Street Cop: Policing in Context

The book provides an ethnography of street-level policing in the United States and offers valuable lessons for todays law enforcement officers. It explores the characteristics of policing in a suburb outside of a large Midwestern city and approaches the data with three levels of analysis.

Format: Hardback
Length: 212 pages
Publication date: 06 October 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive and insightful book delves into the ethnography of street-level policing in the United States, providing valuable insights for modern law enforcement officers. Authored by George C. Klein, a sociologist and former police officer, the book offers a firsthand account of policing in a suburban community outside a large Midwestern city. Klein adopts the role of a participant-observation fieldworker, immersing himself in the daily routines and tasks of law enforcement. Through his sociological lens, he meticulously records the ordinary and remarkable aspects of day-to-day law enforcement, offering a rich ethnographic account.

Klein employs three distinct levels of analysis to examine the complexities of policing. The first level focuses on embedded issues within policing, such as discretion, danger, corruption, cynicism, race, and class. He explores how these factors shape the practices and decisions of police officers, highlighting the challenges they face in their roles. The second level examines police work as an example of street-level bureaucracy, exploring the organizational structures, policies, and procedures that govern police operations. Klein sheds light on the bureaucratic processes and decision-making processes that influence police behavior and outcomes. The third level takes a global perspective, assessing the entrenched roles of race, class, and demography in police work and society in the United States. Klein explores how these social determinants shape the experiences and interactions of both police officers and the communities they serve.

The book's central theme revolves around the need for police officers to address social problems that other institutions in society are either unwilling or unable to solve. It delves into a wide range of issues, including police socialization, the use of force by police officers, stress levels and suicide risk factors, disparate styles of policing, police militarization, de-escalation, and more. Klein presents compelling evidence and analysis to help the reader understand the ongoing turmoil surrounding policing in the United States today. This book is of immense value to police professionals, students, and scholars of criminal justice, criminology, sociology, psychology, history, political science, and journalism. It offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary perspective on the field, fostering a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics and challenges faced by law enforcement in modern society.

Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032192765