tenement mobs, Fenian rebels, street gangs and self-proclaimed kings. The Peeler's Notebook introduces the reader to a host of forgotten Victorian dangers, from rabid dogs and disease epidemics to garrotte-wielding thieves who plied their trade in the ever-present fog. Drawing on a selection of archival sources and newspaper accounts, this book casts fresh light on one of the liveliest eras in the history of Irish policing; in the process adding a raucous, sometimes poignant miscellany of tales to the story of Dublin's past.

A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 'With poignancy, humour and compassion, Jones invites us into "the invigorating chaos of pre-hospital care" . . . a panorama of experiences: the mundane, the ridiculous, the heartbreaking and the tragic' - The Guardian 'This beautifully written book, punctuated with wry humour, is a sobering portrayal of the ailing, the distressed and the lonely... Yet it's also an uplifting read which will make you thankful that should your hour of need arrive, so will someone like Jones' - Daily Express A memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life as a paramedic. A young man has stopped breathing in a supermarket toilet. A pedestrian with a nasty head injury won't let the crew near him on a busy road. A newborn baby is worryingly silent. An addict urinates on the ambulance floor when denied a fix. This is the life of an ambulance paramedic. Jake Jones has worked in the UK ambulance service for ten years: every day, he sees a dozen of the scenes we hope to see only once in a lifetime. Can You Hear Me? - the first thing he says when he arrives on the scene - is a memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life on the front-lines of medicine in the UK. As well as a look into dozens of extraordinary scenes - the hoarder who won't move his collection to let his ailing father leave the house, the blood-soaked man who tries to escape from the ambulance, the life saved by a lucky crew who had been called to see someone else entirely - Can You Hear Me? is an honest examination of the strains and challenges of one of the most demanding and important jobs anyone can do.