Handbook of Policing

This is one of the most ambitious books on policing ever written. It provides a comprehensive but highly readable overview of policing in the UK, reflecting the transformations that have taken place in recent years and the increasing professionalization of one of the UK's most important services. It will be an essential text for anyone involved in the study of policing as a subject in its own right or as part of a broader criminal justice or criminology course, and a key source of reference for the police themselves. It is by far the most comprehensive and authoritative book to have been written on the subject, combining the expertise of leading academic experts on policing and policing practitioners themselves. It will become an essential point of reference at a time of rapid change for the police, and constant debate about their role and function. The Handbook of Policing is divided into four major sections. The first considers policing in its comparative and historical context, look