Customer Reviews

An Introduction to Policing

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ordered this for a class. I am reading it only because I have to. The writing is very structured and thorough. It is not the most engaging textbook that I have had to read, but it nowhere near the worst thing I've had to endure. Given the subject matter of the material covered in this textbook the authors have done a good job.

Recently I wanted to learn more about the American policing. I have worked for the Victorian Criminal Justice system for 2 years, have a degree in Criminology, read hundreds of academic and textbook criminology books in addition to true crime books etc.. I decided that rather than reading a book that contained a study of a particular squad or police department I would read a general textbook that covered American policing in general. I chose this one and I couldn't of picked a better text book!

This book has everything you could want in a text book. I hope one day Australia releases an Australian counterpart. it contains chapters on everything from terrorism to detective work to forensics to patrol work. There is even a section on how to join the police force. I also appreciate that they acknowledge unsworn members in the police force, a very important part! The authors are retired police officers so often they give snapshots of personal experiences they have encountered, both as uniformed members and detectives.

What I like about this book, is it caters to all tastes, sometimes it reads like a textbook, other times it reads like an academic criminology book, other times it even reads like a true crime book (when the authors provide narratives of previous cases). There really is something for everything here!

I really hope a former police officer turned academic in Australia follows the footsteps of these two authors and writes a similar book. When/if I complete my PhD in Criminology and start lecturing the only thing that would stop me from using this book is it is Americanised (although in my degree we often used American textbooks so it could work).

Recommended for anyone interested in policing!

This book is unorganized, out-of-date, too focused on New York City, and on every other page promotes the authors and their careers...On page 7 they are telling you how much has changed with the computer age, and the internet, and one of the authors tells you he went to grade school and they used quill pens and fountain jars...okay, I didn't need to know that. It was so annoying that by page 14, I was going to submit to them a list of improvements, but it would have been EXTENSIVE! From there on just gritted my teeth and got through it...Good luck! You'll be really tired of the references to the Trade City Bombing, and NYC in general, by the end of it!

The previous review by navylady is of the 3rd edition of this book, and the reviewer makes some very good points about that edition. However, it should not be included here as a review of the 4th edition because all of her gripes about the text are limited to the 3rd edition and these issues are not present in the 4th edition of this text. I teach Introduction to Policing at the university level and I use this book. After looking at many other policing textbooks, I feel this is the most comprehensive and inclusive of all of them. It is a great text for any intro level policing class.

I was very pleased with the quality of this book and it came in time for me to go back to school.

This is a good textbook. It correlates to my colleges curriculum very well.
I received it in great condition from amazon.
I would recommend this textbook to anyone interested in Policing.

Package got here on time, the book wasn't in such great shape, but for a paperback- it's decent. A bit of highlighting and underlining in the text but everything looks great.

This was the correct edition I needed for a class. It was cheap, quickly sent, and the correct edition. Wonderful!