The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History (Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues) [Hardcover]

Cynthia Morris (Author), Bryan Vila (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313301646 | ISBN-13: 978-0313301643 | Publication Date: May 30, 1999

From the night watchmen of the 17th century to the highly publicized Rodney King hearings, the history and development of police policy and the role of police in American society are traced through this collection of 95 primary documents. Students, teachers, and interested readers can use this valuable resource to examine the development and role of the police in the United States through the words of the people who were involved in the struggle to enforce laws, uphold the Constitution, maintain safe and stable communities, and create efficient and effective police forces. An explanatory introduction precedes each document to aid the user in understanding the economic, political, social, and legislative forces that helped shape the role of the police in our society.

Riots, strikes, commission reports, innovations, groundbreaking studies, and major court cases from different time periods are presented in a balanced manner. This volume is divided into seven parts, each part representing a different time period in which the roles of the police were being redefined. Vila and Morris present the reader with theories from different professionals on what the role of the police should be and how to develop these roles, as well as presenting successful and unsuccessful models to help readers draw their own conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Policing deals with central issues of social control. Vila and Bryan (Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History, Greenwood, 1997) have produced a documentary history of policing in America and provide a chronological analysis of "how the issues, concerns, and ideals of police officers, chiefs, reformers, and researchers have changed over time." Their careful selection of important primary documents ranges from early police activities in 17th- and 18th-century America through conflicting expectations of the police role from the 1960s to the present. Each of the seven parts contains a brief introductory essay that outlines main themes found in the 95 documents. Most of these are summarized in two or three pages and represent a variety of viewpoints. This book is part of a series that makes available in one volume key primary documents on a given historical event or contemporary issue. Criminal justice practitioners and professionals can use this to identify key trends, and the general public will gain an understanding of changing police roles in American society. For public and academic libraries.ASteven Puro, Saint Louis Univ.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The editors have done an excellent job of locating and incorporating a tremendous amount of information. I learned a great deal reading the manuscript. This volume will become an invaluable reference work for students of police work."-Geoffrey P. Alpert Professor, College of Criminal Justice University of South Carolina

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood (May 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313301646
• ISBN-13: 978-0313301643
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,636,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Role of Police in American Society, July 20, 2000

By 

Joachim A. Palm - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History (Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues) (Hardcover)

The Role of Police in American Society is a well written chronological history of the American Police Force. The text presents the high points and the low points of law enforcement in the United States and the reasons and the people that affected it.

The text begins with the first night watch and ends with an article about women in police work written in 1997. The authors have presented the actual articles, speeches, and court cases so that you may read them and view them as they were written and allowing you to interpret them as though you were there at that time. It also presents personal view points of the people involved in law enforcement and the issues that they faced and helped to change.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EXCITING HISTORY OF USA LAW ENFORCEMENT, April 5, 2001

By 

Joseph H. Race "Jose Mango" (SAIPAN, MP United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History (Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues) (Hardcover)

If you have a dual interest in history and law enforcement, this is the book for you. This volume chronicles the history of USA policing from colonial times to present, via 95 original documents. Each document includes an introduction placing it in a historical, social, and political context, often including very interesting biographical informaton. Unlike most books on the history of the police, this book tells the story in the words of the people who were involved in the struggle to enforce the laws, uphold the ever-changing Constitution, maintain safe and stable communtiies, and create truly efficient and effective police. Because the views are from a variety of perspectives, the reader is encouraged to decide for himself or herself what the role of the police should be, or what it will become. Special features include a timeline of important events in the history of policing in the United States, a glossary of legal and other terms in the book, a listing of police and police-related groups and organizations, US Supreme Court cases relevant to the role of the police, as well as a select bibliography of books, articles, and other particularly useful documents. In general, I found that the book did an excellent job in discussing the changing role of police in our history, and that we come to understand that the police are a reflection of the society in its position on the timeline, i.e., in a poetic sense, "a direct reflection of society's heart". The book is an important source of facts, figures, and quotes on American policing for researchers, police scholars and students, police chiefs and police officers, teachers, journalists, government officials, and especially for those who enjoy history, as well as being passionate about law enforcement issues. I liked the book and would recommend it to fellow law enforcement officers.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great educational resource!, March 3, 2001

By 

Charles D. Clinker (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History (Primary Documents in American History and Contemporary Issues) (Hardcover)

As a retired "chief of police" and also a criminal justice instructor at a small college specializing in "police history", I have searched quite extensively for a book which would serve as a suitable text. This work by Dr. Vila and his co-author Cynthia Morris is exactly what I have been searching for. This work provides a clear and concise view of the evolution of policing throughout the centuries. It provides relevant information and substance related to social, political, economic, demographic, and cultural issues which contributed to the development of policing. It establishes sound background information about the causal factors for these changes using formal and verifiable documentation. I believe that this book will serve as an excellent text for students of police history within a college level criminal justice program. I fully intend to make it required reading for my students and recommend that any serious educator in the criminal justice field seriously consider adopting it as required reading within their program of instruction.