A fascinating and well-written book by an established researcher in the field. Alpert treats problems faced by police in rapidly changing multiethnic communities such as Miami-Dade County, the locus of the study. The focus on the relationship of informal and formal social control systems provides more insight into the vicissitudes of ethnic neighborhoods and their support of the police than might ever be gained from hours of Miami Vice. The book offers sociohistorical background material, conceptual and analytical frameworks, methods, data, analysis, and data interpretation. Alpert finds that neither police nor members of black communities perceived the degree of congruence in these areas with policing reported for Cuban and Anglo communities. Residence in specific neighborhoods was more significant than ethnicity or gender in perceptions of policing. . . . Excellent bibliography. Upper-division undergraduates and above. ChoiceIn the past twenty-five years, the Miami metropolitan area has undergone a dramatic ethnic transformation that has brought with it complex challenges to the existing social order. The study grew out of an attempt to find workable and effective solutions to the problems faced by the area's police force in the wake of serious rioting and conflict between the populace and police. Alpert and Dunham argue that only by understanding the various ethnic groups' attitudes toward police and policing can beneficial means of maintaining order and controlling crime be planned and implemented. In developing their argument, the authors introduce the concepts of neighborhood as a conceptual and analytical unit, and they construct an interaction model that focuses on the interplay between the informal system of social control within the neighborhoods and the formal system of social control of the police.

Policing Multi-Ethnic Neighborhoods: The Miami Study and Findings for Law Enforcement in the United States (Contributions in Criminology and Penology)

Alpert, Geoffrey P.

Dunham, Roger G.

Praeger

Police strategies often develop from custom and practice without guidance from empirical research. Police officers often make their decisions based upon information and tactics with which they are the most familiar and comfortable. Choosing between available strategies and other alternatives can be improved through research and evaluation. One area of policing in which this is especially true is pursuit driving, which may be the deadliest weapon in a police officer's arsenal.
Using the analogy between improper use of firearms and improper pursuit driving, Alpert and Dunham analyze the police car as a potentially dangerous weapon. The book is based upon information gathered over several years in Dade County (Miami), Florida. Included are the details of deaths, injuries, and property damage. Also reported are the arrests and apprehensions of felony suspects. The data are presented not to scare citizens, but to assist them, members of the law enforcement community, and politicians to understand more clearly the role of pursuit in policing and crime control. Pursuit needs to be discussed as a deterrent and crime-fighting strategy, and felony arrests resulting from successful pursuit must be included to compute a cost-benefit analysis. By offering a view of police pursuit that has been heretofore unavailable, the authors hope their empirical data will replace unsupported opinion and media sensationalism as information on which to create or modify pursuit policies and legal standards.

Police Pursuit Driving: Controlling Responses to Emergency Situations (Contributions in Criminology and Penology)

Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)

Although most police activities do not involve the use of force, those that do reflect important patterns of interaction between officer and citizen. After a brief survey of prior research, this study presents new data and findings to examine these patterns. The force factor applied and the sequential order of incidents of force is included in the analysis. The authors also examine police use of force from the suspect's perspective, and create a new conceptual framework, the Authority Maintenance Theory, for examining and assessing police use of force.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Cambridge University Press

Policing urban America

Sociology

Waveland PRess

A study of the public policy implications of two critical decisions (and their common aspects) by police officers: the decision to use firearms and the decision to undertake a high speed chase. Published by Waveland Press, Inc., PO Box 400, Prospect Heights, IL 60070. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Police Vehicles and Firearms: Instruments of Deadly Force

Fridell, Lorie A.

Waveland Press. Inc.

Book by Haas, Kenneth C., Alpert, Geoffrey P.

The Dilemmas of Corrections: Contemporary Readings

Haas, Kenneth C.

A balanced review of the most controversial issues in contemporary law enforcement! Alpert and Dunham offer readers a well- priced volume that studies the frameworks in which the police function and provides information on how to understand and improve policing. They also offer readers a wide variety of career options available in the field of policing. The Third Edition builds upon the solid foundation of the successful previous editions to give readers a realistic overview of policing. The purpose is to bridge the gap between incomplete media portrayals and lucid facts about the multidimensional, often challenging functions of policing. The authors integrate research, policy, and practical observations in their discussions of relevant and interesting issues. The beginning chapters underscore the historical presence of the community-based philosophy. While later chapters on police organization and administration, police socialization, and styles of policing highlight this philosophy, other perspectives are presented for comparison. The up-to-date coverage of selection and training, deviance, the hazards of police work--including assaults and occupational stress--combines with important information about minority hiring, the use of force, police pursuits, and litigation against the police, revealing to readers a complete and accurate examination of the policing occupation.

Policing Urban America

Waveland Pr Inc.

Now thoroughly revised to better address issues of vital concern to the correctional system, the Fourth Edition once again provides a comprehensive up-to-date collection of important readings.

The Dilemmas of Corrections : Contemporary Readings

The Seventh Edition of Critical Issues in Policing includes many new and updated contributions that offer fresh perspectives and research on the most current trends in policing. The entire collection of 34 articles, carefully chosen for their broad application, sharpens readers' sense and understanding of the complexities of police work. Styles of policing, uses of technology, and roles played by citizens in determining a proper measure of performance in law enforcement are among the essential topics addressed.
 Comprehensive and fair, Critical Issues in Policing provides ready access to the brightest and best minds in the field of policing, encouraging readers to hold police accountable for specific goals, tasks, and objectives and to work in concert with citizens to promote secure communities.
 Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Alpert et al., Policing: Continuity and Change, Second Edition (ISBN 9781478611462); Barlow-Barlow, Police in a Multicultural Society: An American Story (ISBN 9781577661290); Kappeler et al., Forces of Deviance: Understanding the Dark Side of Policing, Second Edition (ISBN 9780881339833); Katz-Maguire, Transforming the Police: Thirteen Key Reforms (ISBN 9781478639985); and Miller et al., Human Relations &amp; Police Work, Sixth Edition (ISBN 9781577666516).

Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings

Criminal Law

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alpert, Geoffrey P.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Alpert, Geoffrey P.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alpert, Geoffrey P.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Policing Multi-Ethnic Neighborhoods: The Miami Study and Findings for Law Enforcement in the United States (Contributions in Criminology and Penology)

Police Pursuit Driving: Controlling Responses to Emergency Situations (Contributions in Criminology and Penology)

Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)

Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)

Policing urban America

Police Vehicles and Firearms: Instruments of Deadly Force

The Dilemmas of Corrections: Contemporary Readings

Policing Urban America

The Dilemmas of Corrections : Contemporary Readings

Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings