Table of Contents

Part I: Theory and research
1: Watching the watchers: theory and research in policing studies
Part II: History
2: The birth of the blues: the establishment of professional policing in Britain 1829-1856
3: Out of the blue: police legitimacy 1856-2009 - construction, deconstruction, reconstruction
Part III: Sociology of policing
4: Cop cultures
5: Demystifying the police: social research and police practice
6: Mystifying the police: the media presentation of policing
Part IV: Law and politics
7: Police powers and accountability
8: Conclusion: beyond Life on Mars: a history of the future

About the Author

Robert Reiner is Professor of Criminology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is co-editor, along with Mike Maguire and Rod Morgan, of The Oxford Handbook of Criminology.

Reviews

`Review from previous edition "The publication of the third edition marks an important rearticulation of the constabulary ethic and the doctrine of policing... the new encyclopaedists who follow in Reiner's wake will struggle to define the politics of policing for their time'
James Sheptycki, Durham University in Policing and Society
`This is a first class academic book that can be as engrossing as a novel, even for a non-expert on the subject. It will be of use to anyone who comes into contact with the police regularly and aid the understanding of anyone who has an opinion on any aspect of the police or policing.'
The Criminal Lawyer