Policing in an Age of Austerity uniquely examines the effects on one key public service: the state police of England and Wales. Focusing on the major cut-backs in its resources, both in material and in labour, it details the extent and effects of that drastic reduction in provision together with related matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This book also investigates the knock-on effect on other public agencies of diminished police contribution to public well-being. The book argues that such a dramatic reduction in police services has occurred in an almost totally uncoordinated way, both between provincial police services, and also with regard to other public agencies. While there may have been marginal improvements in effectiveness in certain contexts, the British police have dramatically failed to seize the opportunity to modernize a police service that has never been reformed to suit modern exigencies since its date of origin in 1829. British policing remains a relic of the past despite the mythology by which it increasingly exports its practices and officers to (especially) transitional societies. Operating at both historical and contemporary levels, this book furnishes a mine of current information. Critically, it also emphasizes the extent to which British policing has traditionally concentrated on the lowest socio-economic stratum of society, to the neglect of the policing of the more powerful. Policing in an Age of Austerity will be of interest to academics and professionals working in the fields of criminal justice, development studies, and transitional and conflicted societies, as well as those with an interest in the social schisms caused by the current financial crisis.

Originally published in1988, Introducing Policework offered a new and concise overview of the controversial subject of policework at the time. The authors provide critical evaluations of the contributions made by psychologists, social psychologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists, and an assessment of how these fit within an overall understanding of policework. Among the issues considered are: the process of socialization that lead to a ‘cop culture’; the historical evolution of police working practices and their current impact upon the social divisions of age, gender, race and class; problems with the present system of accountability; the prospects for success of recent (post-Scarman) initiatives, such as community consultation. The achievement of this book is that it provides lively and consistent discussion of key issues in the consideration of policework: race and crime, the question of gender, victimization and the ‘new realism’, police monitoring, Neighbourhood Watch, and police training initiatives. Today it will provide an interesting look back at a critical evaluation of policework in the 1980s.

This book examines and analyses the experiences of older people as both victims and perpetrators of crime. Drawing upon a wealth of research from British and North American sources, the authors detail the historical experience of the elderly as victims, the extent of present-day criminal victimisation in the home and institutions, the social theories which attempt to explain that experience, and the types of resolution available. The book also addresses the experiences of elderly people in the criminal justice process - the offences to which they are prone, and the implications for penal policy of an increase in the elderly penal population. Crime, Abuse and the Elderly breaks new ground in its focus on the experiences of elderly people as criminal victims in private space, its insistence on a proper engagement of criminology with crimes involving older people, and in its argument that much so-called abuse can be explained criminologically and should be dealt with by the criminal justice system rather than by treatment and welfare agencies. It will be essential reading for students, academics and professionals concerned with the experiences of the elderly.

This book examines and analyses the experiences of older people as both victims and perpetrators of crime. Drawing upon a wealth of research from British and North American sources, the authors detail the historical experience of the elderly as victims, the extent of present-day criminal victimisation in the home and institutions, the social theories which attempt to explain that experience, and the types of resolution available. The book also addresses the experiences of elderly people in the criminal justice process - the offences to which they are prone, and the implications for penal policy of an increase in the elderly penal population. Crime, Abuse and the Elderly breaks new ground in its focus on the experiences of elderly people as criminal victims in private space, its insistence on a proper engagement of criminology with crimes involving older people, and in its argument that much so-called abuse can be explained criminologically and should be dealt with by the criminal justice system rather than by treatment and welfare agencies. It will be essential reading for students, academics and professionals concerned with the experiences of the elderly.

The state police force of South Africa has acquired massive notoriety since its formation. Its officers have developed a reputation for routinely provoking violence and torturing suspects. As the key bastion of apartheid, it is in urgent need of change. In "Policing for a New South Africa", Mike Brogden and Clifford Shearing evaluate the options for change. They critically analyze orthodox policing ideas imported from the West and contrast them with the indigenous model of independent policing from the townships of South Africa itself. Together, they offer significant possibilities for the future. Importantly, they suggest that rather than South Africans importing ideas wholesale from the West, the latter countries, in the light of the failures of their own police systems have much to learn from South Africa.

Policing in an Age of Austerity uniquely examines the effects on one key public service: the state police of England and Wales. Focusing on the major cut-backs in its resources, both in material and in labour, it details the extent and effects of that drastic reduction in provision together with related matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This book also investigates the knock-on effect on other public agencies of diminished police contribution to public well-being. The book argues that such a dramatic reduction in police services has occurred in an almost totally uncoordinated way, both between provincial police services, and also with regard to other public agencies. While there may have been marginal improvements in effectiveness in certain contexts, the British police have dramatically failed to seize the opportunity to modernize a police service that has never been reformed to suit modern exigencies since its date of origin in 1829. British policing remains a relic of the past despite the mythology by which it increasingly exports its practices and officers to (especially) transitional societies. Operating at both historical and contemporary levels, this book furnishes a mine of current information. Critically, it also emphasizes the extent to which British policing has traditionally concentrated on the lowest socio-economic stratum of society, to the neglect of the policing of the more powerful. Policing in an Age of Austerity will be of interest to academics and professionals working in the fields of criminal justice, development studies, and transitional and conflicted societies, as well as those with an interest in the social schisms caused by the current financial crisis.

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.

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.

`... the book is worth reading for anyone interested in the building of the new police frce for the changing South Africa and in policing in other countries.' - New Community